13 ms·

A guide to building Lego Classic Town cars

134 points by ivanech 5y ago

tersers 5y ago
I remember building these as a child. VCRs and DVDs and channel 3 and home phones have all come and gone, but this is the first time something has made me feel older.
- WaxProlix 5y ago
  It's funny what gets ya, huh. I had a similar vibe going through these.
- dehrmann 5y ago
  > DVDs The Xbox Series X and PS5 both play DVDs. If physical media players still exist in 2032, I wouldn't be surprised if they still play DVDs.
- makach 5y ago
  I also remember building these as a child, and as disturbing as it may sound, I distinctively remember the taste of the rubber-wheels as they were a favorite to chew. *good times
  - obiefernandez 5y ago
    same!
blamazon 5y ago
This era was far before my time, but reminds me of a beloved computer game from my childhood, Lego Racers: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Racers_(video_game) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Racers_(video_game) You could build your own car brick by brick and then race it, which was pretty dang neat in 1999.
- sen 5y ago
  It blows my mind how bad Lego is at licensing good video games. The few attempts they've done have been atrociously bad, and the entire Lego system is perfectly suited to being a game. Just make Minecraft with Lego blocks, throw in multiplayer, and you'd have one of the biggest games out there. Instead we get these weird story games with very little of what makes Lego so great (building, creativity, etc), or licensed superhero games where the graphics are based on Lego and the building is basically "press a button and your character builds a predefined thing".
  - jurassic 5y ago
    It's actually gone the other direction, with Lego releasing licensed Minecraft sets since 2012.
  - taubek 5y ago
    Lego is the best at their core business, creating building blocks and toys. Maybe it is due to a fact that I'm not a kid anymore but I'm not a fan of Lego movies/cartoons.
    - bllguo 5y ago
      well the Lego movies are pretty well received, objectively, so id say more than a "maybe." i was personally really impressed with the movies, and i wasnt in their target demo i dont know much about the cartoons but anecdotally they seem to be popular with their intended audience. after all their ninjago line has been running for ages. certainly their core business is the bread and butter, but i think Lego actually does a pretty good job with their side ventures (missing a minecraft-type opportunity aside)
  - wingerlang 5y ago
    > ..or licensed superhero games.. I have not played these but I have heard nothing but praise for the lego star wars games. Do you think they are bad or do you assume they are?
    - 5y ago
richardw 5y ago
I have a 3 year old, who has a 101-year old great grandmother from my wife’s side. Had 4 generations simultaneously playing with classic Lego a month ago. This toy just sparks creativity with no measures of wrongness. I’m going to put off buying new sets as long as I can. New Lego, get off my lawn.
- chris_st 5y ago
  > New Lego, get off my lawn. Indeed. My grandson has a ton of lego, and the "old" stuff (you know, brick-shaped bricks) is all used in his various creations. So when we go to play together, he has a bin of "available" parts, except they're all weird one-offs that don't have studs on top. Once you use one on something, well, that's it, no building above that. Really frustrating, and amazingly hard to put even something really basic together.
- elteto 5y ago
  If you want just bricks you can buy just that. If you want sets then go for it. Both are ok. No need to gatekeep fun. People tend to overestimate how attractive their own lawns are.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    It's a weird balance between variety and uniformity. The whole key to Lego is that you can connect just about every piece to every other piece, either directly or indirectly. It's a system, not just a toy. But at the same time Lego tries very hard to put something unique in their new sets so that you can't make the design unless you buy the official set (or the one unique part at some ridiculous mark-up through set breakers). The trick then lies in being able to simulate the unique pieces with assemblies of ordinary pieces or pieces that you already have (not always possible), and to use those unique pieces that you do have in new and creative ways to start treating them as ordinary Lego. Some builders have taken this to an entirely new level, for instance in this castle there are all kinds of bits that have been used in ways that they were definitely not intended to achieve a novel effect: https://twitter.com/jmattheij/status/1016382615417389057 https://twitter.com/jmattheij/status/1016382615417389057
taubek 5y ago
I used to have cars like this back in 80s.:) We didn't have many set but they were so, fun. Memories... I have some new sets but I don't play so much with Lego this days. I've even bought few books to get ideas what could I do with them but I don't have time to, try things out:(
krupan 5y ago
Wow this made me feel old, once I figured out why this would even be interesting to anyone. How did I get here?
remoquete 5y ago
The first birthday present I remember was a Lego fire truck. I was three at the time. I wish current Lego sets were as simple and “blocky” as the ones from the 80s. Some of it is nostalgia, but some is the worry that Lego keeps steering away from the Classic and basic mindset that made it so iconic.
- ghostDancer 5y ago
  Nowadays looks more like you buy a set to follow the instructions and build it to stay on the shelf while the old sets were more like build what you can and want and play with it but it might be just our age.
  - pmyteh 5y ago
    I think it's probably just our age. My 6 year old is into Lego and he likes both: making an elaborate set, then after he's bored with it adding the parts to his box of bits and making baroque flying vehicles and rickety 'rescue stations'. The modern sets are a little less blocky (more curved parts made these days?) but seem to have just as much replay value as when I was a child. Perhaps that's not true of all of them - but then I remember my brother keeping his pirate ship built on his desk for a year or so...
    - ghostDancer 5y ago
      I think I was afraid to admit it.
  - watwut 5y ago
    The themed sets existed since 1978 and were popular from the start. Lego sets with instructions existed since 1964. You can buy basic sets still, they are fairly cheap version of lego.
    - ghostDancer 5y ago
      Yes I know , but nowadays looks like everything is a themed set, and I understand that is the market, We see what is has more demand and sells better and secondly I'm not the child that used to play with lego, which is probably the main reason. :-(
TonyTrapp 5y ago
I remember so many of those cars depicted there. Great memories!
rvba 5y ago
Lego moved from this 4 stud wide design to a 6 stud wide and in the last 2 years they seem to make cars that are 8 studs wide (this allows for apace for both driver and a passanger). There is something incredibly nostalgic in those simplistic 4 stud wide models though
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Going in the other direction, there are also two stud wide vehicles, for instance in the Tower Bridge set there is a very neat little London City double decker bus. Those really bring out the creativity especially when they use nothing but existing parts.
userbinator 5y ago
From the title, I thought it would be about making one of these with Lego: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Town_Car#First_generation_(1981–1989) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Town_Car#First_generat...
bobowzki 5y ago
Brought back a lot of memories!

