Review - 6374 Holiday Home

[LuxorV]

During the long days of my childhood, this was by far one of my favourite Classic Town sets. I could play for hours, together with my sister, inventing stories for the two minifigs living in this fancy little house: going to shopping with their small red car, cooking in the garden, getting exciting news via the various letters included in the set… Let’s see if the memories can survive the time passed since the first release of this set!

Theme: Classic Town

Set name: Holiday Home

Set Number: 6374

Price (Used): 57 << 145 $, 45 << 115 Euro

Price (New): 504 << 630 $, 400 << 500 Euro

Pieces: 248

Minifigures: 2

Year of release: 1983

Links: Peeron, Bricklink and Brickset

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=35161

The Box

Front

As fo many older sets, I do not own the original box anymore, so I took the picture from Peeron.

The box is 31.5 x 26.5 x 4.7 centimetres in size, more or less the same of the LEGO Games big boxes these days (like Ramses Pyramid).

One of the good things boxes had back in the day was the upper lid. You could spend hours in a toy shop looking at the parts stored below that thin plastic film under the lid, hoping to get the set to finally feel them in your hands and start building. Unfortunately, it’s a kind of excitement kids these days do not feel anymore, especially when they just have the boxes get to their doorstep via internet shopping.

The front shows the complete set, a bit cut out at the edges, on a light-blue/white gradient background. LEGO and LEGOLAND logos, together with the set’s number complete the layout.

It may not seem very exciting compared to nowadays box arts, but it was sufficient to get our attention back in the day, especially when paired with the…

Back

…numerous alternate models and shot angles shown on the back of the box. [Pic modified from Widdi’s review.]

You can see the main model and its features in the lower left corner and the three middle shots. The other six images are all of alternate forms LEGO designers enjoyed building this set in. It must have been more creative and funny to work on LEGO sets at that time, with less pressure on how to make the items commercially competitive and more time to focus on the fun of playing with simple bricks themselves.

Contents

Inside

Upon opening the box, we could find a tray of pieces and a baseplate. The instruction booklet (more on it in the relevant section) completed the assortment.

The main colours are White and Red, with some Blue, Yellow and Black. Green is represented by the baseplate itself, 4 flower bases and a nice cypress tree (I think Classic Town fans can never have enough of these wonderful trees).

Re-coloured parts

Re-coloured parts include Blue Garage Roller Door Section without Handle, Red Antenna 1 x 4, Red Brick 1 x 2 with Black Grille Pattern, Red Window 1 x 4 x 5 with Fixed Glass and White Brick, Modified 1 x 14 with Groove. Not a mind-blowing selection, but still pretty interesting in my opinion.

New parts

There are/were a number of new parts in this set as well: Slope 45 2 x 2 with Number 74 Pattern only available in this set; Baseplate, Road 32 x 32 with Driveway with Light Gray Cobblestones Pattern only in another set so far as well (6394 Vacation House from 1988), and possibly my over all favourite flat baseplate; Red Door 1 x 4 x 5 Right with 6 Panes; Red Slope 45 2 x 8; Trans-Clear Glass for Window 4 x 4 x 3 Roof; White Window 4 x 4 x 3 Roof; Torso Vertical Striped Red/Blue Pattern / Red Arms / Yellow Hands.

Building Instructions

As usual, the pure ‘instruction booklet’ style was not very common in these older sets (I think only some of the bigger ones had it, and possibly only some years later this one came out). Anyway, here you can see the first page of this book, with the same image as the front of the box in the upper section. Below it, the building steps start with the little red car.

The random page shows the plain white background. No pieces call-outs here, as it was to be expected; nonetheless, we get small boxes showing detailed builds from time to time.

The build can get tricky at times, since many parts are used in some steps and it’s not easy to spot them all, especially since the model is never rotated to get a better look at hidden details.

The last page shows the final step, and two alternate models in the lower section.

Minifigures

We have two figs in this set, a male and a female; let’s call them Mr. and Mrs. Holidays. As usual for the early times in LEGO minifigs’ history, there is no way to tell them apart if not by the hair-pieces.

Mr. Holidays has a plain blue torso, grey legs, the standard smile face and the old short male hair in black.

Mrs. Holidays sports a more interesting torso, with vertical stripes in red and blue and red arms; again, plain legs, in red to match the torso, standard smile face and the old pigtails hair, also in black.

No back printing was used at the time.

Building

Start

As seen from the instructions, we start the build with the red car. Nothing too complicated, but there are fancy little details like the letter on the ‘back seat’, which add playability to the model. And how can we oversee the signature doors of this era? TLG is re-introducing them here and there in modern sets, but they really made the models more interesting at the time.

Foundations

Every building starts from the foundations. In this case, they also include part of the living room and kitchen furniture.

Going up

The ground floor is almost complete. You can also see the patio/open garage taking shape.

The ground floor is covered by the base for the first floor, and the veranda is completed (furniture aside). You may notice the lack of the sticker on the ‘roller door’. Some of you, who read my previous reviews, will know I do not use stickers, as a rule. Unfortunately, this was the only one I ever applied, and I’m very saddened by the fact that, due to intensive play during childhood, it came off some years ago.

Almost there

We’re about to complete the roof, and the overall set. I really like the two windows there. I think they add a really nice touch to the house.

Finished set

Front

The last shot in the instructions, after finishing the roof, has you put all the furniture and plants in the garden. It is probably the most complex step overall. I believe TLG designers made this choice to spare some paper, unlike these days endless instruction booklets.

