Random set of the day: Police Headquarters
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 588 Police Headquarters, released during 1979. It's one of 19 Town sets produced that year. It contains 372 pieces and 4 minifigs.
It's owned by 654 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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69 comments on this article
WEW! Look at that bike. Chonky boi comin hot down the street.
I prefer firefighter tailpennies
This police station appears (sans vehicles, figures, and baseplate) in the LEGO City bonus level of LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga. I didn't know it was a real set from the 1970s!
I forgot brick built bikes existed before that mould came into play.
I personally considered this set the first “classic town building” of that era…
Nice to see a proper police station that isn't too Americanised or cartoony. Love that old TV aerial piece.
I am curious, the brown hair piece of the police officer with lights directing the helicopter in, what hair piece is that?
Is it the regular 'male' hair piece (reminds me of the 1960s men's haircut Maxwell Smart had, as well as almost every actor in all the old war films), or is it a unique female hair piece? It's hard to tell.
First set my folks ever got me -boy my mother thinks she may have made a mistake :)
@Brickchap said:
"Nice to see a proper police station that isn't too Americanised or cartoony. Love that old TV aerial piece.
I am curious, the brown hair piece of the police officer with lights directing the helicopter in, what hair piece is that?
Is it the regular 'male' hair piece (reminds me of the 1960s men's haircut Maxwell Smart had, as well as almost every actor in all the old war films), or is it a unique female hair piece? It's hard to tell. "
The hairpiece almost looks like somebody trimmed the "pigtails" off the girl hairpiece to make a brown male piece as a prototype part.... it's plausible, since the male part didn't come out until 1979, that the part was in prototype stage when it was photographed. After all, the pigtail was in production since 1975. (but it never came in brown!)
Funny thing is: I have the helicopter...sorta' ( 645). It's also funny that these type of 'choppers' are my second fave, first being the ADU'S Jet-Copter ( 7067)...still these still hold-up.
You know what I really love about this one? The big transparent doors.
The brown hair is the standard male hair, just a funny light reflection on the curves of that side.
@Zordboy said:
"You know what I really love about this one? The big transparent doors. "
Exactly what I was looking at. Nothing says police garage like giant glass doors.
But also, I miss shutters.
I have this set and have just recently built the classic space sets from my childhood. Nice memories.
Really nice phones in this.
The glass doors are kind of hilarious to me. My grandparents had one just like it in their little house in Florida, never would've associated it with a police garage!
@AndyB1 said:
"The brown hair is the standard male hair, just a funny light reflection on the curves of that side."
I'm not so sure, the regular male hair had cutout shapes to suggest ears and this one is solid all the way around. Modified brown pigtails, methinks
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga...
Funny how the Lego City level featured another two vintage sets: 6382 and 6365, both from 1981. The only 2000s set featured was the 4886.
(Not counting the SW vehicles though. Landspeeder from the 2004 set 4501, AT-ST from the 2001 set 7127 and the Wookiee Vehicle from the 2005 set 7258)
I would say this is a minifig remake of 370 which is itself a remake of 560. When I first saw this set I thought it was the 370 (since I have at least one copy of it) but wondered how it got green shutters! And then I remembered it’s out of scope, too.
I also vote that hairstyle to be slaughtered pigtail.
@Galaxy12_Import said:
" @AndyB1 said:
"The brown hair is the standard male hair, just a funny light reflection on the curves of that side."
I'm not so sure, the regular male hair had cutout shapes to suggest ears and this one is solid all the way around. Modified brown pigtails, methinks"
Yep, you can really see it in the pic for 361-2
My very first Lego set. A+++
My first big Lego Set. I really wanted 6390 Main Street, but this was still pretty sweet!
@chrisaw said:
" @Galaxy12_Import said:
" @AndyB1 said:
"The brown hair is the standard male hair, just a funny light reflection on the curves of that side."
I'm not so sure, the regular male hair had cutout shapes to suggest ears and this one is solid all the way around. Modified brown pigtails, methinks"
Yep, you can really see it in the pic for 361-2"
I guess the male hair piece wasn't ready yet when they created the box art for these sets. So they used a prototype for those photos. But the actual sets included the classic male hair piece that was the only male hair piece for a long time. Originally only came in brown but starting in the 1980s also came in black
You know, as beautiful as todays sets look, I still like the classics just as much. And no, it's not nostalgia.
A brick built motorcycle. Now I’ve seen everything.
Oh my.... This was the best set and gift I could ever dream about back at the time. I spend hours looking through the pictures, imagining what I would play as adventures if one day it came to me. Look at that super cool chopper!