134 points by ivanech 5y ago

I remember building these as a child. VCRs and DVDs and channel 3 and home phones have all come and gone, but this is the first time something has made me feel older.

WaxProlix 5y ago
It's funny what gets ya, huh. I had a similar vibe going through these.
dehrmann 5y ago
> DVDs The Xbox Series X and PS5 both play DVDs. If physical media players still exist in 2032, I wouldn't be surprised if they still play DVDs.
makach 5y ago
I also remember building these as a child, and as disturbing as it may sound, I distinctively remember the taste of the rubber-wheels as they were a favorite to chew. *good times
- obiefernandez 5y ago
  same!

blamazon 5y ago

This era was far before my time, but reminds me of a beloved computer game from my childhood, Lego Racers: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Racers_(video_game) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Racers_(video_game) You could build your own car brick by brick and then race it, which was pretty dang neat in 1999.

sen 5y ago
It blows my mind how bad Lego is at licensing good video games. The few attempts they've done have been atrociously bad, and the entire Lego system is perfectly suited to being a game. Just make Minecraft with Lego blocks, throw in multiplayer, and you'd have one of the biggest games out there. Instead we get these weird story games with very little of what makes Lego so great (building, creativity, etc), or licensed superhero games where the graphics are based on Lego and the building is basically "press a button and your character builds a predefined thing".
- jurassic 5y ago
  It's actually gone the other direction, with Lego releasing licensed Minecraft sets since 2012.
- taubek 5y ago
  Lego is the best at their core business, creating building blocks and toys. Maybe it is due to a fact that I'm not a kid anymore but I'm not a fan of Lego movies/cartoons.
  - bllguo 5y ago
    well the Lego movies are pretty well received, objectively, so id say more than a "maybe." i was personally really impressed with the movies, and i wasnt in their target demo i dont know much about the cartoons but anecdotally they seem to be popular with their intended audience. after all their ninjago line has been running for ages. certainly their core business is the bread and butter, but i think Lego actually does a pretty good job with their side ventures (missing a minecraft-type opportunity aside)
- wingerlang 5y ago
  > ..or licensed superhero games.. I have not played these but I have heard nothing but praise for the lego star wars games. Do you think they are bad or do you assume they are?
  - 5y ago

richardw 5y ago

I have a 3 year old, who has a 101-year old great grandmother from my wife’s side. Had 4 generations simultaneously playing with classic Lego a month ago. This toy just sparks creativity with no measures of wrongness. I’m going to put off buying new sets as long as I can. New Lego, get off my lawn.

