Sportvan Delux

1 Reply

The ’60s was an era full of wildly optimistic names. This is a 1965 Chevrolet Sportvan Delux, which Chevy’s marketing department must have spent literally minutes working on, before going outside to smoke a pack of cigarettes or three.

Still, it looks cool, particularly with a trio of surfboards on the roof. Flickr’s Tim Henderson is the builder and there’s more to see of his wonderfully built but stupidly named creation via the link above.

And surely no-one would be silly enough to give something a name as utterly pointless as ‘Sportvan’ these days…

Fuchs with a Magnum

1 Reply

This is a Fuchs MHL 320 material handler, essentially a full size arcade claw game. It comes from regular bloggee Damian Z. (aka Thietmaier), who has recreated it with absurd realism using all manner of interesting Lego pieces.

The Fuchs is pictured here alongside a Renault Magnum (named after a gun, or an ice cream, or a condom, we’re not sure) hook-lift container truck, which is just as life-like – we particularly like the splendidly battered and rusting scrap metal container it’s carrying.

Each model is beautifully built and presented, and there’s more to see of the Fuchs MHL 320 and the Renault Magnum hook-lift at their respective albums on Flickr. Click the links to take a look.

Cotton Communism

2 Replies

From one iconic classic to another, although this one perhaps for very different reasons…

The Trabant 601 was a reasonable little car when it first launched in the 1960s, despite the shortage of metal in post-war Europe forcing its construction from cotton, and its two-stroke 600cc engine.

The cotton body meant that it didn’t rust, which – combined with a near monopoly in East Germany and a production run until the collapse of the Soviet Union some thirty years later – led to well over two million Trabants being on the roads at one point.

That number quickly fell once East Germans could buy Volkswagens and Opels instead though, as even by the ’80s the 601 was hopelessly outdated, such is the folly of Communism.

Cue this excellent Model Team version of the Trabant 601, built by Flickr’s Legostalgie who has recreated the classic cotton car superbly in brick form. A detailed interior, engine bay, and opening doors, hood and trunk are included, and there’s more to see at Legostalgie’s ‘Trabant 601’ album by clicking here.

The Speediest Champion

5 Replies

Is there a car more perfect for LEGO’s new 8-wide Speed Champions range than the Ferrari F40? The most iconic Ferrari ever made has appeared in Creator form, but not yet as an 8-wide set. We’re sure it will at some point, and until then Jonathan Elliott has built one so wonderful we doubt it’ll be beaten. Head to Jonathan’s photostream via the link above to look at the best small-scale Ferrari F40 we’ve seen yet.

Ghost Pirate

1 Reply

Disney’s ‘Pirate’s of the Caribbean’ managed to successfully* combine both pirates and ghosts, which – to any 8 year old or TLCB Elf – made it the coolest thing ever.

Their piratical spectres were beaten by a few decades however, by the U.S. Navy, whose ‘VF-84 Jolly Rogers’ squadron operated Phantom II jets from the USS Roosevelt in the 1960s.

Featuring a variety of pointy weapons, superb building techniques, and a ‘skull and crossbones’ tail-fin motif (which – to any TLCB writer – makes it the coolest thing ever), previous bloggee [Maks] has captured America’s ’60s fighter in stunning detail, and there’s more to see of his airborne ghost pirate via the link above.

*Ok, maybe not by the third one. Which was (and still is) one of the worst sequels of all time.

Bug(gy) Squash

2 Replies

The Lego Car Blog Elves, as regular readers of this crumbling ruin of the internet will know, are not a peaceful bunch.

If they find a vehicle that is capable of running over their colleagues, they will do it. It’s as certain as Russian athletic doping, Fox News bias, or your Mom putting out.

And so, with absolute inevitability, this (rather excellent) RC buggy was today used to squash dozens of our smelly little workers.

They didn’t stand much of chance in today’s mass smushing event, as this model by A_C of Eurobricks is one of the fastest, nimblest, and most agile remote control creations that we’ve ever seen.

At less than 400 parts LEGO’s enormously powerful Buggy Motor has an easy time of it, and – when hooked up to a third party BuWizz bluetooth battery delivering up to eight times the power of LEGO’s own – you can see why even the fastest Elf couldn’t escape it.

