Corgi Toys – ‘the ones with windows’ were the toy cars to have in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s. This is the ideal introduction to these toy vehicles, made in Swansea until 1983.

"With updated price guide and consolidated Mettoy era variations list"--Cover.

The rise, fall and rebirth of Corgi Toys is explained and illustrated with hundreds of color photos of toy models and memorabilia never before seen in print. The smaller Husky and Corgi Juniors lines are also covered. Most importantly, this encylopedia presents the most complete variation listing and values guide for Corgi toys published to date.

Although the name "Corgi Toys" was not introduced until 1955, the roots of the original holding company, Mettoy, go back to 1932 when a German toymaker called Philipp Ullmann arrived in Britain to form a new toy manufacturing company. This company produced many types of toys, both before and after the Second World War, mainly in tinplate. In the 1950s Mettoy began to produce diecast metal toys and hence, in 1956 the first Corgi Toys were released to the children's toy market and proved an immediate success. Over the next 30 years hundreds of miniature vehicles would be modeled on contemporary vehicles such as Vauxhalls, Rileys, Hillmans, Standards, Commers and ERFs. Corgi also made daring and successful ventures into film-and-TV related toys with their versions of James Bond, The Saint and Batmobile cars selling millions. Life-long collector David Cooke explores the history of Corgi Toys, describing the various models and illustrating how these simple children's toys became valuable collectables. He also charts the recent financial problems faced by the company, and their resurgence based upon Limited Edition collectors' models sold direct to an adult market.

Every model of Corgi toy is shown in 128 color group photos with the history supplemented by detailed descriptions of all the models and their known variations. Includes up-to-date price guide.

This magnificent book covers the entire period of Corgi production, which commenced with the showing

Corgi Juniors and Husky Models brings together the story of these small-scale model cars and other toys into one book for the first time. This widely collected line of diecast toy cars and trucks are examined in every detail. Over 500 full color photos and well-researched text presents the entire history of these cars, from the introduction of Husky Models in 1964, to the Corgi Classics of today. Here are Corgi Juniors, Corgi Rockets, Husky Toys, Whizzwheels Conversions plus many more variations. Included is never before published information on prototype, pre-production, and promotional models, plus an extensive cross-reference section which provides easy access to model numbers and current values.