Soporific Sedans

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Is there anything more automotively dreary than an American full-size sedan?

OK, American mid-size SUVs, which have almost completely replaced the sedan market, are the new pinnacle of blandness, but we’re not sure that even they can eclipse a grey Ford Crown Victoria.

This Lego version of the wheeled white space comes from Flickr’s Ralph Savelsberg, who somehow managed to complete it without falling asleep during construction.

Ralph’s Ford Crown Vic joins some other tediously drab sedans in the corner of his garage, and there’s more to see of it and them at his photostream via the link above, all of which are perfect for something that’s coming soon here at The Lego Car Blog…

Rolled Gold

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Let’s get the obvious bit out of the way. Those are not official LEGO wheels. But they are excellent. And the model riding atop them is even more so.

This spectacular Technic Lamborghini Countach LP500s is the work of Diego Auguanno, as presented by Polo-Freak of Brickshelf, and it’s about as accurate a Lego Lamborghini as we’ve ever seen.

Diego’s incredible creation utilises Technic panels, System bricks, and those custom golden wheels to beautifully replicate the real ’80s supercar, including a brick-built replica of the Countach’s V12 engine and its signature scissor doors.

Over thirty high quality images can be found at Polo’s ‘Lamborghini Countach LP500S’ Brickshelf album (plus you can buy building instructions at the designer Diego’s Facebook page) and you can take a look at all of this rolled gold via the links above.

Lego Land Cruiser

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With Toyota becoming the latest vehicle manufacturer to join LEGO’s growing list of partners, we’re hopeful that the legendary FJ40 Land Cruiser will one day be available in brick form. Until then Flickr’s PalBenglat has fulfilled the brief brilliantly with his lovely Town scale Fj40. Clever building techniques accurately step the width from four to six studs front to rear, there’s room for two mini-figures side-by-side, and LEGO’s classic Town truck wheels have probably never looked more at home. See more at the link above and cross your fingers LEGO have a Land Cruiser of their own in the works…

Green(s) Machine

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LEGO’s ever-expanding colour palette is certainly making the MOCing world a more interesting place. There’s now a huge variety of colours available, although – somewhat less positively – there’s also sometimes a variety of hues within a single colour…

1saac W.‘s ’32 Ford Coupe hot rod demonstrates this with a range of sand green shades, but despite the colour variation, it still looks ace. Let’s call it ‘patina’!

See more of 1saac’s variously-green hot rod at his photostream via the link above.

Surprise Squashing

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‘Huh…’ thought this TLCB Writer as he entered the office today. The cause of the casual surprise was a weird yellow vehicle, trundling up and down the corridor with a gaggle of happy Elves in the back.

Seasoned readers of this crumbing ruin in the corner of the internet will know such peaceful interaction between TLCB Elves is seldom seen. The Elf at the controls was smiling, the Elves in the back were smiling, and for a moment we thought that 2022 could be the dawning of a harmonious new era for our little workers.

Was it balls.

The Elf at the controls, knowing its find was too slow to mete out any smushings, had ingeniously offered its colleagues rides in the back. After a joyful excursion around the TLCB Towers the aforementioned little psychopath then deployed the model’s tipping bed, tumbling its Elven cargo onto the ground before immediately reversing over them.

To compound the smushing it then spun the vehicle on top of those trapped underneath via the skid steer system, smearing quite a few into rather artful arcs in the carpet.

Of course the controls were swiftly were taken away, a meal token and yellow Smartie begrudgingly awarded, and the victims either patched up on site or taken to the ‘Elf Hospital‘, depending upon their triage assessment.

We’re really not sure how we’re going to get all the Elf bits out of the office carpet, so whilst we figure that out you can check out Arie’s Morooka MST 2200VD tracked dumper with SBrick control, twin L Motor drive/skid-steer, and linear-actuator operated tipper at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe.

Perhaps we should install lino.

Mighty Mini

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This is the Mini JCW Dakar Buggy, and it has about as much in common with a Mini you can actually buy as a fish does with the international space station. But it is throughly awesome!

