Front Loaded

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Flickr’s Rubblemaker appears to have had something on his mind* when he built this Neo-Classic Space galactic racer. Two enormous rounded engines dominate the design, their curves falling gently downwards as if gravity is softly tugging at them. Which is nonsense of course – there’s no gravity in space.

This enormous pair no doubt aids the pilot’s success on the Galactic Racing Circuit, and there’s more to see of them, and the Neo-Classic spacecraft they’re attached to, at Rubble’s photostream. Click the link above for more front-loaded racing.

*Or we do.

Genesis

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This is where it all began. Supercars, muscle cars, minivans, Tesla, drive-thus, The Fast and the Furious franchise, Magic Tree air fresheners, and the Pontiac Aztek. All trace their existence back to this, the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the world’s first commercially-available motorcar.

Designed by German engineer Carl Benz, and financed by his wealthy wife, around twenty-five Patent-Motorwagens were produced, each powered by a 950cc single-cylinder four-stroke engine making between 2⁄3hp and 1.5hp. The car transported Carl’s wife Bertha and their two sons on the first ever long-distance car journey (66 miles) to raise publicity for the machine, a feat that she undertook without Carl’s knowledge or approval from the authorities. Which makes her excellent.

It worked of course, and began Benz’s journey to becoming one of the most well known companies on earth, ushering in the complete dominance of the internal-combustion-engined motorcar too, with all the planetary consequences that followed.

This lovely recreation of the motorcar’s genesis comes from Simon Pickard, who has built and presented the Benz Patent-Motorwagen beautifully in brick form. Click the link above to take a look at where it all began.

Ghost Protocol

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Swedish hypercar manufacturer Koenigsegg have the coolest logo of any car brand. No prancing horse, raging bull, leaping cat, or angry snake here, because Koenigsegg use a ghost.

The spooky symbol isn’t some nod to the occult, but rather has its heritage in the building in which the cars are built; an ex-Swedish Air Force hanger, the squadron of whose jets were adorned with a little ghost motif.

Koenigsegg’s 2010s hypercar, the 1,500bhp plug-in hybrid Regera, took the ghosting a little further, with the addition of the $280,000 ‘Ghost Pack’. We thought this might be neon-lighting and a spectral paint job, but it in fact consisted of additional aerodynamic pieces to increase downforce by around 20%, meaning this is one ghost that definitely won’t leave the ground.

This spectacular brick-built replica of the Regera Ghost Pack by Flickr’s 3D supercarBricks uses a few 3D-printed parts to maximise the accuracy of those aero-enhancing extras, plus features opening clamshells, a wild orange interior, and opening scissor doors too.

It’s also – unlike every other image that purportedly captures a ghost – photographed beautifully, and there’s much more to see at 3D’s photostream. Click the link above to ghost on over.

Lesser Spotted V10

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Few production cars have been powered by a V10 engine. The Dodge Viper. Various Lamborghinis. The e60-series BMW M5 (aka the really unreliable one). The Audi R8, The Lexus LFA. And this, the Porsche Carrera GT.

Powered by a 5.7litre 600+ bhp V10, the Carrera GT lasted from just 2004 to 2006, becoming an all-time great in the process. This excellent Speed Champions recreation of the iconic V10-powered supercar is the work of The G Brix of Flickr, who has captured the Carrera GT superbly in small scale. See more at G Brix’s photostream.

Lego Lanz

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This is a Lanz HL12 Bulldog, a 1920s German tractor powered by a single cylinder ‘hot bulb’ engine that was so ubiquitous, in some parts of Germany tractors are still known as ‘bulldogs’.

‘Hot bulb’ engines featured very few moving parts, no carburettor, no cooling system, and – much like the flux-capacitor in Doc Brown’s time machine – could run on almost anything.

This one has been recreated wonderfully by Nikolaus Löwe, who has replicated not only the engine but the Lanz’s full suite of 1920s mechanicals, and there’s more to see at his ‘Lanz HL12 Bulldog’ album via the link above.

Bat Effect

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We like a good mash-up here at The Lego Car Blog, even if we don’t really understand one or more of the things being mashed. Cue previous bloggee Slick_Brick, who has successfully merged Christopher Nolan era Batman (aka the best Batman) with the Mass Effect video game, of which we know nothing. We assume it has some lovely flowers in it though. Anyway, the results are excellent, with a neat Tumbler-esque rover driving through a wonderfully constructed alien landscape, and there’s more to see of Slick’s Bat Effect mash-up via the link above.

Expedition Escape

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We all need an escape sometimes. Particularly if your office includes a hoard of mythical creatures who got into the supply cupboard and have eaten all the glue sticks.

Thesuperkoala of Flickr has just the sort of vehicle that would enable this writer to escape the gluey mess that is TLCB Towers and hide out somewhere far away from Elves or Pritt Stick.

Powered by a third-party BuWizz bluetooth battery, Koala’s ‘6×6 Expedition’ includes a remote control six-wheel-drive system and steering, all-axle suspension, a detailed engine under a raising hood, plus opening doors and hatches.

It looks perfect for a remote expedition and there’s more to see at Koala’s Flickr album – make your escape with us via the link above.

Creations for Charity 2022

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Creations for Charity 2022 is Here!

It’s been a weird few years. COVID, war, spiralling energy prices, and the brink of global recession. All of that lot means we’re probably going to see a rise in poverty in the coming months, with children often feeling its effects greatest. But you can help.

Creations for Charity has provided thousands of LEGO toys to children in need, funded via the sale of creations designed and built by members of the Lego Community. Thus you can purchase an incredible one-off Lego creation, and know that all of the proceeds are going straight to children to whom they will make the biggest difference. Which is awesome.

