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.
