In Transit

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In the late ’60s Ford were massive in Britain. With dozens of models produced in dozens of factories, they were the best selling car brand by miles. But we’re not here for their cars today, we’re here for something much more important. The Transit.

Launched in 1965 and built not far from TLCB Towers, the Ford Transit immediately became the best-selling van in Europe, and with the Mark 1 in production for twenty years it became so ubiquitous that even today many Brits still call vans ‘Transit-Vans’ regardless of the make or model.

In fact the Mark 1 Transit’s dominance was so great that by the early ’70s London’s Metropolitan Police estimated that 95% of all bank raids used one, as of course did the police themselves.

The Transit’s legacy continues today, with the fourth generation being the best selling vehicle of any type in the UK, and since its release in America, its the best selling van there too.

But back to 1965, and this fantastic 7-wide Speed Champions homage to Ford’s most important post-war vehicle. Constructed by Flickr’s Versteinert it captures the classic van’s aesthetics beautifully, and Vernsteinert’s superbly presented model looks the best way to move stuff about in the late-’60s that we can think of. Of course in the late-’60s, the Transit was pretty much the only way to move stuff about.

There’s more to see at Vernsteinert’s photostream, and you can join every other ’60s van driver from florists to bank robbers via the link in the text above.

Volvo²

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No this time we’re not making classic Volvo jokes. Because today’s post is a Volvo atop another Volvo, for some kind of Volvo².

This phenomenal Volvo Aero truck is the work of MCD, and it might be – visually at least – the most life-like Technic truck our Elves have found to date. Constructed in 1:21 scale, the Technic panels MCD has used fit the model so perfectly it looks like they were purpose made for it, as do the genuine stickers from the LEGO Technic 42175 Volvo FMX set which work a treat here.

A five-axle Nooteboom trailer in tow carries another beautifully recreated Volvo hauler, with MCD’s classic Volvo F89 every bit as good as the modern Aero transporting it.

There’s more to see of both creations at the Eurobricks discussion forum, and you can click the link above to get to the square root of Volvo trucks.

Black Friday | Nothing to See Here

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Black Friday

It’s the most wasteful time of the yearWith credit cards loadedHousehold debt has exploded
‘Cos discounts are hereIt’s the most wasteful time of the year
It’s the shallowest season of allThere’ll be fighting in Walmart
To fill a shopping cartBut it won’t fill that holeIt’s the shallowest season of all

 

Buy nothing. You probably have everything you need already.

LEGO Technic 42205 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray | Set Preview

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It’s that time of year again, when a crack team of TLCB Elves is sent to sneak around The LEGO Company’s headquarters to find (and steal) the top secret imagery of next year’s Technic line-up.

Of course as with every year, we don’t publish said images here until they’re in the public domain, because we have integrity. But as this set has just been accidentally revealed by the Mexican arm of a famous online retailer, it matters not if we publish the images we’ve assuredly been sitting on for ages and definitely didn’t find leaked on the internet. So here it is, the brand new Technic 42205 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray!

Wait? Didn’t LEGO already do one of these? Well yes, back in 2019, with the last of the front-engined Corvettes, but this is the new mid-engined Corvette. The 42205 set also looks, to our eyes at least, rather more cohesive than the 2019 iteration, but as well it might, with around 25% more parts (at 732), and an expected $50 price tag.

It also features a tie-up with the ‘Asphalt Legends Unite’ video-game for some reason, and includes working steering, a V8 engine, opening doors, and stickers-for-everything.

On its own, the Technic 42205 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray looks nice enough. But perhaps we’ve been spoilt with LEGO’s explosion of officially-licensed real-world replicas because, well… the first mid-engined Corvette to become a LEGO set could perhaps have been a bit more interesting than a $50 Technic set with more stickers than working features.

However if you are excited by LEGO’s latest Corvette set you can get your hands on it when it lands in March of 2025, before which we’ll reveal of the rest of the brand new Technic line-up right here at The Lego Car Blog. Unless Amazon Mexico unwittingly leak it first…

Jump on It!*

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Whilst naming something after a group of Native American tribes is rather frowned upon today, the 1950s were a simpler time, and thus Chevrolet had no such qualms about calling their light/medium-duty pick-up the ‘Apache’ in 1958.

