Another day, another Elf, another meal token issued. Today’s lucky recipient found this superb remote control Trophy Truck on Eurobricks. Underneath the Technic bodywork sits some wonderfully bouncy suspension attached to a faithful RWD set-up, and it’s powered by LEGO’s out-of-production buggy motors that give it a surprising turn of speed. gsia17 is the builder, and you can see all the photos plus a great video of the truck in action at the link.
Body by Plymouth. Soul By Satan. 1983 saw the film adaptation of the Stephen King novel Christine, starring a dilapidated 1958 Plymouth Fury with a Herbie-like personality instilled within it. Only this car was nothing like Herbie.
TLCB favourite Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist has added ‘Christine’ to his ever-growing garage of superb movie cars. All the photos of the build can be found on Flickr here, and we’re delighted to announce that Ralph has also been cornered by The Lego Car Blog Elves, becoming the penultimate builder in our Master MOCer Series.
Mr. Savelsberg’s interview in The Lego Car Blog’s Master MOCers Series, where he explains how he started building LEGO, what has influenced his style, and how he creates amazing models such as the Plymouth above is available now; simply click this link to read his story!
This neat looking ERF skip lorry, or ‘container truck’ if you’re from The LEGO Group, was discovered on Flickr. Built by Makorol it features full remote control drive and a host of other working functions. You can check out all the photos via Flickr here, watch Makorol explain all in his excellent video below, and you can read our review of LEGO’s own 42024 container tr… sorry skip lorry set by clicking here.
The Lego Car Blog Elves are riotously excited this afternoon, because today one of them found a car named after themselves! This 5-wide slice of classic British motoring cake is a Riley Elf, which was basically an Austin/Morris Mini with a slightly ugly boot stuck on the rear, some extra chrome on the outside and some extra leather on the inside.
Volkswagen might be grabbing automotive headlines with their fancy MQB platform shared across multiple brands but the British Motor Corporation did it 50 years earlier with efforts like this. And their thriving presence today proved it worked out great in the long run… Anyway, see more of this Elf by visiting Lego Guy’s photostream.
Flickr’s Kosmas Santosa returns to TLCB with this superb classic Ford Mustang. Any mini-figure should be delighted with this as its ride. Curiously though, the one in the picture isn’t. Anyway, we like it, and thus it’s featured here. See more at the link.
This time last year The Lego Car Blog was selected to join WordPress’s ‘WordAds’ programme. In short this means that we’re part of the corporate capitalist machine making money from the internet*.
The ads:
After one year of advertisements we thought it was only right to give you, our readers, the opportunity to feed back on whether these affect your user experience. Typically the advertisements on this site appear as a silent video underneath the first post, or as a bar on the bottom of each picture should you hover your mouse pointer over one. So far we’ve not seen anything unsavoury appear, although we have turned down offers from advertisers whose products haven’t fitted with our responsibility as a blogger of what is ultimately a children’s toy.
The revenue:
The revenue generated from the WordAds programme currently surpasses the costs of running this site (and TLCB executive washroom and sauna), although this is mostly because our labour is very cheap. This means that we are in a fortunate position of financial surplus, and we’d like to pass this on where we can.
Let’s do some good!
If you our readers are happy to see advertisements continuing to appear here on The Lego Car Blog we will continue to participate in the WordPress WordAds programme, and our aim is to donate the all of profits generated to suitable charitable causes (suggestions welcomed). This means that every time you visit us you’re doing a little bit of good in the world too! As always you can let us know what you think in the usual way, either by commenting on our posts or by visiting the Feedback Page.
Thank you for your continued readership and support,
TLCB Team
*To the countless bloggers who spam TLCB with promises that with your (chargeable) help we can ‘get rich’ by internet blogging, you can go suck on it.
Over to Eurobricks now, where Technic builder Madoca 1977 has published this very black 4×4 pick-up truck. Powered by LEGO’s XL motor plus a M motor for steering the truck features working lights, opening doors, a V4 piston engine and of course a monster all-wheel-drive chassis. See more and join the discussion by clicking the link above.
The Elves are very happy today. Firstly because someone left the office door unlocked yesterday and they got in and ate all the office’s glue sticks, and secondly because Alex Jones aka Orion Pax has returned with some absolutely killer Transformers creations.
We’ve broken our own rule a little with this post, as some of Alex’s latest works feature the odd non-LEGO (Kre-o) piece, but as they’re 95% LEGO and the Elves would likely revolt had we not posted these (they’re still Transformers mad) we’ll let it slide.
All Alex’s Transformers models are fully pose-able and are available to view on his Flickr photostream, where more will uploaded in the coming weeks. Check out these three and the others uploaded by clicking the link above.
…but very very cool. Red Spacecat is the builder of this magnificent VTOL gunship, and you can see more at his/her/its Flickr photostream here.
Twilight, the favourite fantasy of teenage girls everywhere, is not well understood in TLCB Towers. There are no cars (apart from the odd Volvo advertisement), little discernible acting talent present in the movies, and a there’s plot-hole* large enough to park a Steampunk Airship in. Which is handy, as that’s exactly what we’ve got here. Castor Troy’s ‘Vampire Hunter’ is full of phyiscs-bending whimsy and would be just the thing to liven up a dull love story between the undead and the world’s most boring teenager. You can see more of Mr. Troy’s magnificent ship on Flickr.
*Edward Cullen, whilst he likes to suck blood, possesses none himself. No blood means no… er, you know… Quite how he managed to conceive a child with Kirsten Stewart defies even TLCB’s rudimentary knowledge of sex-ed.
This is a Citroen DS Portuguese Taxi by Sergio Bati…. oh – er, it seems we’re not needed here. Here’s a link.
This extraordinary car is, apparently, a 1941 Graham-Paige. Some research by the TLCB office has deduced Graham-Paige were founded in 1927 by three brothers, and were one of the few ‘new’ car manufactures to survive after the Second World War, albeit only for a few short years. This particular model was called the ‘Hollywood’ (hence the title), and was based on the leftover bits from Cord, Hupmobile and other now long-defunct manufacturers.
Graham-Paige vehicle production ceased soon after the Hollywood’s launch and the Graham brothers transferred their attention to property – buying Madison Square Garden amongst other assets – whilst their cars slipped into obscurity, becoming just a footnote in American automotive history. Flickr’s Tim Inman however, hasn’t forgotten them, and has recreated their early ’40s Hollywood in wonderful detail. See all the photos of the 1941 Hollywood at his photostream by clicking here.
One of the most inappropriately named cars ever made, the Dodge Royal Monaco was humungous lumbering barge from America’s automotive dustbin. It’s safe to assume the Dodge was probably not endorsed by the monarch of the tiny French-Mediterranian principality from which it derived its name. Curiously though, in Lego form the Monaco looks brilliant. At least when someone as talented as Flickr’s Dohoon Kim is the builder. See more at the link.
The Elves have been thoroughly useless at finding anything remotely Easter-related this weekend. The best they could do was a camper from a year ago. However all is not lost, because it’s a little-known fact that the Easter Bunny, who’s death in the Galactic Asteroid Race Circuit we remember at this time of year, was a highly skilled space pilot. Sylon-tw pays his tributes to the fallen rabbit with this excellent GARC ship. See more and pay your respects too on Flickr via the link above, or you can check out an alternative Easter theory here.
It’s the long Easter weekend here at TLCB, when the roads are full of people getting away from the cities and into the countryside for some relaxation, extreme sport or… walking. Which counts as neither. Flickr’s colognebrick has built the perfect vehicle for a mini-figure get-away, and makes his TLCB debut with this lovely pick-up truck camper. See more on Flickr above.