Proper Defender

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After mocking those who fail to embrace change and progress in yesterday’s post, today we’re failing to embrace change and progress…

The new Land Rover Defender, revealed inadvertently in LEGO form here at The Lego Car Blog earlier this year, looks tragically like yet another Discovery iteration. Not the Discovery is a bad car (apart from reliability maybe…), but Land Rover already make the Discovery, Discovery Sport, Ranger Rover Evoque, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Velar, which are all basically the same car. The last thing we needed was the Defender to become just another clone.

It’ll probably sell very well to begin with mind, as being the new Defender will be enough to make it cool, but we fear it won’t last long. We’d much rather have this; the original Defender, a vehicle that was in continuous production relatively unchanged for decades and that is now a surefire appreciating classic.

This beautiful Model Team recreation of the iconic Land Rover Defender in 110 Station Wagon form comes from BrickMonkey MOCs who has captured the real car brilliantly. A few choice mods including an external cage, winch, roof lights and luggage rack up the coolness even further and there’s more to see of Monkey’s wonderful creation at his Land Rover Defender Flickr album. Click the link above to rail against progress…

The Middle*

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The Chevrolet Corvette is due a bit of change in 2020. Now just about able to compete with European supercars thanks to someone showing Chevrolet something known as a ‘Corner’, the current Corvette is actually quite good. Not resting in their laurels, Chevrolet are about to knock it up a notch and move the engine to the middle of the car, making the C8 Corvette the first mid-engined GM product since the 1988 Pontiac Fiero.

This Lego version of the new Corvette comes from Flickr’s Lasse Deleuran who has built his recreation of the of C8 long before the real car has even been released, basing his model on the pre-production prototype shown at a media event this year. Whether buyers will like the new mid-engined layout or not will probably depend on whether they can embrace change, progress and handling balance, or whether they’re from Texas, but whichever camp you’re part of you can see more of Lasse’s excellent Miniland-scale C8 Corvette via the link above.

*Today’s ace title song.

Electric Dreams

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The electric transportation revolution is well underway, and is something we’re all for here at TLCB. Not that electric transport is new; it’s been around for as long as the car has and we were actually far better at it in the past (trolleybuses and trams are mostly gone now, but were commonplace in the 1920s to 1970s). This Polaris GEM EM-1400 is therefore not a revolutionary vehicle, like at all, but at least it’s another company realising that electric power is a decent option. This neat Technic version of the electric utility vehicle comes from previous bloggee damianple aka (damjan97PL) and features bluetooth remote control drive and steering via an SBrick and front and rear suspension. See more at both Brickshelf and Eurobricks via the links.

Piëch’s Peak

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Earlier this week one of the automotive industry’s greatest talents passed away. Ferdinand Piech, the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, ex-chairman of the Volkswagen Group, and the man behind some of the most iconic cars ever made, collapsed in a restaurant in Germany. He was 82.

Sometimes controversial, there was considerable hostility between Piech and Porsche – the company founded by his grandfather – during his tenure at the top of Volkswagen, eventually resulting in Piech buying Porsche to oust their chairman. The Volkswagen Group has since faced the biggest scandal in its history (dragging Porsche into it the mire too), yet has also become the world’s largest automotive manufacturer by volume, with much of that down to Piech’s reign at the top.

Piech’s legacy is as astonishing one, including diesel engines for Mercedes-Benz, the amazing Porsche 917, the Bugatti Veyron, and this, the original Audi ‘UR’ quattro – the car that, whilst not the first, popularised the advantages of all-wheel-drive beyond off-roaders.

This cartoon-like Technic recreation of the legendary Audi quattro Group B rally car comes from Teo Technic and features remote control drive and steering, independent suspension, working headlights and – of course – all-wheel-drive.

There’s more to see of Teo’s Audi quattro at both Flickr and the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the links to make the jump – and tip your hat to the man behind it and some of the other greatest cars in modern history.

Ferdinand Karl Piëch, 1937 – 2019

Bolt from the Blue

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Those of you with good memories will known that Simon Przepiorka‘s excellent slighlty-larger-than-Speed-Champions-scale Honda S2000 has appeared at The Lego Car Blog before. Back in March Simon’s model featured here sporting an Amuse bodykit, about which we wrote “Whether you like that addition or not will be a matter of taste (TLCB Elves and TLCB staff differ somewhat here…)”.

Simon has now updated his AP1 S2000 for those of us who aren’t TLCB Elves (or aged seven), by removing the aforementioned bodykit, lightly modifying the fenders, and fitting a great looking black hardtop.

As before Simon’s Honda includes opening doors and an opening hood, under which sits an easily removable F20C engine, famous for its bolt-activated high-lift cam system and 9000rpm redline. He’s also made instructions available should you wish to build your own version of his design and you can find the link to them, plus see all of the superb imagery, at Simon’s Flickr photostream. Click the link above to take a closer look.

Dumping Cat

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As has been documented here before, TLCB Team – as a rule – dislike cats. We appreciate that’s a controversial thing to say on the internet, which is very possibly ruled by cats, so prevalent is their content, but we’ve probably said worse.

We do like this cat though, Sariel’s huge Caterpillar 797F dump truck – which is currently filled with Elves riding it up and down the corridor here at TLCB Towers – and it’s packed with functions.

