Volume X, Last Updated February 13, 2007

Mettoy's English Eccentrics by Stephen Breshanen

The history of motoring is full of cars that almost made it, and the British motor industry has given the world some of the best examples. Arriving in a fanfare, these cars were the darling of the motor shows and lauded as the next Big Thing. Most of them soon fell out of the public eye once the limelight faded. Some became low-production 'niche' cars with an almost cult-like following among owners, while others disappeared after one or two prototypes and are all but forgotten now. Not many of these cars made it into the ranks of small-scale models, but thanks to Mettoy, a few very interesting ones did.

Whizzwheels 1c Reliant TW9 pickup.

A light, maneuverable commercial vehicle capable of puttering about in very cramped side streets and building sites seems on the face of it a good idea. But- its got three wheels! Reliant remained committed to three-wheel cars, vans and light trucks long after everyone else worked out that four wheeled vehicles don't fall over as much. Powered by a 700cc engine, later up rated to 750cc, it was manufactured from 1967 to 1987. Versions included street sweepers, box vans and refuse trucks.

Corgi's Reliant pickup is a charming little model despite its lack of an interior. The narrow wheels suit the look of the model, and playwear looks appropriate on one as this is what the real ones looked like anyway! It came in cream or orange, and was fitted with a funny removable plastic bumper (usually long gone in loose models) to keep them upright on the gravity track. Without this device, it has a habit of tipping over at the first opportunity. Just like the real thing!

Sun-faded and worn out, but still rolling!

Whizzwheels 12c Reliant Scimitar GTE. Sporting pedigree, and room to put the shopping.

The Reliant Scimitar created its own niche in UK motoring circles as a successful blend of sports coupe and light wagon, in a time before the mid-sized performance hatchback came to be. The Scimitar GTE was penned by Ogle Design and was based on the attractive Reliant coupe already in production and a previous Estate prototype, the GTS.

The GTE prototype featured covered headlights that look similar to the slightly later Alfa Montreal (1970) and has a seamless blending of the windscreen into the large sunroof. Production Scimitars lost these design elements, and had exposed twin headlights and a more conventional windscreen. Production of the GTE began in 1969 with 3-litre Ford V6 power and went through a series of evolutionary upgrades before Reliant stopped production in 1986.

It was such a successful concept that it attracted the notice of larger manufacturers who quickly filled the market niche created by the Reliant. Competitors included the Volvo P1800ES (1971), the BMW 1602/2002 Touring (1971), the Lancia Beta HPE (1975) and the Jensen-Healey GT (1975- although less than 500 of these were made). Interestingly, none of these appear to have been made in small-scale.

The Corgi Reliant Scimitar is a model of the GTE prototype (not to be confused with the earlier GTS Estate prototype), with the covered headlights and unusual windscreen. As a model, it is beautifully proportioned, but the windscreen-sunroof area looks a bit like a receding hairline. The long, curved A-posts are fragile and often damaged in play-worn examples. The wheels are a nice size for giving the car a sporty stance without being 'over-wheeled'.

Two colours of the Scimitar.

As an aside, there's nothing I'm aware of to suggest the original early fifties Corvette Nomad wagon show car was an inspiration to Ogle's designer, but the concept of small sports wagon is identical.

The sporting wagon, fifties and sixties style.

Corgi Bond Bug. Fuel crisis era fun car.

Okay, so its 1/43 scale, but it is small enough to fit in with the small-scale pieces. Designed by the same chap within Ogle Design responsible for the Reliant Scimitar GTE, the 1970 Bond Bug was based on the Reliant 3-wheel chassis used in their production models. It also used the Reliant 750cc engine. Several thousand Bond Bugs were sold, all painted bright tangerine orange. One wild feature was a hinged canopy instead of doors- something captured very nicely by the Corgi.

Also doubles as a doorstop.

Whizzwheels 21c BVRT Vita-Min Mini Cooper 1300 S. A name longer than its wheelbase.

Competition Minis are not rare in small-scale, but the Corgi Juniors BVRT Vita-Min looks very different to any other. Its proportions are odd, windscreen angles look askew, bits of engine poke out and the grille has a jutted-out look that doesn't look at all right. And it is very small. If it wasn't a Corgi you'd be tempted to write it off as a poor model, but in fact it is very accurate indeed.

The Vita-Min is a one-off hillclimb competition racer. Built by British Vita Racing & Tuning, the Vita-Min won the 1968 British Automobile Racing Club Hillclimb Championship. Its body (along with pretty much everything else) was extensively modified from the stock Mini with the sole aim being to get the car to drive up a hill very very quickly. It wasn't suitable for road or circuit work (or indeed much else) as the weight distribution was heavily biased to the front for maximum traction. Being such a specialized device, none were ever produced for sale, although BVRT sold many performance bits for the Mini owner.

