Random set of the day: Race Car
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 1467 Race Car, released during 1987. It's one of 24 Town sets produced that year. It contains 46 pieces and 1 minifig.
It's owned by 187 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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41 comments on this article
Rather strange choice of headgear considering the helmet piece was readily available.
Makes it look like the local postman’s hijacked some poor racer’s car.
Whoo-hoo, look at that aerodynamic frame...and the driver...clearly a rebel; I mean: NO HELMET!!! Space sets and Castle set were "a thing" at the time, so it not like they weren't making them...also, miss them wheels.:)
[Edit] @Monopoly: Ah man...'ninjaed' on the helmet-thing, oh well:)
The use of that fence as a psuedo-SNOT piece is ingenious. In-gen-ious.
I really love what they are doing with the Speed Champions line!!
SO much better since they went to 4 wide.
Cute! Love the Shell branding, I got some of their promotional polybags years ago - I was most excited for them every time my dad went for a fuel-up. Sad that LEGO cancelled their partnership with Shell.
Massive nostalgia for Shell miniwheel sets. Just not the same once Octan took over the world!
This was clearly designed by somebody who had a racecar described to them over the phone.
There's one of that set for sale in a local e-commerce since at least 2019 for the equivalent of 55 dollars. Isn't sealed, has no instructions and in bad condition. Amazing how people think that any old Lego really is like gold or something.
Wow only one sponsor on the car. This set really IS old.
@Monopoly:
To be fair, that car looks like it would be dangerous when traveling at speeds that can only be achieved by having a single geriatric fan push from behind with one of those walkers that has tennis balls on the feet. I don't think the officer's cap is any danger of being blown off his head.
I've collected Lego since before the modern minifigure existed. Even for 1987, this set is way too blocky. They had better designed race cars at that time. Look at 6381 from the same year as proof. Even 1528 from a year earlier looks much better.
Yikes. 187 members admit to owning this. I'm not sure I would be so brave.
Looks like a design from 1977, maybe some anniversary thing?
I can only assume that this set is built by son or grandson of then Shell's CEO where he/she thought it would be a great idea to release it as a promotional set. Either that or some poor Lego designer is forced to come up with something overnight and he made this as a retaliation. Look, even the back fender is uneven, terrible design even for 1977, let alone for 1987.
Do we have a new contender for the least liked RSotD?
The car is ugly, but this is a promo set and in 1987 that is a lot of useful pieces in a 'spontaneous buy at the gas station' set. As a kid back then I would be more than happy to get this while on a field trip with parents. Except there was no Shell stations in my country in 1987.
For a fella in a collection of pieces that could only be charitably called a race car, he certainly looks chuffed about it.
I would, too, honestly.
Looks more like a rocket car and is it just me or does it lack a steering wheel...
You might not understand it. You might not like it. But this is what peak performance looks like.
Elusive, this model hasn't been produced before, after and during its era. Only a select few own one. And an even more select group haven't been left in the dust by their model, unable to ever catch up to it and command ownership of it again.
Its design has been unable to be replicated ever since in fear of creating something half as fast.
Today, one has finally been spotted zooming by with our high-speed image capturing AI, Huwbot. Even so, the actual model is long gone by the time you started reading this. Word is that this might be the only time this will ever occur.
So study it well. And remember:
You won't need a helmet if you're going fast enough!
@Olamisai said:
"Looks more like a rocket car and is it just me or does it lack a steering wheel..."
Thank you! I thought I was the only crazy who had noticed that! I’m guessing the design came from the folder mark ‘1979’
@PDelahanty said:
"I've collected Lego since before the modern minifigure existed. Even for 1987, this set is way too blocky. They had better designed race cars at that time. Look at 6381 from the same year as proof. Even 1528 from a year earlier looks much better."
My thoughts exactly, though looking at the parts list someone has managed to sneak in that nice 8-long chassis bracket 4732, which is the sole mid eighties era component in amongst all those late 1970s bricks. Having said that, me aged 8 would still not have been massively fired up about adding this set to my collection.
Getting real Peter Perfect from Wacky Races vibe off this one
I own this one! Most of my 80's LEGO is assembled. This is not...
