I own this!

I too own this. Got it new as a kid. I'm pretty sure it was a gift and not something I picked out, as I never could quite get into the maxi-figures (plus I was 5 at the time and so almost certainly not picking out much of anything for myself :-) . I'm still not into maxi-figures, but I have more appreciation for these sets now. In fact, next to the Moon Landing set - which IMHO is by far the best maxi-figure set ever released - I think this might be my 2nd favorite!

I loved this set. Still have it from back then.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @Brickchap: Actually, I'd like to see them bring back those wheels"

Yeah keep those wheels, more colours for the spokes would be good too!

It probably was a GWP.

Ah, from back in the days when bricks were dyed with fruit juice, and this one has gone a bit over-ripe. Or is it dyed with blood, which changes color as it dries due to oxidation when exposed to the air?

I still have two of those wheels...but I don't remember fro2m which set I have had them. To be honest, they were not that easy to re use, not that versatile.

Man walking in front of you with a big red flag not included

And not a slope in sight.

@Brick_t_ said:
"I still have two of those wheels...but I don't remember fro2m which set I have had them. To be honest, they were not that easy to re use, not that versatile. "

Are modern wheels that versatile though? Especially oversized ones, you can't use them. These could be for a carriage, artillery piece, maybe even sideways for something.

Made out of simple bricks yet it looks better and costs less than todays small cars...

@sjr60 said:
""Not recommended for children under 3 years old", because the Maxifigures will give them nightmares! "

Aaaaaaargh! Help! I'm turning into bricks from the waist down.

Another one I largely or partly inherited from a cousin. I think the hairpiece works better the reverse way, with the wisps behind the ears. The maxifigs are good for making robots but the wheels didn't see much use.

Rather unusual, this set was released as 252-1 Locomotive in Europe, then released in the US with a - much better - altered B-model from 252 as the main model and the locomotive as B-model.

@CCC said:
"I had maxifigures as a kid. Being brick built they had a number of advantages over minifigures. It was easy to change heights, you could have longer arms for adults than kids, you could build dresses and decorate clothes by building stripes. They were no more ugly than the first minifigs and had more articulation. If they had come up with a good way to articulate legs and stop them falling apart they could have had a decent brick built action figure.

The main issue was scale. You could build furniture and so on with relatively few parts and even things like this car. But whole buildings require very large collections. Hence the introduction of minifigs."

Lego was making these maxifig sets alongside sets with small scale buildings, like Swiss villa. The mismatch was evident, and those first limbless minifigs seemed like the perfect solution.

This car is so old it was an antique before the modern era of lego with minifigures.

I got it but all the pieces are in the bin of the spare bricks. Very strange kind of wheels

@anthony_davies said:
"The elephant in the room is the torso length of the driver. I am thinking about all the things he can’t do because his arms can’t reach below his waist. "

He's a snake man, one of LEGO's first ventures into horror.

@PurpleDave said:
"Ah, from back in the days when bricks were dyed with fruit juice, and this one has gone a bit over-ripe. Or is it dyed with blood, which changes color as it dries due to oxidation when exposed to the air?"

This got dark quicker than usual!

I cannot tell you how much I love those wheels.

Well, alright, I can. I love them so very much.

I was only 8 years old at the time, but I found it back then already way to simple of a set. Would never have been on my Wishlist.

"I don't like the look of that..."
:: sees wheels ::
"OMG I want this set!"

@Brickalili:
Flag? Somewhere in the western US, there’s supposedly still a state that, by law, requires any motor vehicle to be preceded by quite a substantial distance by a man, on foot, periodically firing a shotgun into the air, to warn those with horses to watch out.

@kdu2814:
Part T-Rex, on his mother’s side.

@tmtomh said:
"I too own this. Got it new as a kid. I'm pretty sure it was a gift and not something I picked out, as I never could quite get into the maxi-figures (plus I was 5 at the time and so almost certainly not picking out much of anything for myself :-) . I'm still not into maxi-figures, but I have more appreciation for these sets now. In fact, next to the Moon Landing set - which IMHO is by far the best maxi-figure set ever released - I think this might be my 2nd favorite!"

Yep. Those maxi-figs are a scary experience. They frightened me as a kid like a poltergeist nightmare.

