Top Gear!!!

[Bob Purton]

Ah the Carver, thats the chap! Dann, hope you dont mind me asking but what year is your Corgi?

[Dan Rodd]

which one,i have around 5 or 6(ive had to slim down)my favourite one is 1948.

[Bob Purton]

What a dilema to have, not being able to remember how many you own! I asked because im curious to know what the differences are between the parachute dropped WW1 model and the later Brockhouse commercialy sold one apart from the lights ect.

[blob]

Didn't the original Welbikes have spoked wheels, whereas later production models had solid ones.

[Dan Rodd]

the first corgis had spoked wheels too,as i have one!
The welbike is totally different to the corgi,having a pair of pannier tanks with a pump to pressurise them to send fuel to the engine.
the engine in the welbike is a villiers junior de luxe,the one in the corgi is an excelsior spryt.
the welbike has no front brake and later ones have a rear mudguard.it also has a single tube with 2 fold out tubes for the handlebars.

The corgi has a large saddle tank,front and rear muguards,front and rear brakes,lights,a pair of long handlebars,and mostly disc wheels.
about 24,000 Corgis were built between 1946 and 1954.
only around 40 Welbikes are known to survive,and in good condition command prices of £6000 upwards.

[Stuart Cyphus]

And here he is (prolonged fanfare), the mad Corgi breeder himself, with (extra prolonged fanfare) his very favourite 1948 spoked wheeled example....... 

[Bob Purton]

Thanks for that Dan, I have always had a soft spot for Corgis, I would like one very much but when ever they have been offered to me in the past my wallet has been empty, murphys law!  In fact there are a few things on your catalogue that I like, Scotts are very interesting machines and I'm also quite partial to an early Reliant. Is yours Aluminium bodied?

[Dan Rodd]

well i have several project Corgis for sale so if you want one at some point and have the cash let me know.Just sold my Scott on eBay infact.My Regal is a low mileage mk3,which is the first fibreglass one,still with an ash frame,looks a bit like a potato!

[Bob Purton]

Dan, your regal sounds like my fathers first car, side valve with bulbous bodywork. I will email you about the corgi project. Regards, Bob

[marcus]

Call me pedantic, call me nit-picker, but surely Corgies were not parachute dropped in WW1 ? Anyway, I think in "Blue Murder at St Trinians" there is a fellow arriving at the Ministry on what looks like a Corgi, and very nice too! Later on we see George "Arthur Daley" Cole driving a light-coloured Heinkel, with some great shots of it. Luivverly

[Bob Purton]

Marcus, you are a padantic knit picker! You know I ment the nepolionic wars!

[Stuart Cyphus]

To settle the argument, it was actully the War of the Roses, as every schoolboy knows......    

[Bob Purton]

What school did you go to?

[barchetta]

A good one it was approved ! boom boom  ( possibly for the older readers this one )

[Dan Rodd]

i too have just been and got the top gear mag and from the looks of it it will be a very good episode indeed!

there is several pics of clarkson driving the peel in the office,with some sort of device attatched to the exhaust presumably to reduce the smoke.Also a great one of him sat in it behind his desk at a meeting and another of him grinning with glee next to it,so i think that it should be shown in a good light,presumably because it enabled Jeremy to spend his whole day in a car!