Miniatures News, August 1960

The latest “bag” of motor and associated miniatures embraces a nicely made Thorneycroft tractor and Mobilgas 2,400-gallon tanker in the Lesney Major Pack series (No. 8), two quite stupendous efforts by Corgi Toys in their Major series, these being a very detailed replica of the H.D.L. Hovercraft SR-N1 (No. 1119) and a model with working caterpillars, of the Euclid two-engined TC-12 tractor that helps to build our Motorways, while Corgi have introduced a fine Land-Rover breakdown truck with working crane (No. 417) and a realistic Citroen DS19 saloon complete even to back-seat arm-rest. See your local toy-shop about these !

Down Wembley Way

It is pleasant to visit Fiat (England) Ltd. at Water Road, Wembley, where one is never certain whether the attractive young ladies on the staff are Italian but speak English, or English but look Italian. The premises have recently been extended to provide full service and spares facilities and the sales side has also expanded considerably, with the Fiat 500, 600, Multipla, 1100 and 2100 models in demand. The 2100, of which a road-test report appears in this issue, is available in Estate Car form for £1,550 and as a V.I.P. vehicle for £1,698. Wembley also handles the little Bianchina. It must be nice to be a Fiat distributor, for exceedingly fine colour photographs are available for showroom decoration.

The Thruxton “500”

Motor races are all terribly much alike these days, with a few notable exceptions, but in the motorcycling world they still crave variety, which the 500-Mile race at Thruxton last June for fully equipped production sports model certainly provided. It must also answer pretty convincingly which are the best bicycles to buy, the outright winner being a 464-c.c. A.J.S. 31CSR which. ridden in turns by Langston and Chapman, covered 220 laps. The 200-250-c.c class was won by a Royal Enfield “Crusader Sports” (197 laps). the 350-500-c.c. class by a Norton ” Dominator ” (212 laps); 50 per cent of the entry retired, so these A.J.S., Royal Enfield and Norton victories are all the more creditable.