Cars have always been part of Lego's history, with its earliest dates back to the HO proportion metal vehicles of the early days of town plans. In this article, we'll focus on the LEGO classic town cars, which are still popular with fans to this day and are highly recognizable.
It's hard to get the town classic cars you want by simply searching for "LEGO cars", so you can only search manually, and some sets are even "not worthy of the name", such as the 6363 auto repair shop in 1980, there is no car with only one trailer, and the 1966 auto repair shop is an off-road vehicle instead of a town car.
Foreign fan WoutA flipped through all the LEGO towns and train sets from 1978 to the early 90s, as well as most of the idea books, and he found that most of these cars used 4x10 or 4x7 bases. One exception is the old car that appeared in the 1592 Town Square-Castle scene in 1980, which was built on a simple 2x8 board, like the car in the 6679 Exxon Rescue Trailer of the same year.
Let's follow OutA through the LEGO classic town cars and see how they spell them out and evolve step by step.
Step 1
Car chassis
With the advent of the flexible minifigure, in 1978 LEGO introduced the 4x10x2/3 car chassis (part number 4212). It has a recessed center where people can sit or put a chair in it, and some cuts to mount the wheels. In the three years since its introduction, the version with the center hole was used in a ten-piece suit of cars in three colors, black, red, and white, of which white appeared only on police cars.
The 1980 6627 convertible, a great little car, appeared for the first time with a red 4x10 car chassis, this time without a center hole. Black, white and yellow versions were released in 1982, and interestingly, the white version first appeared not for cars, but for the 6890 space cruiser, a classic Lego spaceship.
The 4x10 chassis has only appeared in blue in two sets: the 1992 6346 Space Shuttle Launch Crew and the 2002 1376 Spider-Man Movie Studio. Before the discontinuation of the 4x10 car chassis in 2011, the dark gray chassis was used in a three-piece set.
In 1987, LEGO introduced a smaller 4x7x2/3 car chassis (2441 CHASSIS 4X7) in black, white, red and blue. To date, it has appeared in more than 115 sets, and unlike the 4x10 chassis, it has been used to this day. A year after it first appeared, a yellow version was added, while the green version would not be available until 1993.
Its small footprint makes this car chassis particularly popular when building racing cars. Examples of this include the 6381 circuit in 1987 (the only set it appeared in white) and the lap of the 6395 victory in 1988, as well as quite a few small racing sets. They are also a good chassis for small LEGO town cars.
Step 2
Wheel arches and saddles
These 2x4x2/3 bricks with two wheel arches are available in two variants: studded wheel arches, discontinued in 2010, and smooth wheel arches, discontinued in 2004, the latter mainly for semi-trucks and trailers. In 1981, the first 4x5x2/3 car chassis appeared, which was a fender with plates around it, and was only used to build large vehicles such as fire trucks, buses and ambulances.
In 1990, the sloping 3x4x1 fenders appeared and were used until 2003, making the car's appearance more sleek, with paradisa 6416 Poolside Paradise being the prime example. It also helped design the 6530 Sport Coupe, whose large 6x4x2 canopy windshield is probably one of the most futuristic city cars LEGO has ever released.
Chairs of minifigure proportions are usually mounted in the recessed center of a 4x10 car chassis. If not, it's best to add two 1x2 or 1x4 plates next to the recessed center at the bottom of the vehicle base, otherwise the minifigure's legs can be seen from the outside.
Step 3
Steering wheel and doors
These parts are only valuable to those with hands, so it's clear that they also first appeared in 1978. As a model of successful elements, they have been used to this day, with doors appearing in more than 370 sets and steering wheels in more than 1570 pieces! After placing a 3-stud length door, a regular 1x1 brick is usually used to fill the 1-stud gap left in the chassis of a 4x10 car.
Step 4
Front and rear headlights
Police cars, fire trucks and hospital ambulances of 1978 all had a sticker with a car grille and headlights, a pattern that was also used on 1x4 bricks throughout the 70s. They were replaced in 1980 by the appearance of the improved 1X1 brick 4070 ANGULAR BRICK 1X1, often referred to as headlight bricks, for obvious reasons. This gives us more options between the headlights in front, such as the use of slope bricks in the 6364 ambulance team, the tilting hood in the classic 6627 convertible, or the 1x2 brick with radiator grille print on the car in the 6374 holiday home.
In the back, a combination of ordinary 1x2 bricks or plates is used to secure the fenders, filling the gap between the two headlight bricks. Then, the 200 Architectural Ideas Book shows that there is a 2x4 ramp at the back of the car, with taillights connected below... Also in this step, two 2x4 plates are used to cover the fenders, so they are flush with the headlights.
Almost all cars with a 4x7 car chassis have a 1x2-1x4 bracket in front, which I always refer to as a "license plate".
Step 5
windshield
The 2x4x2 tilting transparent windshield first appeared in a supplementary set in 1976, but was fully utilized in 1978, just like many other classic LEGO bricks. Above the 4x10 base, it was originally used only as a windshield, and from 1981 onwards, with the arrival of the roof, used as front and rear windows.
In 1984, Lego introduced a vertical variant that made Lego's trucks look a little stronger. This is also used as a rear window for some 4x7 cars, especially in holiday homes with campervans, 6590 holiday campers and 1489 mobile car cranes. The longer but lower 3x4x1 1/3 windshield introduced in 1987 was mostly used for 4x7 groundcar chassis, with the exception of the 4544 car transporter with cars, where the rather cool 4x10 convertible.
Step 6
Roof and wheels
The roof was finally completely replaced in 1981 with the hinged 4x4 roof and its brackets, a 1x4x2 frame that left plenty of room for the minifigure's head. The following year the 1x4 hinge board was released, and in 1986 the 4x4 sunroof was released. Hinged plates make it possible to connect two transparent windshields, making the car look more realistic.
Without those red wheels with black tires, where would the LEGO Classic City car, which is only attached to the 2x2 modified board, go? Maybe just stopping at a Shell gas station until the sky is old...
*Original from Brickset, Compiled by Coldplay.
····· End ·····
Picture books for LEGO lovers worth collecting