"To be remembered is an honor, and the whole of my object."
Loring M. Bailey, Jr.

This is a Corgi brand 1/43 scale 1969 deTomaso Mangusta that was sent to Ring for Christmas_69 in Vietnam. He was killed in March of 1970. The second photo is the car, returned with his personal possessions. The quotes are from his letters. Twelve weeks.

“Today received your latest parcel of goodies – excellent mail time and package quite intact. Vast respect for your good taste and for the quality of Corgi’s reproduction. The injuries that the Mangusta suffers in my pocket will, I hope, add character rather than promote destruction.”

“In the dark watches of the night I roll the deTomaso Mangusta toy car that Rik sent me back and forth (very quietly) – I sit squishing the suspension… up and down for minutes at a time, looking at it at eye level, digging its amber headlights – but that’s another form of devotion entirely.”

“The Mangusta? The sand has at last been rinsed free; the metal, variously bereft of paint is attaining a polish; and the window glass, ground to opacity, is neatly holed in one rear window, a scale sized break. Some might say it gaining in character, others might think it quite doggy, depending on how long one has left in country.”