Going Vegan

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Today The Lego Car Blog is going vegan! Yes we’re swapping pork for tofu, thanks to TLCB Master MOCer Firas Abu-Jaber and this tremendous Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno, built only from the parts of the official LEGO 10295 Porsche 911 set.

Capturing the icon from ‘Initial D’ driven by tofu delivery driver Takumi Fujiwara, Firas’ 10295 alternate includes an opening hood, hatch and doors, working steering, pop-up headlights, plus a beautifully detailed engine and interior.

Firas has also added some custom replica ‘Initial D’ decals – the only part not coming from the donor Porsche, and so good is the result you’d be hard pushed to know it’s not meat. Er, we mean an alternate.

Superbly photographed and presented, there’s lots more of the model to see at Firas’ ‘Toyota AE86’ album on Flickr; take a look via the link above and perhaps swap pork for tofu yourself.

We’re off to go and eat some ribs.

Happy 250th USA!

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The United States of America is 250 years old! Which makes it not quite as old as this TLCB Writer’s church. Still, a quarter of a millennium is worth a party, and what better way to do that than by renaming an airport, starting a war with Iran, and putting a slightly crap fair on the National Mall. Or, alternatively, building a giant gatling-gun-armed mech with George Washington’s face on it! Flickr’s Julius von Brunk knows how to celebrate a semiquincentennial anniversary and you can join him on the Whitehouse Lawn via the link above! USA! USA!

Don’t Tell Ferrari’s Lawyers

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A pen has just been dropped by a grey-suited lawyer in Maranello. He looks up. He can sense something is wrong. Somewhere, someone has used the F-word without his permission.

Ferrari do not like it when their logo is applied to something they haven’t built (or even if it’s removed from something they have), so they’re really not going to like this Ferrari Dino 246 GTS by Flickr’s Nathanael Kuipers. Because underneath, this Ferrari is a Corvette.

Yes this Dino 246 GTS is constructed entirely from the pieces found within the Icons 10321 Chevrolet Corvette set, and includes opening doors, engine cover and front and rear trunks, a removable roof, and a detailed interior, with all of it rebuildable at home as Nathanael has published building instructions too.

There’s much more to see at Nathanael’s photostream and you can take a closer look – and maybe recreate it for yourself – via the link above, before Nathanael is handed a Cease & Desist notice by a disgruntled Italian lawyer.

More Garbage

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Various comments received here at TLCB have rightly accused us of posting garbage, and excitingly we’ve got more garbage to post today!

This is a Mack LR side-loading garbage truck, and it’s been built only from the parts of the LEGO Technic 42175 Volvo FMX & EC230 Electric Excavator set, so there’s some recycling going on as well.

There’s working steering, a 6-cylinder engine under the tilting cab, a tipping hopper, and an operational side-loading arm too.

Flickr’s Dyens Creations is the builder behind it, and you can put your bins out via the link above, plus you can click here for another 42175 alternate blogged here previously. Because we do post a lot of garbage.

Nazi Chase

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TLCB Elves are all happily watching ‘Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark’ today, thanks to previous bloggee _Tyler and this excellent recreation of the 1937 Mercedes-Benz 320 Staff Car that starred in the movie.

A recreation of a real 1937 Mercedes-Benz 320 itself, the movie car saw action in a chase involving a several vintage German vehicles, a gaggle of Nazis (we’re not sure their collective noun is), and a horse, with the car eventually coming off worse in an exchange with Dr. Jones’ stolen military truck.

There’s more to see of _Tyler’s creation on Flickr via the first link, plus you can watch the famous movie scene in which it starred via the second. Take a look and start humming the theme music…

Horse for a Cow

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We’re alternately off-roading at TLCB today, thanks to Master MOCer Thirdwigg and this neat Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer, an immensely capable military truck named after an Austrian cattle breed and built until the mid-‘00s.

Constructed from 755 parts of LEGO’s 42213 Technic Ford Bronco set, Thirdwigg’s recreation of the unusual Austrian off-road truck includes working suspension, steering, a mid-mounted piston engine, an opening hood, and – most importantly – a lunchbox.

Building instructions are available and you can click here to swap your American horse for an Austrian cow.

What One Match Ban?

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It’s the 2026 Football World Cup, and today we’re FIFA President Gianni Infantino and a phone call from President Trump, because much like Team USA in their Belgium knock-out game we’ve got a surprise American striker!

However it’s not Folarin Balogun after his mysterious Presidential one-match ban rescindment, but rather this excellent SSC Tuatara Striker from Eurobricks’ MAP Tec.

Featuring a working V8 engine and 8-speed gearbox, adjustable suspension, steering, a deployable spoiler, opening butterfly doors, and even a working handbrake, MAP Tec’s Technic Tuatara is as packed with functions as Infantino’s pockets are with dirty dollars.

You can support the model on LEGO Ideas and there’s lots more of MAP’s SSC Tuatara Striker to see at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link above to see your red card ban overturned and then lose to Belgium anyway.

LEGO Icons 11381 Jaguar E-Type | Set Preview

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Jaguar don’t actually make anything at the moment. Which means that if they and LEGO wish to continue their partnership they’ll need to look backwards. And look back they have, to – in the words of Enzo Ferrari – the most beautiful car ever made. This is the brand new LEGO Icons 11381 Jaguar E-Type!

