RAC Radio Rescue Land Rover (416)

This ‘Series 1’ Land Rover was introduced into the Corgi range in 1959, a re-liveried version of Corgi 351 from the previous year. It omits 351’s bonnet-mounted spare wheel but added an aerial and a roof-mounted Radio Rescue sign, retaining the earlier model’s tinplate ‘tilt’, now with an RAC logo. Just over 200,000 were made, production ending in 1962.

A small number didn’t have the roof-mounted sign whilst others included ‘Radio Rescue’ lettering on the ‘tilt’ alongside the RAC logo. In December 1962 it was revamped as Corgi 416S, with a ‘Series 2’ Land Rover body and featuring suspension, a plastic ‘tilt’ plus a moulded interior. Again, just over 200,000 were made, with production ending in 1965. These modest sales were dwarfed by Corgi 436, introduced at the same time. Despite being more basic ‘Series 2’ model, 436 sold in numbers of well over 1.5 million!