Dip it Low*

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Suggested to us by a reader on our Facebook page, newcomer Drop Shop today makes their TLCB debut with two spectacular Model Team low riders. Both the 1980s Chevrolet Monte Carlo ‘Mad Monte’ above and ’66 Cadillac ‘Sinister Series’ below are immaculately constructed, and each has been dropped to a pavement-scraping height that looks simultaneously gloriously impractical and magnificently evil.

With all-black bodywork and custom chrome the models must have been a nightmare to photograph, but Drop Shop shows how it should be done with excellent presentation utilising great lighting and a clean monotone background (see how you can do this for yourself by clicking here), showcasing the creations superbly.

Drop Shop has uploaded a few other builds alongside the Mad Monte and Sinister Caddy which continue the low theme, including a beautiful dropped ’63 Cadillac Fleetwood Convertible and a slammed Ferrari 288 GTO (which is sacrilege, but undeniably well-made!).

Click the links above to see more of the two models featured in this post, here to see Drop Shop’s complete photostream, and we’re pretty sure that Drop Shop’s future creations will be be making appearances here at The Lego Car Blog.

*A personal thanks to Drop Shop for reminding us that the video to today’s title song exists.

UniBatty

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Is it just us, or is a bright pink Batmobile infinitely scarier than a black one?

It’ll be driven by the type of girl who’ll scream ‘This song is about meeee!’ at least twice a night, have an exhaustive Facebook album entitled ‘Randoms’, put a ‘Powered by Fairydust’ sticker on the trunk of their car, and claim you’re the crazy one for not wanting to come over for her cat’s birthday, before crying uncontrollably about how you don’t care enough… OK, that may have got a little personal, but you know what we mean. Pink cars are terrifying.

That hasn’t stopped The Brothers Brick’s own Chris Doyle from, er… ‘enhancing’ the official 76139 DC Comics 1989 Batmobile set though, with a new pink paint job, smiling star wheels, Unikitty at the controls, and very probably a ‘Powered by Fairydust’ sticker on the back.

Chris hasn’t stopped there either, uploading an album sixty photos strong (just like Karen’s ‘Randoms’ album… sorry, that got personal again), with Unikitty-ed versions of several of the Dark Knight’s rides. He’s gonna be pissed.

Click this link to take a look, where we definitely won’t be joining you for fear of getting sucked into another one of Karen’s ‘Sex and the City’ marathons…

Rapid Bus

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The Speed Champions line-up may be filled with fast and exotic vehicles, but none of them can carry twenty-five mini-figures at once. The Eleventh Bricks‘ ‘Rapid Bus KL’ can though, being a neat Speed Champions scale replica of one of Kuala Lumpur’s city buses. Accurate decals and LED lighting adds to the already impressive realism and you can hop on board yourself via the link above.

ZondaRRRR

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The Pagani that sounds like it was named by pirates, the Zonda R was the Zonda’s finale; a track-only, fifteen-run special edition that was effectively a test-bed for what would become the Hyaura. You’re unlikely ever to even see an R, let alone drive one, so 3D supercarBricks has the next best thing in thus stunning brick-built replica. Now updated with a blog-worthy image there’s more to see at 3D’s ‘Pagani’ album on Flickr – take a look via the link above.

Cockster

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We don’t particularly like the Porsche Boxter here at The Lego Car Blog, as they tend to be driven by… well, the title is a clue. Still, it’s a superb drivers car even if the drivers are knobs and one that deserves recognition, which TLCB regular SP_LINEUP (previously known as Simon Przepiorka) has given in Lego form through his excellent 1:24 version. The model includes opening doors, hood, trunk, plus a removable roof, and you can see more at the link.

My Other Piece of Construction Equipment is a Liebherr Excavator

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A slightly convoluted title there, but it’s due to the fact that this brilliant looking Bobcat skid-steer loader is a B-Model built entirely from the parts found within the enormous 42100 Technic Liebherr R 9800 Excavator set.

Built by previous bloggee Erik Trax, this remote control loader uses around two thirds of the pieces from the set including four Power Functions motors, which drive the tracks, bucket tilt, and arm lifting.

The arm lift is properly clever too, using a cunning double pivot to ensure the bucket raises through a vertical lift path. The Elf at the controls probably didn’t understand how this works, but nevertheless found it a very useful feature after driving a couple of its unfortunate colleagues towards the manky mop bucket in the corner of the corridor (used regularly in the clean-up of Elven bodily fluids).

With the vertical lift path ensuring none of its Elven cargo toppled out before it was ready, the Elf at the controls tilted the loader’s bucket over the damp receptacle below, whereupon its brethren thudded into it forlornly.

Pleased with its antics, the Elf then abandoned its find before its colleagues could climb out of the manky mop bucket and exact revenge, giving us a chance to explore Erik’s brilliantly engineered loader for ourselves.

Whilst we do that you can see more of Erik’s remote control skid-steer loader at his Flickr photostream and at the Eurobricks discussion forum, where a video of the Bobcat in action can also be found alongside a link to building instructions.

Click the links above to take a look whilst we see how easy it is to drop some Elves in the manky mop bucket…

Banana Split

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It’s not just the new 10271 Fiat 500 set that looks great in primrose yellow. Previous bloggee 1saac W. has deployed it over white to build this beautiful ’32 Ford hot rod entitled ‘Banana Split’. There’s more to see at his photostream and you can take a bite via the link above.

