Rise and rise again
Charles Barnett takes a detailed look at both generations of Somerville Models, from the very beginning of the marque to the reawakening, following the original owner’s sad passing.
Charles Barnett charts the history and rebirth of Somerville.
Models by Somerville are well-known in white-metal collecting circles.The brand is very highly regarded for its quality of construction, level of detail and finish, and has always been popular with collectors, especially of British cars, Saabs andVolvos - three categories that have made up the bulk of the range over the years.
Somerville founder, Doug McHard, was a keen, lifelong builder of model aircraft, which he loved to fly. Educated at Sheffield College of Arts and Crafts,, he became a photographer in the RAF, but his building and writing skills led him to leave and join, first of all,Aeromodeller magazine, then Model Aircraft, as Assistant Editor.
He moved to Lines Bros in 1964 to run the newly-launched monthly Tri-ang Magazine, though this ran only from October 1964 to July 1965. By this time, Lines Bros had taken over Meccano, and the publication was merged with the Meccano Magazine, to which Doug moved.
Within Meccano, he became Marketing Manager and, later, Marketing Director for the Dinky Toys range, where his quest for perfection and fascination for production techniques ensured that the quality remained as high as possible in the mid-1970s, and he was there when, following the collapse of Lines Bros., Meccano was taken over by Airfix in 1971.
He left Meccano, first of all, to join its advertising agency, Brunnings, in Liverpool, and then, in 1978, took the plunge and started Somerville Models, with his wife, Roly.
They moved from Liverpool to the village of Billinghay in Lincolnshire.The Somervilles were all made under the same roof by Doug, who also made the masters, (except for a couple of the later ones) and moulds, as well as the castings. Roly, who looked after the painting of the models, and a small skilled team of helpers completed final detailing and assembly.
The first releases marketed were an Austin FX4 Taxi and Austin Allegro 2-door saloon. Like most Somervilles, the FX4 remained in the range all the way through, although it was upgraded in later years. The Allegro, however, was discontinued after only a couple of years, though a model of a later Allegro Mk 3, in 4-door form, was released some while later.
The range developed over the next few years to include the Ford E103 ‘sit-up-and-beg’ Popular,
Standard Flying Twelve, and a series of Fordson 5 cwt light vans (the commercial version of the ‘Pop’ saloon), initially in seven liveries, with another three being added over time.There were two Mercedes-Benz cars - the 1937 260D saloon (the first diesel-powered production car) and the 1955 300 SL ‘Gullwing’ coupé. Most, but not all, of these featured considerable underbody detail cast into the baseplate, and many - but again, not all - were available as kits.
Somerville had been commissioned to make the 1947Volvo PV 444A saloon byVolvo itself, and in 1984 were commissioned by Saab to make the new 9000 Turbo 4-door hatchback, which, mounted on a plinth, was used as a promotional model at the launch of the full-size car in 1985. Following completion of that contract, and following the example of the Volvo earlier, the Saab 9000 (sans plinth) was included in the Somerville range, along with a “Talladega Long Run” record version (the real car covered 100,000 km at an average speed of 123 kph at the Talladega Speedway in America, breaking numerous class records, a feat of which Saab was justifiably proud).
Over the following years, many moreVolvos and Saabs joined the range, including the 1927 Volvo Jakob, 1960s Amazon 4-door, its derivative, the 123 GT 2-door, the PV544-based 210 Duett estate car and van, and the 445Valbo Cabriolet. The Saabs included the 92, 93A and 96 saloons, 95 Estate car, Sonett coupe, 900 Cabriolet, and 9000 CD and CS saloons, as well as the 9000 Turbo already mentioned.
Other British cars included the Rover P2, both as a 6-light saloon and 4-light sports saloon, pre- and post-World War II Ford Prefects (again, the ‘sit-upand-beg’ cars), the Standard Flying Twelve De-Luxe Touring Saloon with a revised rear profile and boot, the Ford 7Y, Sunbeam Talbots Mk 2 and 2A saloons, and Mk 2 convertible, 1953 Sunbeam Alpine, 1951/2 Hillman Minx saloon and convertible, Vauxhalls 1937 H-series, and 1950Velox, as well as the convertible version of the latter, made for the Australian market as the Caleche.With an earlier eye for the Australian market, the Fordson van had spawned a further variation as a “Ute” pickup, in the “500” sub-series, and a 1949 Ford Anglia Tourer had been released earlier. All of these were available here at home and, indeed, worldwide.
As well as the standard range, a significant number of special issues were made for customer orders, notably on the Fordson van (in “Model Auto Review 5th Anniversary”,“Frank Cooper Preserves” and “Robeddie” liveries, among others), and the Rover P2 saloon for Midas Models in four singletone colours - the versions in the standard range were all in 2-tones.TheVauxhallVelox was made as a police car for Crossway Models, there were a few Volvo PV 444As, Duetts and Amazons, and the Saab
900 Cabriolet was liveried for the “Big Bike Ride“charity event. Even the early Austin Allegro had been made in some special colours, for, it is believed, JM Toys, another early major retailer.
There were three specials made for members of the Somerville Society, the marque’s collecting club that ran for a few years, like two versions of the Saab 95 estate as an ambulance, the redoubtable Fordson van, as a Utilecon estate car with side windows, in five different variants, and the Jakob-basedVolvo OV 4 light truck of 1927, this time in three liveries. These are all detailed in the accompanying table.
There are several Code 3 versions out there as well, some very well done indeed, like the Fordson vans “Prontaprint” by Minimarque 43 and “Vitalin” pet foods by Roslyn Models, as well as any number of built kits that can be confused with original Somerville builds. It may be that these are passed off deliberately or inadvertently, as original Somervilles, but their build and finish quality frequently gives them away. In addition, most of the later - but again, not all - kits all carried a “KIT” stamp on the baseplate as well as the “K” suffix to the model’s number on the box.To confuse things further - or add to the fun, depending on your point of view - for many of its later years, Somerville itself did offer the facility of building one-off versions of its models, but these would have the box imprinted, this time with “FB”.
There are also one or two genuine rarities too, notably the Bus - a copy of the Dinky Toys No 290 (double-deck bus made in tiny numbers, in “Somerville/Turf Cigarettes” livery, and only given to Somerville employees by Doug himself. I’ve seen only a couple of green examples and just one in red, in all my years as a collector and dealer.These all combine to make for an interesting range for collectors to accumulate.
Sadly Doug McHard died in August 2002, whilst flying his beloved model aircraft. Understandably, Roly retired soon afterwards, so production of the original Somervilles came to an end. However, this
wasn’t the end of the story, thankfully. In December 2002, Graham Ward of Promod, who - then and now - makes numerous specialist ranges of models under the Promod name as well as being a major distributor of many ranges of volume-produced diecasts, purchased the machinery, moulds and rights to the Somerville name, with a view to reviving production.
In 2005, the first of the reborn models - the Riley Kestrel and Sunbeam Talbot Mk 2 saloon - came onto the market, albeit in kit form only. Though a quantity of built Vauxhall H Types and Caleche convertibles had been made earlier that year for a commission byVauxhall Motors itself.The kit range initially, was developed over the next few years and then, in 2008, the first built model was released. This was the Rover P2 4-light Sports Saloon in Dark Blue. Promod deliberately choosing a colour different from those of the original Somervilles.
Promod currently makes kits and built models, the built examples being in limited runs of 100 each. Some are subjects from the original range, and others are new ones altogether. Details of the current ranges of built models and kits, along with planned future releases, are again in accompanying tables. Being of a similar standard of build and finish to the originals, the built versions sit well alongside them, and so the future looks bright for enthusiasts of the Somerville brand. For further details on the current ranges, visit www.promod-diecast.com. .DC