[Review] 8880 Super Car

[chaosof99]

8880 Super Car

After coming out of my dark ages and getting back into Lego, particularly Technic, I've come into the idea of hunting down models that I wanted when I was a kid but never got. Sets like the 8868 Air Tech Claw Rig or the Model Team trucks come to mind. Another one of those is the 8880 Super Car, a big inspiration to a particularly popular theme for MOCs. The first set to officially be branded a Super car, a car with four wheels and a ton of functions. So now I got this black beauty off of e-Bay, unfortunately not MISB but still mostly acceptable, and I thought I should give it a review.

Parts

The 8880 Super Car was originally released 1994 and consists of 1343 pieces for an initial price of $130 US. It is widely considered as one of the best Technic Models ever produced by TLC and also has a ton of special parts that have were only ever released in that set. It is the first set with the still used gear shift of pushing a cylinder into a hollow gear, and one of the first sets to implement a wishbone suspension. A unique part is the stick shift, consisting of two parts (only the stick itself is used in the B-Model, the plate is not). Another is the three parts that fit into and drive the wheels. A gray hub is fitted with a ball gear (unfortunately, I didn't take a clear photograph of it, sorry) and is angled by a white steering arm, while it sits on the blue wishbone suspension. There are also 8 big shock absorbers in the set, in a style which have become quite rare nowadays though they recently showed up as a pair in black in motorcycle sets, e.g. the 8051 Motorbike.

Unfortunately, one of the stabilizing 5L flat arms was broken when I checked out the parts. Not very happy about that, particularly because that part only shows up in that color in two sets: This, and the 8865 Test car. Also, the stickers from this second-hand model where either gone, or peeling off from the parts they are on. I guess that is a risk you have to take when buying models that are almost 20 years out of production.

Of course, there's a ton of gears, connectors, axles and simply parts. There's a particularly large mass of flat black angle pieces as we shall see later.

The instruction book is in quite a shoddy condition, but it's 90 pages long and has the instructions for both models. It's of course A4 landscape format print, all color, and has some nice photos of the finished model in the middle. The B-Model instructions are printed "upside down" starting from the back of the book, so you can start with it by simply flipping the book over.

The box (again, bad condition), is also quite entertaining and definitely different from what we have today. The box is actually two cardboard pieces instead of one and the top piece lifts off the bottom piece to reveal a yellow plastic piece holding the lego pieces in individual pockets. I'm not sure if the set came originally with the pieces packaged into small plastic bags or not, as we are used to today. The top part also lifts as a cover to reveal a plastic "window" and see the parts in the box, which is quite cool. Of course, the backside of the "cover", and the bottom of the box, are decorated with photos of the Main and B-Model respectively.

B-Model

As we shall see, the B-Model for the set is a Formula 1/Indy 500 type of race-car, but let's get into building.

The construction is pretty straight forward, but showcases a lot of difference from the current construction method. With the studded pieces, this is build from the bottom up, whereas today with studless pieces the construction is done from the inside out.

The interior of the B-Model is somewhat bare-bones. To the right of the driver is a lever which switches between the two speeds the car has to drive the rear mounted motor. I unfortunately screwed up with the steering arm, which directly connects into the steering wheel, the only method to steer the car, and didn't align it so the steering wheel is level when the car is driving straight forward. It is however something to be said about sets with functioning steering wheels, which have become somewhat of a rarity these days.

I really like the front spoiler on this set, though I think in comparison to actually Formula 1 cars I think it isn't quite wide enough. That might also be because of the wheels that I think are just a tad too large for a Formula 1 car, though of course they are meant to fit on the main model.

Overall, the B-Model is quite excellent, and I wouldn't at all mind having a second 8880 so I could have both models on display. The only thing about it, though of course that is the case with pretty much every B-Model, is the ton of parts that are left over. Though you can ignore the four 3L pins, as they weren't used in the main model either. I have no clue why the eBay seller who I bought the set from included them, but I don't really mind.

Main Model

The main model is just an excellent piece of Lego design. A car that features all wheel steering, all wheel drive, all wheel independent suspension, a functioning steering wheel, an opening trunk, a V8 motor, a four speed gear shift, concealed headlights, and a great design. Let's see how it is constructed:

Again, pretty much straight forward bottom up building. A major point of annoyance however was fitting the chain that drives the motor, which I had major trouble with. The rear was also quite complex, since it is one big and loose piece that is built separately and fit onto the car.

The interior is very well done and it is great that all the major functions are controlled from inside the car. Though there is another option to steer the car with a small tire piece on the back, the steering wheel is functional. The gear shift is also functional and switches between the four speeds of the car, and the lever on the dashboard opens and closes the concealed headlights.

As already said, the trunk opens to reveal the V8 engine. It is kind of a neat functionality that way.

Final Thoughts

The 8880 Super Car is just a wonderful model, jam packed with functionality and a set that should belong into every Technic fan's collection. I'm very glad to have gotten my hands on it finally.

Finally, here's a comparison between the classic 8880 Super Car, and the 8070 Super Car from 2011. I was rather surprised to find that they are almost identical in size. However, the new 8070 of course uses studless construction, and the body form is created from using flex axles and panel pieces, giving it a much rounder look. I do prefer however the functions in the 8880, as the four speed drive is in my opinion much more exciting and does a better job at teaching mechanics to kids (which is in my opinion the prime appeal that Technic should be sold under as a kids toy). The only real design flaws I see with the 8880 are the somewhat too large "windshield", and I think the car body is a bit too high off the ground.

Ideally I would love for TLC to produce a gar with a design like the 8070, but functionality like the 8880.

Edited May 14, 2011 by chaosof99

[legolijntje]

Great review

I really like this model, sadly I don't own one

[alois]

Great review, I know the feeling of wanting to have sets that you wanted when you were a kid. For me it was the 8860 that I finally could lay my hands on last year. So calling the 8880 the grandfather of all supercars doesn't sound quite right for me; that title has to be reserved for 8860 and even 853.

You should also consider buying the testcar 8865, because then you could see that much of the functionality of the 8880 is foreshadowed by it. It even has wishbone suspension, so you're not correct in stating that the 8880 supercar was the first.

All in all a magnificent family of cars.

[chaosof99]

Thanks Alois, corrected those two mistakes. I actually wanted to rewrite the "grandfather" thing by myself, since it didn't seem right considering the Car Chassis, but forgot to do that before posting.

As for the 8865 test car, I've been looking into it but that thing is even rarer than the 8880.