835 Advanced Builders Set
General Information
The following information has been collected from original newspapers, catalogs, and magazines, some of which are freely available for reference below. The rest can be found in the site’s gallery. No aggregate catalogs (BrickLink, Brickset, etc.) were used.
Instructions: H-2226
Advertised Part Count(s): 335 pieces
First Year Confirmed Available: 1967 (USA)
Sears Exclusive, USA Only.
Most Likely Retirement Date: 1971 (USA)
All Sears exclusives available for the 1971 season would have retired in 1971 due to the loss of the LEGO license.
Last Year Seen Available: 1971
Aliases: Advanced Builders Set, 335-piece set, 49-4418, 49-16096
Note: "Advanced Builders Set" and its 835 number were later additions. The set never had either attribute upon release, instead simply being known as a 335-piece set.
Retail Price(s): $6.97 (USA)
Rarity Score (Index): 5/7
Known Box/Packing Variants
The set has two versions, both exclusive to Sears.
The set only sold in a plain box from 1967-1969 (marked with the Sears catalog number 49-4418), as seen below:
There are several variants of the plain outer sleeve, below is one from 1970 (known via the 1970+ catalog number, but not the updated 835 set number). This is a strange one as it is the only 1970+ Sears set I know of with a plain box featuring an updated catalog number:
And for the 1971 season, the 835 number was assigned and the set was given a colorful box version used for both catalog sales and in store stales (known via work we did in 244 Explorer Set):
I dated that box to 1971 via a few routes. One, the observation that the plain box for 1970 carries the 335 number when if the colorful box existed, it would have the updated 835 number instead, alongside the updated catalog number. 1970 is also definitively when Samsonite began releasing sets with the "Some parts...manufactured in Denmark" printed on the box. There is no surviving box that omits that text, thus the colorful box didn't exist before 1970.
All versions of the set reused the instructions from the very similar 1966 Sears exclusive 324 324-Piece Set:
The 335/835 should not be confused with the 326 Suburban Set, which was a different assortment entirely.
Box/Overview
The 335 is one of the more interesting Sears exclusives to me, mostly due to its odd history. It began in 1967, replacing the 324-Piece Set that was also exclusive to Sears and only sold in 1966. Then from 1967-69, the 835 sold under the 49-4418 number (though some boxes are just stamped with 4418).
In 1971, it was decidedly given a colorful box. Originally I was a little unsure, but the 1970 plain box variant seals the deal.
The set was also assigned a name (very similar to the existing "Master Builder Set") and a number. Samsonite usually assigned numbers based on piece count, but 335 was already taken (via the 335 Transport Truck from 1968-71). So 835 was the compromise:
Also note that all the models shown on the back of the colorful box were directly inherited from the 335's instructions, which were inherited from the 285. Here's the 835:
And the 285 for comparison:
Even though the 835 has a drawer, the 835's set box is tabbed:
And the sides:
This may or may not be true for all versions of the colorful box, but my copy's drawer reused the 001 Gears text and omitted the 001's number. It's unlikely any version of the 835 has its own tray with 335 or 835 printed as the set number:
Contents
It's relatively likely the assortment included with the set would've changed between examples and across 1967-71. Generally, the set should be able to construct the models shown on the instructions(as well as the house used as the set's cover image later on).
All sets should contain trees/bushes. Examples from 1970+ will have trees with feet and black tires. The below example is from 1971, as known by the 1972 "Make a Model" contest entry: