Corgi Toys first appeared in July 1956, manufactured by Mettoy Playcraft Ltd. in Swansea, Wales, as direct competition to Meccano's Dinky Toys model vehicles, which had dominated the British toy car market for many years.

The Mettoy company was founded by German emigree Philip Ullmann in 1933 who set up a business in Stimpson Avenue, Northampton, England. Ullmann had twenty one years experience running his own toy company called Tipp in Germany, and he was soon joined by South African born German, Arthur Katz who had worked for him there.

In the 1940s and 1950s Mettoy produced a range of die-cast model vehicles which, although crude, proved to be popular and Ullmann and Katz realised that a wider range of toy cars could not only be profitable, but could also break the stranglehold that Meccano's range of Dinky Toys had over the market.

A factory was built in Swansea to manufacture the new range of toys providing up to six thousand jobs in an area of high unemployment following the scaling down of local coal mining operations. The name 'Corgi Toys' was chosen by Philip Ullmann in honour of the new location and was taken from the Welsh breed of dog, the Corgi, also popular with Her Majesty the Queen.

It was also snappy and easily remembered, and echoed the name of their great rival, and the famous Corgi dog logo was chosen to brand the new range. Corgi Toys' initial sales gimmick was to include plastic glazing which lent the models a greater authenticity, and they rapidly became known as 'the ones with windows'.

The 1956 releases concentrated on British vehicles which would have been familiar to youngsters at that time. The first six models to be issued were all saloon cars, Ford Consul (200/200M), Austin A50 Cambridge (201/201M), Morris Cowley (202/202M), Vauxhall Velox (203/203M), Rover 90 (204/204M), Riley Pathfinder (205/205M) and Hillman Husky (206/206M), and these were followed by two sports cars; Austin Healey 100 (300) and Triumph TR2 (301).

Initially, all models were issued in free-rolling form, or with friction drive motors, with the notable exception of the heavy commercials which would have been too bulky, and the sports cars whose low slung bodies would not be able to accommodate the motors. The Mechanical versions, as they were known, were indicated by an 'M' suffix in the model number and were available in different colour schemes.

They were issued with tougher die-cast bases to support the extra weight of the motor, and in far fewer numbers. They did not sell particularly well, partly due to a significantly higher purchase price, and were phased out by 1960 - the final Mechanical model being the Ford Thunderbird (214M), and today are considered more collectable because of their relative rarity. The die-cast baseplates were expanded across the range to replace the original tin plate at the same time.