Powered by an I6 turbo-diesel, the RWD-only John Cooper Works buggy won the Dakar Rally in 2020 and 2021, and has been recreated in stunning detail by Flickr’s Martin Vala.

Removable bodywork, an internal space-frame, a complete brick-built drivetrain, and some superb photography and presentation make Martin’s build an excellent way to kick-off 2022.

Head to Martin’s ‘Mini JCW Buggy’ album via the link above for over forty stunning images.

They Murdered his Family… Now He’s Going to Run Them Ov… Oh.

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Mad Max’s post-apocalyptic future is set in… er, 1983. But what if it were set one-hundred years later? Sergio Batista re-imagines George Miller’s vision for a dystopian Australian outback a century after the film is set, and although the original movie tagline is somewhat problematic, Mad Max and hover cars do seem to work rather well! There’s more to see of Sergio’s ‘V8 Hover Interceptor’ (and a host of other hover vehicles) on Flickr via the link.

Something Boring is Coming…

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Huh? A building contest celebrating the unexceptional? A collaboration between one of the best Lego blogs around and, er… this smoking hole in the ground. Stay tuned for more imminent mundanity! Let’s start 2022 with a yawn.

The Year of the Tesla

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What’s the most annoying element of current car culture? Nope. It’s Tesla. More specifically, the fanatical members within it who worship at the Cult of Elon.

Don’t get us wrong, we love what Tesla have achieved. They’ve brought the widespread adoption of EVs forward by about a decade, created easily the most fun car features ever seen in the industry (whoopie cushion seats everyone!), and created the fastest accelerating road-legal vehicle on the planet. Which can seat five. And take their luggage.

But for every wondrous innovation Tesla have made, there’s a huge mound of dog crap countering it at the other end of the scales. Abysmal quality, the continuing ‘Autopilot’ lie, a wildly inflated unsustainable stock market value, and – most depressingly – the awful pay and conditions in which men, women and children work in Africa to mine the battery materials, so that a rich westerner can feel environmentally smug driving one mile to the store to buy organic kale, without a hint of irony.

The world’s richest man has had the issue of child labour, death and injury raised at Tesla board meetings (by Congolese nuns no less), where any changes proposed to better safeguard supply chain workers were rejected. Because he’s an absolute assclown.

As you can tell, we’re not members of Elon’s cult, but we do still appreciate his cars. When they’re not broken.

Cue 3D supercarBricks, who has recreated Europe’s best selling car in 2021, the Tesla Model 3. 3D’s model includes opening doors, tailgate and front trunk, beautifully accurate bodywork, and a life-like interior, with the realism further enhanced by custom replica wheels and LED tail light guides.

And the panel gaps are more consistent than the real thing too.

It’s a great build that’s definitely worth a closer look, and you can do just that at 3D’s photostream via the link in the text above, where an array of other excellent Lego cars can also be found.

Finally, if you’re a member of the Teslarati (or would like to raise awareness of the abuses occurring in their supply chain with those that are), take a look here and talk about it every time someone evangelises on Tesla’s behalf.

Last Christmas*

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*Post

Yup, this is indeed our last Christmas post for this holiday season. The office decorations that had escaped being eaten by TLCB Elves are down, the tree is chopped up in the garden recycling, and festive cheer is being replaced by January blues.

Flickr’s Jonathan Elliott is transporting his tree away in this, a rather lovely classic Ford F-250 pick-up, whilst fellow previous bloggee SP_LINEUP is taking his tree to the tip strapped to the roof of a his brown Porsche 911, decorations and all.

It’s OK, he’s a Porsche driver, and thus far too busy to remove them so will just buy some more next year.

Head to the garden waste container at the local recycling centre via the links above to chuck your tree onto the pile.

*Today’s title song. We almost made it.

2021 | Year in Review

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It’s 2022! Which would sound super futuristic if it weren’t for the fact that it already appears to be shaping up as a repeat of the last two years (and pre-1989 if you’re Russia…).

There is newness on the horizon though, as 2022 will bring us the most corrupt Football World Cup in history, a boycotted (kinda) Winter Olympics in China, the James Webb telescope will unfurl to look back in time, and will COVID finally be vanquished?