chris_st 5y ago
> New Lego, get off my lawn. Indeed. My grandson has a ton of lego, and the "old" stuff (you know, brick-shaped bricks) is all used in his various creations. So when we go to play together, he has a bin of "available" parts, except they're all weird one-offs that don't have studs on top. Once you use one on something, well, that's it, no building above that. Really frustrating, and amazingly hard to put even something really basic together.
elteto 5y ago
If you want just bricks you can buy just that. If you want sets then go for it. Both are ok. No need to gatekeep fun. People tend to overestimate how attractive their own lawns are.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  It's a weird balance between variety and uniformity. The whole key to Lego is that you can connect just about every piece to every other piece, either directly or indirectly. It's a system, not just a toy. But at the same time Lego tries very hard to put something unique in their new sets so that you can't make the design unless you buy the official set (or the one unique part at some ridiculous mark-up through set breakers). The trick then lies in being able to simulate the unique pieces with assemblies of ordinary pieces or pieces that you already have (not always possible), and to use those unique pieces that you do have in new and creative ways to start treating them as ordinary Lego. Some builders have taken this to an entirely new level, for instance in this castle there are all kinds of bits that have been used in ways that they were definitely not intended to achieve a novel effect: https://twitter.com/jmattheij/status/1016382615417389057 https://twitter.com/jmattheij/status/1016382615417389057

taubek 5y ago

I used to have cars like this back in 80s.:) We didn't have many set but they were so, fun. Memories... I have some new sets but I don't play so much with Lego this days. I've even bought few books to get ideas what could I do with them but I don't have time to, try things out:(

krupan 5y ago

Wow this made me feel old, once I figured out why this would even be interesting to anyone. How did I get here?

remoquete 5y ago

The first birthday present I remember was a Lego fire truck. I was three at the time. I wish current Lego sets were as simple and “blocky” as the ones from the 80s. Some of it is nostalgia, but some is the worry that Lego keeps steering away from the Classic and basic mindset that made it so iconic.

ghostDancer 5y ago
Nowadays looks more like you buy a set to follow the instructions and build it to stay on the shelf while the old sets were more like build what you can and want and play with it but it might be just our age.
- pmyteh 5y ago
  I think it's probably just our age. My 6 year old is into Lego and he likes both: making an elaborate set, then after he's bored with it adding the parts to his box of bits and making baroque flying vehicles and rickety 'rescue stations'. The modern sets are a little less blocky (more curved parts made these days?) but seem to have just as much replay value as when I was a child. Perhaps that's not true of all of them - but then I remember my brother keeping his pirate ship built on his desk for a year or so...
  - ghostDancer 5y ago
    I think I was afraid to admit it.
- watwut 5y ago
  The themed sets existed since 1978 and were popular from the start. Lego sets with instructions existed since 1964. You can buy basic sets still, they are fairly cheap version of lego.
  - ghostDancer 5y ago
    Yes I know , but nowadays looks like everything is a themed set, and I understand that is the market, We see what is has more demand and sells better and secondly I'm not the child that used to play with lego, which is probably the main reason. :-(

TonyTrapp 5y ago

I remember so many of those cars depicted there. Great memories!

rvba 5y ago

Lego moved from this 4 stud wide design to a 6 stud wide and in the last 2 years they seem to make cars that are 8 studs wide (this allows for apace for both driver and a passanger). There is something incredibly nostalgic in those simplistic 4 stud wide models though

jacquesm 5y ago
Going in the other direction, there are also two stud wide vehicles, for instance in the Tower Bridge set there is a very neat little London City double decker bus. Those really bring out the creativity especially when they use nothing but existing parts.

userbinator 5y ago

From the title, I thought it would be about making one of these with Lego: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Town_Car#First_generation_(1981–1989) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Town_Car#First_generat...

bobowzki 5y ago

Brought back a lot of memories!