Before I was driving age my "thing" was Legos, more specifically the then new space themed legos from 78-79. Having 4 paper routes at the time I was flush by 14 year old standards so I bought a lot of them!
In the mid 90's I pulled out my boxes and started building again. Then I discovered this nifty thing called the internet and so started collecting discontinued sets from the 78-81 era. I kept building bigger and bigger models as my collection grew. It sort of petered out when about 10 years ago my sports ravaged knees started protesting hobbies that called for hours on end sitting cross legged on the floor!
As you may have already guessed from my car collection I was never good at doing things part way.
Very cool. My 2 grand kids aged 5 and 1 1/2 don't get exposed to a whole lot of TV and they spend hours with lego. I think it helps their creativity so much.
65Camino said
Oct 20, 2021
Think thats why the next generation just wont get the thrill of working with your own hands making things.
cdnpont said
Oct 20, 2021
That's an amazing collection. My wife has an Aunt in NB, who's son was hired by Lego as a designer, he moved to Denmark and is living his dream.
unruhjonny said
Oct 20, 2021
that is AWESOME!!
one of my earliest lego sets was a space set (918);
I actually found a number of years ago that it made it's way into my great-aunt's lego drawer - I found this after my great uncle passed, and she started cleaning stuuf up, and offered her lego to me.
We lived with her for a short while in between moves when I was maybe four or five - so that's how it got there.
I used 'brinklink' to source the few missing parts - the key ones were the transluscent green 1x1 plates, and the front (yellow) windshield; The latter I sourced from France of all places!
Several years later when my great aunt was moving out of her house, and I was there once again helping her, we found a margarine container of "special" parts that my uncle removed from the drawer of parts - they were probably put there because he was afraid that my brothers or myself would break them (for a long time we were the only kids to visit and play with their lego); In that margarine container was the missing front windshield - and this is the best part, compared to the replacement that I got from France, this one was mint as could be.
I love the old space stuff - the original stuff with the grey and blue colours, not so much the white stuff; But I do have some parts from another set I had - but have never been able to complete;
If you might be willing to part with one of those 928 set's, I'm all ears - that's a set I always wanted; When the second Lego movie came out a super-duper-simplified version of that ship was teamed with a car for Emmet - I bought eh set to "share" with my son (currently six). I bought a couple of the "Benny's friends" small sets too - purely because of the spacemen; Speaking of which, that 918 set I mentioned earlier - it has one persisting problem, it seems that the lego-man lingered too long near my aunt's fireplace, and he's slightly melted - not enough that a kid cannot play with him, but enough so that the legs and torso are just a bit off - and you can no longer 'snap' him down into a seated position... oh, and his original helmet is long since MIA, so I replaced it with a later (red) motorcycle helmet - not broken chin gaurd this time!
lol.
I have passed on my love for lego to my son, my daughter (4yo) likes it but not quite the same way her brother does.
Pontiacanada said
Oct 21, 2021
I was into "Mini Bricks" way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Anyone remember Mini Bricks?
Canadian Poncho said
Oct 21, 2021
I remember the Mini Bricks. I had a cousin who had a pile of it. The brick were red and there were green roof panels. The bricks were a bit pliable if I remember
4SPEED427 said
Oct 21, 2021
Pontiacanada wrote:
I was into "Mini Bricks" way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Anyone remember Mini Bricks?
I'm pretty sure I still have mine in a box in the basement.
North said
Oct 21, 2021
There is a bit of similarity to those early space sets and Canadian Pontiac's in that there were some differences cross border between the US and Canada. Those early (78-81) space sets had different set numbers in Canada versus the US, even some differences in what was available. Perfect example is the 918 spaceship set, it wasn't offered in the US, the middle sized ship was the 924 but in the US only it was 487, same with the big one the 928, in the US it was the 497. Must have been some issues related to master franchise contracts Lego got stuck with from its early days. (Samasonite had the rights to Lego sales in Canada for example).
Here are some 918's and the midsized 924-487. I didn't necessarily buy that many, I would sometimes buy extra specific pieces on bricklink and lots of bins of unorganized Legos from kijiji etc.
I realize that some sets (like these early ships) used more than one set number, but the original/correct number was always(?) printed on the 1x6 brick that goes on the sides of the cockpit - that's the number I was using.
I seem to recall seeing the 924.
Canadian Poncho said
Oct 21, 2021
I believe Lego in Canada was made at the Samsonite plant in Stratford, Ontario. I recall you could buy a suitcase full of it back then (since Samsonite also made luggage).
unruhjonny said
Oct 22, 2021
Here's proof of my set, and a few pieces from my other incomplete set, and a couple other period 'space' sets that I have collected;
When I was sorting through my great aunts lego, I found some peices that made them unique to some sets - these are recreations based on instructions from brinklink;
The police car is only one from a police set, some of the police set pieces (like the sign) are broken; There were a couple other unique pieces in the collection that I didn't pursue recreating because th parts were either broken, or key elements from those sets were MIA.
