Vintage set of the week: 1926 Renault
Posted by Huwbot,
This week's vintage set is 391 1926 Renault, released during 1975. It's one of 3 Hobby Set sets produced that year. It contains 237 pieces.
It's owned by 699 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at Brick Owl, BrickLink or eBay.
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28 comments on this article
Most vintage Lego sets were good for their time, but the sets in the 'hobby set' theme were way ahead of the rest.
Mr. Burns: Once more around the park Smithers...
Smithers: But sir, this...windshield makes all but impossible to see through...
Burns: Oh pish-posh...I can't see anything out of my windows either, and you don't hear me complaining...:D
@Maxbricks14 said:
"Most vintage Lego sets were good for their time, but the sets in the 'hobby set' theme were way ahead of the rest."
Agree 100% - all the vehicles in this line are beautiful models.
Does anyone know what day the actual 1926 Renault as a real car was released? It'd be pretty neat if this Vintage Set of the Week was its 100 year anniversary.
I was about to say that I'd love for Lego to do something like this again, then I remembered 11376's existence.
Probably has far more illegal building techniques than 11376.
A new subtheme vintage for the speed champions?
Happy centenary, blue Renault!
By the way, the background looks strikingly like a Monet painting... 31220
@Agent00Z said:
"Does anyone know what day the actual 1926 Renault as a real car was released? It'd be pretty neat if this Vintage Set of the Week was its 100 year anniversary. "
In December 1907.....it's the Renault 40CV, produced from 1908 to 1928. I guess this Lego set was modeled after a specific car that probably was from 1926, not even a specific variant as the last typ (NM) was built from 1925 to 1928. The only specific 1926 model was a speed record car with the same 9.1 liter 150 hp engine under the long nose, but with a distinctly different rear end.
This was a very high end car at the time, comparable with Rolls-Royces and the likes, produced in rather limited numbers. And probably not two would have been the same, as cars like these would usually get custom bodies. Only 6 are known to remain to this day, most in museums.
As for this Lego set.....Model Team avant la lettre, even to this day a pretty darn great set!
The big square glass box for the cab does make it look like some kind of high end Popemobile
I'm much younger than these hobby sets, but growing up I had a small catalog leaflet advertising them. I remember making a red recreation of this set once (just based on the picture so probably very inaccurate), I thought the side spare wheels were the coolest thing ever! I was also (figuratively) drooling over the Thatcher Perkins train, but I never managed to build that...
VROOOM!!!
1926 - 1975 - 2026: uugh, almost perfect!
what's with the two extra wheels
can you even see one of these irl anymore
@pumpkinwashingmachine said:
"what's with the two extra wheels"
Normal cars have one spare tire. Fancy cars have two!
@pumpkinwashingmachine said:
"can you even see one of these irl anymore"
Only in a museum.
@Murdoch17 said:
" @pumpkinwashingmachine said:
"can you even see one of these irl anymore"
Only in a museum."
Seen one from 1922 two years ago in the Louwman Museum in The Hague: https://imgur.com/a/EfnZSLI
There's two more in museums in France (Mulhouse and Reims. Renault also has two in their own collection, an original one and a replica of that speed reord car. Next year they'll open a museum near Paris.
As for the US, the Larz Anderson Auto Museum near Boston has one from 1911.
@LaukBrick said:"A new subtheme vintage for the speed champions?"
I would love it if Speed Champions did cars this old. The only thing SC's done close to that old was 75875, and other than that, the oldest cars they've done have been from the Sixties.
@WizardOfOss said:"The only specific 1926 model was a speed record car"
"This baby's going to reach speeds of three!" (An Internet cookie to anyone who gets that reference.)
@WizardOfOss said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @pumpkinwashingmachine said:
"can you even see one of these irl anymore"
Only in a museum."
Seen one from 1922 two years ago in the Louwman Museum in The Hague: https://imgur.com/a/EfnZSLI"
They did a decent job with the shaping then, considering the parts available at the time.
Got one of these from eBay and, before a good dosing with hydrogen peroxide, the wheels were a pretty good colour match for the headlights!
@pumpkinwashingmachine said:
"what's with the two extra wheels"
Never heard of a spare tire? They were used a lot more frequently back then. Roads were frequently unimproved, and tires couldn't handle the same amount of abuse as their modern counterparts.
@WizardOfOss said:
"Normal cars have one spare tire. Fancy cars have two!"
It gets messier than that. It's pretty typical to see one rear-mounted spare tire with wheel on the back of a Model T, but sometimes that's not enough. These three all have two more spare tires without wheels strapped to the side of the car. Changing a tire would be challenge enough on an unlit dirt road in the country, but imagine having to first put a new tire on the wheel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1909_Ford_Model_T_Roadster_-_Donald_F_Yoder_-_Old_Car_Festival_2013_(9697385671).jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Old_cars_in_Huron_County,_Ontario.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1923_Ford_Model_T_Runabout_AZW456.jpg
Wild that this shows up as the RSOT on the same day that another blue car (72050) gets reviewed!
@sjr60 said:
"Got one of these from eBay and, before a good dosing with hydrogen peroxide, the wheels were a pretty good colour match for the headlights!"
Did they come back black alright?
@HOBBES said:
" @sjr60 said:
"Got one of these from eBay and, before a good dosing with hydrogen peroxide, the wheels were a pretty good colour match for the headlights!"
Did they come back black alright?"
?? Well they came out white alright.
@WizardOfOss said:
" @pumpkinwashingmachine said:
"what's with the two extra wheels"
Normal cars have one spare tire. Fancy cars have two!"
Unfortunately most modern cars (including the "fancy" ones) don't have a space tire and just include a "fix-a-flat" kit, which is absolutely useless for blowouts and sidewall damage.
@Dash_Justice said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @pumpkinwashingmachine said:
"what's with the two extra wheels"
Normal cars have one spare tire. Fancy cars have two!"
Unfortunately most modern cars (including the "fancy" ones) don't have a space tire and just include a "fix-a-flat" kit, which is absolutely useless for blowouts and sidewall damage."
Agree....though to be fair, the one time I had a flat tire, I just called the Wegenwacht and let them handle it.....
@Dash_Justice said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @pumpkinwashingmachine said:
"what's with the two extra wheels"
Normal cars have one spare tire. Fancy cars have two!"
Unfortunately most modern cars (including the "fancy" ones) don't have a space tire and just include a "fix-a-flat" kit, which is absolutely useless for blowouts and sidewall damage."
Some years back, I ended up buying a land-yacht from my parents' neighbor, and I determined that it had enough room in it to fit a dozen 10179 boxes. I could even fit 13 if I ditched the full-size spare tire. I have not yet owned a car that didn't at least have a 50/50 donut in the trunk.
@sjr60 said:
" @HOBBES said:
" @sjr60 said:
"Got one of these from eBay and, before a good dosing with hydrogen peroxide, the wheels were a pretty good colour match for the headlights!"
Did they come back black alright?"
?? Well they came out white alright.
"
My mistake, I thought the tires were badly discoloured (which I have never seen anyway) - but you did say the wheels. My bad.