40 years later... And the stations still look the same
My brother got this for Christmas. It was our first set with a road plate. I recall drawing roads on paper to connect to this.
One of my first sets and my father still talks about this set. Usually the part where I would ask him to build it and me promising not to break it. Well... ;-)
Still the 'breaking' is what lead to me building sets on my own. I also remember my father building some of the alternatives displayed on the box.
Great set to play with although it was a little hard to put someone in the jail or remove them.
And it has a second chance to reappear as Euro version!
Who can tell why LEGO used seperate catalog numbers for North America?
My first Lego set ever!
I had this one too, it wasn't as exciting to me as the Space or Castle that I had later, and I promptly forgot about it when roll-up garage doors were introduced.
Just had a look at the 360 view to solve the 43 year old mystery of what is inside the rooms on the left? It turns out to be a single width roof brick telephone on a desk with a 2x2 brick as a chair. Possibly so downstairs could phone upstairs, as there was no stairs for either of them to walk to the other one.
@lynels said:
"Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga...
Funny how the Lego City level featured another two vintage sets: 6382 and 6365, both from 1981. The only 2000s set featured was the 4886.
(Not counting the SW vehicles though. Landspeeder from the 2004 set 4501, AT-ST from the 2001 set 7127 and the Wookiee Vehicle from the 2005 set 7258)"
If I remember correctly the Wookie Flyer was actually in the "New Town" level, which was one of several levels added in the Complete Saga. Lego City, the easier one to unlock, originated in Lego Star Wars 2. Other than 7258, the only set featured New Town and not Lego City was 4010 Police Patrol Boat, the first boat in a Tt Lego game. The small lake 4010 was confined to was weird because of the lack of swimmable water. Anyway, the only other non Star Wars set I remember was 885 inside the space slug, which certainly raises questions.
@Norikins: The Wookiee Flyer is in the original city level; most of it is buried next to the fire station, the top bit is inside one of the fire station's garages, and all the antennas are on top of a tower next door. It is not featured in New Town any more.
New Town also replaces the AT-ST (the unique Lego game version) with 7250, and adds a fire truck (a roofless version of 7239).
It's also interesting to note that New Town recoloured some of the buildings: 6382 is still there, but is in a white and orange colour scheme (as is 4010). Meanwhile this set, 588, appears in red and is used as a fire station!
@jkb said:
"And it has a second chance to reappear as Euro version!
Who can tell why LEGO used seperate catalog numbers for North America?"
Apparently it was something to do with Samsonite losing the licence to distribute Lego in the US, which led to Lego having to use different set numbers in the US.
I got this as a kid (and now my kids build it from time to time). What always struck me was that at the back of the building, the offices were open, for easy access for playing. However, the jail was not open at the back, but closed, as if to prevent the criminals from escaping (though none were included…).
@MeisterDad said:
"I would say this is a minifig remake of 370 which is itself a remake of 560 . When I first saw this set I thought it was the 370 (since I have at least one copy of it) but wondered how it got green shutters! And then I remembered it’s out of scope, too."
I remember 370 {old timer voice} from the good ol’ days when figures weren’t articulated and had no face printing! {end old timer voice}
Not a remake of 560 though. Perhaps you’re thinking of another set. 585?
This was one of the very first sets I owned as a (small) kid, though I doubt my parents actually bought it in its year of production. Well, of course we had 381-2
I have very fond memories of it. We still have lots of the Lego from back then at the parents' house, but I highly doubt I'd be able to fully assemble the station again. I'm looking for it occasionally on the secondary market but so far it hasn't been urgent enough :)
I never could figure how that brick built motorcycle was supposed to work.
Still, I wanted this as a kid, but had to wait until the later one.
@jkb said:
"And it has a second chance to reappear as Euro version!
Who can tell why LEGO used seperate catalog numbers for North America?"
The European version (381-2) was RSOTD on the First of March 2019
https://brickset.com/article/42481
My first big set - Still one of my favourites
@kfr said:
"This was one of the very first sets I owned as a (small) kid, though I doubt my parents actually bought it in its year of production. Well, of course we had 381-2"
I have this, and older sets, that were from before my Lego building age. I have to believe sets used to have much longer shelf lives than they do now. Marketing, manufacturing, and yes the supply chain was so different... oy, 40+ years ago.
I still have the baseplate and pieces of this set. It always frustrated me that the "road" (I guess it's actually a driveway) never fit other baseplate roads.
@Zander said:
" @MeisterDad said:
"I would say this is a minifig remake of 370 which is itself a remake of 560 . When I first saw this set I thought it was the 370 (since I have at least one copy of it) but wondered how it got green shutters! And then I remembered it’s out of scope, too."
