Random set of the day: Mobile Police Truck
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6450 Mobile Police Truck, released during 1986. It's one of 26 Town sets produced that year. It contains 77 pieces and 1 minifig.
It's owned by 3,944 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $625.00, or eBay.
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39 comments on this article
It was cool when lego used to add "light & sound" to lego sets, what would be cooler is if they added sound to lego helmet sets; where if you push a button it says a quote from that character
Cool that they have the light and sound, but the batteries were quite big, leaving no room for storage in the back.
And this is where it all began. LEGO has released a LOT of police trucks.
@RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"And this is where it all began. LEGO has released a LOT of police trucks."
Of the 124 Police sets from Town and City, 30, give or take have been trucks.
@AidenBurrett said:
"It was cool when lego used to add "light & sound" to lego sets, what would be cooler is if they added sound to lego helmet sets; where if you push a button it says a quote from that character"
They still do. Just look at 76429. Lego may well add sound bricks to the helmet sets if they bring them back. Although they would up the price quite a lot, and that's adding more to the already over-priced Star Wars sets.
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @AidenBurrett said:
"It was cool when lego used to add "light & sound" to lego sets, what would be cooler is if they added sound to lego helmet sets; where if you push a button it says a quote from that character"
They still do. Just look at 76429. Lego may well add sound bricks to the helmet sets if they bring them back. Although they would up the price quite a lot, and that's adding more to the already over-priced Star Wars sets."
A company could just make the sound bricks as Light My Bricks did, as they show a full step-by-step instructions on how to add the lights, as in this case a sound brick.
My father bought me this set as a present when I was six and had a broken leg.
My parents followed that up by giving me years and years of trauma. Personally, I would've preferred they stuck with giving me Lego sets, but anyway.
I still have the set, I'm not sure the electronics still work, though.
@AidenBurrett said:
"It was cool when lego used to add "light & sound" to lego sets, what would be cooler is if they added sound to lego helmet sets; where if you push a button it says a quote from that character"
75274 already does.
@RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"And this is where it all began. LEGO has released a LOT of police trucks."
LEGO has indeed released a lot of police trucks, but this isn’t the first. Off the top of my head, 6681 pre-dates this one by several years. There may be older ones though I’m not sure if any were standalone sets, i.e. police trucks that were not part of larger sets.
@AidenBurrett said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @AidenBurrett said:
"It was cool when lego used to add "light & sound" to lego sets, what would be cooler is if they added sound to lego helmet sets; where if you push a button it says a quote from that character"
They still do. Just look at 76429. Lego may well add sound bricks to the helmet sets if they bring them back. Although they would up the price quite a lot, and that's adding more to the already over-priced Star Wars sets."
A company could just make the sound bricks as Light My Bricks did, as they show a full step-by-step instructions on how to add the lights, as in this case a sound brick."
Then what's the point in talking about it.
@Zander said:
" @RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"And this is where it all began. LEGO has released a LOT of police trucks."
LEGO has indeed released a lot of police trucks, but this isn’t the first. Off the top of my head, 6681 pre-dates this one by several years. There may be older ones though I’m not sure if any were standalone sets, i.e. police trucks that were not part of larger sets.
"
Erm, well acktually, *Insert nerd emoji* that's a police van. The first was 6632.
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @Zander said:
" @RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"And this is where it all began. LEGO has released a LOT of police trucks."
LEGO has indeed released a lot of police trucks, but this isn’t the first. Off the top of my head, 6681 pre-dates this one by several years. There may be older ones though I’m not sure if any were standalone sets, i.e. police trucks that were not part of larger sets.
"
Erm, well acktually, *Insert nerd emoji* that's a police van. The first was 6632."
Minivans are built on car frames. Regular vans are built on truck frames. As such, they tend to get classified as light trucks, at least in the US.
@PurpleDave said:
" @AidenBurrett said:
"It was cool when lego used to add "light & sound" to lego sets, what would be cooler is if they added sound to lego helmet sets; where if you push a button it says a quote from that character"
75274 already does."
75274 does not contain a sound brick
Wait, isn't it an inherent feature of a truck to be mobile? I don't see a real need to specifically call that out
@PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @Zander said:
" @RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"And this is where it all began. LEGO has released a LOT of police trucks."
LEGO has indeed released a lot of police trucks, but this isn’t the first. Off the top of my head, 6681 pre-dates this one by several years. There may be older ones though I’m not sure if any were standalone sets, i.e. police trucks that were not part of larger sets.
"
Erm, well acktually, *Insert nerd emoji* that's a police van. The first was 6632."