Powered by a range of inline-6 and V8 engines, the Apache was GM’s first truck to be offered with power steering, power brakes, and the segment’s first wrap-around windshield.

This splendid Model Team replica of the ’58 Chevrolet Apache comes from previous bloggee Jakub Marcisz, and features working steering, a beautifully detailed interior, a realistic engine bay, opening doors, and a dropping tailgate.

It also looks fantastic, and there’s much more of the model to see at both Jakub’s ‘Chevrolet Apache 1958’ Flickr album and the Eurobricks forum, where a link to building instructions can also be found. Click on the links above to jump to the reservation.

*Today’s title song. Which also definitely wouldn’t get made today. But does show that all you needed for a music video in 1979 was a green rug, a tent, and a trip to a fancy dress shop. We strive to be unbiased and impartial here at TLCB of course, so here’s an equally offensive counter song.

What’s Going on at Jaguar?

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If you’re even slightly into cars, you can’t help but have noticed Jaguar’s divisive rebrand that dropped this week.

Shot in some kind of soft-play-on-Mars, Jaguar’s thirty-second Statement of Intent features exactly zero cars, but does feature a variety of extravagantly dressed androgynous beings representing ‘exuberance’, ‘vividness’, ‘mould-breaking’, and gender fluidity. And that’s got people mad.

Which is perhaps unsurprising, as Jaguar’s executives have thrown the brand’s seventy year history in the bin (including its logo and typography), and yet at the same time the ire seems rather disproportionate. Because despite being entitled ‘Copy Nothing’, the new campaign copies every minority-centred advertising checklist of the last few years. And it’s genius.

Jaguar, for all their heritage, engineering brilliance, and race winning history, have barely made money in decades. We may like Jaguar, but not enough of us are actually buying their products. Not by a long-shot. If we were, they wouldn’t have needed to conduct a shock-tactics rebrand. Nor stop selling cars altogether for a year or two before returning (as they will) with $130k-and-up EVs.

In the meantime, Jaguar have created more exposure through a single thirty-second visual abomination than they have in the last ten years. And if that annoys fans of growling big cats and V8 sports cars, well we weren’t buying enough of their cars anyway.

So before Jaguar return with something wildly different from what’s gone before, here’s what they used to build; a well proportioned if traditionally styled luxury sedan, that frankly, wasn’t quite good enough. Flickr’s Peter Blackert (aka Lego911) is the builder, and you can see more of his digital recreation of Jaguar’s mid-’90s XJ6 at his photostream.

Click the second link above to take a look, or the first if you haven’t yet seen how Jaguar’s marketing department have put a match to everything Jaguar used to be…

Technic Trials

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Technic building can be difficult. In fact the comment we receive most into The Lego Car Blog Inbox (besides spam for crypto currencies obviously) is ‘Can I have building instructions?’. Well yes, today you can! Because this superb fully RC flatbed trial truck by TLCB Master MOCer Kyle Wigboldy (aka Thirdwigg) has been published with free building instructions. One hundred TLCB Points to Kyle. Four-wheel-drive, steering, and all-wheel-suspension are on the features list and you can find all the (beautiful) imagery and the link to building instructions at Kyle’s ‘Off Road Pickup Truck’ album. Take a look via the second link above, plus you can click the first to read Kyle’s interview here at TLCB.

Carry on Camping

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It’s nearly Black Friday, that magical time of year when consumers banish any thoughts of Thanksgiving to fight in the streets over discounted electronics, and when we want to escape to the wilderness in a camper van and stand on the top with a shot gun.

Cue previous bloggee damianPLE / damjan97PL, whose excellent fully remote controlled RV is fuelling our escapist desire.

Perfectly blending Technic and System construction, Damian’s ‘Mini Camper Van’ packs a whole heap of visual detail and Control+ drive and steering into a model under 10cm wide.

There’s lots more to see at Eurobricks (including a video of the model in action) with the complete gallery available via Bricksafe, and you can join us somewhere in the wilds via the links above.