Firstly, that enormous bucket they’re piled into features a remotely operable dumping mechanism thanks to a Mindstorms EV3 IR sensor, which we’ll test out on our unsuspecting workers shortly. The choice of a Mindstorms control unit is an usual one, as they don’t often feature in models here at TLCB, but Sariel’s decision to use one is rather cunning…

The Mindstorms EV3 not only controls the tipping bucket, it also measures the suspension tilt and applies an automatic motorised correction to keep the Caterpillar level. Self-levelling suspension is a system relatively common on SUVs (as well as mining trucks), but it’s one that requires such ridiculous ingenuity in Lego form that we don’t even know how Sariel began. But then our cleverness peaked with the title on today’s other post, so it’s no surprise that this is way over our heads.

Sariel’s Caterpillar also features remote control drive and steering via LEGO’s Power Functions system, non-LEGO ‘Baja Claw’ RC tyres fitted to standard LEGO wheels, and a host of accurate details and decals to replicate the real 797F.

A complete gallery of imagery is available to view at Sariel’s Caterpillar 797F Flickr album by clicking here and you can join the discussion plus watch a video the the model in action (including a demonstration of the clever suspension) by visiting the Eurobricks forum here.

Harvard Reference

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Well we’re never going to write a title cleverer than that… On to the build. This is a North American T-6 ‘Harvard’ a World War 2 training aircraft, and sometime fighter, as built here beautifully by previous bloggee Henrik Jenson. Henrik’s Harvard is shown in Danish livery, one of the many airforces that operated the T-6 from the 1940s until the 1970s, including some that the U.S. has subsequently fought against. See more at Henrik’s album on Flickr via the link above.

How I Met Your Mother

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It’s the late 1970s. Your Dad is on vacation with his mates at the lake, and he’s just been rumbled watching the girl from the Winnebago in plot 44 getting changed. She knew exactly what she was doing though, starting the chain of events that led to a drunken night out, shotgun marriage, and you. Followed by years of regret, but hey, that’s not the Winnebago’s fault.

This brilliant ’72 Winnebago Brave D20 is just the thing for making mistakes at the lake and comes from JLiu15’s Lego Studio of Flickr. Featuring a detailed interior, opening doors, and no curtains at all there’s more to see at JLui’s Winnebago D20 photo album. Click the link above to join your Dad at the lake. Just don’t distract him or you might start Back to the Futuring…

Green Machine

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We like a good tractor here at The Lego Car Blog. After all, they’re responsible for the production of the tasty vegetables and even tastier meats that reside in TLCB Fridge. This excellent Technic tractor comes from previous bloggee Thirdwigg and it’s a John Deere 6130R, complete with a working piston engine, front and rear power take-offs, steering and drawbars. There’s more to see of Thirdwigg’s build on Flickr, Brickshelf, and at the Eurobricks discussion forum – head to the farm via the links above.

Timber Wolf

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This is a Timber Wolf. Nope, us neither, but it’s a very cool build and there’s more to see courtesy of Kale Frost on Flickr. Click the link to make the jump.

Looks Like a Fish, Moves Like a Fish, Steers Like a Cow*

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This magnificent Octan Space Racer – imagined for the iconic video game ‘Wipeout’ – comes from TLCB favourite David Roberts, who has very much taken the ‘more is more’ route with power, and the ‘it’ll be fine’ route with steering. Kinda like a Camaro.

To quote the builder “Built for speed, it was equipped with two massive engines from Whatt & Pritney. Much of the underside of its nose was given to heat exchanger pipes. This cooling array boosted the power of the engines considerably. If the designers had paid as much attention to the steering it might have been a successful racer.”

Yup, a Camaro then. See more at David’s photosteam via the link above.

*TLCB Points available if you know the link.

Head Scratcher

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We don’t know who Poe Dameron is, what a Head Starter is, or even where the head in this model by Flickr’s ianying616 has come from (is it LEGO?). However we do know it’s shiny, has a racing stripe, and an implausibly enormous engine, which means had we not have featured it the Elves would’ve started a riot. There’s more to see at ianying’s photostream via the link above where you can try to work it out.

Restoration Ralph

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Restoring a car is a tricky business, but it’s slightly easier on an old pick-up truck such as this Ford F100. Everything bolts on and off a frame, there are virtually no electrics, and about three spanner sizes will undo every bolt. Of course it’s easier still in LEGO form…

This neat F100 restoration scene comes from regular bloggee Ralph Savelsberg, who has depicted the classic pick-up in various stages of reassembly. A variety of tools are included too and there’s more to see of Ralph’s restoration on Flickr via the link above.

Beetle Drive

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The Elves, driven by hunger and a strict ‘find us a bloody car’ policy have started to return to TLCB Towers. They’ve come up trumps too as this most excellent Volkswagen Käfer (or Kaefer) Racer comes from Lino Martins and is his first car for almost two years. Pictured alongside the Hot Wheels toy it’s based on, Lino’s heavily modified Beetle features a removable body, a mid-mounted V8 engine, and official LEGO decals. See more on Flickr at the link.

Fictional Fighter

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From one strange vintage aircraft to another, only this one isn’t real. This oddly-shaped aircraft comes from the mind of Jon Hall, being constructed in his trademark ‘sky-fi’ style, and featuring some rather lovely detail and decal work. It’s called the ‘P-65 Tomahawk’ and it looks a bit like one of those terrifying crab thingies or the alien from Alien. Head to Jon’s photostream via the link above to check it out, whilst we enforce a strict ‘Bring Us Back a Bloody Car’ policy on our Elven workforce. We’ll see you in, er… a few days? A week? It depends on what you lot build…