Main Street

Set #: 6390 (later re-released as Legend #10041 in 2003)

Year Released: 1980

Piece Count: 568 (616 pieces contained in set 10041)

Minifigs: 8

List Price: $40 (Legend was $65)

Well, for those of you following my Classic Town set reviews, this is my last review before my "Dark Age" era hit. I've been saving the review as it has always been one of my favorite classic town sets. With a hotel, drivers school, 8 figs, 2 vehicles, construction crane, and lots of extras, this set was a gem when released in the early 80s. My set is intact with one missing minifig (the chef, which I found in a jar a few years ago, but can not seem to find now), and two of the black round 2x4s (which can easily be replaced).

6390 Main Street was re-released in 2003 as Legend #10041. I also own the Legend, which I had to purchase as a fresh new set. I wish Lego would re-release some more of these great classic town sets!

Starting with the instructions:

And the backside:

Notice the crane removed and replaced with a Legoland Hotel sign which was a decal you could place on one of the crane beams.

Also pictured in the instructions:

The set includes 8 minifigs (isn't that a lot of figs?) The printed torsos were very nice. These are the originals:

The Construction Crew (I love the red zipper torsos)

And the others including Cowboy, Police, Princess, and the missing Chef. The female torso with necklace was also used in the earliest Knights Tournament set:

I've always loved this little truck which I've wanted to use in a desert MOC:

The backside of the truck:

And the yellow "Drivers' School" vehicle:

Another great 4-stud wide car!

The set included some wonderful printed signs, later being replaced with stickers in the Legend:

The great popcorn stand (which is a decal). The ubrella is a printed piece:

A simple park bench rests nearby:

What Main Street would be complete without a gas lamp? I've always liked this simple, yet effective design:

The set includes the large cypress tree and smaller bush tree:

An excellent crane stands outside the Legoland Hotel:

One could pull up the building components with the rope:

A control cockpit is attached to the upper section of the crane:

The official Legoland Hotel:

Check out the fancy entrance:

My only complaint is Lego forgot to furnish it (budget cuts and all, or perhaps construction was never completed???)

A nice feature of this building is that you can easily break away the wall sections and hoist them up with the crane.

My favorite building was always this Western-style Drivers' School:

The sign is a decal. I love the door design:

And the arches in red with white inside:

The 1st floor doesn't contain two much but does have room for the little yellow car:

But students can take their written exam upstairs:

Here's an image of the complete set, left perspective:

The right perspective:

And from a pigeon's view:

This set is definately a "10" in my book. I use to add brick horses and pretend the Drivers' School was a saloon (destine to be a fan of the Wild West collection).

Hope you enjoy this review of my "true classic"/vintage sets.

Not a bad set, actually it is great. Above average, a nice model by TLG and great review.

I got this set as the reissue, and I always imagined the Driving School as you put it as a repair shop. Did they ever refer to it as a driving school?

Oh, I really love this set! It has such a classic charm. Simple bricks were used to create this beautiful set. I wish I had either this set or the rerelease of 2003. Nice review!

Edited August 12, 200816 yr by legotrainfan

I got this set as the reissue, and I always imagined the Driving School as you put it as a repair shop. Did they ever refer to it as a driving school?

I always thought it is a car salon, that would explain cowboy hat on the car sales man.

Great review of a great set! I really like the colors and the variety of it. I wish i also had some of these old classic town sets, but i don't. I'm really getting itno them at the moment, hopefully i can grab some in the near future.

Another great review!

I like the versatility of this set in that we already have 3 different ideas of what that building with the 'car' sign could be. I'll admit, I never saw it as a driving school but it does seem to fit.

You wouldn't get that these days.

Anyway, the box did show that you could use pieces from the construction equipment to furnish the hotel which I always thought was neat.

-Tohst

A great set from the days when Lego recognized that towns consist of more than just emergency services and construction equipment (though they seem to be getting better lately). I'm pretty sure this is LEGO's only attempt at a hotel as an official set, which is odd. I used to love staying in hotels as a kid and had more personal experience with those than a bank or post office, of which LEGO made multiple sets. I like how the crane can be dismantled and the parts used to finish the hotel. Not fond of the vehicles but I understand that was the style back then. It's still an amazing set (5/5) and I wish I had gotten the Legend rerelease.

Another fantastic review, Brickster.

