Brick colours available in 1980

[idlemarvel]

I am doing some research into what bricks in which colours were available in 1980.
Taking 2 x 2 brick 3003 as an example, I have used Rebrickable and Bricklink to establish that it was available in the standard colours used in those days namely (using Lego names) Black, Bright Blue, Bright Red, Bright Yellow and White, but not Grey (a.k.a. Light Gray). It is curious that all the smaller standard bricks sizes (1X1, 1X2, 1X3, 1X4, 1X6, 1X8, 2X3 and 2X4) are available in all the standard colours but not Grey 2X2. There are many other examples of common parts not being available in all the colours but lets stick with this one. AFAIK this information is obtained from looking at the parts inventories of sets released in years up to and including 1980. Is it possible that Lego did produce this part but it just wasn't used in a set? Did they sell parts on demand in those days like Pick-A-Brick today? It seems odd they wouldn't produce this part in Grey but equally odd to make a part with no way of selling it! Can anyone shed any light on this? Thanks for any thoughts.

[Murdoch17]

LEGO avoided making both grey shades of bricks for a long time, due to the fear people would make military models from them. Same story for green being just for plants and baseplates, @idlemarvel.

Edited October 24, 2024 by Murdoch17

[Alexandrina]

Adding onto what @Murdoch17 said, in the early days (pre-1990s) around half of the solid colour palette was only used for specific things. Green and light grey were only for baseplates/plants, while dark grey and later on brown were only for minifigure accessories/weapons and things like rocks and tree trunks. It wasn't until the mid-late 1990s that all of these colours were regularly used for normal building materials - there wasn't a 1x2 brick in dark grey until 1998, for example.

This discrepancy is best illustrated by looking at colours that had already been removed from the Lego palette prior to 1995/96. Medium dark pink, for example, was only used for three different pieces outside Duplo - a door, a window pane, and a flower. Light green lasted into the 2000s but it was pretty much exclusively limited to baseplates (though it did get a very small number of plates through Scala sets, and was part of the Clikits palette too). Even into the 2000s, though, more niche colours were uncommon. The core palette was broader (incorporating green, both greys, brown, tan, dark turquoise, purple and the sand colours) but outside of that most colours had limited use, a symptom of Lego's overreach in the era that contributed to financial difficulties. It's a far cry from the post-2008/09 era, where usually if a colour is in the palette then it's used broadly throughout system, Technic, Friends and Duplo sets.

(I don't know if it applies to your example, but there were quite often examples of bricks being made in colours not available for retail sale, for use in Legoland models. These did sometimes get into the wild, though I'd imagine your chances of getting hold of any significant quantity without knowing the right person are slim)

[JesseNight]

As someone very active with LEGO in the mid 80s, I can confirm colors being limited and shades not being a thing.

The colors of my collection at the time were limited to white, yellow, red, blue, light grey and black.
Light grey was more limited than other colors and mostly used in the Castles line, and Technic parts.

Few other colors we had for specific parts were green (baseplates, trees, flower stems), dark grey (train track sleeper plates, some regular plates). Not sure about brown but I think that didn't come before the late 80s for tree trunks, treasure chests, and some doors.

We didn't have Pick-A-Brick (or even internet) at the time, so buying extra parts was limited. There were boxes that just contained extra bricks in a color, or a collection of doors and windows. And there was Service Packs you could place an order for at the store that contained a specific part or few parts that came in a sealed bag. Think the first option was mostly if you needed common bricks, the latter mostly for specific stuff.

Edited October 25, 2024 by JesseNight

[Hrafn]

Brick 2x2 (part 3003) was first available in the old light gray color in 1984:

https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=3003&v=3&in=A&colorID=9
 

Now I am nostalgic for the set it came in (King’s Castle, one of the first sets I ever got as a kid.)

 

[idlemarvel]

Thanks for your comments @Murdoch17.

I get the point about Grey (and Dark Green) being possibly used for military vehicles but why just leave out the 2x2 brick? There are examples in other colours, e.g. 3895 Technic Brick 1 X 12 in Red (although that was in several sets in 1981). 

And @Alexandrina for your perspective on colours more generally. Regarding getting hold of 3003 in Grey (Light Gray in Bricklink), they are available cheaply in small quantities if I wanted to buy some.

Thanks @JesseNight for the "contemporary" perspective that's very helpful. I think Brown was available but only for some Minifigure Utensil like 3836 broom.

And @Hrafn for the history of the Grey 2 X 2 brick.

I guess the conclusion is "it is what it is" and I'll just go with the information gleaned from the inventories for the sets available at that time. Thank goodness for Bricklink and Rebrickable!

Thanks all again for your helpful comments.

[Hrafn]

@idlemarvel I think Lego just made part/color combinations when they needed to - and they must not have felt a need for a gray 2x2 until 1984. As @JesseNight said, gray was mostly used for Castle sets at first (starting in 1984) and Classic Space (starting in 1979, but requiring fewer basic bricks since the sets were mostly vehicles). So prior to 1984 there just wasn’t a need for a gray 2x2.

[JesseNight]

12 hours ago, idlemarvel said:

Thanks @JesseNight for the "contemporary" perspective that's very helpful. I think Brown was available but only for some Minifigure Utensil like 3836 broom.

Ah yes, I forgot the minifigure utensils! There were spears, halberds, lances, and bows & arrows in the Castle theme too in brown in the 80s.

And as Hrafn mentions, they probably fabricated bricks only when there was a need for it in a set. Castles mostly used 1 wide bricks and corners for walls and battlements. Technic used mostly 1 wide bricks  with holes to make frames. Space used limited regular bricks. And Town didn't use much grey at all, if any.