@MCLegoboy said:
"Photographer needs to be a few more inches back..."

Naw, it's all about imagination....
/s

@PurpleDave said:
" @MCLegoboy:
From the Bricklink image, the box art extends to at least the top panel of the box, so it's not as bad as it looks here. That's the problem with trying to do lifesize depictions of a construction model that's not shipped fully assembled. Some builds pack down much smaller than their finished dimensions, and for some reason US customers always assume LEGO sets are depicted in 1:1 scale."

I think he meant the box should of shown the full model and not be 'cropped' looking is all, but hey, imagination is their forte!

Neat set. Love those old red wheels, and the tracks for the crane as well.

@VintageDude said:
" @HOBBES said:
"This "System/Legoland" set from 1971 has more 'functions' than some modern Technic sets. "

I'm absolutely with you.
The Truck's got steering and the Crane has a winch.
I was born in 1971, so I might be a little biased, but this set is a favorite of mine!
Yes, I own this set."

It has (1) steering, (2) crane winch, (3) nowadays!!! opening doors is a function!?!? (4) folding/unfolding ramps on the trailer (5) a bit crude but the angle of the boom of the crane can be changed by changing the attachment point on the plates.

I can easily understand how this would be a favourite. Unfortunately I do not own this set. My most vintage set is 378 which still has 4 functions (not bad at all - and a favourite of mine).

@PurpleDave said:
"Unless it's made of polyethylene, I'm pretty sure that truck will sink."

It’s like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, it can convert into a boat form

Wow, this has hand-of-god steering! Very cool for such set, unthinkable in today's sets of comparable size. Very cool.

The set from last week with this same steering and the two colored doors was nice, but this clearly was the set you would want to have as a kid. And with two turntables, five hinges, the winch and those rubber tracks, this was a great parts pack. Very cool!

I like the classic look of it, but sadly the plastic back then wasnt that sturdy

Things change so much in a decade. Now you can fit two minifigs in a 6 stud truck.

@PurpleDave said:
" @MCLegoboy:
From the Bricklink image, the box art extends to at least the top panel of the box, so it's not as bad as it looks here. That's the problem with trying to do lifesize depictions of a construction model that's not shipped fully assembled. Some builds pack down much smaller than their finished dimensions, and for some reason US customers always assume LEGO sets are depicted in 1:1 scale."

That is actually some nice box art!

Those wheel hubs suit the truck much more than they suit the crane...

I've never seen those treads before. Despite the fact I have almost never acquired used LEGO tires I actually wanted to use (being not much of a vehicular MOCer), I kind of want some.

@Formendacil said:
"I've never seen those treads before. Despite the fact I have almost never acquired used LEGO tires I actually wanted to use (being not much of a vehicular MOCer), I kind of want some."
I don't think they were used in that many sets later on, but they were included with the big 4,5 volt motor until well in the '80s.

I do wonder how well they held up over such a long time, as I do have the impression that the rubber they used back then lost some of its flexibility over time. Not that much of a problem for tires, but for this use that's obviously different.

I don't have this one, but I do have the previous 1969 version 337-2.

I also got the caterpillar tracks as an add-on when they were first released. They really expanded the flexibility of the 4.5v motor... loved them!

They were a more flexible rubber than the tyres, as I've seen a few stretched ones, but never brittle.

@devilhead:
It’s actually a real problem in the US. Not so much with kids and AFOLs, but with the people who buy sets for kids. Remember how they tried to shrink the size of the boxes? If they made the whole box smaller, the box art also got smaller. Shrink it too much, and parents/grandparents compare the size of the image to the price on the shelf, and it actually impacts buying habits. If they just made it thinner, they tended to fall over a lot. Messy shelves also negatively impact buying habits, both by making it harder to find stuff, and by giving casual buyers a negative experience that they subconsciously associate with LEGO purchasing.

I got a practical demonstration of this once at a show. Mom and kid came up to the layout, and she holds up an older Scarecrow minifig and tells me how much she paid for it. I think she’s bragging, because it was actually less than I would expect them to go for, but then she complains about how small it is. She ordered it from someone online, and expect it to be a lot bigger than it turned out to be. Anyone posting here would look at that image online and know exactly what they were looking at, and roughly how big it would be. Non-fans go by the box art. This is why modern boxes always have a 1:1 panel, either right on the top edge of the box, or the minifig inset in the bottom right corner of the box front. They don’t really have to show the entire set in 1:1 (and they often can’t) if they can demonstrate somewhere on the box how to gauge the true scale of the model.

And this is not unique to LEGO sets. Even cereal boxes sometimes have 1:1 panels. Obviously this doesn’t work for stuff like Corn Flakes, where piece size is so variable (and pieces can break during transit without you be able to tell it happened), but I know I’ve seen this used on boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats, where they’re formed into pillows with relatively consistent size. I don’t even know why the size of a Mini Wheat pillow even matters. You’re going to destroy it right after shoving it into your mouth, and the boxes are packed by weight, not quantity. Cereal bowls are filled by volume. The only impact size has there is that larger pillows leave bigger gaps, so a fractionally smaller weight will fit inside the bowl as the aggregate size increases. But I don’t expect the average parent who’s yelling at cereal companies over the phone understands any of that.

@Brickalili:
Kreiger’s van did that on Archer…but then it maxed out at about 5mph.

@thor96:
Unless the wheels are mounted behind the pivot point, HOG steering causes problems during play, as the wheels will inevitably go cockeyed when you want it to drive straight. It becomes a restriction, not a feature, when you _HAVE_ to steer it 100% of the time. Even real cars tend to track in a consistent direction (ideally straight, but maybe pulling slightly to one side of your steering is out of alignment).

@Lego_lord:
I’ve been doing it since 2006:

https://brickshelf.com/gallery/PurpleDave/Batman/GirlsNightOut/01_front_angle.jpg

@desser1:
Too bad we can’t actually see the whole image because of how fan sites tend to display boxes straight on. On a shelf, you could even stack these in such a way that the top of the top box would combine with the front of the bottom box to show the whole image. You know, until some jerk bought one and ruined the entire display…

@WizardOfOss:
It’s also a problem for tires. They have to stretch to fit over the flanges on the sides of a wheel, and they need to remain slightly stretched to maintain grip on the wheel. As old tires “dry out”, they lose this vital stretchiness and tend to split at multiple points around the circumference.

@PurpleDave said:
" @bue_car:
Click the Bricklink link at the bottom of the "article". Look very closely at the photo of the box, and you'll see that the entire top of the box is a continuation of this image. It's not cropped the way it appears to be, but wraps over the edge to cover a minimum of two surfaces. We're missing as much as half of the image you'd see if you had a copy in your hands."

I checked before, just like a few older sets, yes it wraps around. I was just trying to clarify is all - and I could still be wrong! haha

"This is a Lego City News ALERT!: There is a GIANT HAND, REPEAT; GIANT HAND sighted in the city, moving vehicles and buildings. Fortunately no citizens have been harm, as there are none, and...wait, who am I reporting to...and how am I reporting at all"...disappears in a 'poof of logic'.:)

At last captured the mysterious 'hand of God' steering referred in many a Technic set but never seen before. I remember having that winch which was unusual looking back as having a metal handle to turn, and those tracks eventually became misshapen but that was my fault for taking on and off without removing the wheels.

@brick_r: "Some are even saying it's the hand of God."

@TheOtherMike (& @ambr): "No, no, no; it's 'The Man Upstairs'..."...:)