Subject:
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History of the Oldest LEGO Garages
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Wed, 17 Jan 2001 23:31:18 GMT
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Viewed:
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408 times
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Some of you have probably seen the old LEGO flip-top garage kits from
the era 1955-70. These were made for those old metal wheeled cars. The
sets that had these were #235 (3 piece garage door kit), #236 (entire
garage), #310 Esso Service Station, #325 Shell Service Station, the
large Town Plan sets (#810 in Europe/#725 in North America), and the
early #700 (with contents) wooden boxes from 1957-62.
These old garages are pretty neat. They utilize a counterbalance to
open the garage door after you have pressed down on the door pad in
front of the door. Unfortunately, the door frames (a square cornered
upside down "U") often broke easily. The same can be said for the
garage doors themselves. The couterweight came separate, and I have
more than a few of these that have the counterweight broken off with a
piece stuck inside the two slots on the doors. (Check out #235 in
LUGNET database to see the pieces that I am referring to.)
The 3 piece garage kits came in several colors. Here they are:
Garage baseplate: Red (1955-57), very rare), White (1955-65), common,
Gray (1966-70) common.
Garage door frame: Red (1955-58), rare), White (1955-65), common, Gray
(1966-70) common.
Garage door: White (1955-62) rare), Red (1958-70) common,
Yellow/Clear (1966-70) rare.
The most common combinations are the red door, with the frame and
baseplate in either white or gray. Even though the Yellow/Clear doors
were made from 1966-70, they are rare because they were only ever made
in 1 set. That happens to be the fabled #325 Shell Station. What makes
this highly desireable set seem rare is that it was only available in
Europe. Never in the USA/Canada. Fortunately, what makes it less rare
is that it was produced for 5 years (1966-70). It is rare for any LEGO
set to be produced for such a long duration.
The red and white garage doors were the same color as any other red or
white lego brick. The yellow/clear Shell Station doors were actually
clear with yellow color embossed onto the clear door surface in a grid
pattern. About a year ago, it was brought to my attention that a
British collector had this Shell #325 set, but with the doors all
yellow. The UK catalog shows the set with the same door colors as found
in continental Europe. And I know of another UK collector who has the
normal clear/yellow doors in his set. So I wasn't sure if the all
yellow doors were a UK only item, or an error.
Yesterday I received a #325 Shell Station set from a German seller, and
one of the doors was normal, but the other was totally clear (no yellow
embossing). I have to check this out under a microscope to see if the
door was always like this, or if someone took some chemical and removed
the embossed yellow finish. But since I am aware of a set of UK doors
in all yellow, an all clear door isn't all that unusual. I will have to
check it out.
Anyway these old style garage doors are one of my all time favorite LEGO
parts, and they command a premium whenever the are for sale, partly
because they are so old, and partly because they were so fragile.
Note: there are also small 4x8 garage style boxes that the old LEGO
metal wheeled cars were sold in, in the late 50's and early 60's. These
had gray bases, and a clear box, with a small gray door (the small doors
can also can be found in other colors, but they are very rare). And the
old LEGO metal wheeled trucks were sold in cardboard boxes, not plastic
ones. I find that odd, since the trucks were more expensive than the
cars.
Gary Istok
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: History of the Oldest LEGO Garages
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| Gary Istok wrote in message <3A662B46.ADAE1206@u...ch.edu>... (...) I have one of these 3-piece garage doors from my childhood in the UK: red door, white frame, and white base. However, the red door does not have any kind of separate counterweight (...) (23 years ago, 18-Jan-01, to lugnet.general)
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