Genuine red tyred Batmobile

I have been collecting super striker from all eras for a few years now, and i have finally collected every palitoy and parker team all in MINT condition with NO re-glued arms, and i have plenty of spare teams as well, including the 3 rarest Liverpool, England and Scotland ( I think everyone wanted these 3 as kids, thats why they are so hard to find!!!). Anyone who needs them, i might be tempted to swap if the deals right lol!!! For anyone interested the named palitoy club teams are: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Everton, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City. Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur. There were 6 un-named teams that to be consistent with Peter Uptons super striker site, they were called Birmingham City, Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town (could be any blue white team to be fair) Middlesbrough, Plymouth Argyle and Leeds United away. With Birmingham, Crystal P and Plymouth the strips are very accurate, (Birmingham did wear blue shorts occasionally with this strip) the other 3 its anyones guess. I've tried to match up the kits but with no success so if anyone can help send me an email. There were also 8 international teams, which were England, Holland, Italy, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Wales West Germany. It is now very very hard to complete the set, so watch out for this on youtube, as i will put it all on video, including ALL 10 British versions of the game and all the extras you could get. The rarest of the pitches has to be the wembley fast pitch, which came with the older style players. My personal favourite has to be the super texture pitch, and its highly recommended. The best version is the one with the non-diving keepers (a blue box just with "striker" on the box). If you can find one on ebay then buy it!! I still bid on the teams just for fun now, If i win i win if i don't it doesn't matter anymore!! When i won that last team (West Germany) the relief that i'd finally completed the collection was obvious!!! Start collecting them if you love your football games, and see what i went through to get all the teams!!! Be prepared for it to last years lol!!! You can expect a team to cost between £40-£60, occasionally cheaper. If you are serious about collecting them all though then pay the price, because you might just get outbid in the last 2 seconds, and not by me either!!!   Just a note as well, Peter Uptons site actually makes the mistake of thinking that the NAMED teams were released first. They weren't. The un named teams were first released with the striker wembley fast pitch version, the named teams came out once it had switched to the super texture pitch. Prototypes of the un named teams do exist in the old striker player style with short sleeves and the same 60's 70's hair styles.

Ive also had for many years a big collection of batmobiles, only the corgi version mind. I currently own every version of the car made (but not the fake 76 red tyres one, as i know its fake!!!) All changes to the car (and boxes and boats) over the years were either mistakes or designed as cost cutting exercises.  I was around when all the cars were made and can spot a fake a mile off!!! What a lot of sellers are doing lately is changing the wheels on the red tyred version. Just to help you, the red tyred was released only for 6 months in 1972, which was a factory error which corgi liked and kept for this time. Once all the tyres were used, they went back to black. It wasnt meant as a limited edition or anything, it ran for 6 months until all the tyres were gone. This arose in confusion, when changing from the red hub batmobile to the whizzwheels. The only tyres they had were red, so ran with them. Plus, the loss of materials would have been expensive, so corgi had no choice really. No matter how some people believe this could have occurred on the 76 model, it didnt. The spare part bins that corgi had were emptied every so often for health and safety reasons, so it wouldnt have taken them 4 years to empty it. Hasn't anyone ever wondered why the batmobile never appeared with red hubs and a fixed flame?? This crossover,never happened, and no-one has ever claimed it did- Why? As other people proport, there were a number of possible crossovers. However, i don't, because i know different. Its because the spare bins in those early days were emptied very often!! Anyone whos worked in a factory will know this!! Here, i'm just trying to show you how ridiculous it is for anyone to suggest all tthese possible crossovers. If they were possible, it would have happened with fixed flames from 1972 having red hubs to start with . It simply didn't because they used up all the parts.Consequently, the only mistakes were when the model had a design change, from the mistakes with the bottom to the numerous body changes. . The red tyred had aqua glass ONLY, and it NEVER had national periodical on the bottom either. The first 76  new styled whizzwheeled cars had white or purple glass, which is why these still appear with batmobile on the bottom. Once all these were used, they switched to the national periodical bottom with the new style whizzwheels. A lot of people have ended up purchasing red tyred cars with national periodical on the bottom and light blue glass and are now convinced they are genuine, which is what the sellers were hoping for. If you weren't alive when they were first released or knew someone who worked at corgi then really you shouldn't be adding to the confusion and commenting on things that you've been convinced of and know nothing about apart from what youve been told by a seller.. It was IMPOSSIBLE for the cars to cross over with a gap of 4 years. All the red tyres had been used. Sorry guys, you've been the victim of a con. Sellers knew of the demand for the red tyred car, have bought battered red tyred and since the 72 model is hard to find now, have invented another cross over to keep up the interest in them. National periodical only started appearing on the car in 1976, 4 years after, at the insistence of the company.

