8880 - Super Car

Vital Stats

Set No.	8880
Set Name	Super Car
No. of Pieces	1343
Main Colour	Black
Electrics	None
Pneumatics	None
My Rating	10/10
LB's Rating	10/10
Features	All wheel drive 4 wheel steering 4 speed gearbox Shock absorbers on all wheels V8 engine Popup headlights Boot opens
Unusual Parts	Suspension parts unique to this model Gear box parts
Alternate Models	1

Review

The best model ever. One of the earliest ones, which makes it all the more remarkable. It has a few unusual parts for the suspension and gearbox. Even the wheels are not used in many other models. As it was an early model, Lego must have invented a few new parts just for it and not used them afterwards. It was the Little Builder's first serious Technic model and he was seven at the time. What a great way to start! It was part of a bulk lot I bought on ebay.

It has all wheel drive. It does this using 3 differential gear sets. With all wheel steering and all wheel suspension, the drive train mechanism is quite complex and interesting. The steering can be actuated by the steering wheel as well as a hand-of-god control. Each wheel has two shock absorbers each. Size-wise it is quite big too - 50cms long

The all wheel steering operates by turning the rear wheels in the opposite direction of the front wheels but to a lesser degree. This would help the vehicle to turn corners or parallel park a lot better. I used to drive a car with this feature (Honda Prelude 1995) but the rear wheel movement was a little more complex in the real car. It probably wasn't very popular and was liable to malfunction. This feature disappeared soon after and Lego seems to have imitated real life. None of the subsequent Technic cars seem to have all wheel steering.

As it is an older model, the external body is built using standard technic bricks and hinged plates. The newer models tend to use panels and flexible rods. As befits an old model this one is high on function and low on looks.

One problem I have is the rear spoiler keeps falling off. I don't know if the Little Builder has made a small assembly error or it is just poor design.

Links and References

Reviews on Brickset of this set.
Read reviews on this model by Joshua Delahunty, Patrick Yagle .