How to Help

You can join the Creations for Charity 2022 fundraiser in several ways; by donating a creation to the Creations for Charity store, by buying a creation, or by giving a monetary donation. All three methods will result in LEGO sets being provided to underprivileged children – it might be the only toy they get, so let’s make it the best toy there is!

You can take a look at the creations already donated to the Creations for Charity store by clicking the link below, with more models to be added over the coming weeks. You could even donate your own!

In the midst of so much global turmoil, do something amazing this year, and you could change a child’s life.

Check out the fantastic one-off models available at the Creations for Charity store

Rolling Coal

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No, not morons polluting the air in diesel-powered pick-up trucks, but this utterly wonderful 1930s Scania-Vabis 355 tipper lorry, complete with a heavy load of the default fuel of the time, as built by previous bloggee SvenJ. The aforementioned load of coal can be tipped out, there’s posable ‘steering’, and beautiful detailing throughout. See more on Flickr via the link.

Business Express

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With TLCB’s home nation outlawing the sale of non-zero-emissions vehicles from the middle of next decade, some have wondered whether manufacturers whose brands are built on internal combustion will have a place. Porsche, famous for flat-6 power, have proved emphatically that they will.

The Taycan – Porsche’s first EV – is formidably fast, has a reasonable range, and – unlike Tesla – isn’t built like total crap. However all of that is secondary to the fact that in the UK, company car drivers can pay a tiny fraction of the tax that they would versus combustion engined vehicles.

As is sadly often the case, this means the poor – who can’t afford a £100k electric Porsche – will be subsiding the rich so they can get one on the cheap, but it has meant that the Taycan is a wildly popular company car in the UK.

Cue 3D supercarBricks, who has created the businessman’s favourite beautifully in appropriate Business Grey. The brick-built Porsche Taycan includes opening everything and top quality presentation, with more to see at 3D’s photostream.

Click the link above to take a look – just note that if you decide to buy some LEGO bricks to build one yourself, you’ll pay more tax than an owner of the real thing.

Tiny Erection

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The raising drawbridge, the most famous of which has even become an official LEGO set, is a staple feature in bad car chase movies, in which cars seem to happily jump over them with no effect whatsoever on their suspension, nor the driver’s spine. The reality of course would be somewhat different, but we think even TLCB’s Rover 200 could manage to jump the Somerset Bridge in Bermuda, what with its mighty hand-operated lifting section measuring… 32 inches.

The reason for the tiny measurement is the raising portion only needs to be wide enough to let the masts of sailboats pass through, as depicted here in this lovely recreation of the Somerset Bridge, complete with sailing boat and an array of bridge traffic, by Flickr’s dicken liu. Head to Bermuda for a tiny erection via the link above!

Down by the River

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You’d be forgiven for thinking we’d gone on holiday here at The Lego Car Blog, seeing as we’ve published nothing for the past few days. Sadly we hadn’t escaped the crumbling concrete carbuncle that is TLCB Towers, it’s just our Elves had found precisely nothing. Well, nothing worth posting at any rate.

If we had gone on holiday though, we’d be delighted if had a looked a little like this. Lego_nuts‘ beautiful autumnal riverside campsite looks a wonderful way to spend a long weekend, with a mini-figure family enjoying crystal clear water and towering trees, courtesy of the Jeep Wrangler 4×4 outfitted with a rooftop tent that’s brought them there.

Join us in wishing we were somewhere else at Lego_nuts’ photostream via the link above.

*Today’s (excellent) title song.

Zuk but Nysa

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This is a ZSD Nysa 522, a Polish communistical van based on the FSC Zuk, only a little nicer (hence our terrifically amusing title!). The Zuk was itself based on an FSO, which was based on a GAZ, making the Nysa the last link in effectively one long chain of Iron Curtain automotive misery.

Said Iron Curtain meant the Nysa 522 remained in production – unbelievably – until 1994, by which time the newly democratic Polish government could elect to import vans that weren’t based on the design of a Russian passenger car from the 1940s.

This lovely Model Team recreation of the ZSD Nysa 522 comes from previous bloggee and weird-Eastern-European-communist-era-specialist Legostalgie, who has captured its characterful styling beautifully. There are opening doors, including a clever sliding one on the passenger side, a detailed engine, and a lifelike interior, and there’s much more to see at Legostalgie’s ‘Nysa 522’ album on Flickr, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

Click the link above to take a look, and the link above that to see all of the weird-Eastern-European-communist-era vehicles from Legostalgie that have appeared here at The Lego Car Blog to date. All are fantastic, but we think this one is even a little Nysa…

Technic Tipping

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This neat Technic tipper truck was discovered by one of our Elves today, and they’ve all had great fun sliding down the raising tipping load bed. Flickr’s JLiu15 is the builder, and has included Power Functions motors, LED lights, a working miniature piston engine under an opening hood, and the aforementioned linear-actuator powered slide tipping bucket. See more at JLiu15’s ‘Classic Dump Truck’ album via the link.

War in the Wheat

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As is currently playing out in Ukraine, thanks to the murderous dick-bag Vladimir Putin, war can have a catastrophic effect on food production. But food production must continue, even when an invading enemy is standing amongst your crops.

Recent bloggee SirLuftwaffles travels back eighty years to the last time a murderous dick-bag brought war to Western Europe, with this wonderful scene depicting an Opel Blitz 3-ton truck parked in occupied France during the Second World War.

SirLuftwaffles has made free building instructions for the truck available and there’s more to see at his photostream. Click the link to take a look.