Inside

Since the building shots, based on the instructions’ style do not show much of the interior, I think you may find this picture interesting.

The ground floor includes a large living room, with a full body window on the veranda, and a small kitchen. Notice how the front door allows you to enter the kitchen directly; our Mr. and Mrs. Holidays must be very hungry when they get to their holiday home!

The first floor (to which our minifigs arrive via a mighty jump, as in LEGO tradition) is entirely devoted to the bed room. Now, if the low ceiling was not enough, the bed has place for one minifigure only, so Mr. and Mrs. Holidays will have to take turn to sleep.

Bonus images

Family Pet

Mr. Holidays still believed a per dog would have been a wiser choice.

Party Time

The Holidays soon discovered their new neighbour was a real joker.

Final comments

Overall, this is a very nice set, both for the fans of this line and the MOCers. The parts are interesting and a lot appear in rare colours one has never enough of. The minidolls, while not new is a nice addition to anyone’s collection, as well as the bunny and bucket are.

Design & Colour scheme – 10/10 (Fresh and summer-oriented. The blue and yellow touches help to liven up the green-white-red colour scheme.)

Minifigs – 7/10 (While they cannot be compared with current designs, the minifigs are a good addition to anyone’s Classic Town/City collection and display.)

Parts – 9/10 (Classic selection of parts, with some unusual pieces. The almost exclusive baseplate and some other parts rise the value.)

Playability – 10/10 (As I said in the introduction, I used to spend endless hours playing with this set, and I think modern kids would do the same.)

Build – 8/10 (Nothing too complex, but some efficient solutions are used. A bit limited in the spaces of the first floor, but it’s also connected to the fact I have much bigger hands now!)

Price – 7/10 (Current second marker pries are quite expensive to totally crazy for this set. I’d recommend buying it if you’re a Classic Town nut and find a good bargain.)

Overall: 8.5/10 Very Good

As always, questions, comments, and pic requests welcome!

[The Cobra]

Oh, the childhood days. While back then I picked 6371 instead of this one, I absolutely dig the house. And while we finally have been given 1 minifig in recent Creator houses, we still need more town holiday sets.

[Rijkvv]

Great review of a great set. This was years before I was born, but I still think this has to be the best house ever released, even better than the great-as-well 6349. I hope I will be able to buy this some day.

[The Blue Brick]

Great review 'LuxorV.' This definitely brings back memories. I remember I had this set, and also desperately wanted the 6394 Vacation House, but never got it until I got back into lego.

[happybrick]

Thanks for the review. Great to see inside the house! I spent many hours of my childhood pouring over lego catalogues and dreaming of owning this set. Still love the baseplate with the cobblestone driveway.

[TheBricktator]

Great review! I love these classic town sets from the 80s and 90s, even though I never had any, I've always admired them!

[Ferrik]

Very nice review of this classic town set. It was nice to see the two windows in the attic/ upper floor and other details in this set.

[Marckeyh]

Great review. I remember my brother got this set for his birthday back in the 80's. What impressed me most was the construction of the roof.

Last weekend I was very lucky to see this on a boot sale, with pristine box, for only €20

-Marky

[Masked Builder]

What a classic set. I've never been much of a Roleplayer, but this set is just so darn cute! Thanks for the review.

[Outer Rim Trading Co.]

Great review! This holiday home was part of my LEGO city in the 80's. What I love about reviews of these old sets is the change in the way TLG "instruct" the building. These days it is all laid out in front of you - which pieces are required to complete this single step, and how many of them you needed. Numbered bags, numbered instruction books etc. This 80's style in my opinion really made a kid think. It developed observational skills by working out what was different from one step to the next. Finding differences and working out for yourself what was needed to keep building. Kids have it too easy these days I say!

[antp]

During the long days of my childhood, this was by far one of my favourite Classic Town sets.

I really liked that set too. I am happy that I had it

I got it in second half of 80s, maybe the last year it was sold (or maybe it wasn't even in catalog anymore, I guess my parents found it in old stocks of a shop)

I used the parts of that set a lot. I like these white arches, the small rollup roof, and the base plate! When I got the Octan station in the 90s, that plate was useful for the exit of the carwash, like what I did there:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2911444

(I got that plate with plain path much later, after the "dark age"; when I was kid I only had the cobblestone one)

You can see the main model and its features in the lower left corner and the three middle shots.

Actually the lower left and top of the three smalls is an alternative model.

Edited August 26, 2012 by antp

[just2good]

Excellent review, 'LuxorV'!

I love old house sets. This is probably my second favorite (my favorite is the Velux house ). I do wish there was more of an interior in this one, though.

Edited August 26, 2012 by just2good

[WhiteFang]

Thank you LuxorV for sharing this very classic looking house from the Classic Town era! It simply warms my heart when I first saw this detailed review and it does bring back memories as well. Even though I didn't own this but at least I once built and owned the 6349 Holiday Villa.

[Clone OPatra]

Thanks for this lovely review! This set is just so quaint, and it's an area of Town that LEGO hasn't explored for a long time. The simple style of detailing in these older sets is so wonderful. High detail today is ok too, but it doesn't have the same 'quiet' feel that this set evokes. The bed especially is so simple, but so great.

[XimenaPaulina]

Brilliant review of an equally great classic Town set Luxor! I particularly remember the beautifully-printed baseplate of this set when you used it in one of your MOCs, I really wish modern sets could still give us these types of highly-detailed base plates. And hopefully more "countryside sets" like this one will be released in the future, if the recent Camper and Car & Caravan sets are signs of things to come.