It’s a hot rod sort of day here at The Lego Car Blog. The day’s second hot rod comes from previous bloggee ianying616, and whilst it may look like it’s based more upon a tractor than a vintage car, the result is rather cool. There’s a load more images to see at ianying’s photostream – click the link above to take a look.
If ever there was a car styled by a TLCB Elf, this is it. Flickr’s Mark of Falworth clearly has Elf blood running through him which – whilst undoubtedly concerning for Mark’s friends and family – does mean his mind is capable of some gloriously outlandish oddities. There’s more to see of this one at his photostream via the link above.
The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia may have just been a Beetle in a pretty dress, but what a dress! Penned by Italian design-house Ghia the car debuted in 1953 before going into production with German coach builders Karmann in ’55. A twenty year manufacturing run produced almost half-a-million Karmann Ghias, plus a few ultra-rare (and ultra-expensive) Type 34s.
Sadly only Volkswagen seemed to profit from such success, as whist the Karmann Ghia was replaced by the very different – but equally iconic – Scirocco in 1974, Karmann filed for bankruptcy in 2009 whilst Ghia were purchased by Ford and ended up no more than a trim grade on Fiestas and Mondeos.
We’ll remember their glory days, thanks to this brilliant 1960s Volkswagen Karmann Ghia from previous bloggee Henrik Jensen. With working steering, a fully detailed interior and engine, and wonderfully accurate bodywork, Henrik’s model is a fitting tribute to one of the world’s most beautiful cars. We think it’d make a rather lovely official set too, seeing as LEGO have already produced the Volkswagen Beetle and Camper as part of their Creator line-up.
There’s lots more to see of Henrik’s gorgeous Karmann Ghia at both Flickr and MOCpages – click on the links to see the full build details and all of the images.
[Elven screaming]… [Thump!]… [Elven screaming]… Sigh. It’d been a while since that last serious incident of Elf-on-Elf vehicular violence, but today normal service was resumed thanks to this remote control ‘Dirt 2’-inspired Class 1 off-road buggy by newcomer Teo.
Powered by twin LEGO Buggy Motors and with mega-travel suspension all round Teo’s buggy made easy pickings of the Elves unfortunate enough to be caught the corridors of TLCB Towers.
We now have some tidying up to do as we try to remember which combination of cleaning products most effectively removes Elf blood from carpet, so whilst we get on with that you can see more of Teo’s Class 1 buggy from the video game Dirt 2 at either Flickr or via the Eurobricks forum, plus you watch the model in action courtesy of the video below.
YouTube Video:
The Lego Car Blog Elves don’t normally like run-of-the-mill workhorse-type vehicles, preferring cars with superchargers, stripes, or rocket-launchers. And if possible all three. We, however, do like run-of-the-mill workhorse-type vehicles, as without these the fun stuff wouldn’t exist at all.
The humble Iveco Daily tipper truck encapsulates this mantra beautifully, being neither fast nor desirable, instead being utterly disposable once it can take no more building-site abuse.
This excellent (and very orange – which has cheered the Elves up marginally) Technic Iveco Daily comes from mpj of Brickshelf, and just like its real-life counterpart it eschews glamour in favour of robust functionality. Working steering and a linear-actuator activated tipping bed are the functions, both of which are powered by hand. As they should be too.
There’s more to see of mpj‘s Iveco Daily tipper on Brickshelf – click the links in the text to make the jump to the full gallery.
Your Dad’s browsing history contains this post’s title, but for very different reasons. Anyhoo, these two lovely classic muscle cars by previous bloggee Jonathan Elliott were discovered on Flickr today and they’re a superb accompaniment to LEGO’s own Speed Champions sets. Jonathan’s grey 1960s Ford Mustang Fastback and red Chevrolet Corvette capture the iconic shapes of their real-world counterparts beautifully, both being instantly recognisable even at this small scale. There’s more to see of each classic muscle car at Jonathan’s photostream – click the link above to take a look.
