"IN THE TOWN WHERE I WAS BORN..."

Copyright relevant owner

Back in what must've been the very early '70s, I acquired a Corgi Toys Beatles Yellow Submarine from a jumble sale held in the church across the road from my house.  Because of this, when Corgi reissued the sub in, I think, 1997, I bought two of them - one to tuck away, the other for display.  Originally, there were two versions, one with white and yellow hatches (and a red stripe separating the lower half from the conning tower), and one with red hatches (and no red stripe).  The push-'button levers' for springing open the hatches were unpainted metal (which tarnished over the years), though were painted black for the '90s reissues.

Here's where it gets confusing.  Corgi say that the two versions were released in the same year (1969), but they're not sure which came first or whether both were available at the same time.  Some other sources claim that the red hatched edition didn't go on sale until 1971, but the original '69 box had a picture of the sub on the back with white and yellow hatches, respectively, if that's any indication of sequence.  I once thought my jumble sale acquisition had red hatches, but this may have been due to the fact that when I bought my '90s models, they had red hatches and this may have 'coloured' my memory.  (Good one, Gordie.)

When I recently bought the white and yellow hatched version from the Corgi Shop, it seemed familiar, so it's always possible the one I had in the '60s/'70s was the same.  Either way, I've got both versions now - the Corgi Model Club red hatched version and the Corgi Shop white and yellow hatched incarnation, as well as my two '90s reissues.  There was a slight problem with the '90s model, in that when you released the hatches, they sprang back and the stem/hinge hit the metal behind it, which chipped the paint on the hatches over repeated use.  I took one apart and affixed something to the insides to prevent this happening, but I'm glad to report that Corgi has now remedied the flaw in the current versions, though they may've done this a few years back.

Contrary to the box's claim, the periscopes rotate, not bob up and down

The '60s original said Corgi Toys on the base (and Made In Gt. Britain), the modern reissues since the '90s have no raised country of origin on them (they're made in China) and sport the Corgi dog symbol along with the name Corgi (and The Beatles Yellow Submarine logo).  That'll be because they're not regarded as toys for kids these days, but models for the 'adult collector' and nobody under the age of 14.  (When did 14 year-olds become adults?)  The Corgi Shop version has the 'levers' painted black, the CMC ones are unpainted as per the originals.

Did you have a Yellow Submarine when you were a kid, Crivs, and were/are you a Beatles fan?  Which one of these two versions do you prefer?  And, while you're here, why not reveal what your top three favourite Beatles songs are?  Don't be shy now, tell all your fellow readers what you think in our comments section.