Dinky and Corgi cars

My favorite toys when I was young were my cars and every new model of Corgi or Dinky that I could afford which was few, I would buy or receive as gifts. I visited the toy shop on my way home from school and used to browse eyes agog,and long for the expensive ones I knew were well outside my price range like the large car transporter
and the circus lorries or other special issues of that ilk. I did however always have an up to date book displaying all the new models and in the privacy of my bedroom I would plan how much I could save and how long it would take before I could buy my next car. Among the cars I had when they were finally passed on to my younger brother was one of the first cars to have fingertip steering; a Jaguar fawn in colour with red seating and when you pressed the front wing the wheels would turn in that direction. Another car I remember was the sunbeam rapier that had little glass beads inserted acting as headlamps or the pale blue jaguar mark ten with the boot that opened to reveal two suitcases inside. I used to keep them lined up under our living room table and used their boxes as a lockup type of garage. The progress these toys took in my lifetime was fantastic as they went from the basic hard wheels and no glass to doors and boots opening even ending up with a good engine compartment that looked so lifelike to a young boy when he lifted the hood his imagination would take over until he was living it and driving it for real in his head. I had a black and green Humber Super Snipe in my collection, possibly influencing the purchase of my first car which was a pale blue and black Humber Super Snipe that I had for the first year of my driving life. The real car will be long gone to the scrapyard but the the Dinkies and Corgis I used to play with were handed down and eventually passed out of my life. I am sure some of them will still be around unlike the real thing and of course the value of them keeps going up unlike real cars, and knowing what I know now I wish I had kept my treasured cars instead of passing down. If I still had them I doubt if I would sell them though as it is quite acceptable for grown men to have them now and it was only because I thought I was too old for them then that forced me to give them away in the first place. I enjoy browsing in shops that sell these old toys to see some of the cars I owned in my childhood or watch The Antiques Road Show where you get the occasional glimpse of the past.

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