In the forthcoming March wave of LEGO Speed Champions sets, there is only one that is not based on a prototype race car. That one is 76920 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, which along with the others will release on March 1st for US $26.99 | CAN $34.99 | UK £20.99. It depicts a production car that you can buy, although for considerably more money than this LEGO set. Are its 344 pieces worth taking for a test drive? Read on to find out!
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
The box and contents
The setting for this LEGO ‘stang on the box is a highway, with the car flanked by the Speed Champions logo and Ford’s blue oval. A photo of the real car sits next to the thumb-tab on the rear.
With 344 pieces, this is the most parts-intensive single car pack in this Speed Champions line, and they’re spread across four bags.
Thankfully, it’s also the least sticker-intensive – but we do have stickers nonetheless. Here they are alongside the instructions.
The build
Moving on to the build, we start with the cockpit in bag 1. There are some nice details in here, like the microphone in dark blue (a new re-colour) used as the gear shift lever. 1×1 ‘inkwell‘ pieces are used cleverly too, holding the centre screen and the headrests.
We finish up the cockpit, and move to the rear of the car, where things really shift up a gear. First, the exhaust pipes and rear fenders are attached to some Technic brackets – a neat solution in itself.
Then we build the rear lights, and I thought there had been a packing mistake: there are two of these printed 1×6 tiles in the bag! But they’re both used, with the prints lining up across both pieces at right angles. Another sub-assembly we just built goes into the lower clips, with the printed parts going upside-down into the upper ones. It lines up perfectly. This was mind-blowing to build!
Plenty of the excitement in this set comes from new parts as much as advanced construction methods. The 1x2x6 brackets were already used in bag 1, and on the rear wing we get some new tiles! Think the 1×2 wedge slope, but flatter. There are a pair in black, and we’ll encounter the dark bluish grey pair later on in the build, too.
Once we’ve assembled the rear roof with some welcome additions to the trans-black parts family, we move to the front of the car. Printed cheese slopes and 2×2 curved slopes provide some extra detail (the outer 1×2 wedge slopes are stickered, unfortunately).
The sequence that follows has parts on angled minifigure stands, in SNOT form, upside down, and on bar-on-clip connections to form the front end. The grille is particularly clever, using a stickered 1×3 tile flanked by 1×2 wedge slopes to replicate the aggressive look of the real thing. It’s incredibly rewarding to see it all come together!
The minifigure
If you’re going to buy a special edition car like this, chances are you’ve already got some branded merch to go with it. A Mustang Dark Horse hoodie is the attire of choice for our driver minifigure.
It’s got printing on the back, too. Accessories-wise, it’s nothing special: a plain black crash helmet, and the regulation wrench. Her hair piece is cool though.
The finished model
When it comes to cars, I’m normally more interested by motorsport than production vehicles, so I must admit I wasn’t expecting to care much for this Mustang. But I have to say I love the way it looks! A Dark Horse, indeed.
The LEGO designers have got the front end spot-on, which is so important to determining how a car looks. The back isn’t half bad either – I still can’t get over how that all came together. What stickers we have applied are unobtrusive, which results in a very smooth-looking model.
Conclusion and recommendation
We’ve said it a lot here on TBB, but if you want good bang for your buck in terms of creative building techniques, the Speed Champions sets are a solid bet. With 344 pieces for 27 dollars, this LEGO Mustang already represents great value in terms of price-per-piece. But it’s also phenomenally good fun to build! And it’s a good-looking model to boot. If you’re going to pick any of the new Speed Champions sets up, I can highly recommend this one!
76920 Ford Mustang Dark Horse consists of 344 pieces, and will retail for US $26.99 | CAN $34.99 | UK £20.99, with availability starting from the 1st of March.
Check out our full gallery of pics:
Yet another reviewer who has attached the rear spoiler incorrectly.
You mentioned black crash helmet, but it looks grey in the photo. Not a huge deal but which is it?
Sir VCW – oops, I missed that one! The helmet in this set is indeed grey, as per the pictures.