And now here they are! The most daredevil group of daffy drivers to ever whirl their wheels in the Wacky Races – competing for the title of The World’s Wackiest Racer!
Redfern1950s has made the whole TLCB office very happy with his recreation of the infamous ‘Army Surplus Special’. You can check it out here, and if you do please add a comment encouraging him to build the rest of the Wacky Races’ crews! Go on Red, you know you want to!
Apparently there was an election today, but whatever the new leader of the free world decides to do / build / blow-up, we’ve found something that’s going to make 2017 just a little bit better; LEGO have brought another vehicle manufacturer into their officially licensed line-up!
Joining Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren, Volvo, Caterham and others, BMW Motorrad (BMW’s bike division) have become the latest LEGO Group partner with the arrival of the new 42063 BMW Motorrad R 1200 GS Adventure Technic set.
Constructed from 603 pieces, the BMW R 1200 GS Adventure celebrates forty years since the Technic line launched, way back in 1977. The model features working telelever front suspension and swing-arm rear, functioning steering, BMW’s 2-cylinder boxer engine with shaft drive, custom BMW decals, bespoke tyres, and a mystery new piece unique to the 42063 set. It’s also the first LEGO set to feature the company’s new app-based 3D instructions.
LEGO’s Technic 42063 BMW Motorrad R 1200 GS Adventure set will launch in 2017, and we’re going to make a bold call and say that it looks like it could be the best motorcycle that LEGO have ever produced. We can’t wait!
These, Ladies and Gentlemen (OK, probably mostly gentlemen) are the most realistic Lego replicas that you may ever see.
They’re not replicas of real vehicles of course, but of three wonderful die-cast Hot Wheels toys from way back in the 1970s. Lego builder Brick Flag of Flickr recently decided to recreate his favourite model cars from his childhood, and in doing so he may have built the most accurate-to-life Lego models of the year.
Hot Wheels launched their die-cast vehicles ‘Ramblin’ Wrecker’, ‘Emergency Squad’ and ‘Fire Eater’ between 1975 and 1977, and now 40 years on Brick Flag has faithfully rebuilt the iconic toys so brilliantly that in some photos it’s hard to tell whether you’re looking at the metal original or the plastic replica.
There’s more to see of each beautifully stickered build, as well as the 40-year-old original which inspired it, at Brick Flag’s photostream – Cick here to take a trip to a bedroom floor circa ’77.
Today’s post is not a car. Or even a boat. Or an aircraft. In fact we’re not really sure what it is, but we know we like it. The delightfully strange Dwalin Forkbeard is behind this floating weirdness and you can see more at his wilfully odd photostream here.
This absolutely gorgeous Ford Model-T hot rod was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr. It comes from TLCB favourite and Master MOCer Andrea Lattanzio (aka Norton 74), and it’s based on a real world hot rod that was constructed from various bits of ’20s-30s Fords (plus an engine from a ’53 Dodge) in the late 1950s. Sadly though, by 1965 the car was sitting in storage, and it didn’t re-emerge until 2014 when it was sold to a buyer in Norway.
The hot rod might now be a long way from its place of origin, but we’re always excited when cars such as these are returned to the road. Norton74 has recreated the ‘T’ beautifully, and he’s also remembered the culture that created the original with a wonderful tribute to Route 66. You can see more Norton’s stunning Model T, plus the diorama that accompanies it, via Flickr – click here to Get Your Kicks on Route 66.
Sometimes the simplest creations can be the most lovely. Here is one such example, a fictional 4×4 from Flickr’s Bobofrutx, that rekindles LEGO’s pre-’97 Town magic. See more here.
It’s been ages since we’ve posted a Town scale truck (apologies to fans of such models), but we’re back in the Town trucking game today with this, Steven Asbury‘s lovely Fire Dept. Logistics Support Unit. With opening doors, custom chrome pieces and some good detailing for the scale it’s a model worth your click – check it out on MOCpages at the link above.
