MONKEEMOBILE MANIA

Hey, hey, it’s the Corgi Monkeemobile, the uniquely styled hot rod that comes complete with Monkees’ Davy, Micky, Mike and Peter.

Corgi released their Monkeemobile  (Numbered 277) in December, 1968, and continued production until 1972.

It doesn’t come with any gadgets, although it has spring suspension, chrome plated engine block and trim, detailed door logo, and the four Monkees sat inside.  Davy is driving, with Peter sat next to him with his bass guitar on his lap. In the rear seat is Mike with his lead guitar, next to Micky who is clowning about! 

Corgi sold 82,000 of them, which isn’t too bad considering Monkeemania was probably on the wane at that time, as the series had already been cancelled in March, 1968 in America. Also, I imagine the Monkeemobile was probably over- shadowed by Corgi’s November release of their highly detailed and gadget laden Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang car which eventually went on to sell 776,000 units.

The model came in a window box, with a removable header card that had flaps to attach it to the top of the box.  

So what‘s the gen on the real Monkeemobile?

There was no shortage of T.V. custom cars during the sixties, mainly thanks to the legendary Batmobile, and when the American sitcom The Monkees was in production, customizer Dean Jeffries, who also created the T.V. Green Hornet’s Black Beauty, was brought in during 1966 to come up with a Monkeemobile for the pre-Fab Four.

At the time Dean Jeffries was under contract to Model Products Corporation better known to modellers as the kit makers, MPC at the time.  (MPC was given the exclusive rights to market a plastic kit of the car, which apparently went on to sell over 7 million) Word of the project also got through to motor manufacturer Pontiac who saw it as a promotional opportunity for their Pontiac GTO. Two cars were supplied to the studio, one to be used as the ‘hero’ car and another for promotional tours, although both did appear in the series. Before it was customised, the second car was apparently used as Major Nelson’s convertible GTO in the sitcom, ‘I Dream of Jeanie’.

The first car originally had a 6-71 supercharged blower engine, a solid mounted rear axle with no springs, and extra weight at the rear to enable it to’ pop wheelies’. However, the excessive power meant the car was hard to drive,  so the original blower set up was removed and replaced with a dummy blower covering a Pontiac’ Tri-power ‘ carburettor arrangement used on large performance V8 engines. Frankly, I haven’t a clue what all that means, as I’m not completely au-fait with the workings of superchargers or V8’s, but I imagine, put simply the car could still shift!

This hippie hot rod has a distinctive convertible top, reminiscent of an exaggerated model T Ford, which to me does give it its unique look, although this is occasionally removed during  its appearances in the series; there are exaggerated tail lights, and a rear mounted parachute; the front fenders and side panels are modified. The car also has three rows of seats. The rear truck (or boot, as we Brits like to call it) was removed to accommodate the extra third row.

Husky, and later the re-branded Corgi Juniors also did a smaller version of the Monkeemobile.

In 2001, Corgi Classics re-released The Monkeemobile, although this time without the Monkees on board.

The Monkees do have a tenuous connection with Century 21 in that a comic strip based on the TV series appeared in Lady Penelope magazine. The strip was initially drawn in black & white by Tom Kerr, and later in colour by Harry Lindfield.