What else is not commonly known is about the first version, the matt black. This was available in 1966 for 2 months only, and contained a very rare Robin figure. The Robin figure was a lot bigger than in later versions, and was very hard to fit in the car (unlike later versions, when you just tipped the car upside down and he fell out!!). He was like this in the matt black ONLY, when the gloss version came out 2 months later, the Robin figure was slightly (but not very noticeably) smaller, whereas in the matt black he was impossible to get in or out of the car without cracking the glass. His head was above and rammed against the glass and very hard to get in the car!!! In later versions, he got a lot smaller!!! The last Robin figure made was made of pink plastic, and found in the last version of the batmobile, the wide whizzwheels version. When the wide wheeled was put into its last box, the yellow black and red with detachable header card Robin was no longer included in the car. A rather basic explanation to help you is if you're unsure of what Robin figure should go in what car is the bigger he is, the older the car he belongs in. As for the rockets, they were either red or yellow, and ive noticed a lot of people stating that the red rockets werer available early on. Thats not quite true, as i saw later whizzwheels with red rockets when i was younger. From 1976 though, no instructions or badge were included with the car, you had to make do with a diagram on the back of the box instead!!! Cost cutting by corgi!! From 76, they had national periodical on the bottom, instead of batmobile. Some 76 whizzwheels do still have the word batmobile on instead of national periodical, and this occurs mainly with the white glass and purple glass. Corgi had leftovers about that they used the parts of when they had run out, this is why this mistake occurred for a few hundred batmobiles  Batmobiles, with different windshields, occurred because of a mistake in the dye. Purple was too much dye, white they simply forgot.to put dye in.  This error occurred just twice, in 1975. Once with the purple, once with the white. They had literally thousands of them so had to run with them. This stopped in 77, when they had used up all of the purple and white glass and then went back to using the blue. Normally, this fault would have been rejected, but there were simply too many of them to chuck away.They ran with them simply because of cost cutting. which is why the batmobile changed so much over the years. It was expensive to make the red hub batmobile, with all its features, so they simply got rid of some of them. The first casualty of the change was the pulsating flame, which was lost due to the change to red tyres. In 76, they got rid off the instructions envelope, and instead printed them on the box itself.The last version, the wide wheeled was by far the worst. They didnt trim the indicator horns, didnt paint the dashboards properly, and even ran out of the bat logos for the doors, but still had cars left over. The solution? Simply use the batcopter stickers. They werent going to print off more, especially since they were going under. (For anyone whos worked in a factory, it can take several months or even a couple of years to shut down a factory!!) If only they'd kept it the original way, it might still be popular. The batboat, there were 6 versions of this. The tin fin 1st issue, which came with aqua or white, purple and light blue and 2 versions of the later one. Early versions of the last issue batboat still have the cut outs on the body of the boat. If you look at the front of a tin fin and orange fin you will see that the tin fin has 2 slits where you can see into the boat, whereas later orange fin versions don't, apart from VERY VERY early orange fin ones. Its hard to describe or name it really, its the area where the raised area on the front of the boat dips into the front area which leads to the hook on the front.Theres 2 holes there either side. They simply used up the rest of the tin fin bodystyles they had left over.The type of batboat that appears on the back of 76 issues was a prototype  and was never produced for any of you that have ever noticed the differences between the boat you get and the pic on the back. Also, any whizzwheels made from 76 youll notice they tend to have a lot of chrome wear. Earlier models were painted twice and then lacquered whereas in later whizzwheels versions they only had one coat and were not lacquered. This is why some early models, even battered ones tend to keep the chrome finish a lot better, rather than the later issues.  Some of the batmobiles he displays on this site have had wheels changed i:e the wide wheels version with the rest of the car a 73-76 model. . Its SOOOO easy to change the wheels on a car, (look for damage on the inside The only versions sold (apart from body design changes, nose filled in, shorter fins at the back etc) i have listed below for you, and they are all genuine too!!! Its 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, i 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. The ariel simply changed from silver to grey in 76. They simply didn't bother putting the paint into the mix as it saved money, as the company was in trouble by this time. Although i don't own one or have never seen one, early 76 models with the new 12 spoke wheels still retain the silver ariel, as they used them until they ran out. It is also very easy to change the ariel on a car without undoing the bottom, it just requires steady hands and fingers!!! The fins were shortened because it was considered dangerous. The car to start with was meant as a collectors piece, but when it became obvious that a lot of parents were buying one for their children, they shortened them. Imagine an early batmobile with long sharp fins in the face!!! OUCH!!! The rear and nose were also filled in for the same reasons, because it was considered too sharp on little fingers!! Kids have a tendency to try to put their fingers in little holes!! I've seen and own a lot of batmobiles that have one nose filled in, fins long, rear half filled in and so on. The rear and the fins were at first the only ones to be considered very dangerous, one was half filled in the other shortened. When this proved inadequate, they filled  in completely the back piece. With the nose, on a lot they simply missed the one side! Later versions show that they corrected this problem. With the passengers  door, this was a moulding problem that they quickly corrected. If you look at some batmobiles the door line doesnt go straight up to touch the wing on late no towhook models. These body changes occurred very very late in the red hub no towhook version.  Someone also stupidly used the rejected parts (one nose filled in)  and used the new style body shape (both noses filled in and tail lights filled)  before the new red tyred (which it was intended for) because they'd run out of the old style. So if you can find a red hubbed batmobile with both noses filled in and the tail lights filled in you have a very rare type batmobile on your hands!! It also wasn't uncommon to find any of these batmobiles a couple of years AFTER the dates set below. This is because the shopkeepers didn't send them back to the factory to be repackaged, as corgi themselves had no repair section or a replacement section.  I myself saw the 76-79 available in 1981, and in another shop it was the wide wheeled 81-83 version. This is why you will find that the corgi catalogues are not a very accurate source of information. They put in the catalogue pictures of the car that were still AVAILABLE in the shops, thats why sometimes the catalogue can be a few years out of date!!! Yes, the cars were made between a certain time, but they didn't sell out in the shops immediately!! I myself had a red hubbed batmobile bought for me as late as 1977, by my father, and it was corner shops and little toy shops that these were still found in. They basically kept the stock until they sold out. Main toy shops sold out a lot quicker. If you look at some batmobile box type 1 (card box which ran until 1970) for example, you'll find some price marked £4.00, using the same price label as a 1972 red tyred box. Decimalization didnt occur in this country until 1972, so it shows you how late some were still available in shops.  Corgi unfortunately in early 1969 suffered a huge fire which destroyed the warehouse where over a years stock was kept. . Some shops had no corgi at all once they had sold out, so every model corgi was making they had to rush out to the shops, and because model numbers were limited, a lot of customers and suppliers turned to dinky. Corgi now had to make their models cheaper and faster and were no longer able to reject parts that mistakenly had wrong glass, wrong colour tyres etc and this led to the famous red tyred batmobile, purple canopy, white canopy etc. Corgi amended their box in 1970 to prepare for the inevitable which read "we reserve the right to amend specifications and colours". Corgi still had a lot of parts to carry on building the red hub car, but not for much longer. To try to catch up workers had a lot of overtime, and they couldn't afford now to get rid of any parts that before would have been rejected, and simply ran with them.  This is why the batmobile changed so much throughout the years, not by design, but having their hand forced. They had to make the models cheaper to produce, but if you notice the prices on the batmobile, say for instance a red hub one and the red tyred in the same box, you'll notice the red hub batmobile in 1972 was £4-£4:50, and the red tyred was exactly the same, even though it had one less feature (pulsating exhaust) and had red tyres, which to me are horrible!! The production for corgi was cheaper, but for us consumers it was still the same price. After a few years of putting off the inevitable, corgi called in the administrators in 1983 and were closed down. But, in 1984, they re-opened but by this time they had lost a lot of the rights to produce certain vehicles, including the batmobile. If you've ever wondered why sometimes Batman isn't sat in his seat properly, well this is because the cars ran down a conveyor belt, where workers either side put a figure in. One would put Robin in, the other Batman. The line ran too fast for the worker on the Batman side for them to be able to place him properly, so 9 times out of 10 he was just pushed as best as they could into the seat. Many times i've bought this car brand new, and this happened mainly with the whizzwheel type. This is because the numbers  they had to produce were higher than the red hubs version, so consequently they had to work quicker.  I always had to re-adjust Batman when i'd bought one!! The best way i've found is to part his feet a bit, and then get him in quick before the feet contract back together. Its the best way i've found to get his feet either side of the grooves, and don't worry about his feet snapping, they are pliable enough to bend a little, and will go back together once he's in the car.

