The Avengers

Gift Set 40 The Avengers

January 1966 - 1969

The set comprised:

• Steed's 1927 Bentley 3 Litre in red or green

• Mrs Peel's Lotus Elan S2 in white

• three umbrellas

• figures of Mrs Peel and Steed

The red Bentley usually had steel wheels but gold wheels are understood to have been used too.

The green Bentley usually had red wheels and green running boards - a different shade of green to the 900/9001 issue. A rare edition with black running boards (distinct from the 9004 model) is known. The Lotus is white and may have shaped or cast wheels.

Beware reproduction 'Steed' characters that are actually taken from a mould of the Jeeves character painted with a grey suit. There are also reproductions of Mrs Peel but most are quite accurate, although the painting on the eyes and mouth can be appalling.

It is very difficult indeed to distinguish between good plastic reproductions of the umbrellas and originals.

The horn and screen on Steed's Bentley often get broken and replaced. An original screen can be replaced fairly easily but a horn is not so simple and an original replacement will often have been glued on or, where a complete element with the box lid included is fitted, the plastic may have had to be cut slightly to enable fitting beneath the protrusions on the body.

A replacement screen is quite easy to identify, being less well-finished on the edges and appears to have a thicker frame.

There appear to be two types of Lotus. One has a small hole on the underside of the front edge, the other doesn't. I also see two shades - a creamy shade of white with quite thick paint and a much purer white in thinner finish. I have not illustrated these yet but will try to find good examples. It may be simply the fact that so many of these were kept in smoky old rooms and the white has become tobacco-stained on many examples.