Back on Christmas Day in 1966, I awoke to find a pillow case at the foot of my bed stuffed full of toys and annuals. I was an only child and carrying the pillowcase I rushed into to my parents’ bedroom to share the news that Father Christmas had indeed stopped by overnight.
We lived in a large house with six bedrooms (my parents took summer guests) built in 1906, with no heating in the bedrooms. It was cold that Christmas and I jumped into the large double bed between my parents to keep warm. I can well remember the warmth of my Dad’s winceyette pajamas and my Mum’s cold feet (I inherited her circulation problems).
Aged seven, snuggling in bed between my parents was a Saturday ritual in Winter which culminated when my Dad went downstairs to bring us hot tea and toast. Crumbs in the bed always reawaken this memory.
I cannot remember the full contents of what I received that day, but #1 on my list was the Corgi Batmobile, #2 was the Batman Story Book annual, #3 was the Thunderbirds annual (the Thunderbirds Are Go! film was on at the local Southsea Odeon) and #4 was the friction-motor Dalek with internal sparks by Marx. I’m pretty sure there were also some Minic Motorway accessories and some OO/HO gauge carriages from the Tri-Ang railway catalogue, but the Corgi Batmobile stays in my memory as the piece de resistance.
Of course, callow youth that I was later to become, I had flogged the lot by my early twenties. So it’s something of a joy to be able to re-acquire some of these items, either as facsimiles or original copies and relive that day, which was surely a red-letter day in the history of popular culture.
[Strictly speaking, the Corgi Batmobile was not the first Batman-related vehicle that I had acquired. That honour went to a Batplane which flew via catapult, which I got on holiday in Minehead, Somerset in August 1966. ]
The Corgi Batmobile replica arrived in the post this past October, and following a brief check, I quickly re-boxed it for re-opening on Christmas Day. I was not disappointed. Apart from the clear plastic moulding securing the car for transport within the reproduction box, everything was as I remembered. I suspect that the relative dimensions of the Corgi version were more accurately represented in the recent Batmobile from Hot Wheels that came with the blu-ray collection of the TV series, but for me, the Corgi Batmobile is the yardstick against which all other models are measured.
The Corgi Batmobile now holds pride of place at “Chez Baggsey” atop my vintage paperback bookcase, awaiting the upcoming Corgi reproduction of the Batboat first released at Christmas 1967.
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| Hot Wheels replica sitting atop the Corgi repro box, to illustrate size of Hot Wheels version |
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| The Hot Wheels car in the blu-ray box set for comparison |
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| © DC. Batman Story Book Annual 1966 |
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| Inside annual back page. (Where else could you address something to Batman in Heanor, Derbyshire??) |
Here’s the Tri-Ang catalog. Cover by Terence Cuneo, with his signature mouse drawn hidden in the painting. Yes, I know it’s a 1962 catalog but that is what I pored over as I built my Christmas list in Autumn 1966.
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What I never noticed until many years later (and many years ago) was that the Corgi Batmobile's bonnet (hood) was too short in relation to the rest of the vehicle (and compared to the actual TV car). Whether this was due to the area where Batman & Robin sat being too far forward (perhaps to accommodate the internal rocket-firing mechanism at the back) or just because Corgi's designers miscalculated is anybody's guess, but it's still a cracking toy. I've got two original Corgi Batmobiles, a Husky and a Corgi Junior, and four reissues (three gloss and one matte). Then there's numerous other versions by Mattel, McFarlane Toys, and various other manufacturers. I've simply lost count of just how many incarnations of the 1966 classic design I actually own.
ReplyDeleteYes, the proportions of the Corgi Batmobile are all wrong, and I never noticed it either at the time. Of course, as a 7-year old watching the TV show on a 19-inch B&W 405-line VHF TV, I had nothing to compare the model against in any detail. That didn't matter, of course.
DeleteI also had the Husky version, but that was about it.