Prototypes or fake :

1 - Through out the Corgi history, as new models were designed and produced, prototypes were produced and often managed to leave the company and enter into the hands of collectors.
These prototypes often had non standard colour schemes, or unusual fitments.

The actual quantities produced of each will probably never be know but most certainly they were very low, perhaps even single figures.

These models rarely become available on the market, and on the rare occasion that they do, can fetch escalated prices at auction.

Following are the ones that we know exist, there may be many more.

White Mini Marcos
- Red hubs on gold wheel rimed wheels, in place of the standard single piece black plastic molding with chrome plating.

2 - Some guy there had previously shown how to remove red spots and re-attach to a Whizzwheels model without taking off the baseplate. Other mint Whizzwheel Corgis with the red spots have shown up on ebay lately as well. Please Beware!

They were all called Whizzwheels. Just the early ones had the red dot ones.

These are not easy to reproduce as the wheels are metal and the red dot is a nylon insert. The bigger tires, like the Batmobile, are available as replacements, but the smaller ones, like front wheels of some models, are not. I asked the tire man in Holland and he said it was to expensive to make a new mold.

However there are lots of wrecks where you can take those wheels off.

I would not pay huge amounts for some "special" models with red dots. They are indeed easy to swap.

The Astro did come originally with Red Spot Wheels, so did the early Ferrari Dino, Pontiac Firebird and that is it I believe. But in that period who is to say they did not use them up to complete an order? So don't be to excited about them, eventhough they are attractive and preferred over the later ones.

Here is a prime example. I'm not quite sure if it is original ? Don't fall for it

So, maybe - just maybe - these were made by Corgi workers for themselves, using the original Corgi machines (for riveting etc). This could be possible, and maybe those obscure red spot variations that sometimes appear on ebay (like the Marcos 3-Litre, Iso Grifo, Toyota 2000 GT) are not "fakes" but were really made in the Corgi factory privately by employees.

But this would still not make them authentic Corgi releases, and I doubt that such cars would become available in a toy store.