Orange Crush*

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Another day and another Elf returns to TLCB Towers in hope of receiving a meal token and a Smartie. The aforementioned Elf his happily eating both at the moment, thanks to Oliver 79 and his neat Technic monster truck. Featuring four-wheel steering, working suspension, plus opening doors and hood it could be an official LEGO set. It’s all mechanical too, so there can be no Elven shenanigans. See more of his classic Ford-esque pick-up at the Eurobricks forum via the link above.

*Today’s title song.

Bugatti in Bricks

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Bugatti haven’t always made Veyrons and Chiron’s under the directorship of the Volkswagen Empire. We’ve written about their historic limousines and racing cars here, but there was a weird period in the middle where they were owned by an Italian entrepreneur and they made this; the V12 quad-turbo-charged EB110. Launched in the early ’90s just 139 EB110s were produced before the company folded in 1995. Micheal Schumacher bought one.

Not enough super-wealthy individuals did though, leading to the Bugatti factory being bought by a furniture maker and their sister brand Lotus being sold to Proton. Still it all worked out in the end as Volkswagen purchased the defunct brand in 1998, used it to set about making the world’s fastest production car, and the rest is history.

Fabrice Larcheveque remembers the weird period though, building this fabulous Speed Champions interpretation of Bugatti’s early ’90s oddity. He’s captured the unique-looking supercar superbly too, and you can see more of his 8-wide EB110 at his Flickr album by clicking here.

Galactic Piratic

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Uh oh! Space Pirates! You know, pirates… but in space! Flickr’s captainsmog owns the mind that has magnificently merged two of LEGO’s most beloved themes and you can see more of his piratical antics via the link above.

Dark Secret

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This is the Sukhoi S-37 ‘Berkut’, a Russian air-superiority fighter that never was. First flying in the early 2000s just one ‘Berkut’ was built. Until Ralph Savelsberg decided to tackle it of course.

This is his astonishingly well-replicated Lego version, complete with an opening cockpit, swept-forward wings, working landing gear, and an opening bomb-bay. It’s also black, and black planes are always cool.

Head to Ralph’s Sukhoi S-37 ‘Berkut’ album on Flickr by clicking here to see more stunning images.

Most Wanted

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The ‘Need for Speed’ franchise is to video games what ‘The Fast and the Furious’ franchise is to movies. Appalling physics, only the loosest of connections to racing or engineering accuracy, and yet… a right of motoring passage for probably most of you reading this.

The ‘Most Wanted’ episode in the ‘Need for Speed’ series arrived in 2005, pitting gamers against AI cops and featuring a heavily modified BMW M3 GTR E46 going sideways on the cover. This BMW M3 GTR in fact.

Suggested by a reader, this top quality recreation of the ‘Most Wanted’ cover star comes from previous bloggee Davanchi M who proves there’s still life in MOCpages once every so often. If Sean Kenney has decided to switch the servers on.

Head there via the link above and evade the cops like it’s 2005!

Life-Size LEGO Fiat 500

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LEGO’s new 10271 Creator Expert Fiat 500 set has got us very excited. The press seems to like to too, with many inevitable jokes about how the real Fiat 500 is basically a model car anyway. Well LEGO have risen to that challenge! Built from 189,000 pieces (around 188,000 more than the set), LEGO’s expert model makers have constructed an exact 1:1 life-size scale replica of the iconic Italian classic.

Apart from the steering wheel – which is a real item from a 1960s 500 – everything is built from LEGO bricks, including the tyres, seats, and luggage rack (with luggage). A motor show-style cut out on the passenger side facilities entry, which the public will be able to do as this life-sized LEGO Fiat is due to go on tour to launch the new 10271 set.

YouTube Video

You can see how LEGO constructed the 1:1 Fiat 500 via the video above, you can check out our preview of the new 10271 Creator Expert Fiat 500 set by clicking here, and you see a fan-built 500 that arguably got there first by clicking this link.

The Other Prius

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The Prius isn’t the only compact hybrid car from the early 2010s. Based on the same underpinnings, sister firm Lexus released the CT200h back in 2011, a luxury take on the fuel-efficient self-charging hybrid formula. If ‘luxury’ just means having a slightly nicer interior.

The CT200h was memorable only for using Kylie Minogue to promote it, but it worked for previous bloggee Lasse Deleuran who owns a CT in real life and has chosen to recreate it in Miniland scale complete with his roof box and bike rack.

The little Lexus might be a bland box, but don’t underestimate the complexity of replicating it successfully in Lego form. Lasse’s recreation of his own CT200h is almost unfathomably complicated, capturing the car’s shape to near perfection through a multitude of clever building techniques. Our heads hurt just looking at that front fender.

Everything opens too, revealing that slightly nicer interior and even more monumentally complicated brickwork, from the stepped roof to the ingenious tilt applied to the side windows to ensure the model’s proportions accurately reflect those of the real car.

It’s one of the most thoroughly engineered and brilliantly realistic replicas that we’ve ever featured and there’s more of Lasse’s masterpiece to see at his photostream. Click the link above to join us gazing in awe at a Lexus CT200h, which is a sentence that no-one has ever said before.

Not a Car

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This is not a car. But nor is it a lunar rover. We think. We’re not quite sure when a rover isn’t a rover, but we suspect this isn’t. Maybe. What it is, accordingly to builder Brick Ninja, is a ‘Doves of War’ artillery truck, complete with a ‘Big Peaceful Gun’. Which sounds a lot like it’s been named by the NRA’s marketing department. Unlike the NRA though, it is awesome, with some spectacular building techniques used almost everywhere you look. Join the fight for peace at Brick Ninja’s ‘Artillery Truck’ album by clicking here.