Constructed from 1,673 pieces, including a new windscreen, wheel arches and wheels, 11381 attempts to recreate the E-Type Roadster’s spectacular curves in brick form and… well, it’s perhaps not the most beautiful LEGO set ever, despite the source material.

Like the previous 10262 Aston Martin DB5 set, 11381 proves that 1960s curves are tricky to create from bricks, but it is nevertheless instantly recognisable, and includes working steering, a folding roof, a detailed straight-6 engine under the forward hinged hood, opening doors, and an opening trunk complete with a toolbox (it is a classic Jaguar after all).

Aimed at ages 18+, the new LEGO Icons 11381 Jaguar E-Type is expected to cost $140 / £130 / €140, and you’ll be able to get your hands on it later this year.

Seeing Red

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It’s been some time since one of our Elves ran over its colleagues with a remote control creation. And that doesn’t change today, as despite being epically remote controlled, this magnificent Tatra trial truck is too slow to run down any Elves at all. Which enraged the Elf that found it. Still, a Red Smartie will perk it up, and we can take a look at this astonishing creation without having to clean the floors first.

It comes from TLCB Master MOCer Sariel, and it’s a Tatra 813 8×8 designed specifically for going very slowly over almost anything.

Eight-wheel-drive, four-wheel-steering, high/low gearbox, incredible suspension, and a working piston engine all feature, and you can see more of this mighty machine on Flickr and via the video below, where Sariel pulls some very heavy things (very slowly) across his floor.

YouTube Video

Insert Moderately Monied Male

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The early-‘00s Porsche 911 (997) is driven by exactly one sort of person. They may or may not wear sunglasses, a shirt or a blazer, be forty-six or sixty-four, but they will – without exception – be a Moderately Monied Male.

This means that none of TLCB Team have an early-‘00s Porsche 911 as we only fit half of the required characteristics, but if you’re more fiscally successful than we are you can get your hands on this one courtesy of Flickr’s ilyabuilder724, who has made building instructions for his excellent Speed Champions Porsche 911 Carrera S available. Take a look via the link!

M is for MAN

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Lots of companies are called Muller in Europe, but seeing as we only know what one of them does, we’re going to assume this lovely MAN TGX truck and trailer combo by Flickr’s Keko007 is full of those divided yoghurts that contain a compartment of fruit or chocolatey balls. Superb brickmanship abounds, particularly evident in the excellent Muller ‘M’ logo, and you can tip the little balls into the yoghurt via the link above.

Nyckelback

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Built for Sweden by the Dutch in 1627, the Kalmar Nyckel was a full-rigged warship that also served to transport Finnish and Swedish immigrants to America, making eight such transatlantic crossings. After being decommissioned by the Swedish Navy it returned to its makers, serving as a Dutch escort ship before eventually being sunk in the Anglo-Dutch War in 1652.

However the story of the tall ship didn’t end there, as in the ‘00s a painstakingly reconstructed replica brought the Kalmar Nyckel back to life, and it now serves to educate visitors about the journeys the early American settlers made from the European continent.

The replica we have here is rather smaller, but still wonderful to behold. Constructed by Flickr’s Kevin J. Walter, it captures the Kalmar Nyckel beautifully in miniature, and you can set sail from Sweden to America some 400 years ago via the link above.

Stranger Blazer

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Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ may have concluded, but its vehicular legacy continues, with the cars, trucks and vans from the show still inspiring builders.

One such builder is Eurobricks’ paave, who has recreated Hawkins’ police chief Jim Hopper’s 1985 Chevrolet Blazer, complete with a working V8, high/low gearbox, steering, and suspension.

Building instructions are available and there’s more to see at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link above to visit Hawkins one more time.

Pane in the Glass

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The Isuzu NPR is the plastic stackable chair of vehicles; entirely overlooked, and yet utterly indispensable. The most interesting thing about an NPR is not the truck itself, but what it’s carrying. And that’s the whole point.

Cue thirdwigg’s Isuzu NPR glass truck, notable in real life only because it carries glass. Working steering, an inline-4 engine, and a tilting cab feature, with more to see – including a link to building instructions – via the link.

Cor-Off-Roada

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As the world’s best selling car, the Toyota Corolla has been many things, but not often a 4×4 desert racer. Cue Randy Wilmenta, who has built his 1989 Corolla GT-S into an awesome all-wheel-drive off-roader, which Eurobricks’ 2GodBDGlory has faithfully recreated in Technic form.

With working all-wheel drive courtesy of two Power Functions L Motors (hooked up to both a transverse inline-4 piston engine and a remotely-operable 6+R gearbox), remote control steering, an electronic hand-brake, motorised clutch, pop-up headlights and differential lock, plus suspension, and opening doors, hood and trunk, 2God’s recreation of the unique Toyota packs in as much as its real-world counterpart.

3D-printed wheels and an excellent classic Toyota livery complete a superb build, and you can find out more about the model and the real off-road Corolla it replicates via the Eurobricks forum. Take a look via the link, where you can also watch a video of 2God’s brilliant build in action.