Yes, we’re trying to mess with search engines again. This is a Mercedes-Benz LK ‘Rundhauber’ (round bonnet) box truck, and its creator 1saac W. began the build by inserting a LEGO sausage into a 1×1 round-with-bar-attachment piece. His words.
Crude beginnings aside, the result is rather excellent, and there’s more to see of 1saac’s sausage-insertion construction at his photostream. Click the link above to put it in.
We like simple mechanical models here at The Lego Car Blog. LEGO’s 1988 Town set 6524 ‘Blizzard Blazer’ (or simply ‘Snow Plough’ in TLCB’s home nation) was a small, fairly ugly tractor, featuring Technic tyres, a posable plough, and a smiling mini-figure. It’s also the inspiration behind previous bloggee Thirdwigg’s upscaled Technic version, which – whilst somewhat larger and considerably more complicated – still flies the flag for mechanical simplicity.
Equipped with a posable plough, a rear-mounted rotating thresher thingy, or a neat drawbar trailer, Thirdwigg’s creation is nicely adaptable too. A working power-take off, adjustable hitches, and ‘HOG’ steering add to the playability, and you can see more – including a link to free building instructions – at Thirdwigg’s ‘Blizzard Blazer’ album, plus you can read his interview in TLCB Master MOCers series via this bonus link.
Uh oh, Sci-fi. This TLCB Writer genuinely knows more about oceanic fish than he does science fiction. Helpfully however, this splendid spacecraft by Flickr’s Red Spacecat is apparently a ‘Swordfish’ class frigate…. wait, that doesn’t help at all.
Still, it is really rather fantastically constructed, with details including a landing-pad for micro-scale ships, an array of cannons, and the coolest brick-built stripe we’ve seen in ages. Head out to sea space via the link above.
Over the past few weeks, our interns have been sent into TLCB Archives to extract all of the creations by brand that have appeared here, in over a decade of writing nonsense about Lego cars.
Over 10,000 media items and a few mildly-medicated interns later, and the result is a brand new directory linking straight to the most popular car companies by volume to appear on this website.
Click on the link above to take a look through all of the sufficiently-built car companies to appear here so far, from Alfa Romeo to Volvo. Which admittedly doesn’t quite get the list to Z yet, but a few more Zastavas and we’ll be there.
It’s the late-’80s, and the Lamborghini’s wild V12-engined Countach is some fifteen years old. Marcello Gandini’s superbly clean lines have been hidden beneath a mountain of plastic, the engine is up to 5.2 litres and equipped with four valves per cylinder, and – in the U.S – hideous mandatory low-speed impact bumpers have been glued on.
Precisely nothing has been done to make the car less terrible to drive over the last decade-and-a-half however, and thus the Countach remains very much not a car for the novice driver. Or one high on quaaludes trying to get home from the country club.
Cue perhaps the greatest movie scene of all time, and one Lamborghini Countach on which the low-speed impact bumpers weren’t quite enough.
Flickr’s ZetoVince is the owner of this fantastic Model Team replica, and there’s more to see of his wonderfully-presented creation at his photostream. Click the link above to try to make it the less-than-a-mile back home from the country club, without a scratch on yourself or the car…
The Porsche 911 may have looked pretty much the same for the past sixty years, but due to multiple ground-up redesigns it’s a vastly different machine from what it once was. Even the car used as the basis for LEGO’s 2016 Technic 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS set is now a long way behind the latest 911 iteration.
This is the newest version of Porsche’s evergreen endurance racer, the 565bhp 992-based GT3 R that made its debut last year.
Built by Lachlan Cameron (aka loxlego), this astonishing Technic replica of the GT3 R features working steering, five-height adjustable suspension, a six-speed paddle-shift gearbox (plus neutral and reverse), a flat-6 piston engine, plus opening and locking doors and engine cover.
Presented beautifully, you can find the complete gallery of images and full build details via Lachlan’s ‘Porsche 911 (992) GT3 R Flickr album, the Eurobricks discussion forum, and via the video below, plus you can find out how he creates amazing models like this one via his Master MOCers page by clicking this bonus link.
YouTube Video
This is a DAF FTG XF 530 Sleeper Cab, and it’s been built – rather beautifully – by previous bloggee Arian Janssens of Flickr. It’s also not alone, being hitched to an enormous three-axle container trailer complete with a giant tank of… we have no idea. Beer perhaps? We can but hope.
