Random set of the day: Club Car
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 4547 Club Car, released in 1993. It's one of 3 Trains sets produced that year. It contains 293 pieces and 5 minifigs, and its retail price was US$37.5.
It's owned by 1079 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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22 comments on this article
You, car, get all of my likes. All of them. Having watched various Amtrak trains go by from my bathroom window in the 80s (standing on the toilet seat, what parents didn't know didn't hurt me!), this is one of my favorite pieces of official LEGO rolling stock.
I wish LEGO would produce a train car each year. I can only buy so many trains, but I'd definitely buy a new train car once a year.
This one is very cool. I've ridden in one of those cars.
There were only 3 trains in '93, but all three of them were outstanding (alas, I'm only one from three).
Anyway, the club car. Aka, the set that I regret not buying (when I was younger) every single day. This set will occupy a permanent spot on my wanted list until I win the lottery. This one was a thing of beauty. Gosh, I wish I owned one. Heh.
Oh, so nice! I know I've seen this set in the LEGO catalog once.
I got the re-release of this set and I absolutely loved it as a kid... it was so playable, and so unique as far as trains went. I never had the Metroliner but I enjoyed putting it with the My Own Train line, at least until a few years back when I combined it with the Super Chief's dining car.
This is a thing of beauty! I think I wanted this club car more than the actual Metroliner when I first laid eyes on it back in late 1993. But alas! It is STILL not in my possession, although thankfully, the same cannot be said of the Metroliner. I kind of want to wait to open it, however, until I get the Club Car. And accept no substitutes: the Lego LEGENDS re-release of this set has more stickers than the original, and there are some dodgy parts substitutions (correct me if I am wrong on that point).
Lego at its best; RIP good sets.
Oh Brickset, stop teasing us with these trains....
5 minifigures in a small set!! Now to get 5 minifigures you must buy a Modular Building Set!!
I missed the original in '93 because I was in my dark period, but I got 2 of them and the re-released Metroliner in 2001! Such a solid build.
Happy 100th random set of the day day!
Back when train carriages had doors *sigh*
How I long for those days again.
I love this, and I don't even love LEGO trains like some do.
Yeah, I don't even have a train in my city. A wrong that I will right some day. But if LEGO still made train sets like this beauty, and individual, inexpensive cars... that day would be today!
This is a lovely car and definitely reminds me of the Amtrak and VRE trains I grew up with! The striping is very tasteful and the double-decker design really sets this apart from all other passenger cars before or since.
@GeordiePaul: Horizon Express had doors! I think perhaps part of the reason doors have disappeared from so many City vehicles is that kids prefer to put figures inside via the top anyway and trying to insert them via the doors can be awkward and frustrating. I'm with you in loving those kinds of details, though!
@guywin: lol, I think you're being a bit hyperbolic? We get loads of great sets these days; just look at stuff like https://brickset.com/sets/70618-1/Destiny-s-Bounty/ or https://brickset.com/sets/41196-1/The-Elvenstar-Tree-Bat-Attack or https://brickset.com/sets/60182-1/Pickup-Caravan or https://brickset.com/sets/41349-1/Drifting-Diner!
@HeriSanmi: This year there are at least 24 new sets with 5 or more minifigures, counting only the stuff we've seen. In '93 there were only 9 sets total with 5 or more minifigures, and a solid third of those were Dacta/Education sets. Not sure what you're on about?
I can see how this is so expensive on the used marketplace. It's going for $150-200 on Bricklink. It's such a nice looking set, you can easily get multiples that look great together and perfectly compliment one of the best trains Lego has ever created. I just don't get why they can't expand current trains beyond the base sets. Add-ons seem like a no brainer.
A true icon
One of the sets I really regret not getting. But then, you can't have everything. I own the BSB, Metroliner, Eldorado Fortress and many more sets. You cannot simply own all of it.
@natro220: The tricky thing about add-on sets in any theme is that their audience is mostly a subset of people who have the main set. And when the main set is the one the fewest people can afford, then that limits the prospective audience of the whole collection. So it usually makes more sense to ensure each set from the lowest price points to the highest ones offers a complete play experience on its own.
Now, that’s not to say you can’t have multiple sets that go together into a bigger item, like Jabba’s Palace and the Rancor Pit or Ninjago City and Ninjago City Docks. It just gets more complicated when one of those sets depends entirely on the other to give it context and a sense of completion.
@Aanchir I don't completely agree. I think part of it is people just don't collect and play with trains as much as they used to. If what you said was true, they wouldn't have released so many train accessories in the 1980-90's that required you to have the big train sets in order to be able to properly play with them.
Lego Dimensions is a good example of the same system working today (even though it eventually fizzled out it was popular when it started). You buy the expensive starter pack, and have numerous cheaper add ons to choose from. The scheme works if you have sufficient people buying the main product, and that is where today's trains fall short. I feel like it could possibly work if Lego properly marketed them and put effort into their design.
I don't recognize this set, but it is fantastic! An excellent and streamlined build with what looks like fantastic play features and a truely creative box design.
I try not to look so hard so I won't want to buy it.