I had no idea Lego was ever manufactured in Canada - I thought it was always manufactured in Denmark(?).
I had all those emergency sets back in the 1970's. Loved the "trailer hitch"pieces they would come with. I recently found a "spaceship' my son and I made 20 years ago. I"ll have to post a pic.
unruhjonny said
Oct 22, 2021
My brother (four years my junior) had the large 'Blacktron' spaceship - I remember we both loved that line, and something about hte ship, and the (revised) spaceman which made it seem so cool to us.
Pontiacanada said
Oct 22, 2021
Canadian Poncho wrote:
The bricks were a bit pliable if I remember
... and you could chew on them!
68vert said
Oct 22, 2021
I loved those Technic sets with the gears, wheels, even springs to make cars, motorcycles etc., had quite a few of the 'space' stuff too and still have a bunch of it but man nothing compared to your collection!! I spent hours in front of the TV with Saturday morning cartoons on playing with Lego...part of the reason I went into Architecture I suppose ;)
68vert said
Oct 22, 2021
65Camino wrote:
Think thats why the next generation just wont get the thrill of working with your own hands making things.
Agreed 100%, something very satisfying about creating something from nothing, exactly what you can do with Lego as a child.....a pile of bricks can be a house, a car, a person/animal, a tree....you name it. Not to mention the specific sets with unique pieces!
Canadian Poncho said
Oct 22, 2021
I remember seeing the first Technic set on the back of a comic book sometime around 1977. It was a car chassis. Man I wanted it but it was too expensive.
unruhjonny said
Oct 22, 2021
they brought back the technic's name recently, but it's just not the same;
my boy would love the gears, and something with a wired battery to make it move, but the closest they offer requires an app on a smart device which uses (iirc) bluetooth to control it.
Gillis said
Oct 16, 2022
Legos and then model cars. Still have all the models and half a dozen still in the box ready to be put together.
CdnGMfan said
Oct 16, 2022
Pontiacanada wrote:
I was into "Mini Bricks" way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Anyone remember Mini Bricks?
I remember them from way back. They came not in a box but in a large, round cardboard cylinder about 6" in diameter & 3' tall. There were a few plastic window frame pieces. Ours got pitched in 1970 when we as a family moved.
I also loved Lego. I had a tractor-trailer with a 5th wheel. There was a front axle that had a stem that went up through the cab of the roof and snapped into a roof-mounted sign or a/c unit. From that you could steer the truck. I would often visit my neighbor who had a complete Lego village in his basement. We would tear down & revise the buildings. Memories...
North said
Jan 13, 2023
Just stumbled across this old thread, thought I'd add an interesting link between Lego and Pontiac...
Lego bricks are made of ABS plastic, which is exactly what the 68-72 GTO Endura nose is made of. Sadly, for us the 69 fullsized nose piece was made of a different material that turns to dust. Interestingly Pontiac reissued the 69 big car nose piece (without changing the part number) and this second version (I believe it was released after 69 production ended so it was service replacement only) was made of ABS. The outside dimensions were identical except for the lip seen with the hood open which was thicker and had a sharper taper.
ABC123 said
Jan 13, 2023
Cool facts !
There was also a thin layer cap sold by dealers as a quick fix.
My 69 Grande had installed when the car was still in warrantee.
It was almost an urban legend but I now own another one and will post pics under the nose cone thread.
Before I was driving age my "thing" was Legos, more specifically the then new space themed legos from 78-79. Having 4 paper routes at the time I was flush by 14 year old standards so I bought a lot of them!
In the mid 90's I pulled out my boxes and started building again. Then I discovered this nifty thing called the internet and so started collecting discontinued sets from the 78-81 era. I kept building bigger and bigger models as my collection grew. It sort of petered out when about 10 years ago my sports ravaged knees started protesting hobbies that called for hours on end sitting cross legged on the floor!
As you may have already guessed from my car collection I was never good at doing things part way.
The two in the last picture are now in their twenties and the baby seat in the background was holding my now adult second daughter. Time flies!
That's an amazing collection. My wife has an Aunt in NB, who's son was hired by Lego as a designer, he moved to Denmark and is living his dream.
that is AWESOME!!
one of my earliest lego sets was a space set (918);
I actually found a number of years ago that it made it's way into my great-aunt's lego drawer - I found this after my great uncle passed, and she started cleaning stuuf up, and offered her lego to me.
