The ultra cool 325 Shell Service Station Set

[LEGO Historian]

Although this set is WAY before your time for most of you "youngin's"....

.... it really was one of the coolest and most unique of all LEGO service station sets.

The 325 Shell Station was a 1966-70 set... and was just about the last of the 1955-67 Town Plan sets. Granted it is considered "diminutive" in the classic LEGO scale (1 door = 3 bricks tall)... it still posesses a charm that is the envy of many LEGO sets.

This set had many firsts...

1) first set with yellow windows/door.

2) first set with gray large plates.

3) only set with yellow garage flip-up doors (a 1955-70 Town Plan feature with counterweights that would open the door).

4) the unique Shell gas pumps that sat "between" the studs... and not on them...

5) the 2x4 SHELL printed brick... first time (since they were introduced in 1955) that a printed brick was not a 1x6 or 1x8 brick.

This set was also unique in that it had TWO service garage doors... every other one before or since had only one. And the 5 years that this set was produced... the real Shell corporate logo underwent a transformation... the sign went from upper case to upper/lower case... and by 1971... the Shell emblem stopped having the word "SHELL" in it (although that's not part of this set.

But this set underwent some changes in the printed bricks.;.. the gas pumps... the emblems on the pricey 1:87 (#650) Shell Tanker Truck (4 different upper and upper/lower case emblem variations)... the garage doors themselves... which were clear with yellow painted edges on continental European versions... and all yellow (plastic) on the UK/Ireland/Australia versions.

And even the 325 cardboard boxes themselves came in 3 different box versions...

All in all this now very highly collectible set was a nice addition of the 1960s LEGO streetscape... even though this set was never sold in USA or Canada....

(Images from Chapter 7 of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/download.)

Gary Istok

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for sharing again 'LEGOHistorian', the design of that servo is very typical of Shell service stations built around the late 60's with the Shell logo on the front wall.

I look forward to more trips into Lego's past.......Brick On 'LEGOHistorian'.

[LEGO Historian]

Thanks lightningtiger!!

Since you asked so nicely.... I'll give another little history lesson.

Sometimes LEGO sets end up as promotional items even if they don't start out that way. One was the 6661 Mobile TV Studio vehicle set of 1989... that had a special order by a German TV station (WDR... West Deutsche Rundfunk) with special printed WDR panels for the vehicle...

Another much older set was the 1957-64 VW Showroom Set... numbered 307 (also found as 1307 in Denmark, Norway, Sweden). This set was a small VW auto dealership set. The box shows the VW "shadow figure" (a common VW mascot in Europe from the 1950s)... and also the old LEGO "Gnome" a popular LEGO mascot from 1955-63... seen on LEGO boxes, catalogs and literature.

Here's the neat set (this is the 1950s box style, there's also an updated 1960s box style)...

Although the box top always mentions "VW LEGO"... the 1x8 brick in the box was a printed brick in the local language of the country it was sold in. Here's some variations...

Denmark/Norway: VW SALG

Sweden: VW FORSALJNING

Germany/Austria: VW VERKAUF

Finland: VW MYYNTI

Belgium/France/Italy/Switzerland: VW VW VW

Netherlands/Britain/Ireland/Australia: VW DEALER

The really cool part, what I like to call the first "specialty" LEGO part... is the 8x3x3 showroom window... unique to this set (and to the 261 spare parts pack that has it)....

http://www.bricklink...Pic.asp?O=261-2

This particular set shown belongs to a Belgian collector friend of mine named Rohnny. He got this set from a Belgian gentleman, who got this (still in wonderful condition) set as a young child. And the story behind this is a very interesting one... these were given away by Belgian VW Showrooms to the children of VW auto buyers. So this regular LEGO model set... was also used as a promotional set in Belgium.... so that the kids would badger their parents into buying a real VW auto... so that the kids would get this freebie... What a great marketing tool!!

Just another one of the nearly hundred anecdotes I'm adding to my LEGO DVD/download... to put some

Edited June 19, 2013 by LEGO Historian

[Hey Joe]

Hey! I've got a question.

Are all the early Lego town sets, and by sets I mean buildings and vehicles, in roughly 1:87 scale? Is that what the company was shooting for?

Thanks, Joe

[LEGO Historian]

Good question Joe!

Yes... it was all done in the 1:87 "Town Plan" scale... so it would be compatible with the (1955-68) Town Plan board (#200). This image below shows part of the Swiss 1958 LEGO catalog (it was only 2 pages back then!). The picture shows the 1950s style Town Plan board (available in either hard Masonite wooden board, or as soft roll-up plastic)... and it shows the 307 VW Showroom, the 309 Church, and the 310 Esso Service Station. The other buildings are just built models not related to any particular LEGO set.