Visit http://mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk/vita_min.htm and http://mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk/vita_history.htm for a detailed history and mechanical specs of this strange angry little car.

The Vita-Min in original purple. The stickers dried up and fell off years ago

Corgi's model conveys the Vita-Min's stance and reworked proportions very well, and the chrome interior conveys a sense of the competition car's purposeful cockpit. Originally the model carried a set of paper stickers, however I've never seen one intact and can't comment on how appropriate they were. This one runs very well on the gravity track.

Matchbox Racing Mini (restored) and the Vita-Min.

Whizzwheels 71a Marcos XP. So much promise

Also released as 98a Marcos XP with Growler mechanism, and Rockets D911 Marcos XP.

An aggressive and purposeful looking design rather than a beautiful one, the Marcos Mantis (later renamed the XP) was a long-distance Le Mans sports-racing prototype designed and built in 1968 for Marcos by the same Adams brothers later responsible for the Probe 16 (compare the noses- a family resemblance?). It used the same marine plywood and glassfibre construction technique seen in the production Marcos coupes. Sitting amidships was a 3-litre Repco V8, the engine that powered the Brabham BT19 to a Formula 1 World Championship (both drivers and manufacturers) in 1966. After the XP's maiden outing at Spa (DNF) where it showed great promise in the wet, it was turned to road use and a tamer Buick (or possibly Rover) 3.5 litre V8 replaced the Repco one. Shortly afterwards, the car was shipped to the US. The car still lives, and appears to be a centre of pilgrimage for UK Marcos owners. There's a good website documenting its life and times at http://marcosmantis.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/

Corgi Juniors XP, alongside a repainted example in almost-correct metallic green.

Corgi's model is accurate in capturing the unusual lines of the real thing. Sadly the wheels and wheel arches are too large, giving the car far too tall a ride height and taking away from some of the sleekness of the original's flanks. Colours are a little bright, too- with Whizzwheels versions in day-glo orange, Growlers version in an odd apricot and Rockets versions in gold. The original car was a pale metallic green- Corgi's art dept must have thought it too dull.

The nose and tail look bang-on accurate, capturing the long beak of the real thing. Looking in the engine bay, there's a very distinct air cleaner sitting between the banks of cylinders. If this were the Repco engine, that spot would be occupied by exhaust pipes (for reference, check Hot Wheel's Repco Brabham). I'm guessing the Corgi designers saw the Marcos XP sometime after the Repco engine was replaced and before the car was shipped to the US.

Note the position of the air cleaner on the Marcos and the exhaust manifold on the Brabham BT19 .

Whizzwheels 52a Adams Probe 16. It made the GT40 look tall.

This design first saw the light of day in 1968 as the Probe 15 concept car. The Adams brothers built two Probe 15s, which were displayed at car shows under the Marcos Cars banner. In 1970, the design was slightly altered and three prototype Probe 16s were made. Structurally, it was made using the same methods as the 1968 Marcos XP and production Marcos sports cars- a hull made of marine plywood and fibreglass. Engine was a fairly prosaic Austin 1.9 litre four. The project seems to have been wound up after the three prototypes were completed- there were no production versions. Do any survive?

The only place you're likely to see a Probe 16 these days is if you have a copy of Stanley Kubrick's film 'A Clockwork Orange' handy. A Probe 16 plays the role of the stolen 'Durango 95' that the droogs take for a run in the country.

The Whizzwheels Probe doesn't quite convey the small size and extremely low stature of the original (34 inches tall!) - mostly because its been scaled up a bit so the wheels fit. The colour is gloriously seventies, the detail is great, and the canopy dome looks the part. Unfortunately the dome is fragile- most play worn Probe 16s will have suffered damage there.

The Probe 16- probably a bit warm in there on a sunny day.

Family resemblance- Corgi Juniors Marcos XP and Adams Probe 16.

Whizzwheels 64a Morgan Plus 8. The exception to the rule.

Also released as Rockets D921 Morgan Plus 8.

The Morgan is a curiously successful blend of tradition and technology that has had a worldwide cult following for much of the company's long history. The Plus 8 was introduced in 1968 as an evolution of the four-cylinder Plus 4 launched in 1950. Powered by Rover's 3.5 litre V8 in a chassis that can trace its design ancestry back into the 1930s, performance and handling in a Plus 8 is said to be 'startling'. The bodywork, even by sixties standards, was ancient technology- constructed of alloy sheet over a wooden frame, each panel was handcrafted to fit. Apparently over 3500 Plus 8s have been built, all by hand, in a shed. Morgans are still being built, a few per week, and customers are lined up for miles for one.

