TERRY SMITH remembers a Christmas present that left him shaken, not stirred.
So innovative was Corgi’s model of 007’s DB5 that in just 3 months Playcraft, the company’s owners, were awarded 'The Best Boys Toy of 1965'.
In October 1965, on the back of the success of the latest James Bond movie 'Goldfinger', Corgi launched their 1:43 scale diecast recreation of Bond's Aston Martin DB5. What set the model apart from anything seen previously was the amount of working features the model had. The company could have easily had just released the DB5 in a special 007 themed box and I am sure it would have still sold in reasonable quantities, but Corgi’s engineers decided, and in very little time, to cram as many of the film car's fantastic operating defence systems into the small model.
What we ended up with was a model that had at the press of a button on the car’s sill machine guns protruding from the front sidelight orifices, along with extended bumper overriders. If you then pressed the exhaust tips, a rear bullet proof shield would pop-up, but to ensure the model's legendary status in the world of model diecast vehicles, it also had the all-important working ejector seat! This again was operated by a small button on the sill and when pressed the roof would open and a 1:43 Scale bad guy would fly quite some distance in the air.
The thing was, that all these features worked so well and full credit must be given to the designers and toolmakers who worked for Corgi at this time. For the Aston Martin spotters out there, the bodywork was a reworking of Corgis existing DB4 model and while a new DB5 rear end was designed to adapt the tooling, it got overlooked in the haste to get it out, so the model has the wrong rear lamps. Another thing that puzzled me at the time was the car in the movie was painted silver, but this model was released in gold. It turned out that in the time they had to bring it to market, the silver paint used made the model look like it was just a raw casting and not painted at all, so at the last minute they decided to paint it gold in reference to the film’s title. The model (C261) came in some neat packaging for the time and came with a 'secret message', which were the instructions hidden under the model along with a 007 lapel badge and a spare bad guy.
This was without doubt the must have toy for Christmas 1965 with a huge demand and I am sure many children were disappointed, but not me - and I was a proud owner of a C261 on Christmas Day, firing my bad guy all over the place narrowly missing falling in my Gran's Port and Lemon! I remember taking mine into school after the Christmas break to show it off, as did other lucky kids and we became the 007 gang! I still have the car today 55 years on, and even though it was in my mother’s loft for 30 odd years everything on it still worked when it was finally retrieved, but sadly there was no sign of the bad guy!
To say this was a sales success for the company is an understatement, and between October 1965 to the end of 1966 it sold a stagging 2.7 million models and helped turn Corgi into an international diecast brand. While two other larger scale versions with more features and painted in silver were released after this, it is always the original C261 gold model that is remembered with such fondness and attracts the most interest from collectors today.
Perhaps many people's first view of the model would have been this toy shop poster dating from October 1965. 9/11d is 50p and in today’s money would work out at around £7.60!
This side view shows the twin exhaust tips which when pressed would activate the rear bullet proof screen, seen here in its retracted position.
From underneath you can see how the other features are operated – push the forward button and the front machineguns and overriders extend, the rearmost will send the villain flying through the roof, never to be found again!
The advert for the 1966 catalogue proudly shows the Bond car on the cover, by the end of that year Corgi will have sold 2.7 Million of these models.
The model shown with all the features in their extended positions. Although they sold millions, mint boxed original examples command very high prices today.
Corgi are producing a reproduction of this historic model.