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BIGGER is better
Born in 1969 I might be too old for having Lego as one of my interests, but…
Well, the Minifig theme has never-ever captured my interest at all, since I have always been fascinated by the large Technic cars (at least since 1978!), a fascination that I have rediscovered here in my mid-thirties.
In my childhood I spend hours building and playing with the legendary red 853/956 Auto Chassis Mk I, which I bought for my own savings in 1979 (and that always kept falling apart, especially the lousy rear “suspension”), and the (a bit) more sophisticated (and more robust) black 8860 Auto Chassis Mk II.
At the time when the first auto chassis with body came out, the 8865 Auto Chassis Mk III (the test car), I somehow felt that I was “too old” to still being a Lego-fan, so neither this nor the later and sleeker 8880 Supercar Mk I was ever added to my Lego collection back then.
The 8880 Supercar Mk I is now added to my collection (bought here at BrickLink recently), and it is now parked among my other large Technic cars on top of my bookshelves in my home office. Well, now I realize how ugly it is and I’ve regret my purchase… .
During the nineties my Lego collection and interest was on pause, but finding (and buying) one of my all-time favorites among all Lego Technic models, the 8448 Supercar Mk II, at a warehouse sale in the spring 2000 (at about 100$ !), was the start of a new era to me.
I only intended to display this sleek red cabriolet on top of one of my bookshelves in my home office, and actually it did spend a couple of years just standing there, getting more and more dusty. Somehow it was just a display object to me, just until this winter, when my eyes was “reopened” to this wonderful hobby.
Therefore, the winter 2002/2003 was a turning point to me, and I “discovered” the 8461 Williams F1 and the 8466 4x4 "green monster", and both are now added to my collection. The F1 was never build, since the parts was used for building another (quite cool, actually ;-) ) V8 model of my own design and I even bought two 8466’s.
The parts of one of the 8466’s was used to rebuild the other to a (short) Toyota RAV4-like V8 4WD pick-up truck with hood that can be opened and where all fairing panels from both models were used, and I find it MUCH nicer/cooler than the original, which I know others thinks really needs some reworking. I agree.
The remaining parts of one of the 8466’s, and the 8461 Williams F1, was used for an all-black V12 late-eighties Pontiac Trans Am/Chevrolet Camaro-like 8448 clone featuring wing doors, rear steering knob and hood that can be opened, similar to my all-time dream car, the 4th generation Chevrolet Corvette.
My original red 8448 cabriolet has been rebuild, now featuring an “up-to-date” V12 engine, rear steering knob, an all-black frame (why all those light gray bricks in Technic models anyway ???. Just asking...) with 2 studs longer wheelbase than the original, which leaves room for a matching backseat and two more side panels, and after adding red mirrors, rear lights (from Lego Racers motorbikes) and head lights with chrome reflectors, I find it even cooler and sleeker than the original 8448.
Somehow I have returned to my childhood interest, but the “worse” has yet to come:
I discovered that the Scala figures fits perfectly with the newest, large Technic cars, so now these very durable and very well crafted figures are used as a kind of 1:10 minifig when I take pictures of my MOCs.
The 853/956 Auto Chassis Mk I and 8860 Auto Chassis Mk II ?. I still have them, but I couldn’t imagine building them today. I find this new style, featuring fairing panels, flexible axles, studless beams, liftarms and ribbed hoses MUCH more interesting, offering SO many design possibilities, and contrary to others I applause this development and I’m looking forward to the next supercar model, that I think is really missing in today’s Lego product program.
All the small Technic models (that are even missing too today), the Bionicle theme, the Racers/Slammer theme and Mindstorm theme are cool too, because they feature a lot of parts that can be used for building large Technic cars, BUT, you know, big is beautiful...
Well, somehow I still feel “too old” for this wonderful hobby SO I have kept this “new” interest as a secret to my friends and family so far, so please don’t tell them that I have now opened a store here at BrickLink.com, okay ?.
Now I’m even member of the danish LEGO society Byggepladen (in danish) and member of LUGNET, but please don’t tell them neither.
NB. My MOC's are build in the "right" Technic way. I'm not impressed by the heavy brick-on-brick socalled Technic MOC's I've seen on the Internet so far (build like Lego houses - just on (Technic) wheels). Hey, studs are indispensable (!), but I consider studless beams, liftarms, panels etc. as a gift for Technic designers. It's just development...
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