2 Matt black Batmobiles

1966 corgi batmobile matt black, ran for 2 months only, exactly the same as the 66-67 version, apart from Robin and the paint was matt black This was due to the designers viewing the car before George Barris completed it, and when they viewed the car it hadn't been glossed, only primed. Corgi ran without the red stripes because it would have to be done by hand, and too many mistakes couild have occurred, like paint runs, and then they'd have to re-paint them.  Plus, since it was a factory, too much time would have been consumed doing this, and made the car a lot harder to purchase, as this would have pushed the numbers available in shops considerably down. It would also have made the car a lot more expensive. They ran with orange seats because the car in all black would have looked too dull, and since they weren't going to do the seats black, they didnt bother with the red pinstripe on the seats either. The blade at the front was corgis idea, simply because they couldn't do the battering ram which was on the car in the series. That came from underneath, so what corgi did was use the scanner that popped up on the tv series as a button for the blade instead, which came out of the bodywork. BATMOBILE in capital letters on the bottom of the car. There are versions of this car that i have seen people selling saying it has "purple seats". Now, i do own one of these but my version is gloss black, and i'm here to tell you the seats aren't purple at all. They are orange, the reason why they have this purple like effect is because the seats are thinner, and i'm guessing  the canopy glass is reflecting somehow on the orange seats or through them.  ALL tyres made for this version and any red hub batmobile had corgi toys around the edge of all 4 tyres. They had 3 lines (tread) running down the centre. Reproduction tyres i own have only 2 lines.

1966-67 corgi batmobile gloss black- ran for a year only, no towhook aqua glass only, pulsating flame, red bat hubs, silver beacon cage, Batman and Robin, instructions envelope containing red or yellow rockets, badge, special features leaflet BATMOBILE in capital letters on the bottom of the car. This car is easily found anywhere today, for a lot more money though!!! The only 2 differences between this and the matt black are obviously the paintwork and 2 the size of Robin.

1967-72 corgi batmobile gloss black- ran for 5 years, with a towhook, different shades of aqua glass, pulsating flame, red bathubs, pulsating flame, silver beacon cage, Batman and Robin,instructions envelope containing the same as above. Batman was with a grey body in all these early versions (but in 1970 he changed to blue and beacon changed to gold which coincided with the box change) This was the last model to have the red bat hubs, and it was changed because a lot of people claimed that the tyres kept breaking or splitting, rendering the car useless since corgi never sold spare parts to help you repair your batmobile, they sent them out free if you complained (which is why they changed the tyres).  The car was also supposed to be 500hp, which is very fast, but this car didn't move very fast!!! So the wheel change was designed to make the car move faster, and they didn't have to give out replacement tyres. BATMOBILE in capital letters on the bottom of the car. Still an easy car to find today especially on ebay. Just a short note, LAST issues of this car had SHORTER FIN TIPS. They also have bright gold wheel hubs. This is because corgi had run out of the long tips and used the new design with the older baseplate. These have the noses filled in and the rear tip area filled ion completely. Not many were made, and i have only ever seen 3 of them. This one is a very very rare batmobile.

1972 (LATE) ONLY- corgi batmobile- red tyres, whizzwheels version with 8 spoke hubs, the flame now no longer pulsed in and out, Batman and Robin (Batman now blue though, Robin slightly smaller) instructions envelope containing all the same apart from they were now red instructions.  Beacon cage was gold  on every model from now except one..  Only available with aqua glass This cost me £4.00, and i wish it was that now!!! I still have the original sticker on the box!! BATMOBILE in capitals on the bottom of the car. This should be the rarest car to find, but its not, thanks to sellers finding an angle.