A testament to what British engineers and mechanics can do with a bin of borrowed car parts, alloy sheet metal and a tree.

Corgi's Morgan Plus 8 came in two versions- Rockets and Whizzwheels. The yellow Whizzwheels version is typical of Corgi's cars of the era. It is solid, simply (but well) designed and built and carries something of the personality of the Morgan. The wheels let the side down a bit, being a bit too large for the rest of the car.

Tomica, Siku, Hongwell, Majorette and Zylmex have all produced a Morgan Plus 8. Corgi's is probably the earliest version, Hongwell's probably the newest. Siku best captured the flat look of the later wide bodied Plus 8. The Tomica is a beautiful piece, and clearly influenced Zylmex's model. It seems everybody likes the Morgan Plus 8. I'm not aware of any other Morgan products being done in small-scale, though.

Six Plus 8s. So much attention from the toymakers shows the attraction of the Morgan Plus 8. L-R Hongwell 1/72, Zylmex, Tomica, Majorette, Siku, Corgi .

So why did Mettoy model these odd cars?

Essentially, they thought the cars would sell. Hot Wheels had entered the British market in 1968-9 with, among other things, a good lineup of racers and concept cars- showcasing cutting edge design and technology. Consumer expectations of the small-scale market changed and the established manufacturers were forced to compete. Matchbox busily converted as much of its existing 1-75 lineup as possible, but Mettoy took a more assertive approach and launched their speedy-wheel Rockets range straight at Mattel and maybe hoping to steal a march on Matchbox while they were at it.

The Rockets cars featured a number of brand-new castings of highly regarded British and European rally, sports, GT, concepts and racers, all with special high-speed chassis and wheels and most in a highly reflective 'Solarbrite' paint finish. This was an abrupt turnabout from the previous Husky lineup, which were designed very much like the regular-wheel era Matchbox cars. The Rockets range didn't last long, and the less complex and slightly less flashy Whizzwheels range took over. Many of the previous Husky and Rockets castings were converted and new models introduced, with many of the leading British designs of the day appearing in the lineup.

Classic Brit motors from the Rockets range. Jensen Interceptor, Aston Martin DB5 (inverted) and Jaguar XJ6.

It is only circumstance and time that has made some of these cars the rarities they are today. Cars like the Scimitar and Vita-Min would have been instantly recognizable to any kid in the early 1970s that could get a hold of a car magazine. Seeing the Next Big British Thing on the pegs at the toyshop would have been a big sales attraction in the UK or out in the Colonies, and in many ways still is.

This still doesn't explain the Reliant TW9 though. That one is still a hard choice to justify for a model.

Footnote-a special mention for the Panther Six

Not a Corgi at all, but a Tomica- and it's got twice as many wheels as the Reliant!

The Panther Six deserves a special mention as one of the most wonderfully eccentric British cars ever produced. Panther West Wings owner-designer Bob Jankel wanted a unique supercar, and that's certainly what he produced. The first prototype was shown at Earls Court in 1977, to quite some acclaim. It was big, wide and very sumptuous-looking, with a very avant-garde full electronic dashboard. Oh, and for added flair it had six wheels. That four-wheeled front end was clearly inspired by the Tyrrell P34 Formula 1 car, which first competed in the 1976 F1 season.

The Six's 8.2 litre V8 engine, automatic transmission and rear suspension came in one complete unit from the then-current front-drive Cadillac Eldorado, installed into the rear of the Panther. To lift the power output into the supercar class, two turbochargers were bolted one one for each bank of cylinders. Performance figures were a claimed 600bhp/200mph/600lb ft of torque, although these don't seem to have been tested either then or since. Given the weight of the engine and its location right on the rear wheels, handling may have been 'interesting'.

A second Panther Six was built up shortly after, but to a lesser level of fit and finish. It also lacked the turbochargers of the first. And this is where the Six's story ends- Panther West Winds hit financial troubles, a new owner came in and the Six project halted. Bob Jankel went on to other things and the two Six prototypes faded out of the picture.

http://www.pantherclub.co.uk/Georges/p6restoration/p6restoration.htm shows that at least one of them has survived- the analogue dials suggests this is the second, non-turbo car.

12 wheels, two cars. Panther Six and the Tyrrell P34 that inspired it.

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