This has got to be one of the ugliest vehicles that we’ve ever posted. It’s even uglier than this. But it’s also one of the most beautiful examples of LEGO building we’ve posted too. It’s a Russian Mi-24 ‘Hind’ helicopter gunship, in service (and production) since 1972, and it’s a gloriously inventive build. The work of TLCB regular Daniel Siskind, there’s more to see on Flickr – click here to take off.
Earlier in the week, whilst we weren’t paying attention, something amazing happened. The little hit counter that sits largely unnoticed in the corner of the office quietly ticking away surpassed…
Yup, three million. With twenty-thousand of you joining us each week. Considering how amateurish we are here at TLCB this is nothing short of remarkable. So to each and every one of you that visits The Lego Car Blog, thank you, we really could’t do this without you.
TLCB Team
This wonderful classic Scania 111 long-nose truck is something of a watershed vehicle in the Lego community. First uploaded over 5 years ago, Dennis Bosman’s stunning recreation of the Swedish hauler has inspired countless other truck builders over the years, and Dennis has recently refreshed it to inspire a few more.
Attached to the rear Dennis has constructed an enormous Broshuis extendible trailer, complete with a steel lattice load, and it fits beautifully to his old Scania. There’s more to see the new combo as well as the original Scania 111 upload via Dennis’ Flickr phototream, and you can read our interview with Dennis as part of Master MOCers Series 1 by clicking here.
The Elves have been watching too many ’80s movies again, and thus our recent posts seem to have gone a bit ‘red braces’. Still, no matter, because if the results of their historical television watching are as good as this we’ll happily indulge them.
This is a Ferrari 288 GTO, closely related to (and built alongside) yesterday’s 308 GTS, but with its V8 slightly de-bored (made smaller) and turned longitudinally, to make room for a pair of turbochargers, a pair of intercoolers, and a whole lot more power.
This foray into forced induction delivered some incredible results too, as the 288 GTO was the first production car to reach 300kmh (186mph) – way back in 1984.
This lovely Model Team / Creator style recreation of one of Ferrari’s most legendary models comes from Daniel H of MOCpages, with opening doors, hood and trunk, pop-up headlights (controlled from inside too!), and a detailed interior and engine bay.
Daniel is hoping his creation will become an official LEGO set via the Ideas platform – if you like it you can see all the photos, and add your vote to LEGO Ideas, via the link to MOCpages above.
Time to go old-school. This is Ferrari’s glorious 308 GTS, built between 1975 and 1985, and powered by a mid-mounted V8 producing around 250bhp (unless you were in America, where emission regulations dropped that a bit).
Made famous by the cult TV show Magnum P.I, the 308 is widely regarded as one of the most iconic Ferrari designs of all time. There were some anomalies, including a 2 litre version (which was still – incredibly – a V8) that made a whopping 150bhp, but these aside the 308 is probably the quintessential Ferrari.
Lightly updated to become the 328 in the late ’80s, the 308/328 platform is also one of Ferrari’s most successful models, with nearly 20,000 units produced over three decades. Somebody decided that one more was needed though, and commissioned Flickr’s Jeroen Ottens to recreate the classic Ferrari in Lego form.
It was a wise move too, as Jeroen has absolutely nailed it. Featuring a replica V8 engine mounted to a working 3+R gearbox, four wheel independent suspension, steering (Ackermann with caster), pop-up headlights controlled via the dashboard, adjustable seats and a removable roof, this 308 replica is every bit as good underneath as it looks on top. There’s loads more to see of this incredible Technic supercar at Jeroen’s photostream – click here to check it out.
*Read in a flashy Essex/South London ’80s banker accent. If you’re not from the UK and don’t know what that sounds like, lucky you.
We were a bit underwhelmed by LEGO’s 42049 Technic Mine Loader set when we previewed it here towards the end of last year. It has pneumatics and a two cylinder engine, but…meh. However a recent upload by previous bloggee Tamas Juhasz (aka mbmc137) shows how it should have been done, and at about half the scale.
