The roads around TLCB Towers are surrounded by Range Rovers. Back-on-black with extra black and personalised number plates, the dirtiest they get is their owners’ fake tan rubbing off on the seat bolsters. Cue Nuno Taborda‘s antidote to the modern Ranger Rover, this splendid classic Range Rover monster truck, which is simultaneously both absurd and also instantly recognisable. And we love it. Take a look on Flickr via the link above, or click here for (maybe) the real vehicle that inspired it.
Jeep, that most recognisable of American brands, has been passed around like a bottle of Jack at an underage beach party. From their creators Willys-Overland, the company has passed through five pair of hands before landing with current owners Stellantis, with each taking a swig on the way leaving ever less for the next person. Plus a bit of spit.
Which means we want something from Jeep’s current line-up like we want a venereal disease, but at a push we would take something from fifty years ago, like this marvellous Jeep CJ5.
It comes from Flickr’s Rick Brick making his TLCB Debut, there’s working steering and suspension, and much more to see of this superbly smooth Model Team Jeep CJ at his photostream. Click the link above to take a drink from the bottle whilst there’s still something good in it.
We’re not just about cars here at… er, The Lego Car Blog. No, we like all sorts of machinery, even weird 1970’s Polish agricultural equipment. And that’s what we have today courtesy of previous bloggee damianPLE (aka damjan97PL).
This is a Bizon Z056 combine harvester, produced from the mid-’70s to the early-’90s, during which time it held 80% of the Polish combine harvester market.
Following the collapse of communism and its sale from state ownership, the Bizon factory was bought by New Holland for their own production, but Bizon combines are still harvesting countless fields today.
This one captures the 1970s original beautifully in brick-form, and includes a fully functioning header (rotation, elevation and disconnect, and which can be also be removed and towed behind on a trailer), an inline-6 piston engine, plus working rear-wheel-steering.
Building instructions are available and there’s more of Damian’s Bizon Z056 to see at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe. Click on the links to bring in the harvest.
Di-neeoy neeoy di-ni-ni-ni-ni-neeoy… Yes we’re reminiscing about the greatest and gayest straight movie ever made today, courtesy of JuliusZ D. and his spectacular Grumman F-14D Super Tomcat.
The variable-sweep carrier-capable fighter was a mainstay of the United States Airforce from the mid-’70s until the mid-’00s, serving in multiple conflicts across (mostly) the Middle East, and also being operated by Iran, which is perhaps a bit awkward today…
But it is of course most famous for carrying Maverick to victory over whatever undefined-vaguely-Soviet-allied-enemy the U.S were fighting in ‘Top Gun’, and ensured a generation of kids wanted to be beach-volleyball playing fighter pilots when they grew up.
Juliusz’s incredible Model Team replica of the iconic multirole fighter is one of the finest aircraft that this site has ever featured, and you can see much more of his astonishing creation at his ‘Grumman F-14D Super Tomcat’ album, where over three-dozen stunning images are available to view.
Click the link above to join us playing beach-volleyball in far-too-tight shorts before shooting down a few MiGs.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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…
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. 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.
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.
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.
