Dom's Dodge Charger: LEGO, Amazon US

Introduction

I was in my local Wal-Mart this past Sunday afternoon picking up some quarantine supplies. While in there, I happed to go by the LEGO aisle. I always check this aisle because sometimes you can find sets on clearance at a good discount. I didn't find any good discounts, but I happened to see this set on the shelf all by itself. I knew it was coming out in April but I didn't remember when. I was not all that interested in this model when I saw the announcement on Facebook, but I had a feeling that I might have stumbled across it on sale a few days early. I have found sets on sale early at this particular Wal-Mart before, but the last time the set was only on sale a day early and it wasn't even in their cash register system. I scanned this model using the Wal-Mart app on my phone and found out that it was listed as costing $99. Ok, I guess maybe they released it. I'll buy it.

I get home and check on the release date of this model. It isn't supposed to be released for 3 more weeks! I've never found one on sale that early! I thought it would be an interesting little find so I posted a photo on the Facebook LEGO Technic Group. It blew up! Several people claimed my photo was Photoshop as a site that checks for Photoshop fakes incorrectly identified it as fake (it was not) and that Wal-Mart's Point of Sale system should not have let me buy it that early. I wasn't planning on building it right away, as I was in the middle of building another set, but there was so much requests for more photos and more information on the set, I opened it up. After posting some more pictures, the skeptics on Facebook finally believed me that it was real. I set out to open it up and start building it so everyone else could get an early look at it. Here's what I found.

Inside the Box:

1. 1077 pieces including a few spares of the smaller pieces
2. 8 bags, numbered 1 through 4
3. 4 rubber tires
4. A large frame
5. Instruction manual
6. Sheet of stickers

Total Build Time: About 7 hours

Building the Model

All in all, this was a pretty easy build. The numbered bags greatly reduce the number of pieces you have to search through to finish each stage of the build. I often have trouble with Technic models that contain a lot of gears, but this one did not have that many, so it was no problem. There were a couple of places where the instructions had you insert pieces into weird angles. I rarely come across sets that require these weird steps, but this one definitely had a few. There were also a couple places where the instructions don't show clearly what needs to be done, so I had to guess based on visually comparing the before and after photos. This particular problem happens way too often in LEGO instructions.

The Good

1. Very well done 8 cylinder engine with working pistons
2. Chain driven camshaft
3. Spring loaded suspension on all 4 ties
4. An impressive LEGO differential on the back two tires
5. All 4 doors, plus the trunk and hood open and close.

The Bad

1. Fragile front grill easily falls apart
2. Weak wheelie bar barely supports the model's weight
3. Thin, unstable, uneven front hood.
4. Weird, Technic design for the window frames on the doors
5. Steering wheel is not connected to front tires so doesn't move when tires are turned in different directions.

Final Verdict:

This is a fairly cheap model of a cool hot rod car. I really like the design of the engine and suspension, but I don't like the car's body. I'm not a big fan of Technic designs that looks overly 'hole-y' wit lots of gaps in them. This model definitely qualifies as one of those. The entire body is full of holes. This set would serve as a good base for a hot rod model, but toss the ugly body. I much prefer the more clean look of the non-Technic Ford Mustang model. If you like Technic models, it's a fun build, if you prefer the more clean lines of traditional LEGO models, skip this one in favor of the Ford Mustang model.