To be fair, it can be rebuilt into two other designs, both actually look beter... : http://peeron.com/scans/1467-1/1
Funny, I never knew this existed, but it looks very similar to the Formula 1 type cars I built as a kid. Then again, I was about nine years old at the time and didn't really have the necessary parts. Was this designed by some designer's kid? No way something this unfinished looking would be from a professional in-house LEGO designer?
@MeisterDad said:
"Wow only one sponsor on the car. This set really IS old."
2 actually, there's a lot of LEGO logo's on the studs ;)
Looks like it's got a bit of junk in the trunk
This needs to be an unlockable in 2K Drive.
Who'd have thought that 'cut and shut' had found its way into racing cars as well as road cars!
Hideous, just hideous!
I was massively into LEGO in 1987, and I don’t recall seeing this one at all previously!
I can’t believe an adult LEGO designer came up with this design! Vomit-inducing…..
Probably one of the few set names that is a palindrome ;)
@Lego_lord:
Maybe the designer arrived late and had to work with the bowl of leftovers as punishment.
@rslotb:
Heh. You’re not wrong, but now all I can think of is KITT’s “pursuit mode” from the old Knight Rider show, where parts of the car extended in a clearly not aerodynamic manner, and somehow made the car go faster.
@8lackmagic:
Or maybe the starter car. You’ve got to _earn_ a better set of wheels!
@essel:
Oh, hey, look at that. Joining the illustrious ranks of 40243, 30572, 60322, 6609, 30640, 42011, 60053, and 951807, all of which also happen to have palindromic names.
@PurpleDave: I'd be curious to know if other palindromic set names exist…
Looks like a set from the 70s, not the 80s.
@essel:
I’d be shocked if there’s not at least one more, but the ones I listed were such low-hanging fruit that they were touching the ground. Good luck actually seeking out any others.
@ao_ka said:
"There's one of that set for sale in a local e-commerce since at least 2019 for the equivalent of 55 dollars. Isn't sealed, has no instructions and in bad condition. Amazing how people think that any old Lego really is like gold or something."
I frequently use eBay, and I've seen – for instance – worn, scratched records go for $100. (Although in that case those are extremely rare titles of which few were pressed in the first place.)
My guess is, the set you're thinking of – poor condition, unsealed, no instructions, etc. – is an extreme rarity (e.g., handed out on a tour as a complimentary gift, and few were made in the first place).
As far as the set itself goes – not a great set. Might have been something built using one of the Universal sets (today's Creator) of the era.
@Ridgeheart:
Yup, shortly before the new version was announced, I saw one copy of 10179 listed for $10k. Highest sold price at the time was about half that. It gets really messy when you’re looking at Bricklink, because many Sellers list product as a percentage of the highest/lowest for sale, or some factor of the 6mo average, without actually checking each item’s Price Guide to verify there’s nothing sketchy going on. And other people are perfectly willing to slip listings in there that will skew the data high or low. I once saw a store that had a single item listed. The store was located in one country. The item was priced in the currency of a second country. The Seller only accepted payment in the currency of a third country. And the item was insufficient to meet the ridiculously high minimum purchase. I think payment also had to be sent by snail mail, or some other inconvenient method.
Thinking back, when we were kids, cars, vehicles like this were great and we had a lot of fun putting it together, taking it apart, changing it etc. Loads of fun.
Now we want all sleek, looking exactly like a real car, etc.
And if you see kids today at lego conventions, or at the Lego store when they had areas to free build, kids make stuff like this all the time and have so much fun doing it.
As we got older we lost a lot of joy. This set reminds me to get back to that joy of Lego, simpler can be charming and better.
@egoDad42:
What are you talking about? I’m having lots of fun tweaking the design of my minifig-scale 5G cellular towers. I even made one that looks like those really awful-looking fake trees with the cluster of panels sticking out at the top. It’s got a bird nest tucked in between the panels.
Just realized: Would ya' call this "Formula None" racing...:D
Also: Suddenly that Lego 2K game doesn't look as bad...:)
A bit clunky looking but sooooo vintage 80's LEGO as well