Zorbas

REVIEW: 6522 Highway Patrol

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Hello everyone!

Today, we'll take a small journey to the past to look, observe and talk about a small gem that made our days happier back in the '80s. It is one of these sets that despite of not being large or too fancy, buying it while going for a walk with the parents, made children to have a big smile in their faces! (I'm getting sentimental, I know... :cry_happy: )

So, without further delay, here is the 6522 Highway Patrol.

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Name: Highway Patrol

Set Nr: 6522

Year: 1987

Theme: Legoland/Town

Pieces: Brickset says 30. According to Bricklink the piece count is 22 if we count the motorcycle as 1 piece and exclude the minifigs.

Minifigs: 2

Price: The original price is unknown. An average price for a used set is around $10.00 today.

Useful Links: Brickset Bricklink Peeron

The Police sub-theme was always one of TLG's main target when it comes to releasing new sets. This one was a great set for someone to own not one but two motorcycles and two policemen! Small, affordable and almost an impulse set, it was a great choice for expanding your police force.

Box Photo (Image taken from Peeron.com)

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Legoland boxes... :cry_happy: Don't you just love them?

As I 've already mentioned in another Classic Town review, the "Town System" logo and the small age box recommendation was never present on sets boxes that were released in Greece.

Instructions' Front Page

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Wrinkled, used but still charming. You can clearly see the absence of the "Town System" logo. Plain Legoland, plain fun.

Instructions' Back Page

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The back page shows two alternate models. Well, nobody expects something too different given the piece count. Not sure though about what are these exactly. :wacko:

I assume that the first picture is probably a bench for repairing motorcycles, (the police tiles are tools - come on people, use your imagination! :grin: ). The second one is a phone booth (at least that's obvious! :laugh: )

Random steps from the instructions

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The instructions is just a two-sided long piece of paper. I've folded it in that way, in orded to see both the minifigs assembly and some steps (like they are many... :hmpf: ) from the phone booth.

Minifigs

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Classic Town in all its glory! The heads are the classic smiley ones and the torsos are the common ones for the regular policemen that were used in the police sets back in the old days. 22 years, still not faded!

The minifigs also have the classic space helmet, a part that is discontinued now.

Comparing two generations

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Here is the current policeman next to the classic one. The helmet is now closed, there are much more details printed on the torso, the new one wears gloves (dirty job!), the police badge is now coloured and I must admit that I like it. (What do you mean .."if I like it more than the classic one?" This is getting too personal....) :tongue:

The parts

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Small piece count but some interesting elements here! Four printed (bold letters were definetely on purpose! :devil: ) tiles with the police logo, one 1x2 printed (again! :skull: ) brick also with "POLICE" on it, a nice slope with a telephone printing and the highlight of the set, the classic motorcycles!

Printed parts were the canon and not the exception back in the '80s-early '90s. Why not now TLG??? :hmpf_bad:

Building the phone booth

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Now, you don't expect descriptions about genious building techniques and the process, do you? :grin:

A small, simple and easy to build phone booth. I guess that having the Police logo on it, it probably serves as an emergency phone. You want a civilian phone booth? Replace the printed brick and- voila!

What are you looking at? I just wanna call the captain at the precinct downtown.

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-No Mary, I love you, why did you dump me? Please come baaaack!

-Come on Bryant. There are plenty of other minigirls out there for you to meet. Forget her!

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The motorcycles

The motorcycles are the main feature of this set. They were very common in that era and were small and simple. Adding the right parts such as the police tiles, the lever and the small 1x1 blue light you have your badass cop mean machine!

Side view

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Front view

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Rear view

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Bird's eye view

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Front angle view

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The guys at the back are just fooling around because Mary returned to Bryant. Try not to be distracted from the review... :hmpf_bad:

I really like the old motorcycles! My only suggestion when it comes to the police ones is that they should have a windshield like this one:

Image taken from Brickset.com

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Comparing the vehicles

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The classic one is dwarfed!

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...and ready for action! The police logos are stickers on the new one. A big disadvantage! :thumbdown:

There has been a debate in the past, regarding the classic motorcycles not being realistic enough and also some points that the new motorcycles are more realistic.