We’ve got some news too, but we’ll get to that in a bit. Before that, here’s a look at the year that was 2021!

Stats

2021 saw a little less than a million of you join us here at The Lego Car Blog. The U.S – despite our regular mockery of its former President, guns, and cars – was once more the most prolific country by views, with more of you joining us from America than the next five countries combined.

At the other end of the scale there are just four countries with a single visitor, all of which are the remotest of islands. If you are the one person from either the Cook Islands, St. Helena, Christmas Island, or the Cocos Islands, we’re delighted to have you with us!

Google was the top referrer, followed by Pinterest and Facebook, and our most viewed individual pages were the Review Library, The Rise and Fall of MOCpages, and the Directory.

447 posts were published during 2021 (receiving 281 comments and 1,115 likes), several new reviews were added to the Review Library (some of which were written by you), one further builder was inducted into the Master MOCers Hall of Fame, and we even helped to develop a brand new lighting kit suitable for vehicle creations.

We also celebrated our 10th Anniversary! By which we mean, we forgot. But we do have something planned in 2022!

Advertisements

2021 was our first full year of allowing proper advertising to appear. We hope they haven’t been too annoying, and even that a few have been interesting enough to click on.

Most are controlled by Google (what isn’t!), and display in the right sidebar, between posts, at the header and/or footer, and will sometimes appear full screen during page navigation. The revenue generated from these is given to those who need it more than we do, so your views and clicks really do make a difference.

What’s Coming Up?

2022 will see more of the best vehicle creations, occasional set reviews, Master MOCers and LEGO news published here at The Lego Car Blog and via our Facebook page.

You can also let us know your suggestions via the Contact and the Submission Suggestions pages. Take a look at our Submission Guidelines to know what we look for!

And finally, 2022 will bring the next building competition! Stay tuned for a hint which will be appearing right here very soon…

Thank you for joining us in 2021, and we wish you all a very happy New Year

TLCB Team

Find us on Flickr, Facebook, and check out the new LED Starter Kit for vehicle creations that Lightailing launched at our request by clicking here!

Handled Like It’s on Rails

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This post features something on rails, carrying something on rails, craning something on rails. Previous bloggee Pieter Post is the builder behind this railway-based Inception, with his 1930s diorama depicting a Henschel ‘Brauns’ narrow-gauge steam engine being lowered onto its new route by a fully motorised Ardelt 25-ton railway crane. Each is beautifully constructed and there’s more to see on Flickr via the links above.

Tofu Delivery

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Delivering tofu in a Japanese economy car doesn’t sound like the type of story to create an automotive legend, but then stranger things have happened. The Toyota Corolla AE86 Trueno did indeed become an automotive all-star thanks to a cartoon tofu delivery driver, and they’re now worth approximately a $billion.

This wonderfully accurate 8-wide Speed Champions version by Jerry Builds Bricks captures the famous two-tone Trueno superbly, and there’s more to see of his Initial D legend on Flickr. Click the link above to place your order. What even is tofu anyway?

Show Your Metal

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This astonishing creation is a the uncovered airframe of a First World War Sopwith Camel F.1 fighter, and it’s not quite, entirely, all LEGO.

But it is wonderful, and the use of supporting metal throughout not only replicates the structure of the real biplane, where wood and canvas were tensioned by wires, it proudly showcases the metalwork that is doing exactly the same job for the plastic bricks surrounding it.

Builder Crash Cramer details how and why the metalwork is used, including for the functional control surfaces which are steered via the cockpit, at his Flickr photostream, where a host of beautiful images are available to view.

Join us in taking a closer look via the link in the text above.

MAZing Through the Snow

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We may not be the most professional, well connected, articulate, or competent Lego blog, but we sure do have the most tenuous Christmas titles!

Continuing the Christmassy nonsense is this, Danifill’s marvellous MAZ 5316 4×4 truck, complete with BuWizz power, Servo steering, remotely locking pneumatically-controlled differentials, live-axle suspension, a tilting cab, and working LED head and tail lights.

Danifill has taken his MAZ into the snow to show what it can do, and you can read more about the model and watch a video of it in action at the Eurobricks forum here.