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Name: Holiday Villa
Theme: LEGO System / Town
Year: 1988
Pieces: 197
Minifigs: 2
Price: USD ?
There were quite a few sets in the 1980's that weren't sold in the US. I remember reading once that it was because they contained wine glasses and TLG felt they wouldn't be able to market a toy that encourage the drinking of alcohol. This set was one of them. I remember seeing this in a catalog that came with a Fabuland set and wondering what it was and where I could get one. I wrote to LEGO and got an overseas catalog which had the Futuron 6990 Monorail Transport System in it before it was available in the US. I was amazed. I ended up buying 6349 Holiday Villa from that catalog but, for some reason, gave it to my best friend for his birthday. I've always wanted this set and finally bought it from Bricklink this year....
My purchase included everything except the box.
I really like the boxes. But, in lieu of a boxshot, here is the instruction manual:
I imagine this was the image on the front of the box:
The parts
One of the things that appealed to me about this set is it's abundance of rare parts. This base plate is an excellent piece and was only available in two sets:
Classic LEGO telephone:
Technically, these blue windows 1 x 4 x 5 windows are only available in this set, according to Bricklink. It was available in different form (with and without fixed glass, trans blue glass) in other sets. Regardless this size and color window is rare and the blue door was only available in 4 sets. This was a huge selling point for me as I'm a window monkey. Never heard that term? It's like a parts monkey (a collector who buys mulitples of sets just for parts or large lots of bulk from BL and sorts them into bins) but just for windows. Tell your friends I coined the term:
These sloped windows have endless possibilities in many themes (maybe not with the curtain decals applied) but are another great rare part that appears in this set:
The build
Remember this piece? I'd like to see a badass Agents car built on this car base!
:
I am a fan of the six-wide car but I see the appeal of the four wide. It has a very nostalgic feel to it:
There's no denying that this is a beauty of classic LEGO 4-wide cars:
This set comes with two mini-figures, one of which appears to be a painter. Classic vintage LEGO figs:
Onto the house which begins with the basic floorplan:
A kitchen that's open to the rest of the house and a little oven and hood vent is one of my favorite touches. It's one thing to throw an oven into a house set, but the designer of this set made it a cool part of the architecture of the house which gives it a unique feel:
The completed first floor and carport:
I do wish the sides of the roof were white with a little overhang like an actual roof. This method of white on bottom, red on top looks more like a child's drawing than a real house. This is easily fixed with some modifying. Still, you get a lot of roof pieces in this set:
Here we have the completed set. The husband cleans the yard while the wife gets plastered on wine. Don't tell the American kids!
Another angle:
Working in the kitchen:
Getting smashed before dinner. I think she may have a serious problem:
The bedroom. A little stark, but the bed looks comfy:
Overall shot of the interior:
Rating
Playability: 9/10 (The possibilities are endless with Drunky McWine-Wine and husband. Really, playability is up to the imagination of the player. It's a house, not really very action-packed.)
Design: 9.5/10 (Great design with plenty of rare parts. Love the classic car, too! Loses half a point for the all red roof...)
Price: NA (I believe this was inexpensive, but since I have no proof, I will have to leave this factor out of the overall rating.)
Overall: 9.25/10 (Classic sets like this all deserve 10s in my book, but looking at it with an objective eye it's Excellent, but not perfect.)
Maybe it's revenge for America's Lego neglect in the 80's. 
Maybe that's why my country has such a big problem with binge drinking... 
:
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Well, that is a couple of decades later...
.....
