Subject:
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Very Complex Early LEGO History
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 25 Dec 2006 17:56:45 GMT
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Viewed:
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2046 times
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OK,
I am going to insult 99% of all Adult Fans Of LEGO....
"99% of all AFOLs have no clue as to how complex 1950's and 1960's LEGO sets and
parts really are!"
OK, now I'll appologize.... Sorry! And now I'll explain.... :-D
Anyone who has ever looked at the LEGO catalogs of 1955-64 of the different
continental European countries has seen that TLG has basically been selling many
of the same sets year after year. And with these 1955-64 catalogs being nothing
more than the front and back of one sheet of paper, how complex can it be?
Well looks are deceiving. If you look at the German Catalog of 1958:
http://festum.de/1000steine/myimages/album225/58de1_01
And compare it to the Austrian catalog of 1961:
http://horst-lehner.mausnet.de/lego/katalog/gk61a/GK61-1.JPG
And then compare it to the Italian catalog of 1964:
http://www.redshift.com/~shifflett/lego/form_b-111-it/form_b-111-it-Pages/Image1.html
... you will see basically the same model artwork for the same sets in each
catalog.
But what you don't see are the different contents in each set, the different
brick types (Slotted/Hollow Bottom/Tube Bottom) and the different box designs.
For those who have downloaded my LEGO CD Chapter 7, check out the #236/#1236
Garage sets (shown as #236 in all 3 of these catalogs).
Otherwised download Chapter 7 here:
http://www.geminisystems.net/lego/
Now find the #236/#1236 Garage Set....
Notice that there are 8 different boxes for the #236 and #1236. And that
doesn't even include the different language versions of the earlier ones
(Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany). Some boxes are of a flat type with the
parts nicely held in place by cardboard inserts (along with a 1:87 VW Bus).
Other boxes are rectangular with loose parts inside (and no 1:87 VW Bus).
Sometimes 2 of these box types were sold in different countries at the same time
(from 1957-58 3 different!).
And this doesn't even include the different content variations, from the slotted
bricks (1955-56) to the hollow bottom bricks (1956-58) to the tube bottom bricks
(1958-65). And then there are the garage windows (some have 2x6 3 pane windows,
some have 4 small 1x1x1 and 1x2x1 windows plus clear bricks), and then there are
the garage base plates (sometimes red, sometimes white, later ones gray), the
garage doors (sometimes red, sometimes white), the garage door frames (sometimes
red, sometimes white, later ones gray), and the roof plates (a few known with
rare red waffle bottom roof plates, most with white waffle bottom and (after
1962) circle bottom. And then there are the 1x8 white beams with an embossed
name. Early versions have ESSO SERVICE in red writing. But later versions have
GARAGE in black writing (available in at least a dozed different font styles!).
All this variation for a small piddly LEGO set of only about 50 pieces!!!
And then there are the other early Town sets (also found in that chapter), the
#306/#1306 VW Service set, #307/#1307 VW Showroom set, #309/#1309 Church set
(with either a "1762", "ANNO 1762" or "AD 1762" embossed beam), the #308/#1308
Fire Station set (with at least a 1/2 dozen different 1x8 beams with embossed
names), and then there's the endless variations on the #310/#1310 Esso Service
Station.
And these examples show only the many many variations to the few model sets that
were produced during these Town Plan years of 1955-65. The basic sets and the
parts pack sets of that era are even more varied and confusing than these model
sets!!!
The #700/1 basic set, for example, comes in 9 box styles, and with at least 14
content variations! And don't even get me started on the thousands of
possibilities for the 1955-65 spare parts packs, way more complex than this
"piddly" #236/#1236 Garage set!! But that's another chapter... and another
story! :-D
Gary Istok
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Very Complex Early LEGO History
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| (...) You might want to look at using something other than Micro$oft Word to design your webpages, so people using browsers other than Internet Exploiter can download them. Those download links don't work in other browsers. ROSCO (18 years ago, 25-Dec-06, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Very Complex Early LEGO History
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| A Photo Gallery has been installed on the LEGO CD website. It contains 45 pics gleaned from the over 1,700 used on the CD. Check it out! Most of these items will be unfamiliar to many people. And some will be very familiar! (URL) Istok (18 years ago, 27-Dec-06, to lugnet.general)
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