Jaguar’s iconic E-Type was described by Enzo Ferrari as the most beautiful car in the world. We’d have to agree (in its early form at least), but that sure does make it a tricky thing to build from rectangular plastic bricks.
Flickr’s Lennart C has given it a go though, and he’s made as good a job of the classic Jaguar’s incredible curves as we’ve seen at this scale. Lennart has deployed some magnificently complicated techniques to create his E-Type Coupe, with the roof in particular boggling our minds here at The Lego Car Blog. It’s a great build underneath too, with the front clamshell opening to reveal a superbly replicated Jaguar straight-6 engine.
There’s more of Lennart’s excellent E-Type to see at his photostream – make the jump to Flickr via the link above to view all the photos.
The Lamborghini Diablo. The last mad Lambo before the Volkswagen Group acquired the brand and started building cars that, you know, actually worked. The Diablo wasn’t a particularly good car, but it will probably always be remembered as one of brand’s greats.
Launched in 1990 the Diablo (so called everywhere bar Mexico, where they took exception to the name) was powered by Lamborghini’s existing 5.7 litre 48 valve V12 engine which produced a little under 500bhp, making the Diablo the first Lamborghini to crack 200mph.
Over the Diablo’s eleven year production run numerous special editions, updates and drive-train options were released, before the car was finally replaced by the Audi-engineered Murcielago in 2001 – a much better car, but sadly a lot less mad too.
Today we’re remembering the last ‘proper’ (by which we man ‘not actually that good’) Lamborghini thanks to Daniel H, who has recreated the Diablo rather wonderfully in Model Team form. Opening doors, hood and engine cover all feature, and the underside and engine are each as well detailed as the bodywork and interior.
There’s lots more to see of Daniel’s Diablo at both MOCpages and Flickr, where you can also find a link to the creation on the LEGO Ideas platform. Take a look via the links above.
Third-party bluetooth control wizards BuWizz have powered numerous creations that have appeared here at The Lego Car Blog over the past few years. With up to eight times the power of LEGO’s own Power Functions battery and IR Receiver set-up, BuWizz-powered creations are capable of very un-LEGO-like speeds.
The BuWizz team would like to see just how fast your creation can go and as such they’re running a competition this month to find the fastest Lego cars on the internet. There’s a twist too, which can you discover in the link and/or video below…
If you’d like to enter your own remote control Lego creation you can do so via the BuWizz website, and there are some fantastic prizes on offer for the winners! First place will receive the new LEGO Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron set revealed here previously, whilst second and third places will get their hands on some awesome BuWizz goodies (so you can make your fast car even faster!).
To read the competition rules and to enter your own fast car click the link below!
This utterly wonderful vehicle is a 1940s Mack LMSW 6×4 wrecker, as used by both civilian towing companies and the British and Canadian military during the Second World War. The LMSW was powered by a 10-litre 6-cylinder petrol engine driving the two rear axles, with a Garwood single and later double crane (as shown here) mounted above them, each of which was capable of lifting 8 tons. The fiendishly complicated-looking booms and stabilisers are actually very simple, using steel wires to winch into position without the need for hydraulics and other complications.
This stunning Model Team creation comes from Flickr’s Dirk Klijn and he’s recreated the classic Mack absolutely beautifully. Underneath the unbelievably realistic and superbly detailed exterior is a fully remote controlled drive train, with a combination of XL and Servo motors plus a third-party SBrick bluetooth controller allowing the model to be driven via the SBrick app on a mobile phone.
Dirk’s model is one of the finest Lego trucks you’ll find anywhere and there’s more to see of his Mack LMSW on Flickr. Head over to the Mack’s Flickr album via the link in the text above for all of the superb images.
Ralph Savelsberg, aka Mad Physicist, is one of the most prolific bloggees here at TLCB. One of our Master MOCers and a writer for the The Brothers Brick (everybody boo!), Ralph has been building stunning Miniland scale vehicles for years, and years, and years. His creations number in the hundreds, but until now he’s had no-where to put them. Finally though, a few are getting a home!
