Evolution of the early LEGO® garage door

    Garage Door vs01 (Door and frame)
vs01 (red or off-white shades) introduced 1955
   
     

Frame with full wings for guillotine mounting in the slotted bricks. Rotation pins on frame. Top of the frame plain (no studs).

Door with large "LEGO" dogbone logo. Counterweights with characteristic shape. Four ejector pin markings on backside of door (of which the two lower ones are clearly visible in the red door depicted in the image above).

   

 

    Garage Door vs02 (Door like vs01; frame different)
vs01 (red or off-white shades) introduced 1955/56
   
     

Door same as vs01 above. Frame same as vs01 but wings are cut into two segments (door frame can no longer be mounted like a guillotine on previously assembled aisles). The image directly above compares the vs02 frame (on top) with the vs01 frame with full continuous wings.

The image below shows an early garage leaflet (1955/56). It is suggested that the side moulds of the door alternate 1X1 and 1X2 bricks, so that the walls are assembled with staggered rows. With full continuous wings, as in the vs01 frame, the side mould must be made from 1X2 bricks from top to bottom and the staggering of the rows mut start with the second bricks, resulting in a less-appealing aspect. This is the design mistake that has been corrected with vs02.

   

 

     
    Garage Door vs03 (Door and frame)
vs03 (red or white) introduced 1956/57
   
     

Door with smaller "LEGO" dogbone logo. Counterweights differently shaped, with mold numbers, now bearing the rotating pins.

Frame without wings and full studs on top. "LEGO" marked on studs with "old-fashioned" print, exactly like that of the window versions04.

   

 

   
   
TO BE COMPLETED
     
     
João Manuel Mimoso, Lisbon, Portugal; Feb 10, 2010
Index of pages on the early LEGO®