Batmobile "Red Spot" Whizzwheels

 

Low friction wheels known as 'Whizzwheels' were introduced to keep up with the competition in September 1969 with the Ferrari 206 Dino Sports (344) finished in either red and white or yellow and black. The first incarnation (known to collectors as 'Red Spots') featured rubber tyres and brass hubs with low friction red nylon centres, which though attractive and effective, were expensive to produce and were soon replaced by plastic wheels. Although giving more 'play value', later Whizzwheels models are less popular with collectors today as they take away some of the character and realism of the earlier regular wheeled models fitted with rubber tyres. Models fitted with the short-lived 'Red Spot' Whizzwheels, however, have become highly collectable, particularly extremely rare versions which were specially manufactured to be used as examples of the new gimick by Corgi's sales team.

 

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.

 

Corgi 267 Batmobile with RED SPOT wheels. A very scarce and original variation (????) from The 'Monty Calme' Corgi Collection.

notes:
The Monty Calme landmark Corgi Collection, covering the width and breadth of Corgi models amassed over decades by an exuberant collector. The Monty Calme collection is a truly astonishing gathering of the best of Corgi models and ephemera, including rare and unique pieces and point of sale items. The largest collection we have ever seen.

Sold to ‘Monty Calme’ by QDT in 2006 from a landmark Corgi collection compiled by an enthusiast in Austria.
This is a rare 2nd type version with fixed tow hook and fitted with red spot wheels with gold surround.


Corgi use the Whizzwheels with the ‘’Red Spot” hub centers between 1969 and 1970. The few existing “‘Red Spot” would soon all make obsolete by the new, all plastic wheels, to be available very shortly.

So if Corgi made a Corgi 267 Batmobile with the ‘‘Red Spot” hub centers (1969-1970), it’s on first version of Corgi 267 without "National Periodical Publication" on the bottom not on a Corgi 267 with "National Periodical Publication" on the bottom (after 1976).

They are 6 years between ends of “Red Spot” production and begin of Corgi 267 with "National Periodical Publication" on the bottom, it’s impossible for Corgi to make a car like this!

 

Aerial doesn't look right, it looks repro. It has tyre and worse of all it has National Periodical publicaton on the bottom. Corgi stopped using tyres a few yearsbefore this car was made!!! It's looks to me like someone has swapped the wheels, this car would have had 12 spoke whizzwheels on it, and even then it's wrong Batman and Robin figures that look like they're from a red bat-hub model. Too many things wrong with it.

 

Here is a "Code 3" version of the Corgi 267 Batmobile with the first type 'RED DOT WHIZZWHEEL' with rubber tyre.

How nice would Batmobile look with their first red spot whizzwheels ? This is "code 3" version, wheels are swapped, without taking off the baseplate :

 

 



Restored version from "00heaven2012" :