I bought this set in June 2016 (over 6 months ago) when I was on a business trip in Cincinnati, OH. I was staying in a hotel near a LEGO Store and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy some new LEGO sets without having the kids with me.
I love the F-150, especially the F-150 Raptor. I’ve wanted one for a long time but they’re pretty expensive and not really practical for a family of five, at least not for my family of five. Since I couldn’t get the real thing, I bought this set. I’m not into racing but I had been waiting for the F-150 to appear in a LEGO set for a long time. Plus, I hadn’t bought a set for 4-5 months (there wasn’t anything I wanted). I had to pull the trigger.
I built this set back in June and had planned on writing a review then but I fell off the blogging wagon and never got around to it. Until now.
Read on to find out what I thought about the set.
Quick Overview
- Theme: Speed Champions
- Cost: $49.99 | LEGO.com
- Pieces: 664
- Minifigs: 4
- Instructions: 3 small books (164 total steps)
- Skill level: Beginner/Intermediate
- Build time: ~2 hours 45 minutes
Here are some shots of the F-150 and the hot rod together.
F-150 Raptor
My first thoughts about the F-150 is that it’s too small. I don’t think the cab is big enough. It’s a single cab with room for only one driver. I guess it makes more sense if it’s been modified for racing but I don’t think that’s the intention. Maybe I’m getting too caught up in the size but that’s the exact reason why I like the real F-150. It’s bigger than the other trucks.
Ford Model A Hot Rod
As I stated above, I got this set specifically for the F-150 but I do like the hot rod and trailer.
The Garage/Winner’s Stage
In addition to the F-150 and the hot rod, this set comes with a garage/winner’s stage double-combo.
Starting Lights
Not much to say about this one, other than they’re lights. I do like the use of all the different color pieces.
The Minifigs
Just for the fun of it, I’m going to give each of the minifigs a nickname.
Racing Official – “Top Gun”
Driver #1 – “Jolly”
I think LEGO really captured what jolly looks like with this minifig’s face. I’m not sure what it is but I smile when I see this guy’s face. I know I’m saying a lot about a minifig but I think this is one of my all-time favorite faces.
Driver #2 – “Captain Serious”
This dude looks intense. I guess you have to be if you’re racing hot rods.
The Mechanic – “Sweaty”
This dude is either really hot, really stressed out, or really constipated.
Final Thoughts
The Good
- If you like classic cars, especially classic hot rods, you’ll really like this set.
- The set comes with 4 nicely detailed minifigs.
- There’s plenty of value for the price tag with the two cars, garage/stage, and 4 minifigs.
The Bad
- The F-150 (especially considering it’s a Raptor) is just too small for me. I love F-150’s and I hope to own one someday. I guess I’ll have to settle for this for now.
- I felt like the set relied on stickers way too much. If you remove the stickers from the front and back, it would look like a plain, small pick-up truck.
- Even though I do like the hot rod, it looks like a tiny go-kart when it’s sitting next to the F-150. It’s not nearly as bad though when you put the hot rod on the trailer. That seems to fix the “scale” issue.
Had this set not included an F-150, I definitely wouldn’t have bought it. It came out at a time when there weren’t really any sets I was excited about and I happened to be in a LEGO store. With that being said, I did enjoy building the set and I like the diversity of having something different sitting on my LEGO shelf.