Bat-Man

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It’s ‘Bat Man’! Kinda… but he is bequeathed with as many super-powers as the actual one.

Pictured here doing top superhero work rescuing a cat from a tree, PigletCiamek‘s ‘Bat-Man’ includes everything a baseball-based interpretation of the Dark Knight could want. If what they want is a van shaped like a baseball cap on a ball.

Join him in the strike zone at Flickr Park via the link above!

In Pursuit of Pirates

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We might be a car blog here at The, er… Lego Car Blog, but we do like ships too. Particularly piratical ones. Of course LEGO’s ‘Redcoat’ soldiers were not pirates, but they were armed to fight them, and Flickr’s Evancelt Lego has equipped his Redcoated mini-figures with this fantastic napoleonic galleon to do just that. A suite of brick-built cannons, a neat yellow hull, and a curious wake (considering the sails are furled) can all be found at his photostream – click the link above to don your red coat, and take to the seas in pursuit of pirates.

Black Square

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The Black Square is a 1915 oil-on-canvas painting by Kazimir Malevich, and about the meaning of which we know absolutely nothing. It probably represents something revolutionarily profound, but seeing as we’re a site more known for toilet humour and Your Mom jokes than intelligent discourse, you won’t uncover its significance here.

Thus the Black Square we have today is not a piece of 1910’s art but this resolutely right-angled Peterbilt 352 cab-over truck and equally rectangular chilled trailer. Flickr’s Wlad Prokopets is its creator and you can take a look at his superbly constructed Peterbilt via the link above, or alternatively you can click here to learn something about the suprematist art movement.

LEGO Formula 1 2025 | Set Previews

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LEGO have long dabbled in officially-licensed Formula 1 sets. Tie ups with Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and others in recent years have strengthened the collaboration, but today we have an announcement on a whole different scale. Partnering with Formula 1 itself, as well as all ten individual teams within it, we can reveal no fewer than thirty-one new Formula 1 licensed sets, spanning Duplo, City, Speed Champions, Technic, Icons, and even pocket-money Collectables (as per the Minifigure Series). This is the brand new LEGO Formula 1 2025 line-up, and it’s massive!

LEGO Technic 42207 | Ferrari SF-24 F1 Racing Car

We kick off the new 2025 Formula 1 line-up with the largest set in the range, the Technic 42207 Ferrari SF-24 F1 Racing Car.

Constructed from over 1,300 pieces and aimed at ages 18+ (thereby making it acceptable for dads to buy one), 42207 recreates Ferrari’s occasionally-winning 2024 racing car with authentic livery decals, replica printed (but inaccurately equal-width) Pirelli tyres, working steering, all-wheel suspension, a V6 engine with a spinning MGU-H unit, functional rear-wing DRS, and a two-speed gearbox.

Despite being a six gears short of the real deal, the rest of the specs look pretty good, and you can get your hands on 42207 for the not inconsiderable sum of €229.99 / $229.99 / £199.99 when it races into stores in March 2025.

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LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell

From a car near-ish to the front of today’s Formula 1 grid to the one absolutely at the front of it some 32 years ago, this is the brand new LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell set.

Also aimed at ages 18+ because, you know, the whole dad thing, the new 10353 set brings one of the greatest moustaches in racing history to the LEGO Formula 1 line-up. Oh, and the utterly dominant Williams Racing FW14B.

Recreated from almost 800 pieces, 10353 brings the legendary Williams-Renault FW14B to life with working steering, a detailed (although static) replica of the V10 engine that powered it, authentic (and – hurrah! – staggered width) Goodyear slicks, plus some wonderfully accurate period decals. Except the tobacco ones of course.

It also includes a definitely-not-to-scale approximation of the man who drove it to the 1992 World Championship, which frankly feels like a missed opportunity. Imagine how good the brick-built moustache could be if Mansell was scaled appropriately.

Missed moustache maximisation aside, the LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell set looks to be a decent addition, joining the Icons 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna set already on sale, and correcting that set’s equal-width tyre flaw. Expect 10353 to cost €79.99 / $79.99 / £69.99 when it arrives in March 2025, which seems like rather a lot. But then Mansell’s moustache probably needs license all of its own.