Minivans are built on car frames. Regular vans are built on truck frames. As such, they tend to get classified as light trucks, at least in the US."
Ah, I see. The US has got to be different in every way doesn't it.
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @Zander said:
" @RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"And this is where it all began. LEGO has released a LOT of police trucks."
LEGO has indeed released a lot of police trucks, but this isn’t the first. Off the top of my head, 6681 pre-dates this one by several years. There may be older ones though I’m not sure if any were standalone sets, i.e. police trucks that were not part of larger sets.
"
Erm, well acktually, *Insert nerd emoji* that's a police van. The first was 6632 ."
A change of naming convention, not vehicle type. 6450 was released in ‘86, while 6681 despite having a higher set number came out in ‘81.
Having 6681, I passed on 6450 because they looked almost exactly the same. But I wanted a light and sound set vary badly, so I got the 6750 in '86 instead.
@Zander said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @Zander said:
" @RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"And this is where it all began. LEGO has released a LOT of police trucks."
LEGO has indeed released a lot of police trucks, but this isn’t the first. Off the top of my head, 6681 pre-dates this one by several years. There may be older ones though I’m not sure if any were standalone sets, i.e. police trucks that were not part of larger sets.
"
Erm, well acktually, *Insert nerd emoji* that's a police van. The first was 6632 ."
A change of naming convention, not vehicle type. 6450 was released in ‘86, while 6681 despite having a higher set number came out in ‘81.
"
They are both basically the same type of car, even if they are named differently. Looking through older sets, it seems that the first of its type was 659 Police Patrol, released in 1975.
@Maxbricks14 said:
"Cool that they have the light and sound, but the batteries were quite big, leaving no room for storage in the back."
We are talking about 1986. At that time LEDs where still rare and expensive. They had to use 9V batteries to run the light bulbs and probably they needed at least 5V for the sound. 4.5V batteries were even worse. Furthermore, it was a system that was designed to run motors, like in the monorail.
I have my original set, both light and sound still work. My father brought it from Germany. I'm still in love with it. Had hundreds of hours of play.
Given the blues and twos are normally set off to alert traffic to get out its way, I feel using them while sat stationary behind some signs is improper usage
@AidenBurrett said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @AidenBurrett said:
"It was cool when lego used to add "light & sound" to lego sets, what would be cooler is if they added sound to lego helmet sets; where if you push a button it says a quote from that character"
75274 already does."
75274 does not contain a sound brick"
They were joking, since the Tie-Pilot doesn't have a single line in any OT movie.
Funny, last thing I did yesterday before going to sleep was watch a video about the evolution of Lego "lightbricks", which for all practical purposes just considered every light emitting Lego element ever made a lightbrick. And now I wake up to this RSotD......
Loved this system, but unfortunately, both sets we had back in the day (this one and 6481, and probably some service pack with the brilliant conductive plates) were my brother's. And while he didn't care about most of his other old sets, these (and 6389) were the ones he wanted to keep for himself.
And while by todays standards that battery box might seem cumbersome, back then it was a huge improvement over the huge 4,5v battery boxes, containing 3 C-cells. Now you could properly add lights to minifig sized vehicles without having an external battery box. Or I just used the long rounded Technic battery box for a tank trailer. With this 9V system things got a lot more flexible.
While the current lightbricks can be used in cool ways, and there's obviously the lights for the PU/C+ system, it is a shame Lego doesn't have a more compact and flexible system nowadays. They should have a look at some of the competition....
@paulvdb said:
" @Zander said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @Zander said:
" @RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"And this is where it all began. LEGO has released a LOT of police trucks."
LEGO has indeed released a lot of police trucks, but this isn’t the first. Off the top of my head, 6681 pre-dates this one by several years. There may be older ones though I’m not sure if any were standalone sets, i.e. police trucks that were not part of larger sets.
"
Erm, well acktually, *Insert nerd emoji* that's a police van. The first was 6632 ."
A change of naming convention, not vehicle type. 6450 was released in ‘86, while 6681 despite having a higher set number came out in ‘81.
"
They are both basically the same type of car, even if they are named differently. Looking through older sets, it seems that the first of its type was 659 Police Patrol, released in 1975."
Good catch. That does seem to be the oldest. The change of name from ‘Patrol’ to ‘Van’ to ‘Truck’ makes it tricky to track.
Cool, a truck with telepathy!
Wee Woo Wee Woo
@Zander said:
" <6450 was released in ‘86, while 6681 despite having a higher set number came out in ‘81."
