Tag Archives: 1970s

Station Wagon Appreciation Society

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It wasn’t that long ago that we were mocking giant American station wagons. Now though, deep in the era of endless identical electric crossovers, we yearn for them. And this TLCB writer is literally typing this from the seat of an electric crossover whilst it charges…

Whether you know them as Estates, Tourers, or Station Wagons, they are all vastly superior to any modern SUV. Including this one, a lovely 1975 Dodge Coronet by Flickr’s Sseven Bricks.

Constructed in 6-wide, Sseven’s Dodge captures a bygone era of motoring wonderfully, and you can head to a gas station in the ‘70s via the link above, whilst this writer waits for his charge to finish.


Flying Buttress

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The Jaguar XJS is a rare sight these days (away from the banger track at least), and as a result is looking ever more beautiful, especially from this angle. Those are ‘flying buttresses’ and – as is often the way with unique designs – they weren’t appreciated in their own time. They look awesome now though, and Stefan Eekman (aka Sebeus I) has captured them beautifully in brick form as a gift for a colleague. Fly over to Flickr or Eurobricks for more.

Flat Earther

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What’s blue and white and flat? Well according to a particularly niche group of society, the observably spherical planet which we call home. Because conspiracy, ice-walls, domes etc. Well TLCB is jumping on the flat bandwagon today because we’re got this lovely early-’70s blue and white Ford F-250 flatbed. Built by Flickr’s Sseven Bricks it’s both assembled and presented beautifully, and you can head across the flat disc to see more via the link above. Just don’t get too near the edge or NASA will disappear you.

The Streets of San Francisco

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Is there anything more 1970s than a brown police car crashing through some gratuitously placed boxes? Of course not, and Flickr’s SvenJ. takes us straight to ‘The Streets of San Francisco’ with this fabulous early-’70s Ford Galaxie as driven by Lieutenant Mike Stone and Inspector Steve Keller. Usually through some gratuitously placed boxes.

Clever building techniques and wonderful detailing match the top quality presentation, and there’s lots more of Sven’s seventies Galaxie to see via the link above. Plus you can hear tyres squealing on gravel and watch a few shots used twice in the hope TV audiences wouldn’t notice in this glorious ‘The Streets of San Francisco’ montage!

Small Scenes

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We like vehicular models here at The Lego Car Blog. Which might be stating the obvious somewhat. But we also like it when they’re placed in a brick-built environment to match, as both of today’s creations have been by their respective builders. Martin Spunkt has positioned his early-’70s GMC Sierra Grande (itself based on the design of another TLCB bloggee) inside a workshop, whilst Fukku Guen has created a lovely autumnal street scene for his JDM kei truck. Both vignettes include a range of details to add to the visual narrative and you can step into each via the links above.

Don’t Tell Ferrari’s Lawyers

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A pen has just been dropped by a grey-suited lawyer in Maranello. He looks up. He can sense something is wrong. Somewhere, someone has used the F-word without his permission.

Ferrari do not like it when their logo is applied to something they haven’t built (or even if it’s removed from something they have), so they’re really not going to like this Ferrari Dino 246 GTS by Flickr’s Nathanael Kuipers. Because underneath, this Ferrari is a Corvette.

Yes this Dino 246 GTS is constructed entirely from the pieces found within the Icons 10321 Chevrolet Corvette set, and includes opening doors, engine cover and front and rear trunks, a removable roof, and a detailed interior, with all of it rebuildable at home as Nathanael has published building instructions too.

There’s much more to see at Nathanael’s photostream and you can take a closer look – and maybe recreate it for yourself – via the link above, before Nathanael is handed a Cease & Desist notice by a disgruntled Italian lawyer.

Two-Tone Truck

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TLCB’s Rover 200 is two-tone, but somehow beige-and-rust doesn’t look quite as good as Sseven Brick’s classic orange-and-white Ford F-250.

Cleverly constructed in 7-wide, the white portion of the bodywork has a depth of 2½ plates, and we’re not even sure that’s possible.

However he’s done it there’s more to see at Sseven’s photostream, and you can two-tone over via the link whilst we ponder if an orange rattle-can could transform the office Rover…

Brick Slick

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We like vehicles that burn liquid dinosaurs here at The Lego Car Blog. But there is a dark side to the Oil Age, and it goes beyond climate change and air quality. Because when the extraction or transportation of oil goes wrong, the consequences are horrific.

This is the Amoco Cadiz, a Liberian-flagged supertanker that was on its way to England in 1978 loaded with crude oil. In rough seas off the coast of France the rudder jammed, and despite concerted efforts to save it the doomed ship grounded on rocks near the village of Portsall.

Battered by the waves, the rocks tore through the hull, breaking the ship into three, and all 230,000 tons of oil leaked into the sea in what was at the time the largest ever spill.

Huge environmental damage was done, with Loic Gilbert recreating the tragedy magnificently in microscale in the diorama here.

Capturing the wrecked Amoco Cadiz, the village of Portsall, and the immense slick of oil covering the French coastline, Loic’s creation is a reminder of the damage mankind’s obsession with oil can do.

There’s more to see at Loic’s photostream and you can join the multi-million dollar clean-up via the link above.

Beige is Beautiful

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Beige. The colour of hearing aids, old ladies’ bathrooms, and the interior walls of those with no imagination. And also German public transport.

This is a 1970s MAN SD200 double-decker bus, as used across the West German enclave of Berlin before reunification.