1973- 76 corgi batmobile- same as the above but with black tyres, and for the first time there was a very noticeable difference with the glass. This version was available in blue, purple and white.  Curiously, only the purple glass retained the silver beacon cage. The last versions of this type had the white and purple glass. This car, made with white and purple glass to me are the rarest to find today. BATMOBILE in capital letters on the bottom of the car. The Robin figure was now not as bulky as in previous versions. He retained most of the height, but looked like he'd lost some weight. Batman was blue in every version of this car. For some strange reason which i haven't figured out is when i hold any version of this car, it feels heavier than the following version. The only thing that changed externally was the wheels, so im guessing something changed internally. Without opening one up, which i can't bring myself to do, i'll never know.

1976-79 corgi batmobile- now made with 12 spoke whizzwheels, Robin very small, no instruction envelope, available in blue, white and purple glass. The other main change was to the bottom of the batmobile, which now had national periodicals on the bottom. All versions before this just had BATMOBILE on the bottom. There are versions of this car that had BATMOBILE on the bottom, and they happened with the white and purple glass. which were the first to have the new styled wheels.. When the blue glass later followed, it had national periodical on it. I notice this car a lot on ebay with the WRONG Robin figure in. He was about the same size as the pink Robin, but not made of pink. Early versions of this car he was slightly bigger and his cape was a bright gold, as opposed to a dark brass colour like it had been in previous versions. His legs were a lot thinner and his colours were generally brighter, and his hair was now a light brown, not dark as before. His cape wore down a lot easier than previous versions, so to find a mint one is extremely rare. The Batman figure now started to wear lipstick (lol!!) in this version onwards. This is the most common and easy to find batmobile today. Rare variations of this model have also occurred. I have seen versions of this with the big horn indicators from a wide wheeled version, and it had yellow headlights!!! I've also spotted  this version of the batmobile with orange headlights and 76 wheels, so rare crossovers with the following model did occur. Watch out for them, they are very very rare!!!!!!!

1979-83 corgi batmobile- now made with wide wheels, (people tended to complain that the thinner whizzwheels broke or bent too easily and made the car useless when playing with them on concrete, and the suspension broke too easily, hence the wide wheels) early versions that came in the yellow blue with built in header card came with the pink Robin, the headlights changed from yellow to orange, and the horn indicators were not cut out properly. When the box itself changed in 81, to the black red yellow box with detachable header card, Robin was no longer in the car. Later versions had whats known as the blue dashboard, (which is easily accomplished, you could do this yourself with a cotton bud and a bit of white spirit) batcopter stickers on etc. These were the last to leave the assembly line, since corgi knew they were finished, and built the car with what was left. The horn indicators, either side of the beacon, now were not cut out properly. If you look at any version before this one you will notice that the tips are still on the wide wheeled version, but instead of bending into a curve from the top. it just goes straight down now. Previous versions the curve was cut out. This car isn't too hard to find, but in my opinion the least desired, as the construction was awful and it looks ugly. The header card was also packaged separately when it went to the shops, (so the header card didn't get bent or damaged) and it was up to the shop keeper to attach them, which the majority of the time he didnt. Thats why the last issue box with a header card is extremely rare. I gave this info to ebay member wayne foundation some years ago now, and i believe its still on his site, which i thoroughly recommend to you! Check out his about me page!! Also check out jhl01 about me page as he grew up with these too!! I believe im still mentioned on that site too, and filled in his knowledge of the later whizzwheel cars. Also, ,the Holy Grail of batmobile sites look up "corgi batmobile web site"  (type that into your search engine) run by Laurent. Everything you need to know about this car is there, with detailed pictures too to help.

Just another short note, the Batcopter, when it was released in 1976, was originally to be included with a Robin figure. Since they made it to scale with the Batboat and Batmobile, they included a second seat in the Batcopter. However, it was found that the seats were too small to include a scaled  Batman and Robin, so the answer was simply to get rid of Robin.  They also followed suit later on with the Batmobile. Since Robin no longer worked with Batman in the comics (he did very rarely) there was no point in having him in the vehicles, and was another good cost cutting exercise for Corgi!!! This is why Robin was a lot smaller in later car variations. He was intended for the batcopter. When that didn't work, they simply used him for the batmobile instead. Batmans pose was changed entirely as the car version couldn't sit behind the batcopter seat properly. Early batcopters, without the ridge above the screen have behind the stickers phillips screws. It is possible to go inside your batcopter and untangle your winch or change the glass, or even buy a custom Robin figure to put in it alongside Batman. The smallest batmobile Robin won't fit, i've already tried that lol! However. if you wanted it to look original, all you'd have to do is replace the decals at the end. If you're lucky enough to find a batcopter with all the rotors intact including the tail rotor, you can complete one yourself.  Later versions though behind the stickers have been riveted.

Box type 1- 66-70 Card box with inner card display plinth, used for all batmobiles upto 1970. My favourite of all the boxes, i just love the fact you get an outer box and an inner display box. Also included package wise was a hard cardboard ring which sat over the cockpit and aerial to prevent damage, an inner cardboard piece which went inside the bottom flap of the inner box and sturdied the base nicely, and a T shape cardboard piece which went over the batmobile to keep the box sturdy.

Box type 2- 70-73 First window box, light blue and yellow, contained at first the red hubs batmobile with towhook (with a gold beacon cage not silver), and later contained the red tyred batmobile. Had Batman on the back with the batmobile speeding towards him. First box to have " the right is reserved to amend specifications or colours" on the bottom. Looks like corgi were thinking ahead at this time, and this basically gave them the right to use what they felt like in case of factory errors, including the red wheels and glass colours . Subsequent boxes had this apart from the last. This box on the inner flap also had " for spare tyres ask for no 1456" which was in reference to the red hub batmobile that was in this box to start with, so if you have this on your flap and a red tyred car in it, you do not have a genuine red tyred box. Later versions of this box for the red tyred didn't have this in  Corgi removed it straight away to avoid complaints. This was included for the red hubs on the inner flap because of a lot of complaints about the tyres splitting, and corgi gave them replacements free, so to stop losing money they changed the wheels.