This brilliant classic car workshop, inspired by some of the workshop-builders that have appeared here in recent times, contains everything you’d expect to find in a modern repair facility, plus of course, some wonderful classic American cars. Six of the eight vehicles have appeared here at TLCB in some form or another, with the Ford F150 pick-up and a Hudson Hornet making their debuts today (we think!).
Amongst the classics are a Pontiac Bonneville, Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria Skyliner, Buick Riviera, Chevrolet Impala, Chevrolet 3100 Stepside pick-up, and the aforementioned Hudson, all expertly recreated in miniature. There are also two dreadful modern pick-ups; a ’90s Ford F150, and if that wasn’t bad enough there’s the simply awful (but superbly replicated) Dodge Ram too.
We’ll stick with the classics, and there’s more to see of each beautiful ’50s-’60s slice of Americana via the links above to the respective articles here at The Lego Car Blog, and you can see more photos of the complete workshop via Ralph’s Flickr photostream – click here and enjoy!
Aston Martin are on a roll at the moment. There’s new engine partnership with AMG, a plethora new products, a new factory, and – above all – the company made a profit (a rare thing at Aston Martin). The rebirth of the brand as a modern supercar manufacturer started with this car – the utterly gorgeous DB9. Designed by Henrik Fisker the V12-powered aluminium DB9 hit showrooms way back in 2004, and yet still looked fresh when it was finally replaced some twelve years later.
This is the drop head version, or ‘Volante’ in Aston Martin speak, and if anything it’s even more beautiful than the coupe. Which makes it a seriously tricky car to recreate from Lego Technic, and yet Jeroen Otten’s hasn’t just managed it, he’s made his Technic replica fully functioning too.
As with any Technic ‘Supercar’, Jeroen’s stunning DB9 Volante features a working drivetrain – in this case a V12 engine linked to a 5+R gearbox, independent suspension, working steering (with Ackerman geometry and caster angle), opening doors, boot-lid and hood, and a trick three-piece folding convertible roof.
Jeroen’s built this Aston Martin DB9 Volante as a commissioned piece and there are some excellent photos available to view – head over to the DB9’s Flickr album or the Eurobricks discussion forum to see all the images.
This brilliant classic DAF 2800 complete with a pair of Henrix-liveried tanker trailers was discovered on Flickr today. It comes from DAF-building extraordinaire Arian Janssens who has appeared here numerous times with his fantastic Model Team DAF trucks. Arian’s latest adds another to his extensive back-catalogue and it also gives us an excuse to post two of the finest musical references we’ll ever get to include here at TLCB (this and this). Check them out via the links and you can see more of the DAF 2800 Henrix on Flickr by clicking here.
It’s a bumper posting today at The Lego Car Blog, as no less than five hover vehicles by Flickr’s Scott (aka Clever Lego Reference) make the grade for publication. Thankfully they were suggested by a reader, otherwise we’d like have a very fat and then very sick Elf on our hands.
Scott’s speeders range from civilian to military to municipal, with our favourite being the glorious black-hole refuse collection vehicle shown in the last picture. Although the fact that rubbish doesn’t simply disappear into a black hole is probably news to some. Recycle people!
Anyway, there’s more to see of each hover vehicle (plus others not shown here) at Scott’s photostream – Click the link above to make the jump.
The Lego Car Blog Elves like fire trucks. An Elven discovery of this (admittedly superb) Seagrave Marauder II with Aerialscope ladder-boom by Flickr’s sponki25 means we now have every Elf in TLCB Towers running around making ‘NEE-NAW!’ noises. Thanks sponki.
It is a class build though, being a perfect mini-figure scale replica of FDNY’s actual Ladder 13 truck, complete with custom reflective stickers, some very accurate-looking mini-figure fire-fighters, and of course an enormous rotating Aerialscope boom…
…which – just like your Dad watching Desperate Housewives – extends quite a long way. Clever techniques and ingenious parts usage is in abundance throughout the build and there’s more to see over at sponki25’s photostream. Click the link above to dial 9-1-1, whilst we go and find some headache relief pills and Mr. Airhorn…