What ever is in it, there’s more to see of Arian’s impressive build at his ‘DAF FTG XF 530 SLEEPER CAB’ album, where an alternative more jazzily-hued container load can also be seen. Click the link above to take a look and cross your fingers it’s beer…
The phenomenal Rolls-Royce Merlin engine is surely one of the reasons that Nazi Germany and the Axis Powers were eventually defeated, bringing World War 2 to its end. Fitted to a huge array of aircraft, including JuliusZ D.’s recently blogged P-51B Mustang, the 27-litre British V12 is perhaps most famous for one particular application; the beautiful Supermarine Spitfire fighter.
Joining his P-51B Mustang, Juliusz has updated his Supermarine Spitfire model, photographing the two Allied fighters together (as shown in the image above), and refining the design much like the British engineers did during the conflict, with this variant being a Mk.XVIe as operated by the Polish Air Force.
Juliusz’s stunning build quality and presentation are immediately evident, and you can see more of his spectacular Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XVIe, plus the North American P-51B Mustang which shared the Spitfire’s iconic Merlin engine, at his photostream; click these words to take a look.
It’s sometime in the next century, and Formula 1 is still the world’s foremost race series in the hands of Liberty Media. There are now 43 races each season (not counting the sprints), with half of those taking place in the skies above America!
Nineteen of the world’s best pilots (plus Lance Stroll, who’s still looking for his first win) are competing to become World Champion, and previous bloggee David Roberts can exclusively showcase two of the machines that have been piloted to glory so far.
‘Orange 6‘ is one of the fastest atmo-and-space racers yet, being both highly manoeuvrable and fitted with an underside cannon able to spike viewing figures with remarkable effectiveness whenever Liberty need a little extra pizzaz.
It needs it too, what with ‘Green 21‘ being otherwise dominant in the hands of multiple-World Champion Max Velocity.
Will No.6 manage to blast past Max? Will Liberty Media find space to squeeze in another US Grand Prix? And will Stroll finally get that maiden win in return for his father’s billions? Click the links above to tune in!
Remember when BMW’s were understated and classy? Well this was not one of those cars. But by today’s BMW standards it’s positively minimalist.
Launched in 1990, the E31 8-Series was a technical tour-de-force, featuring the world’s first drive-by-wire throttle and the first combination of a V12 engine with a manual gearbox. And BMW were going to go further still, with an even more powerful ‘M8’ version.
However it wasn’t to be, with a global recession and the Gulf War (thanks Saddam) killing the M8 before it could be released. That hasn’t stopped Flickr’s LegoSEB77 from imagining what could have been though, and you can check out his excellent 8-wide BMW ‘M8’ via the link above.
After some quiet days we’re picking up the pace of posting, with today’s second creation being this gorgeous 8-wide ’50s pick-up truck by TLCB regular 1saac W.
Taking inspiration from many classic trucks, 1saac’s creation packs in a plethora of clever building techniques with some inspired parts orientation. Whitewall tyres and chrome pin-striping adds to the period appeal, and there’s more to see at 1saac’s photostream. Click here to pick your way over.
It’s been a while since we last posted a Lego creation. This may have been because we’ve been at the pub, but as there’s a longstanding narrative running through this website to do with mythical Elves finding blog-worthy Lego creations, let’s go with them not finding anything. Yeh, that.
We do genuinely only publicise creations that we believe warrant it though, and today we have the first of many now we’re back from the pub TLCB Elves have found some.
This one comes from TLCB debutant Levente Lévai, whose own interpretation of Transformers’ Optimus Prime transforms from truck to robot and back again with such incredible complexity it makes our heads hurt. Although that could be the lingering aftermath of the pub.
There’s loads more to see of Levente’s spectacular transforming Autobot on Flickr, where there are dozens of images depicting the extraordinary metamorphosis. Click the link above to roll out.
It’s the final chapter of the Find My Car in Lego series, as Part 4 takes us from the letter S to the end of the alphabet. As with Parts 1 to 3, we’re focussing on the most frequently featured car brands, which admittedly omits most of the Soviet and Chinese weirdness that monopolises the final few letters of the alphabet. You guys aren’t building many Xpengs, Zotyes or Zeekrs yet…
However fear not, because there are some great manufacturers in the final quarter of the alphabet. And UAZ. Take a look…
SkodaOnce-derided marque from behind the Iron Curtain, now a competent mainstream arm of the Volkswagen empire. Which means today it’s exceptionally boring. Fortunately Lego builders seem to prefer making the rubbish but interesting cars of Skoda-past.
