@TheWackyWookiee said:
"The suspension drew my eye. Was this feature in any other sets?"

Theres something similar in the clone turbo tanks and the red skulls hydra tank

@TheWackyWookiee said:
"The suspension drew my eye. Was this feature in any other sets?"

Theres something similar in the clone turbo tanks and the red skulls hydra tank

What is up with that suspension?

@Monopoly:
And that last part is where they fall apart. You can keep them. I'd rather build cars than go-carts.

This set found its way into my Easter basket one year. Not that I needed another tow truck, but as quoted before, I found the spring loaded wheel pieces fascinating too. It's still in my collection, in its original box.

@natro220 said:
" @TheWackyWookiee the suspension was featured in 16 sets in the late 80’s/early 90’s according to Bricklink. It’s pretty cool, an encased spring system that still holds up and works great today."

Interesting. Thanks for the notice.

Sun’s out, guns out, doing some sweet off-roading at the dunes...in a tow truck. Doesn’t this guy have work to do? Stranded motorists to assist? I hope he’s an owner-operator and this joyride isn’t on someone else’s time!

Look at him go

One of my all time favorite sets in my collection. As a kid, I was so impressed with the suspension pieces - and still am today. With the wider large wheels like on 6648 Mag Racer, that came up one or two years later, these fit well on 6-wide cars or trucks. Although not a fan of overly specialized pieces, these things are a real winner.

One of the first sets I ever bought. Those suspension pieces were amazing.

I didn't have this set, but my brother did. (I got the pieces years later when he gave me his Lego collection.) Cool as the suspension was, it did raise the tow hook too high. Although my brother also had 6641 which was also high off the ground and even had a convenient bar to hook to. As I recall, that one got towed around a lot.

Man that suspension looks awesome. I gotta get my hands one of the sets with that.

I had this set as a kid (still have pieces somewhere). Used and reused those suspension pieces endlessly - they were awesome. Spring action on them felt so perfect I could never stop Playing with them!

The box art shows it perched on top of one of a pair of camels!

That suspension was just fantastic indeed.

This one is one of my favorites from my childhood, and it is currently on display on a bookshelf. I always found it interesting that they removed the springs for the box art.

@cluening said:
"This one is one of my favorites from my childhood, and it is currently on display on a bookshelf. I always found it interesting that they removed the springs for the box art."

I think with springs they couldn't take the picture as it is. No photoshop at that time :)

@dazzay:
So build your own cars, and enjoy the pieces that have become available in the last two decades. The first feature I work into every single one of my 6-wide cars (except the Pixar Cars cars) is operable doors, but I use the 1x3x2 version because the 1x3x1 door needs encourages you to make a pancake on wheels. The first 6-wide car I designed has a working rumble seat. Another one has adjustable headrests on the front seats. Most of my cars have bucket seats that straddle what could either be a stickshift or a parking brake. My latest is a dainty little 300+pc 60's Ford Good Humor ice cream truck that has a flip-open roof over the cab and rear pontoon fenders, just like the real one that I based it on. I've never done a working hood or trunk, but I pack those spaces full of crazy SNOT construction to make the exterior design possible.

But I don't have a single car in my display collection that was possible to build before 2004. That's when we finally had cheese wedges, proper fenders, 6-wide windscreens, and (while I don't use them much anymore) 4x4 and 6x4 car hoods.

@chrisaw said:
"Sad that we lost those suspension assemblies - nowadays Lego seems to think it’s cool to have big ol’ visible rubber bands."

LEGO has tried to move away from metal anything in their sets as they have to bring those type of parts from an outside company and either assemble it in house or provide the parts to the outside source to do it. At least, its the same reason they gave for the 9 Volt track system going away.

Love the torso print. Perfect rendition of the first set it appears in, the marvelous 6641.

@namekuji said:
"The opening hood is a play feature that is hours of fun."

This is the first set I ever saw with an opening bonnet. Unfortunately, I only saw it at school, as by that time (1993) there were no sets on the shelves with that feature. It was a massive inspiration. I recreated the feature in some MOCs in the late 90s, one of which is still intact! Since my adulthood Lego renaissance, I have added accessible engines to several sets. And I finally have this set, from Bricklink.

Yes, I think the single most influential set of my childhood was a very small truck I just missed, and only saw at school.

4-wide vehicles will always be my favorites, and this suspension piece is one of the best LEGO pieces of all time imho.