Remember those days in your childhood where you were just absorbed in your own world, faded out of your surrounding? That's what comes to my mind, when I see this set, the garbage truck. That's how I called this marvelous set as a child, not caring about nor knowing official names and set numbers.

And what a great experience that was. Just realize it has three hinges in ascending size, first the large one to tilt/empty the whole back of the truk, the second, middle-sized to open the back door, and third the tiny hinge to flip the trash can into the truck. I remember how I extended them all and learned about leveling the trash can in the back with those hinges.

I still own this truck, and could not let go of it. If you are still in possession of your childhood model, good for you. If you are not, try to get one. You won't regret.

Happy building my friends!

Another oldie from the attic, this one instantly received the status 'absolutely necessary' from my children together with #6668 Recycle Truck, so much so that when I disassembled it the first thing I was asked (over and over again) to do was to rebuild it.

Box/Instructions

Not found, again. Peeron scans will have to suffice until the manual (hopefully) turns up again. Which is less then ideal, the manual is actually a folded sheet instead of a booklet and the steps go back and forth on the scanned images. A while ago, when reviewing #383, I commented on the amount of steps needed to complete a model. Checking back, #383 needs 15 steps in total, this one needs 13 steps and #6668 needs 18 steps (but the last two also include some submodels) while #60023 needs about 40 steps for each of the two vans. All these models are ~100 pieces, when did that instructions inflation begin? And where will it end?

Parts

One red space chair (I have only two of these, the other one comes from #6811 Pulsar Charger. In fact, as I just found out, they only come in these two sets). One red train window (my only one), and four yellow panels; two of which have a recycle icon but unfortunately I had to replace those now with more blank yellow panels. And then mostly plates, bricks, hinges, wheels and slopes that can be used for anything, very few specialized bricks in this one.

Minifigures

Two generic workers, one with the ever functional blue workman's shirt with white print and the other with the ever present white shirt under a blue coverall. In my collection both are about equally present but when I include the coveralls in black and red they outnumber the workman's shirt about two to one, so they seem to have been used more often. Best part are of course their accessories: a black shovel (which was unique in my collection until I got #6668, incidentally) and a broom but especially the garbage cans, of which there never were enough to go around.

The build

It's a short build but it's very nice to do, nothing hard or especially noteworthy but the way the trash collector is built is still impressive in its simplicity and functionality. And the longest part is a 2 x 10 plate but the truck is about double that length so it's all made out of smaller parts. The colour scheme is also very nice, I've never seen a yellow garbage truck but it looks very good with the red details.

The completed model

This one must be for four-stud-wide trucks what #6624 Delivery Van is for four-stud-wide mini vans: perfection! The only improvement could be to have a small gap between the cab and the garbage compartment, maybe I'll try that one day. Other than that, however, absolutely nothing needs to be changed here.

Overall opinion

As mentioned before: if the children find this set missing their top priority is to get it back, which should say enough about how well liked it is. Trying to cram as much 'garbage' in as possible is a recurring event, if there had been included some more garbage cans and some garbage to fill them with this would have been even better. And they can be found on Bricklink for less then €10! Maybe I should get them some more of these?

...without any cons.

Pros

• - nice minifigs
• - 2 trash cans
• - good car

In conclusion you can say this set is a must have to keep your town clean. There are actually no cons and it's absolutley necessary for your town collection.

I remember being sooo excited about this set as a kid - lego dustbins were the second best lego town creation after the postbox. Well worth getting one if you can, I actually prefer this one to the current city version but maybe thats just nostalga!

When I was a kid, this set was one of my favorites and sparked a long period during which my lego city was terrorized by a man, known only as "Mr. Trash", who wore the trash can over his head.