Set Review: 30735 Hot Rod Car
We remain in the area of small Technic sets: the set we are taking a look at today, 30735 Hot Rod Car, consists of 83 parts, supplied in a bag—and an evironmentally friendly paper one at that.
Hot rods have some lineage in the history of LEGO. Some will fondly remember a very playable Town set 6561 Hot Rod Club from the nineties, others the finely designed Model Team 10151 from the noughties. There was also a more recent and larger 42022 Hot Rod from 2014, with its no-nonsense V6 engine and a distinctive scheme featuring flames over the medium blue bodywork. These are all larger rods, but there was also a very small one: a Town 30354 Hot Rod with 34 parts, from 2017.
Unlike that one, the little hot rod on our desk today belongs to the realm of Technic and hence has no minifig to accompany it, but what we get instead is a mechanical functionality. Namely, a working V4 engine, built using the small pistons, and connected to the rear wheels through two bevel gears.
No need for a booklet: all the instructions fit on a single sheet of paper, neatly folded. Building is a straightforward task even for those with modest experience. Apart from a single gear, the entire model is symmetric, and part colours are easily distinguishable, so there is not much that can go wrong anyway.
It is interesting to see how the rear axle assembly is held in place with half-width beams in order to fit the bevel gear (6589) and allow enough room for the 2-stud wide wheels. The front ones are narrower which generally fits the hot rod aesthetic, especially together with the large engine grille. The main star of the show is, of course, the engine, though the roof with its red stripe is also a nice touch.
Should you be interested in constructing working engines, among its parts this set brings four small pistons (4369) and two crank discs (4368). Of interest are also two 2-stud long axles with frictionless pins (65249), and two new quadruple Technic connectors (6611) which are still somewhat rare.
One more curiosity: judging by its dimensions, this hot rod is built approximately scaled 1:45 or so, which means it fits—with a little imagination—the minifig scale. It cannot carry a minifig and its building style obviously differs from the system parts, but in a minifig scale setting, especially a garage, it would not look out of place. This kind of minifig semi-compatibility is something we rarely see in Technic, and while there aren't many who mix Town and Technic, those who do will appreciate the fact.
We thank the LEGO Group for giving us this hot rod for a review. And now, back to polishing that spectacular engine!
Number of parts: 83
Dimensions: 10 x 6 x 4 cm
Mech.features: Working V4 engine connected to rear wheels
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