Corgi's Vanguard didn't quite follow the game plan as the rest of the early Corgi Car Range. Most of them were released in plain colour first, then mechanical, then two-tone free-wheeling. The Vanguard was two-tone and single-colour Mechanical together, then RAF blue as a staff car. This is the Mechanical version. It was released alongside the freewheeling version in February 1957, the mechanical was dropped in 1959, three years earlier than the freewheeling version, sales being much lower for the mechanical car.

The mechanical Vanguard was either primrose yellow or very pale blue/green with a red roof. The freewheeling version was only available in the two-tone red over pale blue/green. The RAF version was never made with the mechanical friction motor. Values are pretty high for all colours and versions. The mechanicals out price the others because of their poor sales and resultant scarcity. The yellow cars being valued significantly more highly than the two-tone.