All-wheel-suspension and Servo steering also feature, and there’s more to see of A_C’s brilliant ‘RC Buggy’ at the Eurobricks forum, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

Check it out via the link above, and watch it in action in an empty tennis court below!

YouTube Video

My Other Car’s Also a Giant Piece of Earth Moving Equipment

1 Reply

Not a particularly catchy title, but accurate, as this ace mining truck is indeed constructed only from the parts found within the LEGO Technic 42114 Volvo Hauler set.

Redeploying 42114’s ‘Powered-Up’ motors and Control+ bluetooth control, builder Eric Trax has built an excellent companion for the enormous LEGO Technic 42100 Liebherr R 9800 set, with remote control drive, steering, and tipping bucket, plus – ingenuously – a three-speed automatic gearbox.

Whilst the scale is much smaller than that of the donor vehicle – as evidenced by the ‘steps’ leading up the front which give a clue to how massive this would be in real life – Eric’s creation still requires a hefty 1,700 pieces (around 80% of 42114), and can tip an impressive 2kgs of load.

A complete gallery of images, including a few of the truck alongside the official Liebherr R 9800 excavator set, can be found on Flickr by clicking here, where you can also find a link to building instructions should you wish to turn your own 42114 Volvo Hauler set into this mining truck yourself.

Cleverly, Eric’s 42114 B-Model uses the same Control+ profile as the donor set, so if you do make the switch you can drive it straight away using your familiar Volvo controls. Take a look via the video below to see Eric’s alternative in action!

YouTube Video

My Other Car’s a Mustang

Leave a reply

The Ford Mustang and Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia are two iconic ’60s coupes. However, whilst one was (in its day) a powerful, large-engined muscle car for the masses, the other… wasn’t.

With the air-cooled engine from a Beetle, but a larger heavier body, the Karman-Ghia was quite fantastically slow. But it was also gorgeous.

So too is this marvellous Model Team version, which previous bloggee monstermatou has built only from the parts found within the official LEGO 10265 Ford Mustang set.

Opening doors, a detailed interior and a lifelike engine are all included, and there’s more to see at monster’s photostream via the link above, where a link to building instructions will also appear shortly.

Vintage Erection

Leave a reply

If the content of TLCB’s spam folder is to be believed, we’re in for a future of certain erectile disfunction. However, not all old things have trouble getting it up, as this unusual GAZ-AA ‘Tower Wagon’ by Kent Kashiwabara proves.

The GAZ-AA was effectively a Ford Model A constructed under license in Russia, long before the two countries hated one another and the Soviet Union began buying everything from Fiat.

This particular GAZ-AA is based on the Model-A pick-up, but features an extending platform tower mounted behind the cab that can whir skywards, in Kent’s model thanks to some cunningly concealed Power Functions motors.

Remote control drive and steering also feature and there’s more to see of Kent’s erection at his ‘GAZ’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to get it up.

Bean’s Nemesis

Leave a reply

Superman and Lex Luther. Batman and Joker. Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. Peter Griffin and the Giant Chicken. There are some very famous nemesis, but – in this writer’s opinion – none more so than Mr. Bean and the mystery driver a blue Reliant Regal van. We don’t know why the aforementioned anonymous van-driver enraged our hero so, but we’re willing to go with it for scenes like this one.

Recreating Bean’s arch-rival, along with his own Mini from probably the most famous Mr. Bean scene of them all, is Rob of Flickr – who has encapsulated both cars brilliantly in brick form. The Mini probably deserves to give a nod of thanks (or several) to designs by previous bloggees _Tyler and Lasse Deleuran, but it’s still worth your click. Take a look via the link above!

A Steaming Log

1 Reply

It’s the late 1920s and steam powered road vehicles are pretty much over and done. There are a still a few being built though, primarily for applications where their monstrous torque was required; usually for pulling things along, pulling things over, or pulling things that powered other things.

Cue the Foden D-Type, a steam-powered logging tractor that enabled us to write a poo-based title, which is pretty much the main reason it’s appearing here. We’re not a classy blog.

