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Everyone remembers their first time. For me, it was in 19*cough*somethingsomething*cough*. We were at her house, and her mother was gone for at least an hour. She slowly unzi... uhhh.
Sorry, wrong story.
Um, yeahh. Anyway, I do remember my first time. It was 1977, in late summer. Our neighbor, who worked for a department store called Famous-Bahr, said that the main store had a travelling LEGO display. So my family filed into the car and drove into downtown St Louis to see this display. To tell you the truth, I don't remember much about the display itself, but I DO remember that my parents bought me my first LEGO set. Set # 456, the Spirit of St Louis.
Set #: 456 (also sold as Set # 661)
Name: Spirit of St Louis
Theme: LEGOLAND / Large Vehicle
Year: 1977
Pieces: 49
Minifigs: 0
Price: $5.00 USD? (Bricklink MISB start @ $175.00 USD, Used Complete ~$35.00 USD)
Links: Peeron, Bricklink, Brickset
Packaging
Box Front:
The original box that my set came in was most likely trashed 5 minutes after returning home. This image was lovingly stolen off of the Peeron page for this set. I feel lucky that I even got this much.
Similarly, I have no pictures of the plastic baggies the set came in. Truth be told, I can't be sure that there even WERE plastic baggies that the parts came in.
THE SET
Side View:
Well there she is. My first set ever
. Actually, I seem to recall the real Spirit of St Louis was silver colored, not Black and Yellow. If you need a history lesson, the Spirit of St Louis was Charles Lindbergh's plane when he made the first trans-Atlantic solo flight. More details can be found on the Wikipedia page. The overall shape is pretty close, at least. The cockpit window could stand to be moved forward one stud, but everything seems to be relatively close. The tail piece isn't the right shape, but it is likely the only tail piece LEGO produced at the time.
If you look closely, you can see the various bite marks that my brother and I inflicted over the years. I know some people would be aghast that there are bite marks, but brick separators wouldn't come out for another 10 years. Besides, we were young. We didn't know any better. I certainly had no idea that it would become my obsession.
There are some interesting part choices here. Everything is brick and plate built, as you might expect. The same set nowadays would have lots of slope, wedges and wedge plates to round things out. But LEGO was all about the brick in '77, so bricks are what we got. The black inverted slopes worked pretty well asthetically as the wing struts. The wings are simple 4 x 10 plates, nice and square.
There were no minifigs in this set. If I remember correctly, 1977 was just about the time when minifigs made their first appearance. I know I have one other set from '77 that does include a minifg, at least.
I don't have a lot of comments for the following photos. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
3/4 View
Back
Back 3/4
Top
Front
PARTS
Interesting Pieces
I have no idea if there were any extra pieces that came with this set. I kind of doubt it. Instead I took a photo of some of the interesting parts to the model.
That translucent white piece didn't photograph so well, but it is a Technic Axle 8. That's right, sets from 1977 contained Technic elements. The two black parts are the forerunners to the 1 x 2 Technic Brick, as well. Everytime I hear someone on the forums complain about Technic elements in system sets, I think back to this set.
The round brick is special as well. Here is a closer view of it, complete with bite marks
.Round Brick
As you can see, the stud is closed. It is only one of two closed stud 1 x 1 Round Bricks that I own. They stopped appearing in sets in 1981, for those that are interested.
The DSS
You thought you were going to escape this heading, didn't you? Surprise! Yes, even in 1977 LEGO sets had stickers. The oldest printed elements I can remember were in the Classic Space sets that started in 1979. Again, when people in the forums complain about DSS in sets, I can only help think of this set. And chuckle to myself maniacally.
The sticker has held up really well considering it's been stuck on the brick for 32 years. No discoloration, very little curling. I think if all stickers held up this well over time, there would be less DSS complaints.
THE RATINGS
Playability: 6/10 - The set is quite swooshable, and the propellor spins. Outside of that, though...
Minifigs: N/A
Design: 6/10 - The overall shape is quite good, especially given the era. The color choice leaves a lot to be desired.
Price: 1/10 - It's been retired for 30 years. It's going to cost you to get your hands on it.
Overall: 13/30 - This set is for true collectors only. I can't imagine anyone wanting one because they want to play with it. It was a great set back in the day, but the design feels REALLY dated. And if you're wondering, mine is NOT for sale. Ever.
All the photos, plus more, can be found in the Gallery.
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