RAC International Rally B.M.C. Mini Cooper 'S' (333)

Based on a car driven by Tony Fall and Mike Wood in 1966’s RAC / SUN Rally, Corgi added a sump guard to their Mini Cooper casting and gave it an impressive six jewelled headlights. Unusually, it came in a Corgi 225 Austin Seven box with a ‘1966 RAC International Rally’ label stuck over the top. The lack of a dedicated box didn’t help off-the-shelf sales – that’s if shops even stocked Corgi 333 as it only appeared on order forms for eight months. By late 1967, the Corgi warehouse had a stock surplus resulting in it being included with the Carrimore Car Transporter as part of Gift Set 48.

Today it is one of the rarest of Corgi’s Mini Coopers. Both Morris and Austin-badged originals exist, some with shaped wheel hubs and others with the cast ‘louvre’ design. In January 1967, a thousand 333 models (presented in a plain white box) were given away as part of a Sun newspaper reader competition.