Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato

Another hard core proper Corgi. Fine modelling with lots of opening bits. This time the novel features are that the bonnet opens sideways, the lights are unusual and nice and the interior is unusually detailed. This is one I owned myself as a child, now long gone, and a Corgi I like a lot.

On top of that it's a model of a hand-made variant on the Lancia Fulvia - which was a very boxy 1100cc compact saloon - however it was available re-bodied by no less than three different auto-styling houses: Vignale and Pininfarina as well as Zagato. A bit like BMC in the UK selling the Morris 1100 with bodies by Mulliner Park Ward and Wood & Picket as well as a sports version by Ogle or something similar - I suppose they did do a Van Den Plas version, but that was just a trim option, not a styling exercise. I saw one of these parked in the street in Angouleme in 2006, and would you believe it the battery was flat on the camera

Most of them you will see are metallic blue, there were some in metallic green, orange and a racing version in yellow and black. It was released in 1967 and deleted in 1969.

372 WhizzWheels release

Another 'Whizzwheels warm-over', at least there were no features removed in the process. The original of this model was a typical piece of good quality Corgi modelling. Somehow this one feels less sharp. I don't think the colour helps, this is less sophisticated and less attractive - was everything orange in 1970? The car was released in September 1970 and remained in the range until 1976.