I remember 370 {old timer voice} from the good ol’ days when figures weren’t articulated and had no face printing! {end old timer voice}
Not a remake of 560 though. Perhaps you’re thinking of another set. 585?"
I assume they meant 560-2 rather than 560-1.
@Zander said:
" @MeisterDad said:
"I would say this is a minifig remake of 370 which is itself a remake of 560 . When I first saw this set I thought it was the 370 (since I have at least one copy of it) but wondered how it got green shutters! And then I remembered it’s out of scope, too."
I remember 370 {old timer voice} from the good ol’ days when figures weren’t articulated and had no face printing! {end old timer voice}
Not a remake of 560 though. Perhaps you’re thinking of another set. 585 ?
"
370 and 585 seem to me to be the same set. It is my opinion that both derive from 560-2, sorry I missed the -2.
I read somewhere that scientists recently invented translucent wood. Well, looks like the Lego designers from the 70s foresaw it!
@chrisaw said:
" @Galaxy12_Import said:
" @AndyB1 said:
"The brown hair is the standard male hair, just a funny light reflection on the curves of that side."
I'm not so sure, the regular male hair had cutout shapes to suggest ears and this one is solid all the way around. Modified brown pigtails, methinks"
Yep, you can really see it in the pic for 361-2"
The original Princess Leia hairpiece!
@Padmewan said:
" @kfr said:
I still have the baseplate and pieces of this set. It always frustrated me that the "road" (I guess it's actually a driveway) never fit other baseplate roads.
"
I'm not sure what you mean by this as the set came on a standard straight road plate that works perfectly with all other road plates of that era.
It hurt me to see this set ^^ That's because I love it, but I also adore its two direct replacements (from 1983 and 1986, if I recall correctly). And of course I don't have money, let alone the place, to buy the three sets from BL... and it's too hard to make a choice.
(that was : "How my life is sad and horrible" ^^)
@MeisterDad said:
" @Zander said:
" @MeisterDad said:
"I would say this is a minifig remake of 370 which is itself a remake of 560 . When I first saw this set I thought it was the 370 (since I have at least one copy of it) but wondered how it got green shutters! And then I remembered it’s out of scope, too."
I remember 370 {old timer voice} from the good ol’ days when figures weren’t articulated and had no face printing! {end old timer voice}
Not a remake of 560 though. Perhaps you’re thinking of another set. 585 ?
"
370 and 585 seem to me to be the same set. It is my opinion that both derive from 560-2, sorry I missed the -2."
No worries! Those pesky suffix numbers ;~)
@crimson said:
"It hurt me to see this set ^^ That's because I love it, but I also adore its two direct replacements (from 1983 and 1986, if I recall correctly). And of course I don't have money, let alone the place, to buy the three sets from BL... and it's too hard to make a choice.
(that was : "How my life is sad and horrible" ^^)
"
C’est la vie !
@Murdoch17:
It might be trimmed and painted. I’ve seen painted parts at NYTF before, when they had a strict deadline for being able to display the sets. Additionally, there’s something wonky with the minifig head. The face looks like it’s recessed a bit compared to the jawline.
@WesterBricks:
My first “minifig” set had a brick-built motorcycle with a plank minifig. And of course, my Yellow Castle had brick-built horses.
@jkb:
381-2? March 1, 2019:
https://brickset.com/article/42481
My comment on the nature of the beverages being offered to the pilot got deleted.
As for why they did separate set numbers, I’d guess it’s either a legacy thing from the Samsonite license, or because of differences in NA/EU packaging and instructions. I know the instructions and stickers still have different numbers printed on them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the sets, despite sporting unified set numbers, have NA/EU SKUs printed next to the barcodes.
Very good set. I like this one.
Silly really.. fond memories of an old toy, but I loved this set as a kid and when seeing this posted as RSotD brought me a huge smile.
Why is Police Heliport, released in 1973, set 560-2 while Town House, released in 1979, is 560-1? The Heliport was my first LEGO set- thus my username!
Such a classic set. All the elements of the modern police station sets where already there, just mostly made from a rather limited part selection, and obviously with less interior detail and simpler vehicles. But it still looks great, and the play value hasn't really changed since.
Which makes me think: How cool would it be if Lego would make a series of modernized, "renovated" versions of those old classic buildings? Imagine a Legoland from that era that wasn't demolished and rebuilt entirely, how would it look now, 4 decades later?
@560heliport:
When sets have duplicate numbers, I believe the community standard is that the first one to be added to one of the major info repositories gets the “-1” suffix, the next gets “-2”, and so on. When parts don’t have official part numbers identified, there were I think three different numbering conventions (Brickset, Bricklink, and Peeron/LDraw), and the first database to add a part determined which numbering system it used for all four sites. A lot of that has been wiped out now, since it’s a bit easier to dig up official part design numbers than it was back in the day.