Recreated beautifully in Model Team form by the immensely talented Max Richter, this stunning replica of the SD200 captures the classic bus in spectacular detail, particularly inside, which is no doubt the finest bus interior we’ve ever seen built from LEGO bricks.

A range of working features accompany the visual realism, including functioning steering and an ingenious mechanical door operation via an axle that can be inserted into the side.

A detailed engine and opening hatches complete the build, and there’s more to see of this amazingly lifelike Berlin bus on Flickr and on YouTube, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

Click the links above to board a beige bus across Berlin in 1975.

Big Yellow Taxi*

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This TLCB writer always found it strange that American taxis used to be ginormous V8 sedans. Threading through congested city streets, the only thing lower than miles-per-hour was the miles-per-gallon.

Today’s far more efficient hybrids and EVs make much more sense, but they do somehow seem less… American than the V8 barges that preceded them.

Cue Sseven Bricks’ fabulous ‘75 Plymouth Fury taxi, which captures the spirit of the lost cabs beautifully. There’s more to see on Flickr, and you can hail a ridiculously inefficient ride via the link.

*Today’s absolutely lovely title song.

Green Gran

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We’re still in classic car territory here at The Lego Car Blog, which is fine by us; anything from years past is preferable to whatever Chinese electric crossover has been revealed in the last ten minutes.

This is definitely not a Chinese electric crossover. It’s a 1972 Ford Gran Torino Sport, a car that was available with five different V8 engines and a maximum of four gears. Because gas was cheap and nothing was going to happen to jeopardise that.

Anyway, this marvellous Model Team recreation of the ‘72 Ford Gran Torino Sport comes from previous bloggee Jakub Marcisz, and features working steering, opening everything, and a superbly detailed interior and V8 engine.

Building instructions are available and there’s more of the model to see at Jakub’s ‘Gran Torino 1972’ album on Flickr.

Winning Horse

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Modern Formula 1 cars last just one season. But back in the 1970s Scuderia Ferrari created a car that lasted for six. And it won four of them, making it the most successful design in Formula 1 history.

First competing in 1975, the Ferrari 312T featured a tubular steel spaceframe, a transverse 3 litre flat-12 making around 500bhp, and excellent reliability. The version we have here today is the T4 variant, featuring aerodynamic modifications to take the Constructor’s World Championship back from Lotus, whose ‘ground effect’ design ended the 312T’s winning streak in 1978.

It worked too, returning the Constructor’s title to Ferrari and giving Jody Scheckter the Driver’s Championship. This fabulous recreation of the 312 T4 comes from Andre Pinto of Flickr, and captures Scheckter‘s title-winning car in spectacular detail.

Custom chromed pieces, authentic replica decals, and stunning internals make Andre’s Ferrari 312T one of the finest vintage Formula 1 cars we’ve published yet, and you can find all the images at his ‘Ferrari 312 T4’ album via the link above.

The First of Many

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It’s 1970, and northern France is being pounded by heavy rain. Of the dozens of starters at that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, only seven remain. The leading three are built by a manufacturer that has never won the race before. Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann’s Porsche Salzburg 917K crosses the finish line five laps ahead of the rest, beginning a run that to date includes nineteen outright wins, making Porsche the most successful manufacturer in Le Mans history.

This fantastic Speed Champions homage to that first victory comes from SFH_Bricks of Flickr, whose Porsche Salzburg 917K includes a tremendous replica livery courtesy of Brickstickershop. Building instructions are available and you can head to a soaking Circuit de la Sarthe fifty-six years ago via the link above.

Mining Cornwall

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The Cornwall Peninsula in the very south of the United Kingdom is famous for its pasties, beaches, cider, and – at one time – mining.

This began with silver and tin, plundered by the Romans, and ended with coal, plundered by the Government.

Mines were a combination of dangerous ‘pits’ and open cast, with the latter exploited by enormous mechanisation in later years. This is one such machine from the time, the 390-ton Ruston-Bucyrus 195-B electric rope shovel.


Recreated in 1:28.5 form, this spectacular replica of the Ruston-Bucyrus 195-B comes from recent bloggee Beat Felber, to work alongside his Terex 33-11C mining truck.

Like his previously featured Terex, Beat’s electric rope shovel is packed with electronics to bring it to life, with four Power Functions motors driving the tracks, two the swing motion, another the main winch, and an eighth the dipper handle. No, we don’t know what a dipper handle is.

Finally two CaDA micromotors power the bucket door release and motorised access ladder, there are two sets of LEDs lighting the model, and the whole lot is controllable remotely via twin SBricks.

It’s a hugely impressive feat of engineering, with lots more of the model to see at Beat’s ‘Ruston-Bucyrus 195-B’ Flickr album – where it’s pictured alongside the Terex 33-11C with which it would have worked mining Cornish coal.

Grab a pasty and a cider and head to 1980s Cornwall via the link above.

A V10 Tip

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TLCB top tip; want a rear-wheel-drive Japanese V10-engined icon but can’t afford a Lexus LFA? Get yourself a 1970s Isuzu truck!

Yes the Isuzu V10ss had a V10 engine under the curvy cab, providing the power for all sorts of heavy duty applications across Asia.


This spectacular replica of the classic Japanese truck comes from previous bloggee TsungNing Lee, who has recreated the V10ss beautifully.

There’s working steering, a functional tipper, a tilting cab, and of course a brick-built V10 engine. Take our tip and visit Tsung’s ‘Isuzu V10ss Truck’ album for more stunning imagery.