BROOKLIN AND THE 1938 PHANTOM CORSAIR
Posted by BROOKLIN MODELS
The 1938 Phantom Corsair (BRK33) premiered in the spring of 1991. It is finished in gloss black with a red interior, yellow license plate and whitewall tyres. The letters “DLM” etched in base stand for Darren Leonard Mould, who made the master. It was deleted in January 1998.
MINIGRID
After completing his prototype Phantom Corsair, finished in high gloss black, Rusty Heinz painted it a matte light tan in water base paint, in order that the car's lines would show up in publicity photos. After the photos had been taken, the paint was washed off, restoring it to its original elegant color. Thus, light tan was the only other color for the Phantom Corsair and it was but for a day or two. George Maxwell, at Minigrid, Canada, commissioned Brooklin Models to produce that tan version as an on-going special, minimum run of at least 750 pieces. The interior color is dark brown and the license plate is green, as opposed to the red interior and yellow license plate of the standard model. Obviously inaccurate to the actual car, but a pleasing combination of colors nonetheless. These were released in February 1991. A casting change was made to the front and rear bumpers to increase the strength of the mounting lugs during production of this model, modification which was maintained for further productions.
J.M. TOYS
Late in 2004 George Maxwell at Minigrid announced his retirement, both from the model car business and as Canadian distributor of Brooklin models. The Minigrid store was moved to downtown Toronto and the baton was passed to his son. In celebration of George’s retirement and to honor him for all that he’s done in helping create and promote the Brooklin phenomena, his counterpart in the U.K., John Martin of J.M. Toys, commissioned a "Minigrid Retirement" model. 50 of the "Press Release" Phantom Corsairs were oversprayed with a black roof, producing a distinctive modification of the model originally sponsored by George Maxwell. The color separation line runs from the front running lights along the margin of the headlights, along the door sills and onto the upper edge of the rear fenders. No other modifications to the body or baseplate were made, but the box carries the designation "1 of 50 Two-tone Mini-Grid Retirement Model July 2004". These models are considered Code 2, modified with factory permission.
MODELEX
October 1991 saw the production of the second Brooklin special for the Modelex show, the 1938 Phantom Corsair done in deep metallic green, matching the color of the previous year's Pontiac van. The words "Modelex 91" appear on the car's side in red. Coincidentally, the actual 1938 Phantom Corsair (one-of-a-kind) was in the West Midlands on May 5th of that year, shipped from the Harrah's Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada, to a classic car show in Birmingham. A total of 750 show specials were produced with “1 of 750” cast in base.
Author: Gianluigi Cappi
You may find more pictures and information on this model plus many other Brooklin stories in the Brooklin Models Collectors Guide.
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