Overwhelmed

These days I am overwhelmed with Lego sets. I have already covered the ones I got for my birthday and the 8865 Test Car is not forgotten about either. (However it is many kilometers away from me right now, it takes some time before I can take it in my hands - I promise it will come soon.)

But this is not the end of the story yet. Meanwhile I have managed to get a 8448 Sports Car too. I have already mentioned my ambitions to get all the pieces of the Big Car series and this is a new item in the row. This is where I stand now: 853 (1977), 8860 (1980), 8865 (1988)?, 8880 (1994), 8448 (1999).


I have started to put it together but documenting everything appropriately takes some time - I promise I will get there in days.

But even this is not the end of the whole story. Somehow I got a 8422 motorbike too, waiting to be re-assembled. I think was the biggest surprise of all my deals so far. I have bought second-hand sets with full warranty, missing bricks shipped after me. I have bought sets assembled and disassembled but I did not expect what has happened with this bike. It came in assembled in a bag. When I opened the bag I already got suspicious because some parts that should have been white according to my memories looked pretty yellowish. And besides that... it stinked! The previous owner must have been a chain smoker and the smell was so strong that I had to put it to the balcony to make sure the family sleeps well. I always learn something new :)

I hope I can make it enjoyable soon so that I can cover it.

Risky purchase

You probably know that I like Technic cars, especially if they are big and have a lot of parts that can be move. I already have an 8880 but somewhere in a distance I see a goal to have all the earlier sets of the big car series. Take the 8865 for example. It was sold between 1988 and 1994 and one can find many for sale on EBay or Bricklink.

On the other hand I would like make a bargain and willing to take some risks like buying the missing parts on the net. So I bought this one for EUR 30 (+17 for the delivery):

It takes some courage, I admit it. Based on the photo it is not sure that it has four wheels, for example. It is sure though that it has many extra parts like the yellow wings that were not part of 8865. I still have to wait a couple of weeks before I can actually grab it with my hands. I will keep you posted.

8880 Super Car

Meanwhile I got a 8880 car in my possession too. I was thinking for a long time which one to get from the many super cars. Although I like the others too, the 8880 is special because it is still made of studded bricks and it has many working parts. Finally I have managed to get one.

The car has so many interesting details that I rather do not spend much time on how it was built. As a short summary, Grandma was here and played with the kids so that I can devote my day to it. At the end I succeeded.


How does it work? First, it has double wishbone suspension on front and rear. On the image above the blue items are the front wishbones. All wheels are driven, universal joints carry the rotation between the wheels and the differentials. The car has three of those - above you can see the front one but there is one in the rear and one in the middle too. In contrast to real all-wheel-drive cars there is no self locking feature, wheels can spin easily. But an owner of a Lego car can live with that.

The above picture also shows the gears of the gearbox. It is more sophisticated than
classic Lego gearboxes: there are freely rotating gears on two axes and moving the lever will attach them to the axles through special transmission rings. This set has 4 forward gears and no reverse but it has a fully functional neutral state. The lever can be operated the same way as on real cars. On the picture below shows the lever in fourth gear.


The car sports all-wheel steering as well: rear wheels steer in the opposite direction and less than the front wheels. It requires a good amount of force, there is no power steering :)


At the end of the drive chain there is a V8 engine driven by a real chain. The amount of moving parts can be felt when we try to push the car - it is much harder than with the 8458 racer. Engine brake is also realistic - the selected gear influences it a lot besides the speed of the pistons.

If you are interested in more visit the album too.

History of the big Technic cars

Throughout the history of Technic there have been always one or more "big cars". These cars represent the top of the range with the most working parts including pistons, gears and others. They are the most wanted sets. Let's have a closer look!


The story started in 1977 with the set no. 956 (sometimes 853) named "Car Chassis". As the "Technic" brand did not exist yet it ran as part of the brand new "Expert Builder" series. The car introduced many of the Technic parts known today: bricks with holes, connectors, rods, gears. It also had a number of special elements like the pistons (the old 2x2 type). The size made it possible to have a 4-cylinder engine, working steering and gearbox with 2 gears. Four adjustable seats made the set complete. As the name suggests it did not have a chassis and no working suspension either.


This set was replaced by the 8860 in 1980. The car became much sportier and was "driven" by a rear-mounted flat-4 engine. Just like its predecessor, it did not have a chassis, but it got a rear differential, a rear suspension and the number of gears has increased to 3. More features took more space as well so it had 2 seats only, but this is perfectly in line with the sporty character. Some models the shock absorber was made of an axle, bushes and connectors. Later models had proper shock absorbers.


From 1984 the series is called "Technic" officially but the new set 8865 "Test Car" came only in 1988. Unlike the previous sets this one had a Technic-style chassis: edges of the bodywork, the roof and the doors are marked by red bricks. The four-cylinder engine came in a V configuration this time. The newly introduced suspension and steering parts allowed a proper front suspension as well. Apart from that the car was built from the usual studded bricks.


The next set in the line is the 8880 "Super Car" introduced in 1994 that represents the top of traditional Technic building. This is the last car made of mostly studded bricks. It contains new bricks like the V8 engine or the chain in the engine drive. Apart from that it continued the traditions of its ancestors and sports more working features than any of them (and any of its successors). It had a complete four wheel drive with three differentials, plus it included a four wheel steering that is not quite typical on road cars either even today. Of course it did not miss any of the usual ingredients like front and rear suspension and the gearbox with 4 gears.

This set is the last in the row that emphasises technical content, for its successors cool looks are more important. It is also the last big car to occupy the top alone, newer models have brothers. Let us talk about them in the next part.

Many thanks for the images to koyan@gmx.net, more images here.