I, too, like the new ones but if we want to see the truth face to face we better check something more.

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Have you ever seen a motorcycle this tall in real life? It is even taller from the minifig! O.K, it's much more detailed but I think that the size of the classic motorcycle is absolutely acceptable. If it only had that windshield...

Ready to patrol now!

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Bryant Gumbel-Greg Gumbel

Brothers, bike cops!

(Family Guy anyone? :grin: )

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Hey! Even if you are the law, you are not above the law!

The complete set

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Here it is! A 22 year set that still has its fans!

Bonus pic

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Here is our set, in a lovely :wub: town layout, taken from the 1987 catalogue.

Those classic town layouts were always great! :blush:

Conclusion

A very nice set from the past that I always loved and an easy way of getting two motorcycles and two police minifigs. It is one of the typical "almost" impulse sets from the '80s and a good source for some interesting parts, considering the piece count of course. If you like classic town or if you want to expand your police force, have no second thoughts.

Buy it!

Playability: 7.5/10 ( Two motorcycles, two policemen, a good start for creating LEGO stories.)

Design: 6/10 ( A simple phone booth and two vehicles. Not much space left for too much designing.)

Minifigs: 8/10 ( Two minifigs is a very good number and they still got the charm.)

Parts: 7/10 ( Nothing too special. The motorcycles are the highlight here. Windshields should have been added though...)

Price: 7/10 ( The price for a used set is O.K. The original price remains unknown.)

Overall: 8/10 ( Classic Town vibes all over! A very nice set! You know, expensive parfums, small bottles... :wink: )

Thanks for reading! See you in the busy streets!

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Thanks 'Zorbas' for a fun review ! :grin:

Cute little bikes and a simple phone box - oh yeah that's cute too.

By the way, I think Mary might take him back ! :laugh:

I'm a conformist! ! :laugh:

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Great review, I remember this from the academy.

Fun review, I like the comparision shots!

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the new city era motorcycles as well as the "small" 4-wide cars really annoy me, who really needs all those suvs and honda goldwings?

i still like the classic motorcycles a lot more

nice review by the way, it made me feel very sentimental, this being one of my first sets

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Nice review and comparison. I never had the original set as a kid. I also never really noticed how big the new bike is compared to the size of the minifig.

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MOTORCYCLES! That's all I can say. I want a new set with just bikes like this. At least there is a World Racers set coming up :cry_happy:

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Thanks Zorbas! This review is very nicely done, and you have covered this set very well, better than I expected earlier. This is a gem for Classic Town collectors, and I can imagine if it ever released again with such similar concepts, the price will not be that affordable for us to purchase, considering that Classic Motorcycles are no longer available. Personally, I prefer the Classic Motorcycles unlike the current City versions which is rather bulky. Furthermore, I can even have a phone booth placed by the side of the road. I love this set very much, and I am glad I own it. :wub:

This review has been featured in Classic-Town.net. :thumbup:

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This set was the start of my (rather large) Police motorcycle-brigade.

I count myself lucky to own about 9 classic lego police motorbikes (I guess I was born at the right time :cry_happy:).

As a kid I had trouble finding stories or adventures for so many mobile policemen :tongue:

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According to Bricklink the piece count is 22 if we count the motorcycle as 1 piece and exclude the minifigs.

In that case CONGRATULATIONS! You're possibly the first ever to make a review with more pictures than the pieces in the set! :tongue:

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There has been a debate in the past, regarding the classic motorcycles not being realistic enough and also some points that the new motorcycles are more realistic.

More realistic? Sure... we all see 6ft-tall motorcycles on the streets all the time :classic:

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This review has been featured in Classic-Town.net. :thumbup:

:blush:

I really feel honoured WhiteFang! Thanks! :sweet:

In that case CONGRATULATIONS! You're possibly the first ever to make a review with more pictures than the pieces in the set! :tongue:

:laugh:

So, I shouldn't try to review the UCS Millenium Falcon then. :wacko:

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