Box type 3- 73-76 Window box, dark blue and yellow with a pic of james bonds buggy on the back. This batmobile box contained the deep dish 8 spoke batmobiles. There is some debate as to whether this contained the red tyred car. I personally never saw it contain the red tyred car, or later 12 spoke whizzwheels. I suspect due to the scarcity of the previous box, that the red tyred crossover has been manufactured by sellers. It definitely didn't contain the 12 spoke wheels though. The only crossover i know of was that the following box contained batmobiles with batmobile still on the bottom but with 12 spoke wheels.

Box type 4- 76-79 Window box, dark blue and yellow,with a little pic of Batman in the corner, and sloping inner plinth. The back had a pic of the batmobile on the back, and a diagram of how to fire the rockets on the bottom. These boxes contained the first 12 spoke wheels batmobile. There are 3 different versions of this box, all with some different printed words on the back top right corner. Also, last versions of this box simply had corgi on the front in single case letters, as opposed to capital lettering on the rest. All 3 versions of this box were the first  boxes  to have " for 3 years and over" on the front. All of these definitely had Robin in, or at least were meant to. It wasn't uncommon to find that he'd fell out of the car into the box, or he'd simply been robbed out of the car, along with the missiles usually. The easiest way was to just tip the box up, and wiggle it and you'd find that Robin just falls out. Since the boxes weren't sealed it was quite an easy thing to do. This is why the  batboat came with Batman and Robin tied together with a piece of elastic, but no-one thought to do it with the car!! Because of Robins size, he was lost very easily so i guess people really didn't want to buy the car again, or at least the parents lol!!! This Robin, along with the later pink one, are the hardest and the rarest to find today.

Box type 5-  79-81 Window box, dark blue and yellow, non detachable header card. This box contained the wide wheels only, and was the last batmobile to incorporate Robin (who was made of a pink plastic). The header card showed a smiling batman whilst the back he looked stern. No matter what is said elsewhere, this car DEFINITELY had Robin, i bought this version in the box when i was younger, and still own it today. This was definitely the last version to contain the Robin figure though.

Box type 6- 81-83 window box, Black yellow and red, with detachable header card and no Robin figure. The header card itself showed you how to fire the rockets, so if it didn't have one, you'd have to guess!! My local Woolworths were full of these without the header cards, and piled on top of each other, causing in many cases split cellophane!! There were 3 types of this box. The first had a red plinth inside, the next had a yellow plinth, and the last box had a date on the outside of the box which read "the mettoyTMCo plc Swansea, Great Britain(c 1983)This batmobile was also available as a Woolworths exclusive with the junior batmobile, in what is now known as the duo pack.

       It seems to me though, apart from the very first box change (which was done so you could see the car instead of mr shopkeeper having to keep taking the car out of the box to show you) that all the box changes occurred when the car itself had changed in some major way, so as to get more people buying the car again. Most of the wheel changes coincide with a box change, so it wouldn't surprise me if this was the case. (unfortunately, i didn't ask about the box changes apart from the first). The car was intended as a collectors piece, not a toy, which is what the first box designers had in mind when they designed it. They changed the box to allow you to display your car in the box without gathering dust, as there was no protection with just the inner plinth display, and also it helped sell the product as you could now see it instead of asking mr shopkeeper (who was very busy) to open it. It also occurs to me now that the 73-76 batmobile with the deep dish wheels and 8 spokes is becoming very rare. I very rarely see these batmobiles for sale (in fact i see more red tyred versions than this). Since their similiarity to the red tyred, you can guess why i'm saying this. All you'd have to do with this version (with aqua glass though) is buy a red tyred thats battered, and change the wheels. The cars themselves are exactly the same, so look for an axle thats protuding out of one of the wheels and damage around the inside of the wheels.  Its a sure sign thats its been tampered with. The batboat wasn't a very good seller, especially the later version. There wasn't any features on it like the batmobile, and given the choice most children went for the batmobile. The batboat was cancelled in 1981, along with the batcopter, which wasn't a good seller and looked nothing like the tv series one. For me personally, whilst i own the batcopter and the batbike, they aren't my favourites. Corgi tried to expand its batman range in 76 with the penguinmobile and the jokermobile, but these didn't sell well either. The junior range i still saw in some old warehouses all the way upto 1986, a few years after corgi had gone. They aren't my personal favourites either, although i do own them, including a very very rare crimebusters set, which included the batboat, the batmobile, james bond db5 and the man from uncle car with spares included!!! A truly excellent junior set.  The early juniors set were made by Husky (a division of corgi) and the batmobile and batboat both had a painted Batman and Robin in them. They were available separately and together. The later batmobile with whizzwheels contained only an unpainted Batman, whilst the batboat had none. The batboat now though was only available in the gift set, whilst the batcopter and the batbike (released in 76) were available separately. The junior batmobile with whizzwheels was made with 2 types of glass, blue and white. The white glass is very very rare, and luckily i bought both when they came out years ago. I never see the white glass one anymore, and i've only ever seen the glass itself available as a reproduction part.