Tamas’ tiny Technic recreation of the official set might be small, but it packs in just as much functionality, and in doing so it might just be the neatest and most well engineered small-scale Technic model we’ve seen this year. It could even be a set, if there wasn’t one already…
With all the functionality of 42049, Tamas’ build squeezes in all-wheel-drive, articulated steering, pneumatic bucket elevation and tilt, and a two-cylinder piston engine (making it just as unrealistically underpowered as LEGO’s version).
There’s lots more to see of this incredibly tidy build at Tamas’ Brickshelf gallery and at the Eurobricks discussion forum, plus there’s a video of the loader’s features available below.
YouTube Video:
Mitsubishi passenger cars haven’t appeared here at The Lego Car Blog all that often. In fact Mistubishi’s World War 2 fighter plane – the A6M Zero – has made more appearances. This is probably because the Japanese manufacturer’s current product range is a bit… shit, and thus it’s a bit of a bleak place from which to draw inspiration.
Mitsubishi’s woes are larger than a tiny market share cobbled together from a bland line-up of nothingness though. World news has been full of the Volkswagen ‘dieselgate’ scandal, where some crafty engineers (and morally bankrupt management) signed off a ‘cheat’ that means cars are producing up to forty times their stated pollution level, but what you may not know is that Mitsubishi Motors are currently the subject of a criminal investigation in Japan for undertaking similar practices.
In fact it’s been found that Mitsubishi have been falsifying the fuel economy figures of their domestic-market vehicles for twenty five years, with over 620,000 cars affected.
All of this has resulted in a company that’s now in a precarious position, but luckily for fans of the brand (and their thousands of employees), the Renault-Nissan Alliance has stepped in. No doubt helped Mitsubishi Motor’s falling share price, the French-Japanese partnership recently completed a $2.2Billion purchase of a controlling stake in the company, and simultaneously turned Renault-Nissan into the fourth largest automotive group in the world.
With both Nissan and Renault now on a roll after years in the automotive doldrums it can only be a good thing for Mitsubishi’s products, which will be able to share the platforms, engines and electrics of their parent brands. That’ll make things interesting for the bright spot in Mitsubishi’s current range, their highly successful L200 ‘Triton’ pick-up truck. With Nissan’s own Navara spawning a new pick-up for Renault (and one for Mercedes-Benz soon too), should the L200 end up platform-sharing as well there’ll be four pick-ups all spun from the same design.
Until then though, the current L200 remains a stand-alone* product (and quite a good one too), and TLCB favourite paave has recreated the popular pick-up superbly in Technic form. With remote control drive and steering, accurate independent front and leaf spring rear suspension, and opening (and locking) doors, hood and tailgate, paave’s double-cab Triton is packed with features too. Head over to MOCpages for all the images, plus a video of the model in action.
*Er… sort of. This is complicated. Nissan make the Navara, and are in partnership with Renault. Renault will re-badge the Navara themselves to create the Renault Alaskan next year. This platform has also been shared with Mercedes-Benz, who will make their first commercial pick-up truck, the X-Class, next year too.
Mitsubishi, now owned by Renault-Nissan, make their own truck, the L200 pictured here. This will likely also become a Navara clone when the current generation is replaced, but for now it’s a separate entity. Except the L200 platform has been sold to Fiat so that they can re-badge it to create their own pick-up, called the Fullback, which launched last month…
But none of these are a Toyota Hilux.
This stunning image was found on Flickr today. It’s the work of David Hensel, and it depicts his intriguing ‘ZECR Hoverbike’ concept. The build itself contains all sorts of Nice Parts Usage (NPU), but what really caught our attention is the superb way that David has photographed his creation – we’d even go as far as saying this might be the best photo that we’ve blogged this year. You can see the image in further detail at David’s photostream via the link above, and if you’d like to learn how to take higher quality photos of your own creations you can read some handy hints here.