As an adult, I feel almost as scared about Lego's color matching (minifigs, stickers,
and dark red), brittle pieces (red brown and dark red) and unjustified, greedy price increases.

I'm just about ready to call it quits. I have WAY too much already. Time to travel again and let it go.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Brickalili :
Flag? Somewhere in the western US, there’s supposedly still a state that, by law, requires any motor vehicle to be preceded by quite a substantial distance by a man, on foot, periodically firing a shotgun into the air, to warn those with horses to watch out.

@kdu2814 :
Part T-Rex, on his mother’s side."

Dave has no idea what he's talking about. It's like me saying that all people in Michigan have to lick the tailpipes of of GM/Ford/Chrysler vehicles as they come off the assembly line.

From a great amount of personal experience, the South is FAR more backward and dangerous than anywhere in the U.S. The Midwest (including Michigan, Ohio, and Penn) is second. The West is the most progressive. The Northeast is pretty good. but still has a lot old money, aristocratic BS.

@StyleCounselor has no idea what I’m talking about. Wichita, Kansas, which we shall note for purposes of this discussion is about as far west of Metro Detroit as NYC is east, has a law on the books that “Before proceeding through the interesection of Douglas and Broadway, a motorist is required to get out of their vehice and fire three shot gun rounds into the air.”

That’s actually not the law I was thinking of, which may well have been repealed, thanks to having attention drawn to it by the internet and websites like StupidLaws.com. Michigan just repealed within the past decade a law that required wives to get permission from their husbands before getting a haircut. Many laws got passed before anyone alive today was born, and over the years have been forgotten. Once that’s the case, they can sit on the books for a long time before anyone notices them again, never mind actually being enforced. Even when they get rediscovered, since nobody is enforcing them, they can’t be struck down by way of being ruled unconstitutional or otherwise invalidated by a higher court, and oftentimes lawmakers are more concerned with getting new laws on the books than cleaning up the detritus of generations past. Or sometimes these laws get passed accidentally, like in Chico, CA, where they were so paranoid about global thermonuclear warfare that they passed a law making it illegal (with a $500 fine) to do lots of things involving nuclear weapons, including manufacturing and testing components. But the law, as originally written, included the phrase “to use”. After getting ridiculed by the likes of Johnny Carson, that bit was dropped, since detonating a nuclear device within the city limits would most likely result in the vaporization of anyone capable of levying or collecting the fine.

@PurpleDave said:
" @StyleCounselor has no idea what I’m talking about. Wichita, Kansas, which we shall note for purposes of this discussion is about as far west of Metro Detroit as NYC is east, has a law on the books that “Before proceeding through the interesection of Douglas and Broadway, a motorist is required to get out of their vehice and fire three shot gun rounds into the air.”

That’s actually not the law I was thinking of, which may well have been repealed, thanks to having attention drawn to it by the internet and websites like StupidLaws.com. Michigan just repealed within the past decade a law that required wives to get permission from their husbands before getting a haircut. Many laws got passed before anyone alive today was born, and over the years have been forgotten. Once that’s the case, they can sit on the books for a long time before anyone notices them again, never mind actually being enforced. Even when they get rediscovered, since nobody is enforcing them, they can’t be struck down by way of being ruled unconstitutional or otherwise invalidated by a higher court, and oftentimes lawmakers are more concerned with getting new laws on the books than cleaning up the detritus of generations past. Or sometimes these laws get passed accidentally, like in Chico, CA, where they were so paranoid about global thermonuclear warfare that they passed a law making it illegal (with a $500 fine) to do lots of things involving nuclear weapons, including manufacturing and testing components. But the law, as originally written, included the phrase “to use”. After getting ridiculed by the likes of Johnny Carson, that bit was dropped, since detonating a nuclear device within the city limits would most likely result in the vaporization of anyone capable of levying or collecting the fine."

I read a book of old dumb laws once that talked about Atlanta, Georgia once having a law making it "illegal to tie your giraffe to a lamp-post on a Sunday". I seriously wonder what caused that law to exist in the first place, and no, I'm not kidding about it. I've also heard stupider ones, but I can't recall them right now. I'll try to find the book once I remember the title...

These wheels really divides people. I love them. When ever I get some of them in a used lot I am happy :D They look fantastic and are very useful for MOC's
BTW I don't get the hate for for the maxi figs. I find them cute! If you want to get scarred go to Belville!!