Take a look at this 1970s plastic fantastic that has just come my way. Model car makers just like full size car makers need to get the most out of the tooling they have spent money on and in the model car world this results in some unlikely outcomes.
The laziest is the rally version which is just means covering absolutely any model with stickers and most manufacturers have done this as its easy and cheap. I should give credit to Polistil here though as they did put a little more effort into their rally versions by misting them with a bit of brown, beige or red paint to simulate mud.
The second favourite is the emergency services version which in most cases gives three versions, Police, Fire and Doctor/ Red Cross and its these that can bring the surreal to your display cabinet – with the Guisval Red Cross Citroen SM, the Corgi Coastguard Jaguar XJ12C, the Dinky Cadillac 62 Police car or this Fire Chief’s car by Hong Kong’s Lucky Toys. This model is based on a 1975-77 American Chrysler Cordoba Personal Luxury Coupe. American cars have long been popular with Police forces around the world particularly in the 1960’s and 70s they were even seen in Europe and Asia, but they were usually base trim V8 powered sedans and I’m fairly sure that no one ever used a fairly expensive Personal Luxury Coupe like the Cordoba.
The Lucky Toys model is simple but well modelled with an accurate grille and even has a textured rear part of its roof to replicate the real cars standard half vinyl top. This one has some damage but as they are so fragile it’s amazing it has survived for half a century at all. Toys like this really wouldn’t last for five minutes with today’s kids!
The Cordoba was a big success for Chrysler and is well remembered for its TV ad campaign with the actor Ricardo Montalban. One of the phrases he uses in those ads has passed into the lexicon, the “fine Corinthian Leather” he enthuses over is just ordinary leather that came from a factory in New Jersey but with a posh sounding made up name to appeal to the social climbers of the day. It has become so famous that it has been referenced many times on film and TV in Batman, Scooby-Do, Deadpool and Cheers to name a few usually to call out BS from someone and to bring them back down to earth!
The odd thing about the Lucky Toy Cordoba is that I can’t find any pictures or reference to there ever being a non-emergency version of it. I have seen the Police version but if you know of any others, please let us know.
Now I’m going back to watching old car ads online, it’s a time sucker but most of them are hilarious.
Do you know if Lucky Toys produced a non-emergency version of the Cordoba?
Let us know and leave your comments in the box at the bottom of the page.