There are at least 3 sellers on EBAY i would avoid like the plague. They always seem to sell batmobiles. A careful look at what they are buying (look at feedback as a buyer) and then what they are selling tells me what they are doing. Some are buying the batmobile boxed and then separating it all, listing the rockets car instructions etc. Some are buying batmobiles with imperfections , like paint loss and broken suspension. I've seen these cars later listed as mint, and you can tell its the same car as they left the same Robin figure in, who always came with distinguishing features. They then sell the car as a private sale, so basically no-one can warn the buyer they are buying touched up cars. Whilst it all looks original, and it will to a lot of people who buy it, they aren't. It is possible to have the car re-sprayed WITHOUT disassembling it or removing any parts. I have seen this done, and it looks totally original. Even the bat-stickers can be removed or covered.  I have seen people who buy battered batmobiles and CUT through the bodywork just to get the rivets out to re-use in another batmobile to make it look original. I've also met people who drill out the aerial if its snapped and replace it with an original off a battered batmobile. A lot of sellers buy battered batmobiles for cheap prices just to get certain parts off them. It is also possible to dull down the paintwork of a gloss black red hubbed batmobile, to make it matt black. I've never tried it (but i will with an old battered  batmobile) but im guessing it can be done with some T-cut. This is only possible with early no towhook batmobiles, as later no towhook ones had distinguishing features. A careful check on feedback here shows they are buying gloss blacks, yet selling matt blacks??? Enough to raise an eyebrow don't you think?? Please check out www.batmobile.free.fr/english/intro.htm for pics of how a matt black should look.  If there is a nose filled in or something on the car that shouldn't be then its fake.The best way i can suggest to you to spot these is to look for any signs of wear to a part on the car that a seller can;t do anything about. Check the figures, especially Robin. His paint wore down a lot, and whilst i realise that the Robin figure could have been changed or the original lost, if it was mint and never played with how the hell would you lose Robin??? Check the tyres for any flat spots or any cracking, but even then these could have been changed. Ever wondered why battered red hubs batmobiles sell?? Its for the tyres!! A LOT of sellers are doing this, and they believe it doesn't count as a modification??? Even changing them for another set of originals is still modifying the original car, and BUYERS can spot this. If a seller describes an item as MINT, don't expect this to exclude changing the tyres. Be careful too of ANY seller who has on a sale SOLD AS SEEN, as this is basically a cover for them. Check the chrome loss on the horn indicators and rocket tubes. If theres loss on these, then the paintwork would have lost some paint. Check the blade is still shiny and shows no paint loss, and the towhook. Check the Bat-stickers show no sign of fading, make sure they are red not orange. This can happen by leaving it in a sunlit area though, Check the bathubs have no paint loss because if the tyres are mint, how did the gold get damaged?? They were cast in gold, not painted!! Check the pulsating flame as this fades in sunlit areas, along with the seats.  Check the glass, i know it sounds daft but give it a little flick, if it makes a dull sound instaed of a click then the glass is repro. Repro glass is a lot thicker than the original, and is noticeable to serious collectors, but not to a novice. I've seen batmobiles for sale that are restored but LOOK EXACTLY the same as an original batmobile from the pictures, even down to the rivets. The white glass repro is a lot easier to spot as it looks dirty and dusty compared to the original.  Check the rivets on the bottom actually have rivet holes, as a lot of repro rivets don't have sink holes in them, whereas the originals ALWAYS did.  I suspect that this is happening more frequently, due to the number of MINT red hubs batmobile for sale on EBAY. There should be MORE mint whizzwheels, but as this is the least desired model, they don't bother with them.  Even touching up (especially on the wings) can be accomplished and blended in to look original. If you're going to buy a batmobile off someone, don't buy it off someone who sells them every week. Check their FEEDBACK AS A BUYER FIRST as they are buying them in and i strongly suspect respraying them.. If you want GENUINE batmobiles, then i HIGHLY RECOMMEND 562wood as his are genuine. If you deal with anyone else, be prepared for the batmobile to have in some way alterations. I have this CONFIRMED from the sellers own emails. If i don't recommend a seller, it's because i have found out SIGNIFICANT information about them. A few sellers have been doing it for a couple of years now. One seller, who bought a batmobile boxed, paid £379 for it all, with everything thrown in. He then sold the car ALONE mint for £331. In fact, i think this one seller is buying ALL the boxed batmobiles and then separating it all. He must work on a tight profit margin, and therefore wont pay over a certain price. So if you really want one, i'd outbid him and pay for it ALL instead of just the car later on. The other seller, i have emailed him numerous times, and heard nothing back. apart from the last time. My questions were reasonable, and non accusing. This seller then got all defensive, threatening me with a solicitor. To which i answered fine. I have ALL the proof i need what hes been doing. I heard nothing back. Whilst he has only been under his current name for a couple of years, he once traded under a different name, and was constantly accused before of selling false batmobiles via his feedback. A careful check of his feedback left for others show that this man has been over-bidding to win the cars, claiming they were damaged in some way after, and getting some of his money back. Looking at it now though, i think a lot of people got wise to him. If they carry on though, i have all the pics from their feedback and i WILL REPORT them to trading standards!!!  I ALWAYS give you a chance to remove it first, so its on your own head!! Just know, I AM WATCHING YOU, as i DO NOT AGREE with ripping people off, especially fellow batmobile enthusiasts, as you're ONLY interested in the money, instead of selling the GENUINE article.. For reproduction parts, look up Steve Flowers. He sells all the parts for the batmobile and batboat at quite reasonable prices. The Batman and Robin figures are made out of plastic now, ,whilst early versions were made of lead!! I own about 7 lead Robins and they make the car feel very heavy!! I still collect little bits here and there of the batman vehicles, if the price is right. I have a spare jar just full of Batman and Robin figures.

