Towards the end of the Mettoy Corgi period a small range of retro cars was produced under the banner of '50s Classics' in specially branded boxes and the 1:36 scale 1954 Mercedes 300 SL Gulllwing was included in it. However before that range was released in 1983 the car was released under No.802 as part of the core Corgi Toys range (in 1982), in the then standard yellow & black box. The 50's Classics release was number 811. When the new Corgi company got going after the crash the car remained in production and was re-packaged in the new corporate style grey boxes., this is No.C811/1.

Corgi Toys had first modelled the 300 SL in 1:46 scale in the very early days, not an altogether successful model I thought, next came this 1:36 scale release which spanned the fall of Mettoy Corgi Toys and the emergence of the new Corgi company. This one is OK, but to me none of the 1:36 scale cars get the fineness of modelling produced by Corgi Toys at their peak. Later on in 1993 and 1995 Corgi Classics revisited the 1950s Mercedes SL in 1:43 scale, that one is a bit better but still not as good as it should be.

There is a picture of a curiosity below, the original wooden blank used by Corgi to make the dies for the 1:36 scale car. I bought 5 of these from an ex-employee of Corgi Toys (Mercedes 300 SC & SL, Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn, BMW M1, Ferrari 308 GTS) they provide a nice insight into the production process, they are much larger than the 1:36 scale models, being reduced in scale using a pantograph.