Vintage set of the week: Low loader with 4 wheel excavator
Posted by Huwbot,
This week's vintage set is 681 Low loader with 4 wheel excavator, released during 1971. It's one of 27 LEGOLAND sets produced that year. It contains 62 pieces.
It's owned by 161 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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18 comments on this article
the box art was always confusing back then as they had things [like the house] that weren't included in the set.
Love those 1x4 bricks with the ”Legoland” print. Still have some of those somewhere.
Great effort taking the photo in the driveway.
I liked that set, but didn't have it . I did have the taxi right behind it.
A great set using the new low loader base, a logical extention to the original articulated lorry base. Also plenty of mini-wheels for building your own vehicles!
Who engineered this? It's supposed to have an equal number of wheels on BOTH sides of the excavator, folks.
@MeisterDad said:
"Who engineered this? It's supposed to have an equal number of wheels on BOTH sides of the excavator, folks."
It's a bit of a rough area of Legoland. Parked for 5 minutes and the other side's up on bricks!
I just rebuilt some of the sets my dad had back in the day, using the big pile of bricks from his childhood, and this was one of them
@Bart_66 said:
"I liked that set, but didn't have it . I did have the taxi right behind it."
So you were the guy slamming the horn for ten minutes while waiting for this thing to trundle along?
Oh that thing does not look properly secured at all, someone clearly hasn’t read the risk assessment properly
How many wheels? All the wheels!
What's that in the arm hinge? Is it a technic friction pin? I didn't know they existed that far back.
@Bobsy said:
"What's that in the arm hinge? Is it a technic friction pin? I didn't know they existed that far back."
No, the hinge-plates back then had a similar system (plate-pin-plate), but they weren't Technic-pins, and they weren't made to be taken apart. Many parts from the earlier days, especially specialized moving/rotating parts, would later be reinvented using more generic system/technic parts.
This is in stark contrast to what many a cloud-shouting old person will tell you, but I shout at cloud without rose-tinted goggles.
I recall someone asking me on an RSotD article if it happened before that parts would appear on set images that weren't included.
Well, lookie here!
I had no idea old sets showed other, not included sets in the background so brazenly like this.
-Is what I WOULD say if I didn't already know Brickset doesn't use box images. Psych! The box actually looks like this:
https://www.toysperiod.com/img/cache/64/800x600/d4e4o5g414p4n5x5m4g574a4u5l4a4p4e5c4v5k4m5u213b4y2t214x2v2u2i4m4n5m20324p2n2y2p2p2.jpg
You're welcome!
@MeisterDad said:
"Who engineered this? It's supposed to have an equal number of wheels on BOTH sides of the excavator, folks."
Object Permanence should have set in by about two years of age. The inventory shows nine wheel sets (one front axle, two under the fifth wheel, two on the trailer, and four on the ditch-digger) and 18 tires (2x single for the front axle, and 16x dually for the other eight wheel sets).
@PurpleDave said:
" @MeisterDad said:
"Who engineered this? It's supposed to have an equal number of wheels on BOTH sides of the excavator, folks."
Object Permanence should have set in by about two years of age. The inventory shows nine wheel sets (one front axle, two under the fifth wheel, two on the trailer, and four on the ditch-digger) and 18 tires (2x single for the front axle, and 16x dually for the other eight wheel sets)."
MeisterDad is joking about how the set name refers to a "4 wheel excavator," implying that the four individual wheels visible on the excavator are the only ones (and thus, that there aren't four corresponding wheels on the other side).
@Andrusi:
Who named it, though? Is that the official name, or something an AFOL came up with because nobody knew the real one?
Heck if I know, but it's the name on this article.