Corgi Toys (462) Commer Van Promotional

Notes

Few were made during the early 1970’s. The dealer who purchased the lot at a much later date asserts that there were 136 in all. They were commissioned by a Mason’s Lodge.
This Commer Van model is based on the standard Corgi 462 model. This example is in mint condition with a distinctive original grey finish, red interior and silver dished wheels, rivetted base.

The clean, crisp and bright box (correctly un-numbered) looks like old shop stock quality. Exceptional – this is a truly outstanding item produced in such few numbers.

Intertwined in the history of this model is the inclusion of a COMBEX Leaflet with some.
This leaflet has been the subject of some debate over the years.
This example (which was originally purchased from us in 2018) does indeed include the leaflet:

The owner has added this information which may be of interest to collectors:
“I remember being on the lookout for the promotional Commer Van, at which point it was very clear that most were screwed together, and because of that and the fact the boxes were in such good condition, there was initially a great deal of suspicion about those vs the rivetted examples. It’s interesting that since then (early ’90s, from memory) it took me until 2018 to find a rivetted example. It was when the wheels were identified as the 163 Glo-Worm Capri wheels that the acceptance grew, especially as it was recognised that there were modifications internally needed to accommodate these wheels – one brave soul unscrewed his screwed version to show the different axle treatment – and gave it the credibility it deserved. Interestingly, the leaflet (which was intended to give it this credibility) was shown to be a folly – i did searches on Companies House to verify the story it was purporting to tell, and drew a complete blank. Also the link between the Masonic Lodge and the Combox company was never resolved, so we just have to look at it for what it is – possibly the most recently discovered, previously-unknown promotional, produced in serious enough numbers for it to have been factory made, with internal engineering modifications and with the interesting volume split between rivetted and screwed final assembly. And a piece of paper from c.1990”.