The Monte Carlo Rally, held annually in January, provided a rich source of model cars between 1964 and 1967. By following the event closely, Corgi Toys were able to issue a model of the winning car shortly after the end of the rally Often there was not even enough time to produce a unique box for the new model, which had to make do with a hastily produced sticker applied to a standard issue box for a similar model. The 1964 winner Paddy Hopkirk's Mini Cooper S (317) released in February 1964 featured jewelled headlights and a rally lamp on the roof, and was finished in the BMC team colours of red with a white roof with authentic Monte Carlo Rally transfers. Three Monte Carlo Rally cars were issued in 1965, the winning Mini Cooper S of Timo Mäkinen (321) in February, finished in the same red with a white roof, and three jewelled rally lamps, and in April a Rover 2000 (322) in maroon with a white roof with two jewelled rally lamps in the grill and a Citroën DS (323) with four small jewelled rally lamps and finished in pale blue with a white roof complete with roof aerial. All three of these models were available in the Monte Carlo Gift Set (GS38) also issued in April 1965; a highly prized set for today's collector. Another Mini Cooper S in Monte Carlo Rally finish was issued the January of following year complete with two jewelled rally lamps in the grille and the signatures of the driver Timo Mäkinen and his co-driver Paul Easter printed on the roof. The model number 321 was carried over from the 1965 car. A Hillman Imp was also issued as a Monte Carlo Rally car (328), finished in blue with a white flash along the sides and two jewelled rally lamps, and was driven by an all female team of Rosemary Smith and Valerie Domleo in the 1966 event.
Meanwhile, Corgi had got as far as producing several pre-production examples of the stillborn car after receiving drawings from Rover as early as February 1957 and had planned to issue the model, which carried the article number 212, to coincide with the real vehicle's launch. To maintain secrecy within the factory and amongst out-sourced producers during the design of the pre-production models, two baseplate moulds were made, one carrying the inscription 'Rover 90' and the other for a mythical car called 'Road Hawk'. The half of the baseplate carrying both '90' and the word 'Hawk' were then machined off and the remaining halves featuring words 'Road' and 'Rover' combined to produce the Road Rover baseplate. Only six examples were finished making this the rarest of all Corgi Toys products. The only known existing example from Head Designer Marcel Van Cleemput's personal collection was sold during the 1990s.
As the decade progressed some of the film and television related models became less authentic and more a product of the imagination of the Corgi design team. In 1973 'Dick Dastardly's' Car (809) was issued featuring models of the characters 'Dick Dastardly' and his sidekick 'Muttley' from the children's television programme Wacky Races. However, this Corgi offering was a toylike racecar from the 'Qualitoys' range, and was a far cry from the famous '00-zero' car that 'Dick Dastardly' drove in the cartoon series. In 1978 the 'U.S. Racing Buggy' (167) was reissued as 'The Penguinmobile', themed around Batman's arch-enemy The Penguin, complete with an umbrella. (259). A 'Batbike' was released in 1978 featuring a figure of 'Batman' sitting astride a modified motorbike which fired two rockets, along with a series of vehicles that were issued as the result of obtaining the Marvel Comics license. They were themed around Spider-Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel and The Incredible Hulk. These included a 'Spidervan' (436); a suitably decorated Chevrolet van, which had also been issued the previous year as a tie-in with the American television series Charlie's Angels (434), a 'Daily Planet' JetRanger helicopter (929) as seen in Superman: The Movie, a 'Spiderbuggy' (261); a Jeep CJ-5 with a model of 'Spider-Man's' arch enemy 'The Green Goblin' trapped in a web styled plastic bag dangling from a crane fitted at the back of the vehicle, a 'Spidercopter' (928) and a 'Spiderbike' (266). A similar treatment was also given to other Marvel characters including a 'Captain America' Jetmobile (263), a 'Captain Marvel' Porsche 917/10 Can-Am racer (262) and an 'Incredible Hulk' Mazda pick-up (264) which featured a caged model of the 'Hulk' on the flatbed of the truck. A 'Superman' gift set (GS21) was also released featuring a 'Supermobile', the 'Daily Planet' helicopter and a Buick Regal police car, as well as a 'Spider-Man' gift set (GS23) consisting of the 'Spiderbuggy', the 'Spidercopter' and the 'Spidervan'. Many of these later film and television related releases were not models of authentic vehicles as were the earlier issues from the 1960s, but merely existing models updated to take advantage of recently acquired licensing deals.
Following the success of the Dinky Supertoys range of die-cast trucks, Corgi decided to launch a range of heavy commercial vehicles in October 1957 with the release of the Carrimore Car Transporter (1101) featuring a Bedford tractor unit with full glazing in keeping with the rest of the Corgi range, and the company's first gift set including the Carrimore Car Transporter and four cars (GS1); Austin Cambridge (201), Jaguar 2.4 (208), Austin-Healey (300) and MGA (302) in time for the Christmas market in December 1957. Early models in the new 'Corgi Major' range were issued in sturdy two piece boxes featuring the blue and yellow colour scheme that had recently been adopted across the entire Corgi range, later models in the 1960s using clear fronted packaging in line with the rest of the Corgi Toys range. The Carrimore Low Loader(1100) was the next release in April 1958 which was a low loader trailer attached to the Bedford cab and was followed by the similar Machinery Carrier low loader (1104) in September 1958. In November 1958 the Euclid TC12 Bulldozer (1102) was issued. A large earth mover which was being widely used in the construction of the M1, the UK's first motorway, the Euclid factory was only two miles from Corgi headquarters which allowed easy access to all the data required to produce a very accurate model. April 1959 saw the release of the Bedford Fuel Tanker in the attractive red livery of 'Mobilgas' (1110) and this model was revamped in pale blue and white as the Bedford Milk Tanker (1129) in May 1962, and both were later re-issued with a more modern Bedford TK cab.
Throughout the company's history, Corgi Toys have been closely associated with modelling Grand Prix and Formula 1 racing cars. The first issued was the Vanwall Grand Prix car (150) issued in July 1957. Finished in green and carrying racing number 3, it was a scale model of the actual car driven by Stirling Moss. This was followed in December 1958 by a BRM Grand Prix car (106) also with green paintwork, and both cars featured in the Racing Car Set (GS5) from 1958, along with the Lotus XI Le Mans racing car (151) from July 1958. The Vanwall, however, had been re-coloured red. In 1963 the Ferrari F1 (Ferrari Tipo 156 'Sharknose') (154) was released finished in Italian racing red, and was also featured in a Land Rover and Ferrari F1 car set (GS17) that same year. It was followed in December 1964 by the Lotus-Climax F1 car (155) in an authentic British Racing Green as driven by Jim Clark, and in 1967 by the Cooper-Maserati F1 car (156) painted blue. The Lotus-Climax and the Cooper-Maserati were re-engineered in 1969 to include steerable front wheels operated by moving the driver from side to side, and a high level rear wing in the style of real Formula 1 cars of the time. They were re-coloured orange in the case of the Lotus-Climax (158) and yellow in the case of the Cooper-Maserati (159). A Lotus Racing Car set (GS37) was issued in August 1966 containing the Lotus-Climax F1 car, two Lotus Elans and a Volkswagen breakdown tow truck. Another Ferrari was issued in February 1965, Ferrari Berlinetta (Ferrari 250 LM) (314) which had competed at the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hour race, and in May 1967 another successful sports racer, the Porsche Carrera 6 (Porsche 906) (330), was released.
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