And the people at Corgi knew they were selling children a spring-loaded tragedy in waiting. They knew, the bastards, because the second-generation Bond DB5 was sold with a spare baddie. But why just one? You needed a bagful. There was no time for the usual modelling process involving painstaking drawings, beautiful 1:12-scale masters in hardwood, resin casts, and accurate reduction by pantograph to produce the moulds for diecasting. Corgi's desire to include ever-more exciting features was almost feverish. Opening doors, sliding seats, carefully detailed interiors… the list of innovations goes on and on. And who can forget Corgi's smooth ‘Glide-O-Matic’ working suspension or legendary jewelled headlights? However, the real breakthrough came with the impact of film and television. All of a sudden, the vehicles we saw on the small screen and at the cinema were top of our lists, resulting in a swathe of amazing Corgi Toys such as the Batmobile, Saint’s Volvo and of course James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 with its amazing array of gadgets. Thank you for continuing to support our Die-cast Diaries blog. Our next edition is scheduled for publication on Friday 1st December. The real reason is this. It may not seem it when compared with the iPad, but by the standards of 1965 the Corgi Bond DB5 was a gadget-laden miracle. Rival toy makers were amazed by how much functionality Corgi had worked into a 1:46 scale model a mere 4in long.

Each and every Corgi Model Club model is exclusively licensed to us from Hornby PLC, owners of the famous Corgi Toys brand name. Each one comes with an individually numbered certificate of authenticity confirming its provenance as an official Corgi Model Club re-issue made by Hornby PLC. There is a more upbeat side to all this, though. Aston Martin, we know, has existed for more than 100 years under conditions of constant commercial brinkmanship. It is often said that the tie-in with Bond and Goldfinger saved the company during one of its more parlous periods. Yet in the long term I think it’s the toy that saved Aston.It’s most popular and endearing feature was the working ejector seat. Pushing a button on the side made the roof spring open to eject a mini-plastic bad guy from the passenger seat. Kids of all ages relished in sending this little figurine into space, and the car came with quite a powerful spring. Those figurines got some serious height.

The model was released in time for the 1965 Christmas market and Corgi found it was unable to keep up with demand, and some toy shop shelves were reported to being cleared of this new must-have toy within minutes. Corgi sold over 3.9 million cars, which was their highest selling car and won the UK toy of the year award, so guess painting it gold instead of silver may have been the right choice. This stunning model may well be a must for all Bond fans, but represents a significant achievement for our development team, a tooling design intentionally modified to include the missing door, but without rendering the tooling unusable in its usual format. Presented in a luxurious collectors box, the model also features a representation of the damage inflicted on Bond's car during that thrilling opening film sequence, with Bond exacting his revenge by systematically dispatching the lot of them.Corgi Model Club membership is completely free and without any catches. And should you ever wish to cancel – which you are totally free to do at any time – there is no financial penalty. Are these the 23 ugliest cars ever made? Gran Turismo movie review The 31 most ridiculous car names ever › More here... In 1977, Bond-car mania exploded once more when Corgi issued its ingenious model of the submarine Lotus Esprit, this time coordinated in advance in partnership with Eon Productions to hit the shops the week the film opened.

Time is running out for this stunning model, and its highly likely that it won't survive the Christmas gift buying season. The most popular advice topics — we've got you covered 2035 petrol and diesel car ban: 12 things to knowMarshall agrees: “You’d think Marcel was the only one who worked there.” Their feelings are justified where the Aston was concerned. The ‘as seen on TV’ tag was clearly an enormous draw among toy-car buyers, so Corgi brilliantly exploited the goldmine awaiting a successful collaboration with 007.