'UNIQUE' JAMES BOND ASTON MARTIN D.B.5...

"So what's unique about it?" you ask.  "Looks just like the

recent 50th Anniversary CORGI D.B.5 that you showed

on your blog a month or two back!" you say.  And you're right,

it is - but with one difference.  Let me explain.

The original gold coloured Corgi D.B.5 from 1965 was, as

you know if you read my recent post, rapidly adapted from the

existing mould for their D.B.4, and was 1.46 scale (according to

The GREAT BOOK Of CORGI), 'though I've also seen it listed

as 1.43 scale.  In 1968, Corgi Toys created brand-new tooling for

a more accurate model of the car, which was 1.45 scale, a few

millimetres longer than its predecessor.

The new model had two extra features in addition to the

original three.  As well as the extending machine guns and over-

riders, bulletproof shield, and ejector seat, it also had revolving

number plates and rear tyre-slashers. In the '90s, Corgi re-issued

a very poor replica of this second model, but advertised it in

magazines as "The original is back!"  It wasn't, and it was

vastly inferior in ways too numerous to go into again.

Then, recently, they re-issued an improved version of the

1.45 scale car - except it was missing the rear tyre-slashers.

Guess what 'though?  I had a spare set from the '90s model, so I

unscrewed the base of the Anniversary re-issue and swapped the

rear wheels and axle with the tyre-slasher ones.  Interestingly, the

axle I removed was a solid version of the hollow one which had

housed the red slashers, so it seems obvious that they were

omitted in an attempt to keep costs down.

The result is that now I have a 'unique' 2005 Anniversary

edition of the 1968 silver birch 1.45 scale model that nobody

else has - unless they did the same as me.  My original 1968 car

is still tucked away somewhere, but when I dig it out, I'll post a

pic of it alongside the one here, so that you can do a side-by-

side comparison.  Hey, generosity is my middle name.

   

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