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Mint Die Cast Gift Set: Corgi Monte Carlo Rallye No. 38

This desirable Corgi Toys gift set depicts one of the most classic scenes in vintage motorsports: a winter-stage rally event, led by the iconic Mini Cooper and trailed by a Rover 2000 sedan and Citroen DS. When it comes to vintage Corgis, mint-condition examples of the real-life cars enthusiasts hold dear is a good place to start, closely followed by examples that retain their original box and artwork in mint condition. It should come as no surprise, then, that this one is fetching good money here on eBay with bids to $860.00 and no reserve.

I grew up on a steady diet of Corgis, but unfortunately, not from the era that commands the highest prices. These older models, with their rubber-like tires and very faithful decals, are at the height of desirability among collectors. In my opinion, Corgi dominated the 1/43 scale market in the 60s and 70s, building beautiful cars and trucks with much higher levels of detail than its competitors. Not to mention that always tended to favor the vehicles that enthusiasts were either driving, racing, or pining for having in their own garage.

The challenging part of building toy cars with such an emphasis on detail (look at those stickers….and doesn’t the roof look hand-painted?) is that they can look quite haggard when not maintained. And given they were, in fact, toys – many of them were treated as such and few survived in condition like these have. Even the box, with its detailed artwork, makes for a challenging quest to find mint condition pieces. If the boxes were even saved at all, expecting to find one with sharp edges and no color distortion is nothing short of impossible.

Obviously, that’s not the case here, as this rare gift set was apparently owned by a very considerate child or an adult who knew a good thing when he saw it. The Citroen seems to be in the best condition, with few, if any, visible flaws. The cars that competed in Monte Carlo were always darlings of the competition scene, so Corgi knew what it was doing when it put these three models into a box set. With the holidays around the corner, someone is going to go home with an artifact of model car collecting – and for a price that would be a decent down payment on an actual Rover project!

Comments

  1. Avatar Winfield Wilson

    Growing up in the mid-60’s, I collected Matchbox cars. Never had more than a dozen, I guess. No, I didn’t take good care of them, either. My friends were more into Hot Wheels though.

    Like 6
  2. Avatar angliagt Member

    Cool! – but I’d rather spend that kind of money on
    a real (project) car.

    Like 5
  3. Avatar Paolo

    I collected every little car I came across. Dinky Toys, Corgis, Matchbox, Solido, Poli-Toy, Spot-On (from Northern Ireland) Schuco, Budgie, Hot-Wheels, Hubley, TootsieToy Tekno from Denmark. I sent in every cereal box coupon and boxtops for any automobile premium offered.I’m forgetting some. I started taking better care of them as I got older even saving the boxes. I still have most of them packed in cardboard boxes way up on the top shelves in the closet of the spare bedroom unseen and forgotten for decades. I saved them for my children but they were forgotten and my son had lots of new stuff. I should give them to him now. He’s 26.

    Like 9
    • Avatar Paolo

      Forgot the Tonka, Buddy-L, Structo and other big all steel trucks. Had a bunch of the Aurora Model Motoring stuff. And then all the car dealer samples. I was just mental for cars. It’s a wonder I had any room in my brain for anything else. Fortunately puberty interrupted and then it was girls and cars. And things were never the same again.

      Like 3
  4. Avatar Dave

    Corgi cars were larger than the Matchbox cars. This allowed for more details but they cost a lot more than the Matchbox cars.
    50 years ago the world was much larger, connected only by shortwave radio and movies. The only foreign cars you tended to see were Volkswagen bugs and the occasional Bus.
    Shortwave radio allowed you to listen to the places you read about in school…the onion domes of Moscow, the hourly chimes of Big Ben.
    Memories of a time long since lost. When Radio Australia pulled the plug it was a sad day. No longer would I sit in my ham shack chair on a cold winter’s morning and listen to the summer weather in Sydney and Darwin.

    Like 10
  5. Avatar jimbunte Member

    For anyone interested in Corgi Ttoys, i strongly recommend “The Great Book of Corgi” by their former chief designer, Maurice Van Cleemput. It is the definitive tome at more than 500 pages. Sadly, out of print but you can find it on Amazon and other used book sellers. It covers everything and has terrific photography.

    Like 10
  6. Avatar Coventrycat

    I have the Rover. That’s crazy money for something to just sit in a display case.

    Like 3
    • Avatar Little_Cars

      I also have the Corgi Rover, in standard passenger livery –finished in beautiful metallic green. Funny, though, it comes with a spare tire mounted on the trunk and spring suspension. I would have thought the Monte Carlo edition would have had the spare on the trunk as well.

      Like 0
  7. Avatar FordGuy1972 Member

    I’ve collected a few toy vehicles including Tonka and Smith-Miller trucks along with a few select Dinky Toys, Corgi and Matchbox, mostly American models and some Japanese tin. The jewel in my collection is a Pocher K75 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II Torpedo Cabriolet, a large 1/8 scale model, fully assembled. This model is considered one of the most detailed model kits ever made with almost 3,000 pieces with real leather seats, rubber tires, working parts for the engine, working doors and windows, working headlights, functioning suspension and a top that can be installed either up or down, the wire wheels alone have over 100 pieces each. A fantastic model that is about 27″ long.

    A vintage toy car or truck can be a good investment that you can enjoy and unlike real cars, you can park a lot of them in your den

    Like 7
  8. Avatar Dutch 1960

    Looks like someone in the drawing on the display is having a bit of an issue. Likely a bollard right through the oil pan by now!

    Like 3
  9. Avatar MrBZ

    My brothers and I were lucky enough to grow up in a world of Tonka, Aurora, Matchbox, Tootsietoy and then Hot Wheels when they hit the market. Sadly we beat the heck out of most of them and have spent the last 20 years trying to replace the originals. Fun hobby, but I am still amazed when I see these things command the big bucks.

    Like 2
  10. Avatar jerry z

    A relative of mine had some Corgi toys. Never was into them since I preferred the Hot Wheels back in the day. Unfortunately I played them to death as a kid!

    Like 1
  11. Avatar Bob in Bexley Member

    Took them off the display ?! No value !

    Like 1
    • Avatar Paolo

      Elaborate please.

      Like 1
      • Avatar Bob in Bexley Member

        Do you eat your food chewed by someone else ?

        Like 0
    • Avatar FordGuy1972 Member

      No value? Than why are they bid up to $1,233 with 2-1/2 days left? This set is as good as it gets for collectible toys as the cars look like they were never played with and the original packaging looks pretty good. MIB (mint in box) toys command the highest prices and I’ll bet this set will bring even more money at auction’s end.

      Like 2
      • Avatar Bob in Bexley Member

        No value to me if somebody’s paws have been fingering up the ‘paint’.

        Like 0

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