CORGI TOYS 1966 BATMOBILE...

This is my very own CORGI TOYS BATMOBILE, which I

acquired from a shop in Edinburgh back in 1991.  It was a fellow

called JIM (who later became a pal) who told me about it, so I duly

hopped onto a coach with another pal, ROSS, one morning and shot

through to purchase it.  The one I had bought originally in 1970 or '71

only had ordinary hubcaps, the gold and red Bat-symbol ones having

been replaced in what was undoubtedly a cost-cutting exercise, but I

had always regretted not having the first version and was glad to

be able to finally rectify that - even if it was 20 years later.

The first person I ever knew to acquire this 'must have' toy

in 1966/'67 was a friend who lived two doors away from me, a

lad by the name of JOHN FIDLER.  I like to think his choice of

Christmas present (for such it was) had been influenced by the fact

that we both used to run around our neighbourhood playing BAT-

MAN & ROBIN.  ('Though that's probably only because I like

to take credit for everything - unless it's bad, of course.)

Corgi wanted to re-release this toy a number of years ago,

but try as they might, they just couldn't obtain permission from

the relevant copyright holders.  That's why they eventually went

with the idea of doing the 1966 comicbook Batmobile (as well as

others), which had the same image of Batman on the underside as

their original 1960s TV toy.  The comicbook version was nice,

but nothing could ever replace the original Corgi model.

Now that the copyright issues over this car have finally

been resolved, I wonder if Corgi will follow through with

their original plans, and re-issue this iconic vehicle for a new

generation of kids (and an older generation of collectors)?

Wouldn't that be nice, Bat-fans?  Why not get in touch

with them and suggest it?  You just never know!

Anyway, enjoy the piccies in this post.  More classic

cars from yesteryear soon.  Incidentally, the second set of

missiles in the bottom photo are actually red - they came out

a funny colour because I scanned them instead of photo-

graphing them.  I trust you won't hold it against me.

.

Posted in: Cartoons