But from 1955-68... all building models were indeed 1:87 scale.

Also... see that car in front of the main block... the one with in yellow with a grayish roof? That's an Opel Kapitän... a prototype vehicle that was never actually released for sale. About 8 prototypes are known to have "escaped" from TLG and are in private hands today. These are known in yellow, red and orange. I have seen a yellow one sell for over $4000 a few years back!

In my collectors guide, I show several "flavors" of this rare car... IMHO the priciest single LEGO item (aside from all those overpriced golden bricks ).

Edited June 19, 2013 by LEGO Historian

[lightningtiger]

Note that the scale of Lego vehicles back then were HO railway scale and in the 1950's model railways were a boom hobby so perhaps Lego jumped on the bandwagon and produced sets that could be a simple childs toy or part of a train layout.

[LEGO Historian]

Lightningtiger... yes the Town Plan System of Play was scaled to 1:87... the same as the HO scale.

In fact 1955-57 LEGO catalogs and idea brochures even showed Märklin 1:87 trains along with LEGO scenes.

Here's part of the 1957 (very first) Austrian Catalog... and it shows in the lower right a scene with HO train tracks (the trains are out of view here)...

[Hey Joe]

Hey! Very interesting, thanks.

I'm thinking about getting my HO layout back up and running, some of these Lego models would look very nice alongside. They might not mix so well with my glued together, Faller-type models. Maybe I can group them seperately.

Are those old doors and windows still available at a reasonable price? I wouldn't want anything collectable. Heck, I don't even have a job at the moment.

Joe

[peterab]

This size in red; http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?itemID=43121&colorID=5 is probably the cheapest, followed by the same in white (though cheap white ones will almost certainly be discoloured). Some of these windows have been in use for a very long time so are not rare. Any bulk lots from the 70's will be likely to contain some.

[Captain Green Hair]

Thank you for sharing this cool info Legohistorian, I remember seeing all these ''odd'' parts in my dad's old Lego (which unfortunatley is missing).

Can you tell me the dimensions of the yellow gas pumps? I wonder if they would mix well in a modern cool MOC. Thanks!

[lightningtiger]

A MOC....now there's an idea.......hmm, a minifig scale version of that Shell servo.

[SalvoBrick]

A MOC....now there's an idea.......hmm, a minifig scale version of that Shell servo.

Someone already did it :)

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1158111

[lightningtiger]

Someone already did it :)

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=1158111

Similar but not totally a minifig scale copy......though close enough I guess......still the tiger might have a try later in the year.

[LEGO Historian]

Wow... very nice indeed!!

[Minifig_Matt]

Lightningtiger... yes the Town Plan System of Play was scaled to 1:87... the same as the HO scale.

In fact 1955-57 LEGO catalogs and idea brochures even showed Märklin 1:87 trains along with LEGO scenes.

Here's part of the 1957 (very first) Austrian Catalog... and it shows in the lower right a scene with HO train tracks (the trains are out of view here)...

Wow, I love how he gentleman in the bottom left hand corner is smoking a pipe whilst building. You won't see that in today's catalogues!

[LEGO Historian]

Minfig_Matt.....

Pipe smoking and LEGO ads/booklets?? Nothing new back in the 1950s and 1960s!!

This from the 1960-65 #238 Building Idea Book!!

Edited June 24, 2013 by LEGO Historian

[Captain Green Hair]

Someone already did it :)

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=1158111

Quite a nice build, as are most of Ulimy's works. But he didn't use the pumps and sign from the 325 set, any chance of getting those dimensions LH?

[Minifig_Matt]

Pipe smoking and LEGO ads/booklets?? Nothing new back in the 1950s and 1960s!!

Heheh nice pic, my Dad used to smoke a pipe and I'm sure we built LEGO while he smoked it too.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Rick
Please don't quote large posts unnecessarily. Thanks.

[LEGO Historian]

Commander Red Hat... still looking for my Shell sign and pumps to get the dimensions for you... stay tuned....

[The Dutch Guy]

Wow, this brings back memories. 307 was my very first set i got when i was about vijf or six years old. Because of my "young" age, my mother and grandmother (the later bought me the set) thought the had to build it for me, but after a few atempts, the let me build it. I fixed it in a few minutes and a lifelong passion had started. Later i got 211, 213 en 236 as wel and that was followed by 310. I was a happy little man. (stil am although not so little anymore). Now i can teach my two grandsons how to enjoy Lego.

Thanks for these memories guys.