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Yesterday, I went to Target intending to pick up the new Y-wing Microfighter for the Captain Rex minifig, but in lieu of that coveted set was instead drawn to the surprisingly low $15 price tag of the new 2024 Flying Ford Anglia, from the Harry Potter line.

Compared to LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Harry Potter has never appealed to me that much. Perhaps it is because my main fascination with Star Wars is the vehicles, both fast-looking and swooshable ones as well as the clunky and utilitarian designs. Pretty much anything that looked designed to travel in a certain direction was an attractive toy to me when I was a child. Star Wars primarily consists of vehicles, with some location set pieces, while Harry Potter seemed to be the other way around: overwhelmingly buildings with only some vehicles. Even the Harry Potter sets I did want as a kid, I mostly only wanted for the minifigures. Aside from the Flying Ford Anglia and Knight Bus (and to a lesser degree, Durmstrang Ship and Hogwarts Express) sets, Harry Potter sets mostly flew under the radar for me.

This is the third Flying Ford Anglia (featured in the 2002 film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) released by LEGO. In both previous cases, the car itself (the only part that really appealed to me) was bundled together with a much less attractive set piece, Harry Potter's aunt and uncle's house in 2002 (4728 Escape from Privet Drive) and the the Hogwarts grounds in 2018 (75953 Hogwarts Whomping Willow). As cool as the car looked in both of those sets, the extra fluff attached to them meant that whatever money I had went to Star Wars starfighters instead. That changed with this year's 76424 Flying Ford Anglia. For the first time, this tiny blue car receives the attention it deserves.

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Starting with the instruction manual, I could not help but notice that, despite the model itself feeling adequately challenging for both children and adults (the package identifies its audience as 7+, which does in fact include 28-year-olds), the instruction manual added only a few pieces per step. For example, these two pages could easily have been condensed into one. Given LEGO's recent interest in sustainability, printing shorter instruction manuals seems like an intuitive way to do that.

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The model itself comes together in about 20 minutes. The model is quite beautiful to look at, closely resembling its movie counterpart. Though it looks similar to the 2018 Anglia, especially in the front, the 2024 appears to me to be slightly larger and more detailed, fitting for a standalone set. It will fit right in as part of any LEGO Harry Potter collection or pass nicely as a generic, albeit old-fashioned, car in a typical LEGO City display. Both front and back license plates list "7990 TD." A reference to the original 4728 LEGO Flying Ford Anglia would have been nice. 7990 as a LEGO set numbers refers, of all things, to a cement mixer set from 2007. If the number and "TD" have any meaning to Harry Potter, I do not know it.

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The model comfortably fits all its minifigs and accessories: Harry, Ron, Hedwig the owl, Scabbers the rat, and a single piece of luggage. The model contains three stickers: the two license plates and some detailing on the inner console. The doors each come printed with a white stripe, completing the white stripe created by the layer of white plates. The model employs some engaging SNOT building techniques to achieve the iconic American-inspired swoosh design of the 105E Deluxe (the type of Ford Anglia used in the movie).

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At the end of the building process, what remains is this handful of tiny parts (plus an extra wheel, but not tire, which I neglected to photograph). The choice to give Harry and Ron differently-colored wands is a nice movie-accurate touch, and means you also receive two extra wands to give to other minifigs.

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Some particularly interesting building techniques are used to give the model a central divider. It's impressive, despite how much work goes in to getting that tiny single-stud bar separating Ron and Harry, how mundane and seamless it looks in the finished product. I will also point out the steering wheel used in place of the usual steering wheel piece I have come to associate with LEGO City cars.

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The trunk, nicely unobstructive while closed, is surprisingly spacious, containing enough room for Harry's bag and, with some finagling, Scabbers. (Note: do not transport your pet rat in the trunk of your Ford Anglia in real life). Interestingly, while Scabbers does fit back there, he is not actually advertised as being stored there, or anywhere else in the car. Nor, unlike Hedwig, is he seen on the cover art, leading me to believe he may have been a last-minute addition to the set.

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The minifigures are excellent and adorable. Ron and Harry's frightened reverse faces are perfect for reenacting the Anglia's wild ride through the air to Hogwarts.

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The Flying Ford Anglia among a variety of other LEGO land vehicles, offering a bit of British sensibility to the unruly lot.

In my final analysis, this set is a fantastic buy, offering an enjoyable building process, two cute minifigures plus two animal figs, and a pleasing finished model that will appeal to Potterheads, classic car enthusiasts, and general LEGO buyers as well. It is all the more impressive that all this is available for only $15, a steal for a LEGO model offering so much in 2024.

I recommend this set. Let me know if you have also happened to pick it up and found it as excellent as I did.

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Off to Hogwarts!

"You are an absolute in these uncertain times. Your past is forgotten, and your
future is an empty book. You must find your own destiny, my brave adventurer.
"
-- Turaga Nokama

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