The model is though, coming from previous bloggee Nikolaus Lowe, and it featuring a variety of technical functions including steering, a working ‘steam’ piston engine, and chain drive to the rear differential.

A extensive gallery of excellent imagery is available and there’s more to see of Nikolaus’s huge steamer on Flickr – click the link above to lay a log.

The Best 5-wide 4x4xFar

3 Replies

This most excellent Land Rover Defender was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr today, and it might be the best 5-wide recreation of the iconic 4×4 that we’ve seen yet. Newcomer Jan Woznica is the builder and he’s equipped his model with a winch, roof cage, and snorkel for added off-road prowess. Check out the best 5-wide 4x4xFar via the link.

Back in the Dnepr

1 Reply

This wonderful creation is a KMZ-Dnepr K650, a Soviet Ukrainian motorcycle based on the 1930’s BMW R71. Whilst this version is 650cc, early bikes were fitted with a 98cc Wanderer engine design taken from Germany as part of reparations for World War 2, before KMZ’s own much larger 650cc was used for the rest of the design’s long production run.

Of course the BMW bit of the KMZ-Dnepr pre-dates war reparations, as the Soviet Union officially licensed the design from Germany before the two countries later went to war. In fact Germany and Russia held talks about becoming allies, with only Hitler’s ideological greed preventing Stalin from agreeing. Had they found common ground then this TLCB Writer would probably be typing this in German.

Fortunately Hitler and Stalin didn’t team up, and Germany invaded the Soviet Union just a year after the deal to license the BMW R71 was signed. This led – rather oddly – to the bike fighting on both sides of the conflict; the BMW version for the Axis Powers and the Soviet IMZ-Ural copy for Russia.

Production of the KMZ-Dnepr version shown here commenced in Ukraine in 1946, and continued right up to the fall of the Soviet Union, with both civilian and military versions produced. This beautifully presented replica of the KMZ-Dnepr K650 comes from KMbricklab, making their TLCB debut, and depicts the German-Russian-Ukrainian bike in both civilian and (awesome) military two-wheel-drive sidecar variants.

Gorgeous detailing and clever building techniques are evident in abundance and there’s lots more of KMbricklab’s superb build to see at their ‘KMZ-Dnepr K650’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to make the jump to Soviet-era Ukraine.

*Today’s lightly butchered title song.

Super Size Me

1 Reply

The Ford F150 is as American as a clown-based burger joint. However, unlike Ronald McDonald’s finest slices of cow*, it’s so enormous it isn’t available in TLCB’s home nation. It just wouldn’t fit.

Of course America can go one size larger than even the F150, or rather, a few hundred sizes…

This is the Ford F550, which by TLCB maths is 267% bigger than the already massive F150 pick-up. This is so it can tow boats, camper-trailers, and four-wheelers, although we suspect most F550s are used to drive to, well… a McDonalds, with absolutely nothing in the back beyond a ‘Keep America Great!’ bumper sticker.

The Technic recreation of the super-sized F150 you can see here is rather smaller than the real deal, but it’s still packed with functions. These include a working V8 engine, steering by both ‘Hand of God’ and the steering wheel, plus opening doors, hood and tailgate.

Flickr’s LoMaC is the builder, there are building instructions available, and lots more to see at LoMaC’s ‘Ford F550 Heavy Duty’ album. Click the link above to go super size.

*Even our regular Big Macs are much smaller than the American versions. That’s why fat kids buy two.

6-Wide Speed

Leave a reply

Building an instantly recognisable vehicle from Lego bricks isn’t always easy, and it becomes increasingly difficult the smaller the scale becomes. That’s why LEGO have recently upped the size of their Speed Champions sets, to better capture the real-world cars they aim to imitate (with varying degrees of success).

Cue previous bloggee RGB900, who has not only constructed this immediately identifiable Honda NSX, he’s even managed to do so in the ‘old’ 6-wide Speed Champions scale. A few of the building techniques probably wouldn’t pass LEGO’s requirements for an official set, but there are no sticker-based cheats here!

There’s more to see of RGB’s excellent NSX on Flickr, and you can do just that via the link above.