Batboat 1967-76 Tin fin version, available in white, aqua, purple and light blue glass, beacon cage (early versions looked like a dark silver, later versions from 1970 it was gold). Came with a trailer with tyres ( 2 types) Batman and Robin included, strangely though if you watch the film then you will see that Batman was driving on the right hand side and Robin was on the left, something Corgi never corrected!!! Box was card which was predominantly blue and yellow with a pic of the batboat in water on the front and back. Flame stickers on hull  Later box types had on ther inside flap "for spare tyres ask for ref no 1449". The first batboat boxes had NO ref no. This again, was due to complaints about the tyres splitting. You'll notice the ref no is DIFFERENT from the GS3  box type 2, this is because when the boxset came out in 1970, the trailer was still the original, with it having different tyres. So that makes it POSSIBLE to date your Batboat .by its trailer This changed as well on the Batboat box in 1973 when  the boat changed its trailer tyres and hubs. Also included in early versions was a plastic coupling, which you could attach to your Batmobile IF you had bought one WITHOUT a towhook. So in regard to the ref numbers, in 1970 it first appeared on any box, 1456 and 1457 being first. and 1973 just for the batboat box it changed to 1449. The white glass batboat appeared in 1975, the same time as the white glass batmobile. The original batboat stopped being made in the factory by mid 1975, after which the purple glass error occurred. Whilst the error DID occur to the batboat glass, they were never used as they were so few in number and plus the design of the batboat was changed significantly, and because of this they didn't want to sell the new batboat with an error straight away. Strangely, a purple glass version has actually appeared of this batboat, and since i know it wasn't assembled in the factory, i can only assume a corgi employee at some point took home the rejected glass and tin fin parts and assembled it himself. I have only ever seen 2 of these, and i own one. The other is in France.. It wasn't uncommon for corgi employees to take home discontinued parts, in fact it's happened quite often. Also spotted recently are tin fin batboats with light blue glass and national periodical on the bottom, along with orange fin  batboat trailers. These have been confirmed to be original. It would be very hard to find this edition in MINT condition. I have however, seen editions myself where people have drilled holes into the bottom to make the later edition batboat trailer fit the tin fin batboat. My belief is that any tin fin batboats with an orange fin trailer would have national periodical on the bottom and therefore be the genuine article, but that is not confirmed.

Batboat 1976-81 Orange fin version, only ever available with blue glass, Batman and Robin, different hull stickers, no beacon cage at all. Box was header box predominantly yellow and black with a window. I own a batboat box that has the date 1974 on the back (dc comics 1974) which was the first version of the box, and shows you how early corgi were thinking of changing the design. When they eventually did, they used the boxes that had already been printed off (but changed the date later on). Why they never changed the picture though (because it shows the pic of the prototype) is beyond me. This batboat in my opinion was horrible, and showed nothing of the class of the original. Whilst i own quite a few, i prefer the original.

 1967-70 GS3 box type 1- red hub towhook batmobile with tin fin batboat, both vehicles containing Batman and Robin, instructions set included (even though they're printed on the box)  These sets were displayed on a yellow plastic tray which didn't hold the vehicles in place very well, so it wasn't uncommon to find damage to either or both vehicles. If you turned it upside down ooooops that was the end of that. Hence, following sets had a styrofoam block cut around the shape of the vehicles to hold them in place and prevent accidental damage.

1970-72 GS3 box type 2- Red tyred batmobile and red hubbed batmobile were both available in this box along with a tin fin batboat. The box was light blue and yellow, and both vehicles contained Batman and Robin. First window box gift set. On both inner flaps either side it read "For spare tyres ask for Batmobile no 1456 and trailer 1457". Again, as with the single box, the red tyred batmobile that appeared in this gift set never had this on the flap, so if you have a red tyred car with this on the flap, you do not have a genuine red tyred box. This was meant for the red hubs batmobile ONLY.  Boxes for the red tyred batmobile and batboat just had "For spare tyres ask for trailer no 1457" because for obvious reasons you couldn't get spare tyres for the red tyred, because there was no easy way to change them in comparison to the red hubbed batmobile.

1973-76 GS3 box type 3- Black wheeled deep dish 8 spoke wheels batmobile with a tin fin batboat. Both vehicles still retained Batman and Robin. I have seen versions on the net that contain the red tyred batmobile. I never saw this available in the shops, and i suspect due to the scarcity of the previous box that this has been manufactured by sellers. Dark blue and yellow box.

1976-79 GS3 box type 4- 12 spoke whizzwheels batmobile with national periodical on the bottom, batboat was orange fin, and now only the batmobile contained Batman and Robin. No instructions envelope was included in this last version of the double pack. Curiously, catalogues displayed the batmobile and batboat as both having figures. If you look carefully though, they are using their individual numbers, (c267 and c107) not the gift set number

1976-79 GS40 box type 1-12 spoke whizzwheels batmobile, orange fin batboat (with no Batman and Robin) and for the first time the batcopter was included. This was a long box with header card showing a pic of all the vehicles on the back. Only rockets were included.

1979-81 GS40 box type 2- wide wheeled batmobile with Batman and Robin, orange fin batboat (with no Batman and Robin) and the batcopter. This was what i call a flat pack box, with the car and boat along the bottom, with the batcopter in the top right corner. Only rockets included, and this was the last version of the gift sets.  A nice box, and has the distinction of being the RAREST gift set today.

1981-83 GS1360 This was a box very much like the last batmobile box, and it contained the wide wheeled batmobile with only Batman, and the corgi junior batmobile. Only rockets were included.

TIPS FOR YOU ON EBAY

1: Avoid sellers who sell them all the time

2: Avoid sellers who list them as a private sale. This is done so you can't be told you've bought a fake, by someone like me. If i can't see who bought what on the feedback, then i can't help.

3:Avoid sellers who always have MINT Batmobiles never good condition ones. Chances are, its been resprayed. They very very rarely sell whizzwheel type batmobiles (i think i've seen one of them sell one whizzwheel car. Just think, look at all the red hubbed MINT cars on Ebay. Where are all the mint whizzwheels?? There should be many many more of these IF there is that many red hubbed ones, simply because the whizzwheel was produced longer than the red hubbed version. Since the red hubbed is the desired version, sellers give you what you want, and don't care that they are not selling totally original cars.

4:Avoid sellers who always have MINT rare Batmobiles, i:e the red tyred and matt black.  Just sit there and watch many batmobile auctions, then you get to see WHO always sells them. Why do you think they keep their feedback sales private?? So you can't check what they've been selling.