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LEGO Speed Champions 77242 Ferrari SF-24 F1 Race Car / 77243 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 F1 Race Car / 77244 Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS W15 F1 Race Car / 77245 Aston Martin Aramco F1 AMR24 Race Car / 77246 Cash App VCARB 01 F1 Race Car / 77247 KICK Sauber F1 Team C44 Race Car / 77248 BWT Alpine F1 Team A524 Race Car / 77249 Williams Racing FW46 F1 Race Car / 77250 MoneyGram Haas F1 Team VF-24 Race Car / 77251 McLaren MCL38 F1 Team Race Car

Lego Speed Champions Formula 1 2025

Yes, every single team on the 2025 Formula 1 grid will be available in LEGO Speed Champions form!

Averaging around 260 pieces, each 2025 Speed Champions Formula 1 Race Car set does a pretty good job of replicating its real world counterpart, with unique mini-figure drivers, accurate sponsorship liveries (recreated via a lot of stickers), and decent effort made to reflect the subtle nuances in design between the teams.

Each will cost around $27 / €27 / £21, with all aimed at ages 10+ and perfectly placed for the pocket-money demographic. Except – weirdly – the cars wearing Red Bull branding, which quietly state an age of 18+. If ever there was proof needed that energy drinks are bad for you…

All ten of the new Speed Champions Formula 1 sets look like they’ll be an enormous hit (we might even buy ourselves the 77245 Aston Martin Aramco F1 AMR24 Race Car, if just to recreate various acts of Lance Stroll stupidity in the office), and you’ll be able to get your hands on each of them from March of next year.

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And that’s not all! For LEGO fans under ten, a further twelve 29-piece Formula 1 collectible sets and six Formula 1 City sets, encompassing all ten teams, will launch in January 2025, plus for really young builders there’s even a Formula 1 Duplo set joining the line-up too.

It’s perhaps the post comprehensive licensing partnership LEGO have delivered yet, and with Formula 1 teams and the stupid sponsorship branding that accompanies them (Cash App VCARB being the current most egregious example) changing so regularly, there’ll be no shortage of new liveries and teams to keep the LEGO Formula 1 line-up perpetually fresh.

288

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With under three-hundred 288 GTO units produced, each now valued at around $2.5million, Ferrari’s mid-’80s homologation special is slightly out of reach for most of us. But not today, because this fantastic Speed Champions Ferrari 288 GTO by Flickr’s László Torma is entirely recreatable at home. Able to fit two mini-figures side-by-side and utilising common pieces found within the Speed Champions range, László has released building instructions for his 8-wide 288 so that you too can own one. Join the 288 GTO Owners club via the link above.

Wheelie Alternative

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LEGO’s 60409 Mobile Construction Crane continues to take City sets to new heights, both physically and financially. It also comes with sixteen wheels (and hilariously a portable toilet), which means there are plenty of parts available should you wish to convert your construction crane into something else. Or indeed somethings else.

Cue Marek Markiewicz (aka M_longer), who has transformed his 60409 Mobile Construction Crane set into an M1120 HEMMT complete with a whole heap of cargo. And a drawbar trailer. And a telehandler.

It’s an excellent way to use sixteen wheels (and a portaloo), with each B-Model being a fantastic Town/City vehicle in its own right, and there’s more to see – including a link to building instructions – at Marek’s photostream by clicking here.

Carrying Castles

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The 1978 LEGO 375 Castle set is currently being advertised on a well-known online auction site for… well, this TLCB Writer has bought cars for less. Nice ones.

Which – for little more than a small pile of yellow blocks – seems rather poor value. Especially considering for the same outlay you could build a miniaturised version, equip it with tracks, and go on an all-inclusive holiday to the Seychelles.

Flickr’s carrier lost has done just that (although they may not be holidaying on a tropical island) with their ‘375 Traction Castle’, which is rather reminiscent of some crustacean-based interplanetary enslavement in a twenty-year-old cartoon.

Take a look via the link above, or alternatively you can blow nearly $10,000 on an unopened original 375 set by clicking here.