The wheels are unfortunate - standard ugly cheap-looking Corgi wheels, and there is no paint detail (taillights, etc.) other than the Canon, Castrol and #44 tampos.
But the metal casting has nice and clear detail, clearly showing the kidney grill, lights, etc. And its a somewhat unusual subject - while enthusiasts love the 1st generation M3, it's not a frequently modeled die-cast car.
But what makes this casting so unusual in my eyes, is what it says on the bottom... "Porsche"!
Really Corgi? I know you were a British company, but still, Germany's not that far away... You didn't know the difference between a Porsche and a BMW?
I don't know if this is a 1-off example, a known-error, or whether all of these M3s were labeled as Porsches... I have 2 Corgi collecting books published by Schiffer. The Dr. Force book ends prior to the introduction of more modern toys like this BMW/Porsche. The Manzke guide goes up past the Mattel era, but makes no mention of this individual casting (or the possibility of an error on the baseplate).
I have some error cards, where the blisterpack card mis-labels a car. For instance, I think I have a Matchbox Chevy Tahoe (like the one featured in my "Battle of the Full Size SUVs part III") still mint on card, where the card says that its an ambulance... But I've never seen a casting baseplate error like this before!
Nice work, i am puzzled about this model, as I have never seen a bmw m3 e30 on a widebody disguise like Gr.5...not sure which car was based in. About the base plate error I can imagine the wide body Gr5 looks similar to how a porsche K3 935 will looks like, and the base plate might be compatible as thouse are very similar silouettes.
ReplyDeleteAs Corgi neared it's dying breaths they may have used the same baseplate moulds for different castings. This error casting was made in China, so it's 1990-1991 period. Thus was the era Corgi was enduring and cost-cutting was the order of the day.
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