Vintage set of the week: Fire Truck

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Van with opening doors

Van with opening doors

©1970 LEGO Group

This week's vintage set is 602 Fire Truck, released during 1970. It's one of 12 LEGOLAND sets produced that year. It contains 30 pieces.

It's owned by 332 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.


  • View previous vintage sets of the week
  • 34 comments on this article

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    Looks more like a delivery truck. No sirens, no lights, no accoutré of any kind behind those doors. It's just a red box with wheels. The town is doomed to become nothing more than smouldering embers.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    You're fired!

    @MCLegoboy:
    Maybe it's used to deliver fire.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    @PurpleDave said:
    "You're fired!

    @MCLegoboy:
    Maybe it's used to deliver fire."


    It's like that fire starter set from city...

    Gravatar
    By in United Kingdom,

    Samsonite version was a 'Delivery Van'. Presumably anything red in Europe counted as a fire truck!

    Only actually 24 pieces as sold... Came with tyres fitted, and not generally thought of as removable.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    Wild to me that the 1x3x2 car doors existed well before there were minifigure-scale cars to use them on.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    We've come a long way from this to 60374.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    @OptimShi said:
    "Off topic, but surprised I haven't seen any mention of the Final Fantasy VII set vote. Especially since the voting is only open for a couple more days. https://surveys.square-enix-games.com/en/ffvii "
    I noticed that, and it's cool! But given that it doesn't seem like LEGO is actually officially involved in any way, I didn't think it was worth reporting on. It isn't for a real set; just a MOC that someone will receive as a prize.

    Gravatar
    By in Canada,

    Back when the only transparent colour was clear.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    @MCLegoboy said:
    "The town is doomed to become nothing more than smouldering embers."

    "When the wind picked up the fire spread
    And the grapevines seemed left for dead
    And the northern sky looked like the end of days
    The end of days"

    Really just thinking of Grapevine Fires when you say that.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    Well, its red....

    Gravatar
    By in Australia,

    @OptimShi said:
    "Off topic, but surprised I haven't seen any mention of the Final Fantasy VII set vote. Especially since the voting is only open for a couple more days. https://surveys.square-enix-games.com/en/ffvii"

    I had no idea that was a thing, thank you for mentioning that. I voted for the water tower, simply because for some reason I liked the aesthetics and thought it would look awesome (not as busy as the other images) in Lego.

    Gravatar
    By in United Kingdom,

    Looks like a prison van for transporting convicts; are we throwing the fire in there when it’s been too naughty?

    Gravatar
    By in United Kingdom,

    The black grill was fairly rare at the time. It was chrome on most red sets. Although it wasn't uncommon for it to be chrome on the box and black in the instructions (and vice versa)

    Thankfully the Legoland resident from 622-2 didn't attempt to drive the truck/van!

    Gravatar
    By in Denmark,

    This was the first Legoland set I got for my 5 years birthday. I still remember opening the box which was special because the lid was perforated. It allowed you to store the assembled model In the box. Magically i still have the box and the instructions

    Gravatar
    By in Switzerland,

    I guess it was never called a fire truck until someone put it in a fan-database. As has already been said, the US version 362 was called Delivery Van, and in the 1970 UK catalogue this is simply called 'Van with opening doors'. Unlike the two tow trucks, the two ambulances, and the two fire engines on the same page/picture, there's not even a single blue 1x1 plate to suggest this should be a fire truck.

    ( https://images.brickset.com/library/view/?f=catalogues/c70uk page 5-6)

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    There’s another 602-2 from 1970 with a ladder that looks like a true fire truck.

    Then 485 from 1976, just six years later.

    I’m usually a big fan of these early sets, but this one in particular is not the strongest if it really was meant to be a fire truck.

    Gravatar
    By in Netherlands,

    As much as I love these vintage sets, this one is certainly not the greatest. But to look at it from the bright side: that would make this the perfect candidate for a GWP re-imagination that no one would miss out on.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    But... but... this is so obviously a classic Coca-Cola delivery truck!

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    @oukexergon said:
    "But... but... this is so obviously a classic Coca-Cola delivery truck!"

    Great. Now I've got that 1970's Coca-Cola song stuck in my head. I must share it!

    "I'd like to build a world a home
    And furnish it with love
    Grow apple trees and honey bees
    And snow white turtle doves
    I'd like to teach the world to sing
    In perfect harmony
    I'd like to give the world a Coke
    And keep it company
    I'd like to see the world for once
    All standing hand in hand
    And hear them echo through the hills
    For peace throughout the land"

    Gravatar
    By in Italy,

    It's the real thing.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    @PhantomBricks:
    60088 was available for just under a year, while 60106 followed right on its heels and stuck around for over two years. It makes sense that the latter got more attention. People had twice as long to notice it, and some may have noticed the first and assumed they were the same set (effectively giving people three years to notice it). I know I made fun of both of them at one time or another, having noticed that they released two different versions.