5:Avoid sellers who won't answer your thoughts on the car, i:e tell them you know its fake, not that you think its fake. See if you get an answer. If you don't, then you know IT IS FAKE. If they answer with abuse or threats, then its fake and the seller knows it. If they answer without threats or abuse, chances are you're dealing with a genuine seller. A genuine seller is never afraid to post your question on the auction either. Be careful though, because even some genuine sellers don't know if they have a fake, as they could have bought it from someone who deals in fakes.

6: Do your homework thoroughly, Check Laurents site, its free and a massive help. You should never get sold a fake when you've read this site.

7: If possible, i know it sounds daft, but ask about the history of the car, where they bought it, did they buy it brand new or from a toy fair or collectors shop etc. Its always better to buy it off someone who has owned the car since new, as they will know if its been tampered with.

8: Never be afraid to ask a question on ebay if you're unsure. For example i've lately just spotted a red tyred batmobile for sale that is listed as genuine. I asked the routine questions, does it have national periodical on the bottom, the condition of the car and also pointed out the fact that he had a reproduction Robin in the car which isn't mentioned in the description. He answered my other questions, twice now, and yet both times failed to mention the reproduction Robin or even answer it, which leads me to believe he does know its a repro, but he's hoping someone else, maybe a first time buyer won't know the difference.

9: Don't buy any batmobile that has on its description  the words SOLD AS SEEN,  chances are that the seller knows something isn't original or knows something has been changed on the car i:e tyres. This covers the sellers, and they don't care if its fake when the 3 words highlighted cover them. I recently had an exchange with a seller who defended  a batmobile that had the glass changed, the aerial changed and the rivets changed with these words in the description. NOWHERE in the article did it state that the car had been apart,  and what made it worse was the seller KNEW it had been apart, but still decided to exclude that info from the description. This was a WELL KNOWN seller of batmobiles.

10: Be careful of some sellers on their descriptions when they say "i don't know if it's genuine or not". These words were very recently used by a well known seller of batmobiles, and has read this page and Laurents website MANY TIMES and knew full well that he was selling a fake red tyred batmobile. Ok, he showed in the pictures every angle he could, including the pictures of the national periodical stamp, but trust me, he knew it was a fake and decided to claim ignorance.. I am writing this on the 19/11/10, , yet the one he is selling today has " original" on it, yet even that one is fake!!!!!!!!! ALL red tyred cars came with a GOLD beacon, which his doesn't, but more importantly they all came with at least one slimline batsticker, which this one hasn't.

RAREST BATMOBILES

1: Purple canopy, 8 spoke deep dish wheels

2: GENUINE red tyred Batmobile

3: Purple canopy, 12 spoke wheels, BATMOBILE on bottom

4: Purple canopy, 12 spoke wheels, National periodical on bottom

5  Matt black Batmobile

6: White canopy, 8 spoke deep dish wheels

7: White canopy, 12 spoke wheels, BATMOBILE on bottom

8: Wide wheeled Batmobile with batcopter stickers

9: White canopy, 12 spoke wheels, National periodical on bottom.

10:Wide wheeled Batmobile with blue dashboard.

I have based these rankings on batmobiles for sale on ebay and at toy fairs which i do attend quite regularly. I've also included toy collectors shops i have visited. Figures, however, do NOT include the many changes to the bodywork, as in some cases i was not allowed to inspect all too closely. I have NOT included the final short fin version bat-hub into this equation, as the likelihood of finding one is extremely unlikely, and the same for the prototype red tyred batmobile. The rarest batmobile therefore, is the purple glass first version. These figures i've worked out though are only my opinion, and it doesn't apply to a lot of toy fairs up and down the country that i can't attend. However, ebay i have constantly monitored, and i believe it to be  near enough accurate.

MOST COMMON BATMOBILES

1: 12 spoke whizzwheels batmobile with blue glass

2: Batmobile red hubs no towhook version

3  Batmobile wide wheels

4: Batmobile red hubs with towhook

RAREST CROSSOVER EDITIONS BATMOBILE AND BATBOAT

1: Batmobile 76-79 edition with big horn indicators and yellow headlights

2: Batmobile 76-79 edition with orange headlights

3: Batboat tin fin edition with two lug holes and whizzwheel trailer from orange fin edition, and it has national periodical on the bottom.

These 3 errors were caused by a chaotic factory environment, and parts when changing to a newer model, got mixed up!!!! With the Batboat however, i believe it was Corgi just using up all the parts they had left. I reckon they had run out of bottoms for the tin fin and just used the new type with national periodical on the bottom, still had a few tin fins left and just used them and attached them.

CORGI BATMOBILE TRIVIA: Did you know that the corgi batmobile once appeared in Dr Who?? Look up the episode with the 4th Doctor, the episode entitled "The talons of Weng Chiang". In the last episode (part 6), when the Doctor is told to empty his pockets, one of the objects he pulls out is a corgi batmobile!! Look it up on youtube.

I will say that i have no objection to people using this information, so long as i am asked first. I would not appreciate people just taking this info and claiming it as their own. I am a really friendly person and i certainly wouldn't take anyone elses info without permission. Best wishes bat-fans, i hope this helps you all. I will get around to doing you some more pics too, just to help. A big thank you to Sean and Darren, who gave me virtually all of the info on here some years ago now and who worked at corgi in its heyday.

Also, may i state that any buyer off me who wants to give me low dsr's for no reason will be blocked from bidding. I have had this twice now as i monitor them and take them seriously. What's most amazing is i have given both of them postage refunds which neither asked for and i gave it them before they left any sort of feedback!!!! I can only think it has been done deliberately, as i email EVERY buyer to let them know their item has been dispatched and i always provide a tracking number. Not everyone takes their DSR'S seriously. I do. Both buyers have since been blocked.