I loved this set (as 381-2 the UK version of it) - new minifigs, opening doors and windows, plus the clear glass garage doors formed part of my Town sets for years. The helicopter is exactly the same as the one in 645 - it has doors but no control stick!
I had 377 Shell Service station, and longed for this set to go with it… but never got it :(
A great set from a great era.
An absolute classic set that brings back so many happy memories for me. I got it for my 8th birthday when I had just moved to a new school. Just seeing it transports me back to my childhood. It was the centrepiece of my Lego town for years. I thought the motorcycle was great, it reminded me of the ones on CHiPs! But the one feature that made it for me was the desk and telephone, simple and instantly recognisable.
One of my very first sets! It was missing a brick & the only one I had on hand to replace it was red. I wish I knew where my old sets are. Brings back fond memories!
Good old sets with *baseplates*.
This was part of my childhood collection - a birthday present, if I recall. It was my first big Town/City set and my first serious deviation from Classic Space and into a larger LEGO world. In those days, stuff hung around on store shelves for longer than 2 years. I didn't acquire my (brand new) copy until mid-1982.
@PurpleDave said:
" @560heliport:
When sets have duplicate numbers, I believe the community standard is that the first one to be added to one of the major info repositories gets the “-1” suffix, the next gets “-2”, and so on. When parts don’t have official part numbers identified, there were I think three different numbering conventions (Brickset, Bricklink, and Peeron/LDraw), and the first database to add a part determined which numbering system it used for all four sites. A lot of that has been wiped out now, since it’s a bit easier to dig up official part design numbers than it was back in the day."
So the -1 or -2 is Brickset or Bricklink or whoever, not LEGO's. Okay, that makes sense. Thanks!
@Zordboy said:
"You know what I really love about this one? The big transparent doors. "
That "big transparent doors" represent metal driveway gates and they looks spot on! Much better then all those transparent doors (and wall panels) on many newer police stations.
One of my first set. In fact, my mom found the instruction book a year ago and gave it to me, it is the 381 , not the 588 . I still have the main parts : windows, transparent doors, except the grey antenna. I forgot there was an antenna, I just remember I had one with set 6970 . It also included the only city baseplate I had for years, until the 2000's and eBay.
This set was just great to play with. And the red phones remain my favorite parts.
This was part of my childhood town layout, along with sets like 376 House, 368 Taxi Garage, 6382 Fire Station, 6383 Public Works....what fond memories!
Funny that those hairpieces are different than the ones we got with those sets. I mean if you look at the other sets from that year they all have the real 70ies hairdo instead of the open ears ones.
Furthermore i love the trans doors and the bike is superb. I had a small set with a bike like that. Very much in love with it back in the days
One of my first ever sets. I still have a few of the pieces from it somewhere... It's not a Galaxy Explorer but I was happy to get it!
@560heliport:
For now, it’s mostly a stagnant problem. I don’t know why they were reusing 3-digit numbers, but they chose to stop, moved on to 4-digit, and now 5-digit numbers. As sets retire, their set numbers retire with them. But eventually they’ll finish the 5-digit run, and the 6-digit run, and AFOLs will get a new headache.
Some sets are what I refer to as “yellow-box”. This includes stuff like 850425, which is a true LEGO Brand Retail exclusive. It has no set number printed on the front of the box, but instead has a 6-digit number printed in bold near the barcode. So those will start causing conflicts once they open up that range. Then there are items that don’t even have that number. Also next to the barcode is a line that says “Item: ”. This seven digit number is unique to each set by region, so anything that’s sold in both North America and Europe gets a different number assigned to each packaging style. A few items get cataloged by this number just because there’s nothing else on the packaging to use.
So, official set numbers are in the 5-digit range, but AFOLs have been cataloging 6-digit and 7-digit numbers for quite a while now. We don’t know if those will be off-limits for use as regular set numbers, and probably won’t find out for quite some time.
But wait! There’s more! 79104 is cataloged twice on Bricklink. Early copies had a vehicle base that was assembled from multiple components, and which proved to be very fragile (my copy imploded in my lap as I was trying to add a part). When they revised the set to use a train car base, but kept the set number the same, Bricklink staff decided the changes were significant enough to create a new listing for the revised version as 79104-2, rather than just including a list of the inventory changes under the original catalog entry. So, even if the problem goes away, it’ll never really go away, because there could always be another situation where AFOLs decide there needs to be a “-2” set.
I loved this set as a kid and still have most of it, although the pieces are scattered….