    @AustinPowers:
    As @Ottox points out, the blue 1x1 plate, which existed at the time, is absent. There were probably lots of trucks with similar body styles that had nothing to do with fighting fires. Or the fire truck you linked to may have been an optional package on a standard base truck. Or it may have been an aftermarket mod, like the ambulance used to make Ecto-1 for Ghostbusters. It just doesn’t look like an emergency services vehicle with no emergency lights.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    @Ottox said:
    "I guess it was never called a fire truck until someone put it in a fan-database. As has already been said, the US version 362 was called Delivery Van, and in the 1970 UK catalogue this is simply called 'Van with opening doors'. Unlike the two tow trucks, the two ambulances, and the two fire engines on the same page/picture, there's not even a single blue 1x1 plate to suggest this should be a fire truck.

    ( https://images.brickset.com/library/view/?f=catalogues/c70uk page 5-6)"


    LUGNET was the first to name this, and the author DID put { } around the name, to show that it was unofficial. Peeron tended to strip those marks, and so began the copy from site to site that ended up here at Brickset.

    I've repaired the naming on LUGNET (Peeron's name-borrow has been broken for many years) and here on Brickset.

    Thank you for the information sources!

    Gravatar
    By in Portugal,

    @scheller2 said:
    "This was the first Legoland set I got for my 5 years birthday. I still remember opening the box which was special because the lid was perforated. It allowed you to store the assembled model In the box. Magically i still have the box and the instructions"

    Incredible! The same with me, and yes i was also a 5 year old. Of course it looks short, but that was what Lego was like in 1970 and, nevertheless it was the beginning of a passion that still lasts. So it still is very special to me, 53 years after and more than 2000 sets ;)

    Gravatar
    By in Switzerland,

    @dulcaoin said:
    "LUGNET was the first to name this, and the author DID put { } around the name, to show that it was unofficial. Peeron tended to strip those marks, and so began the copy from site to site that ended up here at Brickset.

    I've repaired the naming on LUGNET (Peeron's name-borrow has been broken for many years) and here on Brickset.

    Thank you for the information sources!"


    Thank _you_!

    I got this as a gift last year - bricks, box and instructions looking as new, so very happy with it, but quite annoyed with the name when I added it here, as it obviously isn't a fire truck. So nice to see it changed! :)

    Gravatar
    By in Germany,

    This name change is totally unnecessary.

    @PurpleDave : just because you in the US don't have fire trucks that look like this doesn't mean this wasn't supposed to be one.
    The red colour, the opening doors on the side, those are typical of fire trucks of the era over here. Remember, back in those days LEGO modeled their sets on European prototypes, often specifically German ones.
    Yes, I know they don't anymore, bla bla bla.
    But the fact remains that this set, blue lights missing or not, looks EXACTLY like a fire truck and not like delivery trucks. Those had and still have plastic sheet coverings over their rear beds, not those side opening doors like in fire engines.
    Whatever, why do I even care. Believe what you wish. I know what this looks like to me.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    @AustinPowers said:
    "This name change is totally unnecessary."

    Brickset doesn't localize to individual languages. There is work afoot to publish like that in the works (not Brickset, another site), but it is still quite some time off.

    If Brickset DID localize, I would have provided as a name for 602: 'Geschlossener LKW' [de]

    We strive to use the most accurate naming (that coming from The LEGO Group), and I've now corrected a decades-old mistake in the name of this set. Set 620-2 'Fire engine with opening doors and ladder' [en] / 'Feuerwehr' [de] was the fire engine in release at the same time as 602-2.

    Gravatar
    By in Netherlands,

    It's not that hard to Google some 1970 catalogs, none in English though but both Danish ("Lastbil"), Dutch ("TIR-vrachtwagen"), French ("Camion-TIR") and Italian ("Camion") make this a truck/lorry. Not so much a delivery van, but considering the TIR-designation a proper one for international transport. Not that I've ever seen one like this, but that's what Lego said it was supposed to be....

    Gravatar
    By in Netherlands,

    @Montyh7 said:
    " @OptimShi said:
    "Off topic, but surprised I haven't seen any mention of the Final Fantasy VII set vote. Especially since the voting is only open for a couple more days. https://surveys.square-enix-games.com/en/ffvii"

    I had no idea that was a thing, thank you for mentioning that. I voted for the water tower, simply because for some reason I liked the aesthetics and thought it would look awesome (not as busy as the other images) in Lego."


    It's got to be the church. I fondly remember starting Cloud and Aerith's star-crossed romance with the phrase "I remember you, you were the slum-drunk".

    First Class: Class First.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    @AustinPowers:
    If there was an official name, and it’s now listed as something else, then there’s every reason to correct the name.

    And it has nothing to do with what fire trucks do or did look like in the US. The US is big enough that, in my lifetime, there has never been such a thing as _a_ US-style fire truck. We don’t even have a standardized color scheme. Some places use an eye-searing neon yellow because it’s more visible, while others stick to red because they’ve found people tend to ignore any other color.

    What it has everything to do with is that this set came out at a time when there were only five colors available, and blue 1x1 plates was coding for firefighting vehicles. This set didn’t include them, and was never officially identified as a fire truck. Besides, it’s got three axles, which is more indicative of a truck intended to haul heavy freight.

    Gravatar
    By in United States,

    @AustinPowers said:
    "This name change is totally unnecessary.
    "

    Not nearly as tragic as "My Dad" becoming "Christain with Gifts"

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