The Speed Champions cars tend to be little bigger than normal Lego City cars and the ones in this set are the biggest of the lot sofar. Size isn't everything though so let's see if they're any good.

Box/Instructions

The box follows the Speed Champions template, with a Ford logo in the bottom corner. The back of the box suggests that the designers weren't sure what they were targeting here. It shows the workshop on the side of a desert road, the blue truck going off-road and then the truck and the hot-rod going head to head on a drag strip. There are also images of the real-life F-150 and model A.

No less than 3 instruction booklets are included in this set; one for the engine hoist and the hot-rod, the next for the pickup truck and the lights bar and the last one covering the trailer and workshop.

Parts

There's a good variety in the 664 parts in the set. Way too much to mention them all. Some of the highlights are the golden rollerskate, flat silver door rail plates (only in 2 other sets), 1x1 red round tiles with a black dot that are unique to this set and of course the black doors with flame print. There's the usual set of tools as well as a welding kit. No printed orange 1x1 round like in the collectable welder but a plain green one instead.

There are also 29 stickers... 16 of them are for the F-150. The rest are a few checkered flags (they could really have done with making those a printed part with all those racing sets), the usual license plates and two Ford engine heads for the hot-rod.

Minifigures

There are 4 minifigs in this set; two drivers, a mechanic and a race official.

The Raptor driver wears the same Ford-branded race-suit as the Mustang driver in 75871; white torso and hips, dark blue arms and legs and a white helmet.

The Model A driver has medium blue legs and a black helmet, both of which have appeared in many sets. His torso is unique to this set though: a red buttoned shirt and underneath you see a white t-shirt with a Ford logo.

The mechanic also has medium blue legs. His torso is dark blue with a plaid pattern and is very common. He has a welding helmet, similar to the one used in the cargo train and the collectable welder, but without the vizor print which is a shame.

The race official uses all common parts; black legs, blue jacket and a dark red cap.

All the faces have been used before in a dozen sets or more. None of the helmet-wearing figs come with an extra cap or hair-piece for when they take their helmet off which is disappointing.

The build

Building didn't take long but was good fun. The light-stack (using 8 frying pans) and the winners podium weren't the most interesting but lots of interesting detail in the other elements. The 'A-frame' plate for example is a clever part for the base of the hoist.

There's some clever engineering to give the F-150 full independent suspension and a good bit of sideways building to give it the distinctive wheel arches.

The trailer has a clever trick to fold out the stand when it's not attached to the truck but is otherwise fairly straightforward.

The hot-rod uses some interesting parts, especially at the front, like black ice-cream cones for the headlights.

The completed model

For me the hot-rod is the highlight of the set (and the main reason to buy it) and in-the-brick it doesn't disappoint. The forward stance, the yellow firewall, the red wheel nuts in the white rims... They really got the look spot on. The only problem is its size. The engine is so tall the driver can't possibly see anything and at 8 studs at the rear tires it's very wide for Lego City.

The F-150 Raptor looks impressive. It's a proper American muscle-pickup and like with the hot-rod the designer has done a good job getting that shape right. For detailing however it does rely on a lot of stickers. For a City set those stickers wouldn't have been necessary but this is part of the license of the Speed Champions theme. I'm not sure it needs the full suspension in this set; its main role is pulling the trailer with the hot-rod.

You can't get around its size though. The body is wider than a train! And at 10 studs at the wheels it's even wider than the hot-rod. And at that size you can still only fit one minifig in the cab. The hot-rod driver has to sit in his car on the trailer.

The trailer is even wider. To allow the hot-rod to sit on the trailer the bed is 8 studs wide. At the wheels the trailer is a whopping 11 studs wide.

The podium and workshop look good in their red/grey colour scheme and they're cleverly done.

All good news sofar. The set does have its issues though. First of all, these cars do not fit in Lego city. They're just too big. As mentioned it uses a lot of stickers. With all those stickers and printed parts it's disappointed that two of the flags only have a checkered sticker on one side, the welder's gas cylinder has no print, his mask has no print. He seems like a bit of an after thought. Even on the box he looks a bit lost.

Overall opinion

This is a pretty good set. It's got two great cars and a lot of extra's elements to play out various stories. When I first looked at the images I thought €50 was a bit steep for 'two cars and some extras' but look a bit closer and you'll realise how much extra there is. And 664 parts for €50 is good value, especially for a licensed set.

As mentioned, it does have some issues, especially the size and the stickers. To balance that though it's got some unique parts including a unique torso. And those doors...

I'm glad I bought this set and despite its issues I can happily recommend it: it's a good value action-packed set.