171 Austin 1800 Saloon (1965-68)

Hello Fred, This is the base plate with two lines of patents, what about posting the same picture of your three lines one ?Also can you show us that your light blue model is an overpainted met blue ?The chrome plated window frames is the subject of the British patent # 1 059 778 The British patent 920 534 relates to the suspension The British patent 891 681 relates to the steeringJacques

I always liked this model of the *Landcrab* and did not even know of the light blue version until recently. It seems light blue is the final colour scheme since it sometimes comes with the three lines of patents, whereas the metallic blue model apparently has only two. My light blue sample is transitional since it has a boot lid that had first been painted dark blue -- not so with the bonnet. Here is a comparision of the two colour schemes and the two baseplates.

You have beaten me to it! Many thanks for your detailed and comprehensive reply. My pale blue Austin 1800 is pale blue inside both bonnet and boot lid, but I have seen other examples like your one with metallic blue under the boot, hence my previous comment. Upon reflection, I think I am mistaken about having seen these with a metallic blue underside to the bonnet (I was probably thinking of the Holden!). The Vauxhall Victor 101 also comes with either 2 or 3 lines of patent text on the base. I know of a couple of Dinky Toys where components have been overpainted and wonder how many different examples there were - would it be possible to set up a new topic for this?

It is interesting that the Vauxhall Victor 101 also got a modified base to reflect an additional patent. Since that car has the same internal chrome trim for the windows, I assume that the relevant patent was added once it had been issued. I think it was an interesting feature, and somewhat of a shame they didn't use it on other models. I agree with you that a topic regarding overpainting would be an interesting one. In addition to the instances of overpainting components by Liverpool, I have encountered at least two vehicles from Bobigny -- a Buick Roadmaster and a Peugeot 403 -- that were painted one color and then completely overpainted with another!

All very interesting but I find an error on the Austin base plate which reads ROV 52514/64, it should read PROV as this number is the application number and not the patent number which was 1059778. 64 been the year of application. The patent was granted on February 22, 1967. This mistake has not been done on the Vauxhall Victor.