If you’ve been paying attention, #10265-1: Ford Mustang has been out in the US since 1 March 2019. I just got it and built it recently. I caught it on a double VIP point period so I paid the full $149.99 price, but got the added bonus of more VIP points. It has 1,471 pieces which works out to $0.102 per piece.

There are a lot of Blogs, YouTube channels, and other social media sites that race to be the first to review a set. Sites like the BrickBlogger claim to not be the first, but to be the most thorough. My goal is to do neither. I want to review sets where I have found a way to get them at a discount or to take advantage of some sort of deal like double VIP points or special edition free offers. That’s why this review is coming out over six months after the set was released in the US.

Onto the review…

The front of the box shows a picture of the car with its non-customized build. The set is listed for ages 16 and up and the Ford Mustang logo is there as well. The back shows the model with some of its customized options installed as well as some of the movable/removable parts.

The set contains 6 sets of parts bags. Some have 2 bags per number while some have one. There’s also an instruction book that is wrapped in plastic along with a sticker sheet. Thankfully, the stickers are mainly license plates. There are only 6 that go on the actual model.

Similar to #10266-1: NASA Apollo Lunar Lander, the instruction book contains information about the set. This one gives some background on the Ford Mustang (in English, French, and Spanish) and then gives facts throughout the build on the various pages. The picture below is one of the information pages at the beginning with a bright red Mustang pictured.

The first bag includes a piece separator as many of the larger sets do. The initial build is the main frame and base of the car. There are a good number of Technic pieces used to build the axles, steering, and the lift function that we will see later.

The second set of bags includes the start of the front fender/bumper, some of the engine, the steering column and wheel, some of the interior to include the gear shift, and the rear axle. Of note, the steering column actually turns the wheels, the wheels spin, the rear wheels can be raised or lowered, but the shifter does not actually change anything. It moves, but is not connected with the rest of the car like #42083-1: Bugatti Chiron.

The third set of bags includes the seats, some of the side paneling, part of the doors, and some of the structure that will support various parts of the car added later. Both seats are the same design and have good use of SNOT techniques.

The fourth set of bags adds the front and rear windshield, the frame to hold the roof and trunk, the side paneling in the back, and the rear bumper to include the brake lights and the Mustang logo. I added a few other pictures so you could get a look at the other sides of the car.

I’m a failure of a blogger or maybe I was just too into the build, but I skipped taking pictures after the fifth set of bags were added to the build. I’ll go with being too into the build. Sorry…

This section adds the front bumper, headlights, front grill, front side body, remainder of engine, and remainder of doors (top and mirrors).

The last set of bags adds the hood, roof, trunk, and wheels. I like the white stripes going across the vehicle. I think it is a nice touch versus just using one color for the whole vehicle. It also has the license plates and then the custom pieces.

This car has a number of movable parts to include the hood, both doors, the trunk, steering wheel and front wheels, and the roof can be removed. This adds to the play factor, gives you some more options for display, and adds a bit of realism to the model.

I have yet to decide which plates I would like to use. You get 5 options. In the picture below, I believe the ones on the top left are Australian. The bottom left are UK plates (fun fact, the one plate is yellow so they can better take a picture of your plate with speed cameras at night). The 2 sets of plates in the center are both from the US with the top being from Michigan and the bottom from California. The plates on the right appear to be from Germany (the one with the 2 round logos goes on the back… that’s your registration).

The inside has a steering wheel and 2 dials on the driver’s side. There’s a radio in the center along with the shifter. The passenger doesn’t get any fun details. Not pictured, but one of the stickers is a rear view mirror with a car in view. I think the car has the right amount of internal details without over doing it or making the model too large and the price too high.

The instruction book talks about how the Mustang was made to be customized. The instructions list six different ways to customize this set. The first is the adjustable rear suspension. I don’t have it pictured, but underneath the back of the car is a piece that you can spin to raise or lower the back of the car. Next is the “shorty exhaust headers” on either side of the car. I have the driver’s side set pictured below. The next two are the “supercharger with scoop intake” and “front splitter” that I have shown in the same picture. Finally, there is the “real spoiler” and then the “nitrous oxide tank” in the trunk. You can choose to put some, none, or all of these options into the model. The build is made in such a way that you aren’t prevented from doing any of them. There are minimal pieces to remove in order to add the customized options in. Between these features and the different license plates, this is a pretty cool option to have with the car.

Overall, I’m a fan of this set. If you have read some of my past reviews, I talk about the combination of System and Technic pieces in a build. I am personally not good at combining the two, but I enjoy building using both. Having the functionality offered by Technic and the detail that comes with System is awesome and this set gives you that. Unlike the Technic cars, this one is more detail than functionality, but I think LEGO achieved a good balance between detail and functionality in this set.

The price is on the borderline of being a bit high. The Creator Expert sets don’t often go on sale and usually they don’t until their end of life. Getting a discount now will most likely involve using VIP points or catching some other sale. If you find it cheaper or use some other method to get a discount, let me know in the comments below.

What are your thoughts on this set?

Happy building!