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[TheBrickster]

Police Headquarters

Set #: 588
Year Released: 1979
Piece Count: 360
Minifigs: 4
List Price: unknown

Out of all of Lego's Police Stations, Set #588 is my personal favorite. I consider this set among my all-time favorites of my personal Classic Town collection.
The colors of the set are excellent, but what really adds a unique look is the yellow framed windows with black panes and green shutters. Pieces like the 1x1 round trans. blue bricks for lights, telephones, and non-stickered doors and signs add to the quality of the set. Just take a look:

The instructions:



And the backside of the instructions. I always thought the picture on the bottom right looked like a bus stop:



On to the minifigs. The set included one Police Lietenant (or other higher ranking individual), two cops with jackets and helmets, and the guy in the blue which always puxxled me. He serves as air traffic/helicoper controller with the blue and red light bricks. The good thing about this guy is he can play a "bad guy" if the set is used on a stand-alone basis:



I always loved this little motorcycle. As mentioned above, those are printed "Police" bricks. The wheels are wide enough to not reqire the kick-stand, although attached:


Note: the steering wheel is missing a 1x1 black plate. I have extra, just didn't put one on.

Isn't the car neat? I love the rear section:



The helicopter is also nice with moving doors and a nice shape. The helicopter was also sold as a stand alone-set (#645 Police Helicopter) in the same year, 1979.


It can land on the roof top.

Inside is a nicely detailed desk, but no real chairs. I've always loved the phone brick, and as far as I know, this is the only set to include one (or actually two):



Upstairs is another office with same desk and chair (2x2 square brick)



Here's the cell. Unfortunately, it does not lock, but one can always place a small brick at the base to play "pretend lock-down":



Inside the cell is a small bench:



Between the two garages is a sink for thirsty police and/or jail patrons:



Here's a shot of the 2nd floor roof. I did use an old trans. white antena. The set includes a grey one which is stored in my Classic Space collection in the garage.



The entire set. Isn't this a great station? - I think this is truly a Classic Town beauty!

[Grevious]

Great review. I'm supprised that no one replied to this yet.

Man, this was an awesome kit for its time. The vehicles are all great - the police bike is simply genius, and the helicopter and car are well designed too. The police station also looks great.

One request: could you take a picture of the interior of the second floor? Thanks.

[Skipper 24]

Cool set love the phone and tap they are so cool!

[TheBrickster]

Thanks for posting your comments. I was worried that this review was going to get missed.

Grevious, on Jul 19 2008, 10:52 AM, said:

One request: could you take a picture of the interior of the second floor? Thanks.

Posted above. Here's the interior of the 2nd floor:

Skipper 24, on Jul 19 2008, 02:36 PM, said:

Cool set love the phone and tap they are so cool!

I always thought the phones were awesome to - esp. considering the age of this set.

[bullet8542]

Man what a trip down great Lego memory lane.

Great set for it's time I always really thought the spigot was a really cool piece of Lego.


Brickster you rock!!!

I keep noticing in the pic's that you have a lot of my all time favorites in your collection............

[TheBrickster]

bullet8542, on Jul 20 2008, 08:10 PM, said:

Brickster you rock!!!
I keep noticing in the pic's that you have a lot of my all time favorites in your collection............

Thanks for the great feedback Bullet. I'm glad to hear that you appreciate these classic sets.
Also, welcome to EB.

[Nikola Bathory]

Thanks for this review of a classic set!!!!
Very good review, with lots of photos!

edit: 588 is Lego's first police station. I own the second one - 6384 and I think it's better, the car and the motorbyke especially. But 588 is a very good set as well.

This post has been edited by Nikola Bathory: 21 July 2008 - 11:14 AM

[Lorentzen]

I had this set when I was a kid. But I recently checked peeron.com for the inventories list and I don't have many of those special parts anymore.

The set is magnificent though

I have the baseplate and many of the regular bricks, but the tap and phone are definitely gone, and so are many of the printed "police" bricks, the clear doors, and the green shudders :(

[The Cobra]

I owned this set; I spent so many times unbuilding and rebuilding it that I didn't even need instructions! I digged the phones and the sink, and as odd as the motorbike was, it's the best we could hope for back in those days. Instructions have a diffeent hairpiece compraed to the one that's actually in the set.
As much as I would have to loved to own 6398 or 6598, I have to rate this set Outstanding!

[Milan]

This is nice. It really is good to see how lego built before to respect (or not) todays designs.
I like this old time spirit of the sets!

[Big Cam]

Fantastic old set, so old the motorcycle is built!! Good review, I love seeing these older sets reviewed.

[AFOL12v]

Great set. I have one too, well actually 381. But I guess the 588 was for usa and 381 for europe.

I love that police bike. A bike you need to build by yourself. How cool is that .