Set numbers never went sequentially. The very first Lego set released was 700-12
@Binnekamp said:"Cool, a truck with telepathy!"
"To me, my policemen!"
“What is LEGO City doing in 60691? Adding technology in sets, kids should be able to use their imagination, they’re going to fail as a company, mumble grumble etc”
LEGO in 1986:
I was about 3 or 4 when I discovered my older cousin had this! It immediately became an object of desire! Lights! Noise! Accessories! All built with LEGO! Possibly the best set ever!
Born in 1973 was this one of my favourite Police Sets in my Childhood | Youth. I had the Fire Truck with "Light & Sound" too. I loved both of them and played for Hours. They are still in my Collection
@Zander said:
" @RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"And this is where it all began. LEGO has released a LOT of police trucks."
LEGO has indeed released a lot of police trucks, but this isn’t the first. Off the top of my head, 6681 pre-dates this one by several years. There may be older ones though I’m not sure if any were standalone sets, i.e. police trucks that were not part of larger sets.
"
I've got 6681! One of my uncle's old sets
Fitting that SpitBrix just did a video about the history of LEGO light bricks! My dad some of the light bricks and 9V battery boxes in his collection, and they still worked!
One of my First Sets! Very fond memories...
I also have it's counterpart 6480 - the concept works a bit better there, imagining the battery Box as a water Tank or similar.
This set shares it's design concept with a few earlier Police trucks, although this time the large storage area is just fake. Though it never really bothered me back then.
It was surprising to see how long this was available - 1986 till 1990. It was even meant to be releases earlier, but Lego couldn't get the 9V parts production ready as planned.
There were a few extra 9V plates and light covers included, which we're also used in the alternative models in the back of the box.
Those 9V parts were usually quiet long lasting, Mine still work today, despite seeing much use in both the Set itself and a lot of MOCs. Just be careful for the 1x2 plates not cracking at the Sides - it might cause some issues with the electric contacts.
It also contained a few parts in uncommon colors, such as the front grille/ladder, the tools and the back window (mine broke, so it went with a painted red one until i found Bricklink :S).
I really couldn't resist buying a cheap second copy of this set in nice condition a few years ago :D
The design thought went into the electric plates and design of these sets was top notch. Having plates that could conduct current and still fit with regular plates always impressed me. Even the simple function of turning the light bar around to change the lights from flashing alternately to flashing together blew my 10 year old mind!
Run! it’s the cups!
@WolfpackBricksStudios said:
"My dad some of the light bricks and 9V battery boxes in his collection, and they still worked!"
That's impressive, considering the sound brick from my 8634 from back in 2008 doesn't work anymore :-P
@AidenBurrett:
Says every line of dialogue uttered by an OT TIE Pilot, though, doesn’t it?
@Maxbricks14:
I like to think of it as the rest of the world collectively agreeing they don’t want to be caught dead copying the US, even when they’re can’t come up with any alternative that makes sense. Except Canada. They can go either way, but usually find it’s easier to adopt US practices, or even sit in on the meetings where standards are developed.
My favorite example is exit signs in public buildings. In the US, they’re usually red. Europe decided red equals danger, and somehow people would end up running away from them in a fire. So they picked a different color. You know why they’re red in the US? Because that’s the color that’s most visible through a room full of smoke.
@Brickalili:
Sirens, yes (ambulances typically leave them off at night, since the lights show up so much better). Lights stay on as long as they’re on the scene, or until the ambulance arrives at a hospital.
@Zander said:
" @RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"And this is where it all began. LEGO has released a LOT of police trucks."
LEGO has indeed released a lot of police trucks, but this isn’t the first. Off the top of my head, 6681 pre-dates this one by several years. There may be older ones though I’m not sure if any were standalone sets, i.e. police trucks that were not part of larger sets.
"
I would even argue that 6450 is nothing more than an electronic knock-off (or upgrade) of the earlier set 6681. The look and dimensions of the vehicles are nearly identical. Only some colors were changed and the road signage so it (I presume) would fit in the limited storage space of the rear of the van. I am a proud owner of the original 6681.
@PurpleDave said:
" @AidenBurrett:
Says every line of dialogue uttered by an OT TIE Pilot, though, doesn’t it?
"
The Tie pilots say: "Look out!" to Vader in Episode IV and "Arghh!" as well.
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @AidenBurrett:
Says every line of dialogue uttered by an OT TIE Pilot, though, doesn’t it?
"
The Tie pilots say: "Look out!" to Vader in Episode IV and "Arghh!" as well."
Utterly forgettable, if true. Their delivery should have been faster and more intense.