We lived with her for a short while in between moves when I was maybe four or five - so that's how it got there.
I used 'brinklink' to source the few missing parts - the key ones were the transluscent green 1x1 plates, and the front (yellow) windshield;
The latter I sourced from France of all places!
Several years later when my great aunt was moving out of her house, and I was there once again helping her, we found a margarine container of "special" parts that my uncle removed from the drawer of parts - they were probably put there because he was afraid that my brothers or myself would break them (for a long time we were the only kids to visit and play with their lego);
In that margarine container was the missing front windshield - and this is the best part, compared to the replacement that I got from France, this one was mint as could be.
I love the old space stuff - the original stuff with the grey and blue colours, not so much the white stuff;
But I do have some parts from another set I had - but have never been able to complete;
Space - Starfleet Voyager (6929)
If you might be willing to part with one of those 928 set's, I'm all ears - that's a set I always wanted;
When the second Lego movie came out a super-duper-simplified version of that ship was teamed with a car for Emmet - I bought eh set to "share" with my son (currently six).
I bought a couple of the "Benny's friends" small sets too - purely because of the spacemen;
Speaking of which, that 918 set I mentioned earlier - it has one persisting problem, it seems that the lego-man lingered too long near my aunt's fireplace, and he's slightly melted - not enough that a kid cannot play with him, but enough so that the legs and torso are just a bit off - and you can no longer 'snap' him down into a seated position... oh, and his original helmet is long since MIA, so I replaced it with a later (red) motorcycle helmet - not broken chin gaurd this time!
lol.
I have passed on my love for lego to my son, my daughter (4yo) likes it but not quite the same way her brother does.
I was into "Mini Bricks" way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Anyone remember Mini Bricks?
I'm pretty sure I still have mine in a box in the basement.
There is a bit of similarity to those early space sets and Canadian Pontiac's in that there were some differences cross border between the US and Canada. Those early (78-81) space sets had different set numbers in Canada versus the US, even some differences in what was available. Perfect example is the 918 spaceship set, it wasn't offered in the US, the middle sized ship was the 924 but in the US only it was 487, same with the big one the 928, in the US it was the 497. Must have been some issues related to master franchise contracts Lego got stuck with from its early days. (Samasonite had the rights to Lego sales in Canada for example).
Here are some 918's and the midsized 924-487. I didn't necessarily buy that many, I would sometimes buy extra specific pieces on bricklink and lots of bins of unorganized Legos from kijiji etc.
I realize that some sets (like these early ships) used more than one set number, but the original/correct number was always(?) printed on the 1x6 brick that goes on the sides of the cockpit - that's the number I was using.
I seem to recall seeing the 924.
Here's proof of my set, and a few pieces from my other incomplete set, and a couple other period 'space' sets that I have collected;
When I was sorting through my great aunts lego, I found some peices that made them unique to some sets - these are recreations based on instructions from brinklink;
The police car is only one from a police set, some of the police set pieces (like the sign) are broken;
There were a couple other unique pieces in the collection that I didn't pursue recreating because th parts were either broken, or key elements from those sets were MIA.
I had no idea Lego was ever manufactured in Canada - I thought it was always manufactured in Denmark(?).
... and you could chew on them!
Agreed 100%, something very satisfying about creating something from nothing, exactly what you can do with Lego as a child.....a pile of bricks can be a house, a car, a person/animal, a tree....you name it. Not to mention the specific sets with unique pieces!
my boy would love the gears, and something with a wired battery to make it move, but the closest they offer requires an app on a smart device which uses (iirc) bluetooth to control it.
I remember them from way back. They came not in a box but in a large, round cardboard cylinder about 6" in diameter & 3' tall. There were a few plastic window frame pieces. Ours got pitched in 1970 when we as a family moved.
I also loved Lego. I had a tractor-trailer with a 5th wheel. There was a front axle that had a stem that went up through the cab of the roof and snapped into a roof-mounted sign or a/c unit. From that you could steer the truck. I would often visit my neighbor who had a complete Lego village in his basement. We would tear down & revise the buildings. Memories...
Lego bricks are made of ABS plastic, which is exactly what the 68-72 GTO Endura nose is made of. Sadly, for us the 69 fullsized nose piece was made of a different material that turns to dust. Interestingly Pontiac reissued the 69 big car nose piece (without changing the part number) and this second version (I believe it was released after 69 production ended so it was service replacement only) was made of ABS. The outside dimensions were identical except for the lip seen with the hood open which was thicker and had a sharper taper.
There was also a thin layer cap sold by dealers as a quick fix.
My 69 Grande had installed when the car was still in warrantee.
It was almost an urban legend but I now own another one and will post pics under the nose cone thread.