34 replies to this topic

[starstreak]

This is a review of 8448 Lego Super Street Sensation


After restoring the 8880 Supercar, I noticed how much cleaner it was sitting next to my 8448 Super Street Sensation. Well... I guess this means I just have to clean that one up too! Boy, if my wife could get me to clean up my office as much as I've been cleaning my old Lego sets... Haha.

This is going to be a restore of this Supercar. After sitting 10 years on my shelf or in a box, this unit got pretty dusty. But the dust couldn't just be blown off. I'm going to have to dismantle the whole thing and clean it and put it back together again. Yes, very similar to my 8880 restore. Just that this one is "only" ten years old.

Set Name: 8448 Super Street Sensation
Theme: Technic
Released: 1999
Pieces: 1437
Price: $n/a I don't remember the original price I paid. I think it was around $140 US dollars. It now goes for over $420 new.
Addition info can be found at: Bricklink, Brickset

Wanna see some pictures? Let's start with the normal box arts and manuals!


Box art. Hey I actually kept the box!

Front of box. Very nice picture. Background is detailed and displays the model with no clutter.


Rear of the box. This set actually has you build the chassis, then you have instructions to build 4 different frames or bodies for the car. Nice idea. I built only the first design that had a convertible roof.


Inside flap of the box.


Instruction books

Two books. Both very thick. I'm guessing it's because the 1st book only builds the chassis. The second book gives you 4 different body designs to build.


Stickers

Here are the different stickers. Yes, they are old. Not sure why only some of the stickers are cracking, while others look just fine. The unit wasn't kept in sunlight.


Extra parts if you build the main design

Many extra parts. Since they give you 3 alternate designs I guess that is why there is so much extras.


Restoration pictures


I got smarter. This time I used the water to soak the parts, then I used an electric toothbrush. That was messy. It splashed a lot, so make sure you have paper towels handy. Then to help in drying, I used a lettuce drier. Then I put everything on towels to air dry.


Some dusty photo shots


Here are two pictures. If you click on the photo, you can get a really large view. You can see all the dust that collected on the car. Very sad.


Now for the rebuild!











Here is two smaller photos (to view larger, click on 'em) of the steering column and front suspension added in.





The photos above show the gears box being made. It's a little better than the 8880 Super Car that I built. This one has 5 gears forward, and one reverse gear. Not that you couldn't throw it in reverse and still move forward. It's just that each gear is a different ratio, so the engine spins different rate for each gear,




And here is the engine sitting in the frame. Funny thing happened. I lost some parts when taking it apart. Lol. I found it later when I finished, but the parts missing allows me to remove the engine from the frame even after it's built. Totally cool!



Two chairs. Bucket type seating. Nothing fancy. It doesn't recline or anything. But at least it's still white and not faded.




Again, I made two smaller pictures that you can click on to show the progress of the dashboard and chairs in the frame of the car.






Here is the completed convertible roof. You make the whole piece first, then you added to the frame.


Final photos

Not much to say. Side view with everything completed. Roof is up.


Front view. Considering there is no body panels, this car looks good.


Rear view. That grey "hitch" that you see just under the red tube is used to hold down the convertible roof top.


Features
Interesting idea. They have a frame for the car that you build. From that, you have a choice of "shells" or "bodies" that you can add on it. I like the convertible. But there is a body that has gull-wing doors. Which is why I guess they included a "Trans-Clear Technic, Shock Absorber 10L Damped, Complete Assembly" that you don't even use for the "main" design. So it's nice that Lego gave some "rare" parts. As for what works, you have steering that works, suspension, and a working gearbox which I find so interesting. One of these times, I'll try hooking up a motor to it so you can see the engine move at different gear speeds.

My rating:
Playability: 4/5. When compared to other Technic sets, I'll put this one level below my 8880 Super Car. The 8448 can't hold up to all the technical wizardry that Lego put into that set.
Design: 5/5. Like the 8880 Super Car, this is a show car at heart. Much more sportier than the Super Car. Maybe. Maybe because it looks so much like a Ferrari before Lego got that license.
Build experience: 4/5. Comparing it to other Technic sets, this is hard, but not as hard as the 8880. They actually put the parts into numbered boxes in this set. Makes building easier. Then again, since I was rebuilding it, all my parts was in one large pile. And I could still do it with relative ease. I guess all Lego is meant to be "easy" considering it's a model. Not like you have to "build" actual Lego pieces to make the set.
Overall: 5/5. Well worth buying. Not sure if it's worth paying the going price for it new. Heck, I've seen the stickers on Bricklink selling for over $70! Sheesh! I bet that's the reason why Lego didn't have any spare stickers when I asked them about it. Lol!

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!
All photos are click able for larger, bigger-than-life picture sizes! You can see all photos used here: 8448 Super Street Sensation.

[rebent]

I had this set!  Great review, although my favorite was the gull wing door option :)

[mrpolyonymous]

I love this set. It's one of the first Technic sets I got after my dark ages, and it really brought me back in to the fold.  The spring-loaded pistons broke within a few months, but LEGO replaced them for free.  The gearbox is a genius piece of building, I doubt you could fit it in to a more compact space. I also love how you can mount the engine at either end of the car so easily. Other than that, though, I agree that the 8880 supercar is a better overall build. I still hold to the hope that TLG will produce a new Technic supercar someday soon.

