A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the most expensive LEGO sets of all time, and it was a super interesting topic to drill down into. Now, being the absolutely LEGO-pilled grown-up kid I am, I’m pivoting to being Gizmodo Australia’s chief LEGO correspondent (just joking). Today, looking over at my LEGO collection, which includes sets from the Star Wars, Overwatch, and Indiana Jones universes, I wonder – what was the first LEGO set?
Dive with me into the history of LEGO real quick as we answer this question.
What was the first LEGO set?
If you’re after the most direct answer, the first LEGO set named as such was the 1956 Garage With Automatic Door, which preceded several small city-themed sets, including a petrol station, church, fire station, a small store and a house, according to Brick Fact.
However, there’s more to this answer. In 1949, the LEGO Group released ‘Automatic Binding Bricks’. “Giving the toy an English name is a tribute to the Allied forces who liberate Europe and end World War II in 1945. At this point the bricks, as all of the company’s other toys, are sold exclusively in Denmark”, LEGO writes on its website.
The company was experimenting with injection-moulded plastics at the time across its product range for the first time around the release of the Automatic Binding Bricks, and today they’ve listed it as a collector’s item. What sets the Automatic Binding Bricks apart from the earlier mentioned city-themed sets were some subtle design parts, such as stud width and brick hollowness, but make no mistake – this was the first generation version of the toy we love today.
Now, it’s important to remember that LEGO started as a broad toy company that wasn’t simply focused on brick systems. It wasn’t until 1960 that LEGO stopped making wooden toys, and over the following years, non-block toys began to be phased out.
As the company began to restructure its focus around building blocks, the sets began to get more intricate. LEGO introduced its first wheels in 1962, the first LEGO train was introduced in 1965, and the first LEGO minifigures were introduced in 1978. The first licenced set came in 1957, and was a Volkswagen showroom. Arguably LEGO’s most successful licenced range, the first Star Wars sets were released in 1999.
So there you have it. The first LEGO set was the Automatic Binding Bricks set, an early version of the bricks that pioneered the interlocking brick system.
I freakin’ love LEGO, dude.