I've seen it on the front of the car too even with the chopping blade being a different colour (not gold but silver) so this looks a genuine one to me. Quite early on in production corgi were selling these cars like hot cakes and couldn't keep up with demand (I'm pretty sure this was the case with the DB5 too) so they rushed and a few checks were bypassed usually using what parts there were even rejected parts just to get them on the shelves. Corgi never expected the DB5 or the batmobile to be as popular as they were and were aimed at adults not children. This would have happened possibly at the end of the matt black but more likely gloss black, same as the filled in right door wing later on. Sales were important and they didn't have a big stock early on (and well we all know what happened later on when they did) so anything that wasn't really noticeable the parts would be used.

I have researched this issue further and have found some other people with examples of Gold/Silver Matte black batmobiles.

It seems that this may be a fairly common issue for a very uncommon surviving matte black batmobile?

As to the provenance (from the original owner) –
In 1966 and 1967, I was working at a stationery store in Ridgewood, NJ, were I grew up. At that same time, the Batman TV show was on TV – you probably know the one – with Adam West.

Anyway, at the stationery store (called Drapkin’s) I was more or less a stock boy – filled up candy shelves, got evening papers from the train and brought them to the store front (at that time, the Erie Railroad –later called Erie-Lackawanna – dropped off newspaper bundles along the route from Hoboken, NJ up to Suffern, NY. It was the Bergen County Line, now part of NJ Transit.

Anyway, at Drapkin’s, I remember there was a display case full of toys. Corgi, Matchbox, and I think Dinky too. But I clearly remember the Corgi models and the Matchbox larger and more expensive models. I remember there were farm vehicles, military items, construction items. I only bought two items at that time - a Mustang Fastback car and the Batmobile. I bought the Batmobile because I liked the Batman TV show. I had no thoughts of collecting and at that age (then a junior high school kid) I was too old to play with cars. I remember the Batmobile was $5.00, rather expensive for the time. I think the Mustang may have been about $2.00 or $3.00 then. Of course, I wish I had bought more models, but back then, no one (at least not me) was thinking long term collecting value.
So, over the years, the Mustang and the Batmobile moved with me and were in a box of items from my youth. I probably didn’t think of these models very often and if I actually looked at them more than a couple of times over the years, it would be a lot.

There isn’t much room were I live now and over the last many years, but really have no place to display. SO instead of just sitting in boxes in my closet (it was a very full closet), I sold the items and freed up some space, got a little money back and I think importantly, ensured that the items went to people who liked that sort of thing and could appreciate it.

What strikes me as unusual in the rear wheel hubs. The fronts are clearly gold color, but the rears have more of a silver tint.

Turbine exhaust nozzle are clearly a silver tint.

This was taken from a recent forum:

Corgi 267 First edition Wheel Hub Question

greenmonster9418
I recently purchased a really nice first edition, matte black Corgi 267. It comes from a person who actually bought this when he was in high school back in 66-67 time frame. Basically, the car is unplayed with, came with a decent outer box, really nice inner box with carboard shroud and ring. His story is quite believable, and is quite detailed as to what store it came from, the years he worked there, location, etc.
I have scrutinized the car and everything looks quote good and correct. Except for one thing.. the wheel hubs.. The front axel hubs are gold with the red bats in the centers. The rear axel hub looks more silver to me, with the red bats in the centers. The type of hub looks correct, no spokes like the later versions.
My question is if anybody has every seen or heard of this oddity before.
If I can figure out how to post photos here, I will do that soon.
Thanks for your help.

szabol

My guess is the gold either flaked away, chipped away or was painted to match the real car.

Batusi
I'd say the rear hub is probably just a case of poor quality control.

66BAT
So not only is it a mint original, one owner find, it's an "error" car (or possibly early release/proto)...

A Pennyworth
I can't say one wheel is any softer than the others in my examples, all the rubber tires appear to have appropriately aged together.

I have 4 matte cars and the mix of gold and silver rims are,
#1 silver-silver drivers side (front back), gold-gold passanger side
#2 silver-silver drivers side, silver-gold passanger side
#3 silver-gold drivers side, gold-silver passanger side
and one, #4, with all golds rims.

Batusi
My two mattes both have all 4 gold rims, but on one, both rear rims have lost most of the gold over the years. In AP's lower image it looks like the same thing happened--you can see a little residual gold is still there in a couple of places.

greenmonster9418
great discussion, looks like this is a common variation for an uncommon original matte black car. In the photos that I posted, you can see the inside of the wheel hub, and it still looks silver. I had originally thought that the gold perhaps flaked or even faded off, but the silver color looks through and through on mine.
anyone have a feel for how many of these original matte blacks are still around?

A Pennyworth
I agree w/ greenmonster9418 in that all my wheels which show the silver hubs, the are completely silver, outside and inside where the axle attaches. The gold are all gold so I don't believe there was any flaking off of any paint/finish in these silver wheels.

Batusi
Maybe it's just an artifact on your bottom photo, AP. I thought that little spot next to the lower right of the bat looks like a tiny spot of gold tone. Also a smidge on the outer rim too. Looking again, it could just be reflection of the light source. Mine looks like on one side there are a few flecks of gold missing inside the rim and the other side all the gold is gone except the very edge of the outer ring. In any case, it's pretty well known that some of the early ones had all gold tone parts and some had a grey metal thumb wheel for the missiles launcher and/or release button for the front chain cutter, or the blade itself, so I'm sure some grey rims got thru as well.