Yes, this is easily one of the best Town sets ever released. The design is fantastic, and there are a lot of cool features. I believe this is the only set that has a drivers school and a building in construction, which makes it all the more special. Plus, there's tons of acessories like trees, flowers, road signs, street lamps, and even a bench and popcorn machines. And to top it off, you get two vehicles, a crane, and NINE figures! There really isn't anything much to complain about at all, which is why I give it a perfect score of 5/5.

6390 Main Street was re-released in 2003 as Legend #10041. I also own the Legend, which I had to purchase as a fresh new set. I wish Lego would re-release some more of these great classic town sets!

I believe that the reason that TLC started doing the Legends series year ago was because a lot of the modern sets were terrible - especially the town - so they may have thought it was easier to release old kits than to make new kits. Since now they have the much better City line (which is selling REALLY well), there is really no need to make any more Legends, buisness-wise.

Edited July 28, 200816 yr by Grevious

Another great review!

One of my all time favorite sets, The playability was great the ideas for alternate builds were great and a real boost for me was the nice base plates and signs for your streets, A great set overall. :thumbup:

Great Set. Too bad the re-release of this set came out in my dark age in 2003. I like sets like these. It's the "Town Plan" of the '80s.

Great Review of a Great set. You really saved the best for last! Really a very nice look back at a time when the exact function of every part of a set didn't have to be "spelled out" and alot was left to the imagination. We've probably seen the last of this kind of LEGO architecture and 4 wide cars, but here's to hoping that LEGO gives us more of this kind of "civilian" sets in the future.

Love this set! I also have both the original and the legends version and agree it is so nice to have buildings that are not police stations or fire houses. Just wondering, has anyone ever done an analysis comparing the differences between the sets? The number of pieces, printed vs. decals, etc? I did a search and couldn't find anything ... I just think it would be interesting!

Great review! I enjoyed it the first time it was posted and enjoyed reading it again in the thread revival!

Outstanding Review as always Brickster! Looks like you picked a great set to finish on.

Lots of great details to see down to even the Popcorn maker. Thanks for sharing what is a classic

Cheers

As always another great review!

Main Street

The great popcorn stand (which is a decal). The ubrella is a printed piece:

Maybe try putting some white 1x1 round pieces in the slope for popcorn?

Again a great review of a great set, TheBrickster!

I voted for Above Average:

Of course there regrettably were missing some more detailed accessories mainly for the hotel. But you have to consider that this set was released (the first time) a long time ago. And because of that I think it is amzing detailed . I mainly really this garage with the office upstairs - that was simply . Civilian stuff and buildings (with which I mean not the always only police, construction, fire and rescue - and with which I mean mainly civilian life in the city) were and regrettably still are a real shortcoming in the City theme (in other themes like Castle, too, but the most bothersome it's imo in the City theme).

I bought the rereleased version (which regrettably didn't inlcude the lovely cypress ) some years ago - and I must say that I really don't regret it.

Klaus-Dieter

Yep I want it now. It is one of the sets in my wanted list

Love this set! I also have both the original and the legends version and agree it is so nice to have buildings that are not police stations or fire houses. Just wondering, has anyone ever done an analysis comparing the differences between the sets? The number of pieces, printed vs. decals, etc? I did a search and couldn't find anything ... I just think it would be interesting!

Great review! I enjoyed it the first time it was posted and enjoyed reading it again in the thread revival!

First of all, I came asking the same question myself. I did a quick inventory analysis on Bricklink and the most obvious difference is the original set 6390 comes with the super-rare "cypress tree" piece #3778 while the reissue, set # 10041, does not.

Also, Set 6390 comes with 4 outstanding #812 peices, "Light Gray Train Level Crossing Center Rail Cap Insert 2 x 14 x 2/3" which serve as rails for the crane to slide on and also play a double role as the backing for the "Legoland Hotel" sticker once the crane has been used to build the hotel. These pieces are very iconic and only came in 6 sets during the late 70's and early 80's. They are not included with set 10041, which instead uses standard tiles to build the rails.

I know that this information helped me when looking to buy this set, and I hope it helps you too!

I believe the road signs are changed in the Legends version, and the car wheels use the snap-on hubs instead of the metal axles. Also, the female minifig has a different hairpiece. The roadplates are slightly changed as well. Those are the differences I noticed when I originally saw the new set. Wow- Main Street is thirty-five years old! Still my all time favorite set!