I remember somebody was looking for this? Well, here\'s one in excellent condition AND excellent box. Only 1 bid so far and (currently) an incredible bargain at just £7.95!!!

cgi.ebay.co.uk/Corgi-273-Rolls-Royce-/29...s_DiecastVehicles_JN

Another photo...

It\'s got four more days, so I suspect it\'ll go up a bit

Also, I can\'t tell if it just has really nice shiny paint or if there\'s a bit of yellowing on the cream paint.

I got my Golden Jacks years ago.  They never looked right to me!  What do you think?

I got jacked! (sorry, bad joke...) 

No, they don\'t look right... they\'re each missing a wheel But seriously I love the \"Golden Jacks\", they\'re really unique (I think only 6 different models were ever made) and although the idea of removable wheels may not have been the best (loose wheels on a toy car made for kids = whoops, the wheel is missing), I think it was a remarkable achievement in modeling.
I have the Mini Marcos and the Rover (so far)

One could also argue, that the Golden Jacks concept may have been the last true major achievement for Corgi. Shortly after the launch, they suddenly decided it was time for the dreaded WHIZZWHEELS and from then on it was all downhill. One after one the range of models recieved \'updates\' to Whizzwheels... unfortunately many of them lost a lot of details in the proces - the Jaguar E-Type, just to mention one, lost the opening doors and the intricate copper-plated exhaust (replaced by one made of plastic).

Next came \'the age of fantasy\' aka \'the age of bling\' when real cars were considered to boring, so the designers made up fantasy models instead: plastered with stickers, dragster wheels and oversized engines. Then came the heavy mazak castings, the scale change away from 1/42-1/43 to 1/36 and so on.

An interesting (if depressing) experiment is to compare some of Corgi\'s \'mainstay models\' like the Land Rovers, Minis and Volkswagen Beetles, and see how they\'ve changed through the years.

To be fair, Corgi were not alone in this, both Dinky and Matchbox/Lesney went through largely similar processes.

You can blame all those changes in Corgi, Dinky, Matchbox on us Americans; we gave you 16 Hot Wheels in 1968!  :-(  But those Take-off wheels were a real engineering marvel.  Same reason I like those classic Teknos - great design and engineering went into them both.

Here is another Corgi I got, probably not too soon after it was released! Posted this picture a while ago somewhere or the other.  Again, it looks sorta strange?

Box is long gone, but the \'roo is still here!  After I posted the pic, someone said: \"Dude, you got cheated.  Whoever sold it to you put the wrong replacement wheels on it!\"  Dooo....  I liked the jacked-up look better anyway...  ha ha ha again.

Hey... the front wheel looks like the Marcos one, right? And the rear is certainly from the Rolls!

I also forgot earlier... I \'have\' the Hillman Hunter as well (minus \'roo) actually I\'m still waiting for it to arrive, could be any day now. VGC, judging from the auction photos, with everything complete and in working order (still minus the \'roo, of course). I don\'t know what it is about this model, but judging from what\'s mostly offered on E-bay, it must have a very strong \'throw-me-down-the-stairs\'-appeal: there\'s almost always something missing or broken: the toolbox, the spare tires, the spotlights, the kangaroo catcher or the ramps in the rear.

Just after buying it, I found an original kangaroo on auction as well, but it ended up selling for almost as much as the car, so I let it go! (haha, very funny, I let the kangaroo go, or should that be jump? )

Most of the changes you talk about were due to trying to save costs on manufacture and therefore increase profits. Let us not forget they were all having problems in their latter days and tried to say afloat with change. Molds wore out so the change was there. Less detail in the new mold ment less time in making it and maybe less metal in the casting? as not as much detail could afford a thinner shell? like Hot Wheels and Matchbox of today.

Teebodk wrote:


So that\'s where my missing take-off wheels went!  Good eyes, man!

Before they went to the normal Whizzwheels, they tried the red dot or red spot style.  This was originally destined as a Golden Jack, then converted.  Boxes were already printed, so labels were attached!  Cool history, eh?

...

and...

didn\'t we have a post here earlier about the Golden Jacks???

Rover


Oldsmobile


Mini Marcos


Hillman Hunter


Corvette (haven\'t got the red one yet)


Camaro

Yes, we do have a golden jacks thread. I think it was in the Dinky area, but I\'m not positive. It was a few months back.

Search is not easy on this site, but found 3 hits - was it this thread:
http://www.planetdiecast.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=824&func=view&id=23045&catid=61&limit=6&limitstart=0

or this one:
http://www.planetdiecast.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=824&func=view&id=12419&catid=52&limit=6&limitstart=0

or this blog:
http://www.planetdiecast.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=86524&Itemid=517