Whilst moving house, my parents reminded me I had a box of LEGO stashed away in their garage. They brought it with them to my 40th birthday celebrations – I didn’t know exactly what was in there prior to their arrival, but what a treat to find a number of sets still in their boxes! One of them was 8830 Rally 6-Wheeler, which seemed like a really nice build to do with my four year old son.
Released in 1990, it was gifted to me when I was nine. Now 31 years later, it’s in amazing condition with all parts still in the box.
I love the retro LEGO packaging that would let you see what’s inside without cutting the sealing tape. Check out the little guy on the inside of the box – how happy does he look with his 6-Wheeler?
What is a LEGO Rally 6-Wheeler anyway?
Good question, and not one I’m any closer to being able to answer despite having built the set. Clearly it’s not a rally car, and it’s not an off-road vehicle.
It’s a strange kind of mash-up of a moon buggy and a 6-wheeled construction vehicle, complete with a “Rally” badge on the front for good measure. It’s also rather strange that it’s yellow, perhaps it’d be less odd/questionable if it was white?
But does its confused persona really matter? Not one bit. It was a short and fun build, the boy got to learn about steering racks, and the result is a vehicle and Technic figure that he has been having a lot of fun with over the past few days.
For me, that’s what LEGO is about – despite many of us still being fans long into adulthood – LEGO is a toy, and toys are designed to being pleasure to the owner, in whatever shape or form that may be.
With builds like this it makes literally no difference that it’s some weird make-believe vehicle, and watching my son creating stories and driving it across the furniture is a joy to watch.
Technic Figures
The set comes with one of the awesome Technic figures (sadly discontinued around the year 2000). My son is pretty well trained at spotting what is/isn’t LEGO (we’ve sorted a lot of LEGO together!). Upon opening the box he says “THAT isn’t LEGO, why is that in there?”. After a short conversation about how he is in fact real LEGO, the little guy is now the subject of every current LEGO creation…
I’m not entirely sure why they were discontinued – perhaps something to do with Bionicle that appeared in 2001, or that having a figure forces an identical scale on every Technic model that has one? Either way, they were a nice addition and it was fun to build a set with one in 2021.
The Build
At only 166 pieces, it’s a nice little intro-to-Technic set that’s perfect to build with little ones with short attention spans. We managed to get enough of it built within about 15 minutes that he was able to see we were building a car, which provided enough impetus to keep pushing forward.
None of the part combinations were too difficult for a four year old to handle – the photos you see here are entirely his construction (albeit with my occasional guidance), which is nice to see from a Technic set. We’ve all had those builds where you hook together 300 cogs on axles only to find out the first one you put in is set too tightly, thus breaking the rest of the operation. None of that here!
Sadly my boxed copy of LEGO 8830 had no instructions, but we followed along with downloaded instructions on a tablet with no issues whatsoever.
Did LEGO ever update the 8830 Rally 6-Wheeler?
Many popular sets get updated every five years or so to take advantage of modern build techniques, new part releases, or simply just to counter-balance an out-of-control second hand market.
It won’t surprise you to learn that this set never saw an update. However, a very talented MOC maker has created a reduxed version and posted a video on Youtube. Definitely worth a watch!
Final Thoughts
There was something really special about building this set again in 2021.
I’m not sure whether it was the fact I’d completely forgotten about its existence and it all came flooding back once I saw the box (including Technic guy!), whether it was my first Technic set in 1990 as well as my son’s in 2021, or simply that it was a set from 1990 boxed and completely intact 31 years later. Perhaps a combination of all three?
It’s not the most technical build, nor did it take hours to complete, but it was really enjoyable. Just the right amount of fiddly bits to challenge a four year old, but not so many that he’d lose interest and wander off to do something else. Add a whole heap of nostalgia, and you can’t really go wrong.
Even better, 8830 Rally 6-Wheeler can (currently in 2021) be picked up pretty cheap second hand – less than £15 unboxed. Alternatively, if you so desire, none of the parts are particularly rare so you could build it from an existing collection without too much trouble.
Get your own copy of this set at Bricklink.
| Item | 8330 |
| Pieces | 166 |
| Minifigs | 0 (but one Technic figure) |
| Price | £15 (approx) |
| Buy From | Bricklink |
Do you enjoy building retro LEGO sets? Have you come across a set 30 years later that you forgot you owned? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Excellent review, thanks!