Husky / Corgi Juniors by Mettoy #26a Sunbeam Alpine

Corgi issued their model of the 1964 Sunbeam Alpine series III in 1966. It featured a detachable transparent dark blue tinted roof, clear glazing over yellow plastic seats and a chrome plated plastic baseplate with simple suspension. The mazac body was painted metallic copper and all were fitted with 9x2mm solid dark grey plastic wheels.

In 1968 the Sunbeam was recoloured crimson,which may or may not have been a choice influenced by the hugely popular Mel Brooks TV comedy ´´Get Smart´´ which featured a red example in the credits and some episodes.
In 1969 11x2mm black plastic tyres dished on one side for a plated inserted hubcap improved the looks of the final production run of these cars. These chrome hubcap cars are the only really difficult to find issue with most known to have been packed in Giftsets or export blisterpacks. All versions were packed in the standard red over white blisterpack designed for sale in Woolworths stores although the final few months of Husky production were packaged in the short lived yellow blisterpacks - if any hubcap Sunbeams were sold in yellow blisterpacks photographic proof is still needed.

This is a very fragile toy, the roof is easily lost and very little pressure can break the glazing and collapse the suspension - not forgetting that chrome can blister off of the plastic baseplate if the toy gets heated by sunshine. So while well over a million were made with no obvious casting or paint shade variations, the vast majority of survivors are in poor condition and mint sealed in the blisterpack example fetch good prices, particularly the crimson examples with hubcaps.