[CP5670]

I got this set when it came out, but I always found it to be somewhat disappointing after what I had heard about the older 8880 Super Car (which I didn't have at the time). It looks beautiful, but the drive and steering systems are pretty basic compared to 8880's more sophisticated setup that covers all four wheels. The upgraded transmission is great, but the functionality is otherwise more like 8865 and it feels like a step backwards from 8880. On the plus side though, the opening doors worked very well and it was nice how you could use the same chassis with different bodies for the alternate models.

The later 8466 set had many similarities with the chassis of this set, but was a more impressive model and was comparable to 8880. As you said though, this set has still always been in very high demand. It has consistently been more expensive than the older 8880 on ebay and BL.

The box had a cool design, containing 8 smaller sub-boxes and having the wheels lined up along one side. The set also included a few unique parts that didn't appear anywhere else, like the wheels, the 14-length gear rack and the steering joints in the front.

Quote

Here are the different stickers. Yes, they are old. Not sure why only some of the stickers are cracking, while others look just fine. The unit wasn't kept in sunlight.

It's due to the colors. Check the entry on stickers here. Somehow mine have held up pretty well over time though.

Quote

I had this set! Great review, although my favorite was the gull wing door option :)

I liked that one the best too.

Edited by CP5670, 25 June 2009 - 05:55 PM.

[prateek]

great review i should clean my lego too, but my mom will probably not let me

[starstreak]

Thanks for the comments!

rebent/CP5670- Maybe I'll try building the Gull-wing version.

CP5670-  Thanks on the sticker info.  OT, I also have that issue with "oily" tires.  I never tried washing them.  I wonder if the oil would go away.

[ILikePi]

Thanks for another fine review/restoration project, starstreak.
As always, your pictures are great.
This set doesn't look that appealing to me, but that's probably just because I don't like Technic.

[BerndDasBrot]

beautiful.

[Milan]

You should make few more reviews, this is just phenomenal

[starstreak]

Lol. I think I have like 13+ reviews.   Thanks!  More to come.

Milan, on Jun 28 2009, 12:00 PM, said:

You should make few more reviews, this is just phenomenal

[Milan]

Haha, didn't see, sorry, am new here.
I must check them all, keep reviewing

[paanjang16]

I don't know it was a coincidence or what, but after you posted your review someone on my Lowyat forum which I frequent put his 8448 for sale. Needless to say, bought it right away   With box, instructions and 99.999999% all the pieces. Not 100% coz I have yet to find the last missing piece (maybe wrongly built somewhere )

Anyway, spending the whole day rebuilding it, with my fingers hurting from all reconstruction due to errors, it is an amazing car! You don't need a Ferrari licensee to make your red coloured sports car sleek and fast; this car proves it.

I did the Gull-wing doors alt model and the doors open quietly and smoothly, just like a real gull-wing would. Now my car is sitting on my shelf with its engine in the rear (yes, the engine can be placed in the rear or the front!)   .

To contribute to this thread here is the arrangement of the boxes when you open the flap. There are box 1 to 8 and the 4 wheels. A plus point is that instead od numbered BAGS, we get numbered boxes which can be reused!


The first booklet you'll do 1 to 5


The second one gets interesting, telling you where to head to to build the alt models. It is also at this time you will do the last 3 large boxes (and there is ALOT of parts from then on)


The other 4 alts are:
1) Concept car with pop-up door


2) Racer with pop-up engine bay


3) Hot rod with pop-up rear bucket/missile launcher?.. something like that


4)  Buggy with pop-up door


Basically for the last 4 they only tell you how to do the pop-up mechanism. You have to to look at the pictures in the manual to guess how to design and install the bodywork. They could have printed a 3rd book for the 4 models.

I hope the above pictures will benefit this thread.  

[Blakbird]

paanjang16, on Jul 4 2009, 08:38 AM, said:

Basically for the last 4 they only tell you how to do the pop-up mechanism. You have to to look at the pictures in the manual to guess how to design and install the bodywork. They could have printed a 3rd book for the 4 models.

When 8448 first came out, you could download the remaining instructions for the other models.  As I recall it, they were not PDFs but used an application called BIT from LEGO.  It was an acronym for something I can no longer recall.

[CP5670]

It stood for Building Instruction Tool. I think it actually streamed the content from the Lego site, so it probably wouldn't work today even if anyone still has the program.

Thanks for the box pictures. As I remarked earlier, this set had a cool and unique box design.

[Conchas]

Some remarks and questions.

paanjang16, on Jul 4 2009, 05:38 PM, said:

Basically for the last 4 they only tell you how to do the pop-up mechanism. You have to to look at the pictures in the manual to guess how to design and install the bodywork. They could have printed a 3rd book for the 4 models.

Don't agree with this as all the secondary models (Concept Car, Racer, Hot-Rod and  Buggy) have full instructions included. You just need to continue from  page 99, for each of these models.
The point is that this set instructions organization, is a bit tricky to follow if you don't pay enough attention to the visial indications.

