Corgi Batmobile web site

Corgi Batmobile "C267" : 1966 - 1983

Corgi Batmobile History 1966 – 1983.

All Corgi 267 Batmobiles were made at the Mettoy plant Swansea South Wales UK.

The first Corgi 267 Batmobile was first produced in October 1966 it was painted matt black and had wheels with red bats on gold hubs. It is known as the 'red-hubs' Batmobile and was produced for about 6 months.

The next version was identical to the 1st except that it was gloss black in appearance (same box and accessories).

Shortly after this Corgi designed the Batboat (Corgi no. 107); this was on a trailer that was supposed to attach to the rear of the Batmobile.

Immediately there was a snag as there was no way to attach the trailer to the back of the car. To get around this Corgi quickly made a black plastic trailer coupling that pushed on over the Batmobile’s exhaust, these plastic trailer couplings are now very very rare as they more often got broken or lost.

Corgi realised that they needed a more permanent way of attaching the boat to the car and developed the tow-hook Batmobile. This was another version and subsequent Batmobile variants were fitted with a tow hook.

For the 1973 Corgi stopped using rubber tyres and swapped to hard plastic smooth sided Whizzwheels on chrome 8 spoked hubs.

The introduction of the Whizzwheels also meant the modification of the rear suspension however the front suspension not change. Another casualty of these wheels was the jet turbine flame from this point on it didn't go in and out.

Another version only differed by having different tyres they showed tread on the side walls.

The 1976 version had different 12 spoke chrome hubs with tyres they showed tread on the side walls.

Also it had a raised inscription on the base saying: " Batmobile" and "National Periodicals Publications, Inc".

Corgi went on to make a wide-wheeled version until 1983.

Typically Batmobiles could be found with the common blue screens but they were also made with clear screens and purple !!!

So below is my interpretation of all versions that I know about, I've described all the variations.

My interpretation of the various versions may be incomplete or incorrect. If you know the facts to be different from the way I've described them, feel free to contact me and let me know your interpretation.

www.batmobile@free.fr

Basically, there were many versions of main body styles (molding variations, wheels and tyres, tow hook...).

Corgi made roughly 4.9 million of these cars over the years.

But it's false to think that Corgi :

- had bins of certain types of older parts still on hand when newer parts were being manufactured.

- had bins of older parts laying around that were manufactured at different times and eventually assembled into a Batmobile.

Early Corgi cars were transported around the factory in steel trays and packed in tight, metal-to-metal - small dings and rubs were normal. Also, they were spray painted by hand!!!!

"If you ever see a mint Corgi, it wasn't made by us."

It’s also not uncommon to find early Batmobiles with a broken suspension or some sort of damage to them, even down to the windscreen. These early Batmobiles were transported around the factory by hand, a lot of damage ensued. Since they were already riveted and Corgi had no damaged goods part and no way to repair them, if the damage wasn't too extensive, they let them go. So early Batmobiles could be found with damaged glass (hairline cracks) or the suspension broken on one side. They also tended to get damaged through transport or even just being on display in a shop!! Since the boxes weren't sealed, it wasn't uncommon for people who were in the shops just to take out the rockets or even Robin whilst no one was looking!! I spotted a lot of damaged Batmobiles in the shops when i was younger, or missing parts, or broken parts.