--23g, 233 and 208 Cooper-Bristol Racing Car (1952-64)

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Tue, 10/27/2015 - 01:26

Bungo

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--23g, 233 and 208 Cooper-Bristol Racing Car (1952-64)

I have brought up this issue at TMT some time ago, so I think it would not hurt to bring it to your attention here again. I am talking about the base plate of the 23G/233 Cooper Bristol Racing Car and to support my point I enclose a picture of all the variations known:

From Top:

1. First issue with mottled base plate 23G (correct lettering from left to right)

2. Second issue with mottled base plate 233 (reversed lettering)

3. Third issue with shiny base plate 233 (correct letteringfrom left to right)

4. Fourth issue with spun hubs and shiny base plate 233 (reversed lettering)

5. Fifth issue with plastic hubs and shiny base plate 233 (correct lettering from left to right)

How come the Cooper Bristol is the only one of the six Dinky Racers where base plates have been wrongly attached again and again?

Any help?

Regards from Thailand

Walter

Tue, 10/27/2015 - 06:51

janwerner

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Hi Walter, no doubt you checked your other five contemporaries of this series and they did not show that odd reversing. I cannot explain. The minority of those you show are wrong, as the text should read from front to the rear. But the repeated mistake was made before attaching already. As this base plate it is not symmetrical it cannot have been wrongly attached. Before attaching it was reversely embossed.

By the way, my (only) 23g is correct in this respect. Kind regards, Jan

Tue, 10/27/2015 - 09:05

Bungo

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Jan,
You are right, of course. I assume the process of making base plates is 1.) embossing the letters, 2.) punching/cutting out the base plate, then mounting/riveting. Therefore the mistake must have happened when punching/cutting took place.
Maybe they wrongly punched too many of them so they didn't wanted to throw them away, because who would notice anyway!
Further, I noticed that all the wrongly cut base plates are of the shiny variety, therefore post 1958. So far I have not seen any wrong earlier mottled base plates on a Cooper Bristol.
Walter

Wed, 10/28/2015 - 01:43

Bungo

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Looking at my Cooper-Bristols, I found a small variation in the casting: Unlike the first 23G Cooper-Bristols, all the later 233 Cooper-Bristols (from 1953/54 onward) carried small vertical lines on both sides behind the racing numbers, which have become a little fatter too.

Any explantion regarding these lines?

Regards

Walter