SubaruKei-trucks, rear-wheel-drive sports cars, and – of course – all-wheel-drive performance saloons. Find WRXs galore (plus the rest) by clicking these words.
SuzukiSuzuki have made all sorts of vehicles, but it’s their pint-sized 4x4s that seem to have captured Lego builders’ imaginations most frequently. Find all the brick-built Samurais, Jimnys, and Vitaras here.
TatraToday famed for their off-road trucks, Czech manufacturer Tatra also once made truly ground-breaking cars. Find them (in a sea of their awesome heavy-duty trucks) by clicking here.
TeslaThe brand that brought EVs to the masses, and the one with the most insane fans of any manufacturer. Ludicrous speed, appalling quality, and a share price more volatile than Kanye West, click here to find every brick-built Tesla to appear. All have better panel gaps than the real thing.
ToyotaFrom one end of the quality scale to the other, almost 170 Toyota images have appeared to date. Sedans, 4x4s, racing cars, pick-up trucks, sports cars, vans, and a certain ’10-second’ orange Supra…
UAZSoviet 4x4s, vans, and small trucks. All are very ugly, many are very capable, and there are some excellent Lego versions to be found in the Archive.
VolkswagenHumungous global conglomerate responsible for tens of millions of fantastically dull hatchbacks, crossovers and SUVs. Which is perhaps why it’s VW’s Beetles, buses and beach buggies that populate the Archives. Find them all, including official LEGO sets, by clicking here.
VolvoGlorious slabs of rectangular Swedish magnificence, there’s probably no car more suited to LEGO than an ’80s Volvo. Over a hundred, including the trucks, buses and pieces of construction equipment that have also worn the Volvo logo, can be found here.
That wraps up Part 4 of Find My Car in Lego, and with it the series, much to the relief of our researchers. We’ve covered every manufacturer whose models have been recreated in brick form in sufficient numbers, and you can find Parts 1 (A to F), 2 (G to L), and 3 (M to R) via these links.
Some surprisingly well-known brands didn’t make the cut, including Saturn, Seat, Talbot, and Vauxhall in this final part alone, each with just a single entry in the Archives at the time of publication. Of course there are loads of other oddities in the Archives too, and you can find them all plus much more besides via the Search box on every page.
And if you don’t manage to find your car, we’d love to see you build it.
With every new generation of car, the manufacturer will – without fail – claim it’s lower and wider than before, in order to “project an assertive dynamic stance” or some other bollocks. They can’t keep getting lower and wider indefinitely of course, otherwise at some point everything will be a Can-Am racer.
However despite this vehicular marketing nonsense, there is probably some truth in it, as back in the early days of the motor car designs were rather more… upright.
A narrow track, a chassis on top of the wheels, and space in the cabin for elaborate hats meant cars from the 1920s were wobbly, tottery affairs. Although with a top speed of about 30mph and tyres as wide as those on a bicycle, this probably mattered not. Plus you could keep on your elaborate hat.
Flickr’s _Tyler (aka Calin) reimagines a time of more vertical motoring (and headwear) with this beautifully presented creation, and there’s more to see of his vintage ‘Oldtimer’ at his photostream; click the link above take a look.
It was the Eurovision Song Contest last night, and if any non-European readers tuned in during the vote reveal, they may have thought they’d accidentally arrived at a 1970s Vietnam War opposition rally.
Almost every country’s host took the opportunity to remind us that the competition’s songs were not in fact banal Euro-pop as we thought, but the source of love and world peace. Urgh. It’s enough to make us want to start a fight.
It was more straightforward back in actual 1970s, when world peace was dispensed not by pseudo-intellectual television hosts, but by Volkswagen-van-driving-hippies with names like Waterfall and Crystal, via beads, tie-dye, and foreign narcotics.
Cue previous bloggee 1saac W., whose Volkswagen T2 bus is so peaceful it has itself been tie-dyed. A kaleidoscope of coloured plates, afforded by LEGO’s ever expanding colour-pallet, make up the VW’s groovy exterior, and you can collect your beads and foreign narcotics from Waterfall and Crystal at 1saac’s photostream via the link above.
You’ll be contributing to world peace about as much as this does anyway…