Triumph Herald

It is always useful to put Corgi and Dinky head to head just to be able to understand what the differences were. Here we have two well modelled Triumph Heralds from the first release of the real car - pre face lift Mk1 Heralds. Lets see how the two companies approached it. The Corgi is blue/white and gold/white, the Dinky is green/white.

The Dinky is more accurate in terms of proportion - van Cleemput uses this car as an example in his book of how Corgi used to make their models slightly too wide in proportion to their length as the modellers believed it made them look more as one would expect them to. Beyond that Corgi don't choose the basic saloon; they go for the Coupé - more exotic you see. Then they add an opening bonnet and detailed engine which is more relevant on this car as it opens in an unusual way and it was quite a news point about the Herald when it was launched -

CORGI TOYS

opening bonnet showing detailed engine

detachable air filter

SPRING SUSPENSION

SEATS

STEERING WHEEL

OK so you've made it more exotic, given it an opening bonnet and seats, what next? It has a detachable air filter - you can open the bonnet and actually do maintenance. Dinky had just about got around to suspension and windows and bright wheel hubs. So there was no contest - Corgi win whatever you do.

The Corgi Herald was made from 1961 to 1965 and was either two-tone pale blue and white or gold and white. The Gold car gets a premium on price