Older Lego vehicles do not necessarily emphasize realism, be it for better or for worse, and this set serves as a prime example. It certainly resembles a police car, mostly due to the presence of a white car body with red and blue lights, but the overall shape and scale are closer to that of a go-kart than anything else.

That being said, I quite like this little set. It's a charming little vehicle that showcases another era of Lego entirely. The simple shape and small scale are adorable, and the equally simple minifigure adds to this aesthetic when seated. It's also fun to just zoom around on a desk or table - even more so with road plates or a city layout.

The minifigure, compared to other police sets of 1999, is not particularly rare or notable, and the pieces of the vehicle are standard. The only exception is the front 3x4 slope with its wheel cutouts, an uncommon part that is more difficult to replace due to its lack of current production. Being an essential part that makes up a good third of the car's chassis volume, this makes parting out the vehicle somewhat inconvenient.

If you can find it for cheap and appreciate these older System vehicles, I'd recommend this one. What you see is what you get: a fun icon from another era of design.

Don't let my (not exactly) clever title fool you. I'm not saying that female police officers are meter maids by default. In fact, one of the strengths of this set is that it includes a female police officer. Recently TLG has made great strides into including female minifigs into their sets of traditionally male roles. It's nice to see a set from 1999 doing the same (and earlier would, of course, been better).

I know the set is labelled as a patrol car, but sets like 7236 and 4436 have set a new standard for police patrol cars, haven't they? So, what can we do with this much simpler set?

Well, the way I look at it, we still have a few options for it's active role in a modern Lego City Police Service. As I mentioned, it could be easily included in parking enforcement. And, since it requires so few parts, it has that fantastic advantage of being cheaply reproduced from secondary seller sites, such as Brick Link. You could easily have a fleet of parking enforcement officers handing out tickets, and thus plumping the coffers of your Police Services.

Or, perhaps, your Lego city is an older European or Asian city, with old, narrow roads, in which smaller urban vehicles have an advantage. This small set is quickly recognizable as a police vehicle, which could fill many other roles I've not thought of.

If you absolutely have to have this particular set, it could get expensive, as it's part of a series co-branded with Shell. This makes it a bit more collectible. However, it's still averaging less than $10 USD for MISB on Brick Link. Call it a half-con.

Pros

• Includes female police officer, in an (originally) inexpensive set.
• Made with only a few, standard parts, so a fleet of them could be easily built through secondary seller sites, at a good price.
• Could easily fill a role not easily covered by the new standard patrol cars.

Cons

• Could be expensive due to it's being part of a series co-branded with Shell. (1/2 Con)

Overall, this is a great little set that can still fill an active role in our larger, more modern Lego City Police Services. Be that as parking enforcement, or a patrol car for older, narrower streets, 1247 is not ready for retirement yet. And neither is that strong female officer behind the wheel.

I got it last year for about $3, new in sealed box, not because of the design but because it was cheap and also because I like impulses, especially older ones.

Box/Instructions

Not much to say. Impulse-size box, a little bit different color-scheme, probably because this set was part of some promotional series done with Shell. There is a small number printed on the box that would help people to distinguish this set from others from that promo.
Intstruction is small and detailed. There is no other version or model to be build.

Parts

Not too many of them and no rare parts, just several black and white part, then new-style wheels, 2+1 yellow and red square lights and 2+1 round blue lights. No seat.

Minifigures

Minifig included is a femae Police officer. She's ok but I would rather see a guy there - red lipstick is too intense for a police woman on duty ;)

The build

It takes less than 3 minutes to have it completed.

The completed model

... looks awkward. Proportions are not perfect - minifig has to look above the windshield.
There are no interesting details, no doors, th back of the car couldn't be more simple.

Summary

This is an extremely simplistic set but I still think it's not a bad choice. If you can get it cheap you'll have a set that has usable pieces and a pretty nice minifig.
And here is this Patrol Car in a small city setting

Very basic small car with a female officer, which are hard to come bye. Picked up this set and two others simular to it for $5.00 US dollars years ago. Very small easy to build little car, biggest plus is another female officer to join the LEGO police force. Good set great value decent set.

This set is about as basic as Lego gets. It's a simple black and white white car with very little detail. Only the two blue lights on the windshield hint that it is a police vehicle. The female police officer is the standout part of this set.