The Corgi Story starts in 1932, when a German emigre came to the UK and shortly afterwards started The Mettoy Company in Northampton.
Mettoy produced wind-up tin plate toys but production of these stopped with the 2nd World War. Following the War, production re-started but competition was coming from Frank Hornby’s business in Liverpool. Hornby produced die-cast Dinky Toys along with Meccano and Hornby Trains. In 1953 Matchbox introduced their smaller scale die cast cars obviously matchbox size. Mettoy appreciated this growing market of scale-model die-cast cars and decided to look at producing their own range in 1955. The name Corgi was chosen as it was a snappy name of a Welsh dog associated with The Royal family and the toys were to be produced in Swansea South Wales.
The first Corgi model was introduced on the 9th of July 1956 and in that first year of production 65,000 cars were sold of basic Brith Brand cars such as Ford, Vauxhall, Hillman, Morris, Rover, Austin, and Riley.
In October 1965 they produced the best-selling die-cast cars of all time. The James Bond Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5. This model is packed with detail and features including pop-out machine guns and a rear bulletproof shield, and a functioning ejector seat. Interestingly this model was reintroduced in 2021 and no doubt captures the imagination again of many children aging from 5-95
In 2008, Hornby Hobbies Ltd acquired Corgi for £8.3 million, sitting alongside the iconic British Toy Brands of Hornby, Scalextric and Airfix.
The Corgi Trophy was first won by Tom Leake in a DB4GT Zagato at The Curborough Sprint. The Trophy is a Corgi James Bond Goldfinger DB5 but how it came into the Club's hands is lost in the annals of history, but there is a distinct possibility it was gifted to the Club by Corgi.