Blakbird, on Jul 4 2009, 06:46 PM, said:

When 8448 first came out, you could download the remaining instructions for the other models.  As I recall it, they were not PDFs but used an application called BIT from LEGO.  It was an acronym for something I can no longer recall.

Once all the two main models and four secondary models, have full building instructions within the included booklet(s) (Some sets were sold with one single and very thick instructions book, while others had two thinner booklets), which kind of remaining instructions are you referring to?
Something like MINDSTORMS instructions, to roboticize de "Wing Doors"!?
Like suggested by the image linked below, from PICSL/Peeron which however I can't relate with any specific LEGO set (3936 on the iage URL, doesn't suggest any valid set).

http://media.peeron....ans/id/3936/67/

[Blakbird]

Conchas, on Aug 22 2009, 10:22 AM, said:

Don't agree with this as all the secondary models (Concept Car, Racer, Hot-Rod and  Buggy) have full instructions included. You just need to continue from  page 99, for each of these models.
The point is that this set instructions organization, is a bit tricky to follow if you don't pay enough attention to the visial indications.

I don't know about yours, but my 8448 only came with full instructions for the convertible version and the gull wing version.  Then there are also mechanism instructions of 4 other models (Buggy, Hot Rod, Racer, & Concept Car).  All use the same chassis.  You can see in the scan from the main instructions that the models are incomplete.  If you wanted the full instructions for the other models, you had to download them.  Thankfully, I printed them all out so I have them.  I scanned an example shown below.  The instructions were fairly crude by LEGO standards in that they only included photographs and had many parts in each step.  I'm not sure if there is any way to get them any more.

    

[Conchas]

Ok, I got the point.

My instructions also just have the mechanisms for the 4 additional models.
The other parts are so dimmed that in the PDF versions I didn't realize on them at first.


BTW: I went to check my boxes again, because I've two exemplars of this model. And found that have one with the single book instructions version, and the other includes the two books split version of the same instructions.

[Lupus74]

I have check the building instructions available for download from lego.com. Two books with full instructions for the gullwing and the convertible. Are the instructions for the other alternatives available in the www somewhere?

[Conchas]

It seems not anymore.

Those PDFs from the booklets, now available online, just have the main mechanisms for the additional four cars.

[allanp]

Great review thankyou for posting. Are you sure about that peice count tho!  

I liked this model very much. My only gripe with it is the gearbox cannot handle much torque (which is why I always design my own when building MOCs) and the gear change mechanism is nowhere near as good as the 8880 mechanism.

[starstreak]

Hmm. I didn't do a piece count, I got that from box itself or someplace like bricklink.

allanp, on Aug 23 2009, 02:46 AM, said:

Great review thankyou for posting. Are you sure about that peice count tho!

I liked this model very much. My only gripe with it is the gearbox cannot handle much torque (which is why I always design my own when building MOCs) and the gear change mechanism is nowhere near as good as the 8880 mechanism.

[JunkstyleGio]

Great review!
This brings back one of the great models from the past!

I do remember that, way back when in 1999, i had to fight off another AFOL to get this model.

I really love the model with the gull-wing-doors. It was my favorite for years on, untill i got my (second-hand) copy of the 8880!

I do wish that there wil be a new Supercar soon.
(maybe Nathanael Kuipers Conceptcar which looks ready for a Lego Factory release!!)

[tomacwhite]

Imagine how complex a new model could be hmmmm :)

[allanp]

JunkstyleGio, on Aug 25 2009, 12:03 PM, said:

Great review!
This brings back one of the great models from the past!

I do remember that, way back when in 1999, i had to fight off another AFOL to get this model.

I really love the model with the gull-wing-doors. It was my favorite for years on, untill i got my (second-hand) copy of the 8880!

I do wish that there wil be a new Supercar soon.
(maybe Nathanael Kuipers Conceptcar which looks ready for a Lego Factory release!!)

I saw that model a while ago and thought it looks great, is one of the tidiest MOCs iv'e seen. Wouldn't be surprised if the guy who made it worked for lego at some point. But if I must nitpick I would say that there isn't enough hear to make it the supercar we have all been waiting for. Dont get me wrong, it's brilliant, for a MOC.

[JunkstyleGio]

allanp, on Aug 25 2009, 07:58 PM, said:

I saw that model a while ago and thought it looks great, is one of the tidiest MOCs iv'e seen. Wouldn't be surprised if the guy who made it worked for lego at some point. But if I must nitpick I would say that there isn't enough hear to make it the supercar we have all been waiting for. Dont get me wrong, it's brilliant, for a MOC.

You are right!
He worked at TLC and designed several technic models. (For instance the cherry picker)

But then again what would you expect from a supercar?
My whishes for such a model are:
Fully RC,
Automatic gearbox,
High(er) speed,
and ofcourse:
CC-version,
dampend doors (no gullwings)

and so on, and so on....
I  think it all will be just "whisfull thinking"....

But there are some unstoppable rumours on several LUGs and forums for a LEGO S@H Technic exclusive  in 2010.

Edited by JunkstyleGio, 27 August 2009 - 02:53 PM.