CHARLIE'S ANGELS CHEVROLET VAN

Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men. The series was broadcast in the USA on the ABC Television Network from 1976 to 1981 and was one of the most successful series of the 1970s. Charlie's Angels was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg. In pre-production, the original proposed title was The Alley Cats.
Three women, the Angels (originally Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and Jaclyn Smith), graduated from the Los Angeles police academy only to be assigned such duties as handling switch boards and traffic. They quit and were hired to work for the Charles Townsend Agency as private investigators. Their boss, Charlie (voiced by John Forsythe), is never seen full face — in some episodes the viewer gets to see the back of his head and his arms, talking through a phone while surrounded by beautiful women — assigning cases to the Angels and his liaison, Bosley (played by David Doyle), via a speaker phone.

Charlie's Angels is episodic in nature, as opposed to serial, thus each episode shows the Angels finding themselves in new situations in which they would go undercover to investigate. The undercover aspect of the show creates much of the plot interest and tension. In the early seasons of the show, the Angels, under their assumed identities, use a combination of sexual wiles and knowledge learned for the situation in which they are being placed, but by the third and fourth seasons, the writing has a tendency to stray from the sex appeal and focus more on the case at hand.

The Chevrolet van was the basis of quite a few TV related models. The first and by far the best was the bright pink ‘Charlie’s Angels silhouette logo emblazoned on each body side. Opening rear doors and transparent roof panels served to display the cardboard custom interior of this 1/40th scale van which could be found with either solid or four-spoke whizzwheels. A very tastefully produced model that lasted until 1981. See more.

JAMES BOND'S LOTUS ESPRIT

'James Bond's Lotus Esprit' from the film "The Spy Who Loved Me", was modelled by corgi in its undersea guise with wheels covered and windows shuttered. The stabilisers and fins were retractable, but once retracted the model look odd, as the road wheels were not modelled. Small whizzwheels tucked under the chassis served only to allow the model to glide a couple of millimetres from the floor. the 007 label on the bonnet did not appear on the real car, again for obvious reasons, but the salvo ofb rockets that could be fired from the rear window was authentic. A nice model, and always very popular, it was finished in white to 1/36th scale. It is easily found quite cheaply today, as it was available until 1984. See more

OLDSMOBILE STARFIRE FROM THE MAN FROM UNCLE

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. There were 105 episodes created by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that made up this series. The first season was broadcast in black-and-white.
The series centered on a two-man troubleshooting team for a fictitious secret international law-enforcement agency, the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.): American Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn), and Russian Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum). Leo G. Carroll played Alexander Waverly, the British head of the organization (Number One of Section One). Lisa Rogers (Barbara Moore) joined the cast as a female regular in the fourth season.

Here is the Corgi model 1961 Oldsmobile Starfire from ‘Man from UNCLE Thrushbuster’. The Thrushbuster as modelled featured of Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin seated within, and by pressing the roof-mounted periscope, both would ‘shoot’ their pistols through the open side windows.

Rotating spot-lamps (which seem to be well over-scale) were sited on each front wing and a label depicting the UNCLE logo was affixed to the bonnet. This latter feature never actually appeared on any UNCLE vehicles for obvious reasons, but it does add to the appeal of the model, giving it a sort of identity. For good measure the logo was also cast onto the baseplate and three bullet holes adorned the windscreen. Earliest and rarest versions were finished in a creamy-white with a matching interior, whilst all later versions were a metallic dark blue (almost purple) with a yellow interior. A casting difference is evident between the white and the blue versions, the later castings having a raised-relief rectangle on the bonnet to facilitate the application of the UNCLE label.

THE 'JAMES BOND ASTON MARTIN'

The ‘James Bond Aston Martin’ first saw the light of day in the film Goldfinger; it was the title of the film that resulted in the model being finished in metallic gold instead of the proper metallic silver in which it appeared in the film. At 96mm long, this was the smallest of three eventual versions and was to 1/48th scale. James Bond was seated in the red interior along with a passenger which could be ejected through the flip roof section. A front ram, machine guns and rear bullet shield were the other operating features. Apart from the colour, the model at first glance seems to be well portrayed, even to the spoked wheels. Closer examination reveals that this is, however, Corgi’s old DB4 model with the front end re-tooled to resemble a DB5. The rear end is unaltered. This hybrid model lasted until 1968 when it was superceded by a larger and more accurate version

CORGI TOYS - POPEYE'S PADDLE WAGON

Popeye's Paddle Wagon was another cartoon based model, but its authenticity this time is in question. Nevertheless it is still a beautiful model with its own particular charm and although it was available for three years, it is a ver y rare item today. The body was finished in yellow with a red chassis and a white deck, and as the vessel was moved along, the figures of Popeye and Olive Oyl would rock from side to side, the head of Bluto and Wimpy would move up and down in the pistons on each side of the smoke stack, whilst the figure of Sweet Pea could be lowered from the rear cradle in his small life boat. Half car, half paddle boat, this imaginative model even in cluded a rope and anchor on the front running boards and tins of spinach lined up at the rear.

'JOE 90' TV SERIES

Joe 90 is a 1968 television series concerning the adventures of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine, set in the years 2012-13. Devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, a single season of thirty 25-minute episodes was completed, and it was the last show to be made exclusively using a form of puppetry called "Supermarionation". It was created for Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment by Century 21 Productions (by this time also under Grade's ownership), and was first broadcast on the British ITV network by Associated Television.

CAPTAIN SCARLET TV SERIES - MAXIMUM SECURITY VEHICLE

One of three vehicles released from the ‘Captain Scarlet’ TV series was the ‘Maximum Security Vehicle’. With a white body, red base and side stripes, it featured opening gull wing doors with access to the red interior and ‘radio-active’ packing case. This 1/48th scale model is an accurate representation in all but colour, as the vehicles in the series were silver-grey with an orange stripe. No variations were noted in its eight year run, except possibly a speed wheel version with a blue interior, said to have been released on a blister card around 1975. See more.

'CAPTAIN SCARLET' TV SERIES

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as simply Captain Scarlet, is a science fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions Television company of Gerry Anderson, John Read, Reg Hill and Sylvia Anderson. It was first shown in the United Kingdom (originally on ATV Midlands, but later the whole of the UK) between September 1967 and May 1968. It used puppetry (Supermarionation) and scale model special effects.

The series is one of several of popular science-fiction TV adventure series the Andersons produced in the 1960s, beginning with Supercar and followed by Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90, and the little-seen The Secret Service. Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons was the first series made after the international success of Thunderbirds in 1964-66.

DINKY TOYS - THUNDERBIRD 2 AND 4

The smaller of two eventual versions of 'Thunderbird 2' represented a scale of around 1/515th, and both halves of the fuselage were die-cast. Early versions were finished correctly in gloss green whilst later versions were finished in metallic green. The spring loaded folding legs were usually moulded in yellow, but some do turn up with red. A small yellow plastic model of Thunderbird 4 was included in side the removeable cargo pod. In 1974, this model was superceded bu a slightly larger 1/500th scale version, the bottom half of the fuselage still initially diecast but soon being changed to plastic. All the larger versions were finished in metallic blue, the all die-cast version having both halves finished in the same colour. The plastic bottomed versions did not have the bottom painted, and so appeared as metallic blue and black two-tone for most of the production run, though the very last versions (around 1980) appeared with a white plastic bottom half. Again, the folding legs on these larger versions could be either yellow or red. The smaller scale Thunderbird 2's are valued highest today, the gloss green commanding slighty more than the metallic green, though the short lived all die-cast large version is not far behind. --(Model Collectors) See more