Corgi 343 Pontiac Firebird
with Golden Jacks

 

Corgi 343 Pontiac Firebird With Golden Jacks Very Rare

Only here from the shop of Dr Dinky Professional Die-cast Restorations


The Pontiac Firebird with Golden Jacks Take off Wheels.


There will be only very few in the world like this.


This will redefine the word exclusive.


Every Corgi collector knows that Corgi was not going to be the same anymore when the dreaded Whizzwheels arrived.
Corgi was so eager to change to the new thing Whizzwheels that they revamped three models destined for normal wheels to Whizzwheels. These were the 342 Lamborghini Miura and the 344 Ferrari Dino and the 343 Pontiac Firebird.

These models were actually ready for production and were made for the range of Golden Jacks Take off Wheels, a beautiful system with little levers, jacks, to release the wheel so kids could take wheels on and off. These wheels were very lifelike. These two models had already their boxes printed, showing the Take off Wheels.

So Corgi hastily adapted the chassis to accept the Whizzwheels. They covered the Golden Jacks text with a flimsy sticker introducing the Whizzwheels. But under the hood of the Miura was a spare wheel and that still was a Take off Wheel.

This got me thinking: Would it be possible to turn back the clock to just before the Whizzwheels era? How nice would these models look with their original designed wheels? Taking a closer look revealed that the slots for the jacks were only slightly filled in and you could still see the outline where they should have gone. Opening the model up showed that everything for the Golden Jacks was basically there, it just had to be brought out. A donor Golden Jacks vehicle was used for the suspension and axles with the jacks.

Now with the Firebird I had to use the bottom of the Camaro, because this one had the Golden Jacks, but then that says

Camaro, so I cut out the name Firebird and grafted it in the bottom of the Camaro.

I actually made three versions:
1)The silver one with just the bottom modifications and Golden Jacks added.
2)The blue one with scoops and spoiler with same modifications as the first version.
3)The blue one with no scoops and no spoiler and corrected valance.

The first version is the closest to the original Red Dot Wheels version.

In the third version is the most modified one and now also the valance was changed as it sits further forward by the Firebird.

The 1969 catalog showed a Firebird “available later” in blue, black interior , no spoiler and with Golden Jacks. So now I had to shave off the spoiler. I made this one without the scoops to give it a cleaner look.
I’m actually working on the next one which has the low scoops as in the catalog.

The Firebird does not have a box as it only came in the printed box with Whizzwheels on it.
So here you have it, the Firebird as is was designed to look. This is one of my most complicated modifications I made.
At the end of the auction, the winner may choose which version he wants.

The I have the Lamborghini, Ferrari Dino available too, so stay tuned.
If you really want the most exclusive Corgi Toy in your collection, this is it.

The rivets are a Dr Dinky trademark so close to the real thing, you never believe they are not original.
Look also in my store, it is being set up so inventory will change often with new additions.