Tag Archives: 1970s

Stingray

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It’s 1973, the US President is engulfed in scandal, and the US are supporting an Israeli war in the Middle East causing a global energy crisis. Thank goodness things like that don’t happen now…

Anyway, back to ‘73 and this, the gorgeous ‘C3’ generation Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.


Surely one of best American car designs of all time, this C3 Corvette comes from Ciamoslaw Ciamek, who has captured it brilliantly in Speed Champions form.

Building instructions are available and there’s more to see at Cismoslaw’s photostream. Click the link above and head back to an era with no similarities to today whatsoever…

Porsche Pair

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It’s a Porsche sort of day here at TLCB, with two more joining the prior proper Porsche.

These two Speed Champions Porsches come from their endurance stable, bookending it across half a century.

Built by previous bloggee SFH_Bricks, there’s more to see of the 1975 917KH and 2025 963RSP on Flickr, and you can take a closer look via the link above.

The SS

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From one end General Motors’ cool spectrum (well, almost. There was the Chevrolet Matiz) to the other. This is the glorious 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, with racing stripes and a 7.4 litre V8 that could be optioned up to 450bhp.

This spectacular brick-built version of the top dog Chevelle comes from Jakub Marcisz who has updated his previous iteration of his model, and features working steering, a two-speed gearbox, and V8 engine, plus opening doors, hood and trunk.

Building instructions are available and you can see all of the images and find full details of Jakub’s incredible creation at both Flickr and Eurobricks. Click the links to take a look.

Insert Shiny Meathead

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We can’t see a ’60s black Dodge Charger without hearing “…Family…”, mumbled in barely comprehensible English.

But shiny meathead and terrible dialogue aside, the second-generation Dodge Charger is nevertheless an iconic American muscle car.

Produced from just 1968 to 1970, the Charger’s base engine was a 5.2litre V8 (a still big 3.7 six-cylinder would arrive later), and rose to a gargantuan 7.0 litre Hemi. Because the oil crisis was still three years away…

Until then though, fuel economy was of little concern to Americans, and the Charger was a riotous success, with almost 100,000 units produced in that short run.

This fantastic ‘Icons’ scale example comes from previous bloggee Szunyogh Balázs (aka gnat.bricks), and features opening doors, hood and trunk, a superbly detailed (and easily removable) engine and transmission, and a highly realistic drivetrain and interior too.

Stunning presentation accompanies the build, with many more beautiful images available to view at Szunyogh’s ‘Lego Dodge Charger’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to take a closer look, or here to live your life a quarter-mile at a time.

Taking Out the Trash

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The big news this week is that of a scumbag despot who has massively overreached his electoral mandate being seized and tried by a scumbag despot who has massively overreached his electoral mandate.

The result is that New York City now hosts a Venezuelan President in court facing charges of drug trafficking and terrorism, after previously convicting – on 34 counts – the man that has brought him there.

Which brings us seamlessly to today’s creation, this splendid 1978 Autocar DK Trashmaster garbage truck, for decades the default vehicle for tidying NYC’s streets.

Constructed by previous bloggee Sseven Bricks, this excellent recreation of New York’s most recognisable garbage truck captures its appearance brilliantly, and includes a working trash compactor alongside some wonderful visual attention to detail.

Sseven’s Flickr photostream hosts full details and imagery of the build, and you can take the trash to the curb in NYC (or a president, whether Venezuelan or American) via the link in the text above.

Trucking Tuesday

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We’re a Lego car blog, which is why all of today’s posts haven’t been cars… OK, we sometimes suck at our brief, but this is a lovely model nonetheless. A DAF FAS 2200 DU, it comes from serial bloggee Arian Janssens, who has both constructed and presented his latest classic truck beautifully.

Working steering, folding drop-sides, a posable grab crane (complete with a mechanism to slide it along the load bed), a steered drawbar trailer, and loaded pallets all feature, with almost two-dozen images of the model available to view showcasing its exceptional attention to detail. Take a closer look at Arian’s ‘DAF FAS 2200 DU’ album via the link above.

Wait For It…

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These days, everything is turbocharged. Which normally means a tiny engine, often with three-cylinders, fitted under the hood of a homogenous crossover. Sigh. But turbos used to be cool. Albeit laggy.

This is the BMW 2002 Turbo, one of the first turbocharged production cars, and powered by a 2.0 litre engine fitted with a 0.55 bar twin-scroll KK&K turbocharger that boosted power to almost 170bhp. Well, it did once the turbo-lag was over, usually a few seconds after you asked for it.

Launched in 1973, the 2002 Turbo’s arrival coincided exactly with the oil crisis, which meant it wasn’t exactly a success. The technology it pioneered however, is now fitted to almost every new non-electrified car on sale, and with the lag left in the past.

This excellent brick-built homage to the 2002 Turbo comes from brickphisto of Flickr, who has recreated it beautifully in 8-wide form. The doors, trunk, and hood all open, under the last of which is a replica of the M10-turbo engine that powered it, and there’s more of the model to see at brickphisto’s photostream. Put your foot down and wait a few seconds via the link above.

Get Your Uniknicks

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We love weird old vehicles here at The Lego Car Blog. Whilst other automotive sites are enthralled by the latest Lamborghini, we’re more interested in obscure British saloons, communist-era economy cars, and Japanese boxes. Or this.

‘This’ is a Werner Uniknick UK52/60, a 1970s German forestry tractor based on the already awesome Mercedes-Benz Unimog, but cut in half and then re-attached with an articulated pivot in the middle.

This tremendous Technic recreation of our new favourite thing comes from previous bloggee and TLCB Master MOCer Nico71, who constructed it for the recent BuWizz Gathering 2025 in Slovenia.

Powered by a BuWizz bluetooth battery and four Power Functions motors, Nico’s Uniknick features remote control four-wheel-drive via portal hubs, articulated steering via twin linear actuators linked to the steering wheel, and a motorised winch, plus centrally-oscillating suspension, a working and removable four-cylinder engine, and opening doors and hood.

It’s a build as impressive as the real-world vehicle it replicates, and you can recreate it for yourself as Nico has produced building instructions too. There’s much more to see at the Eurobricks forum (including links to instructions) and you can articulate your way there via the link above.

YouTube Video

Mon Ami

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1960s Citroens were properly weird. This is a Citroen Ami 6, a front-wheel-drive economy car available as saloon, estate, or van, powered by the mighty 602cc sub-30bhp two-cylinder engine from the 2CV, with a reverse-rake rear window, and seats you could remove to form picnic chairs. Because France.

This glorious homage to the little Citroen captures the, um… ‘unique’ styling of the Ami brilliantly in brick form, and it comes from previous bloggee SIM CAMAT who owns the real thing. With opening doors, hood and trunk, plus a detailed engine and interior, SIM’s Ami is a really lovely replica, and you can head to 1960s France via the link to his photostream above.

Cardboard Car

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Flickr’s Szunyogh Balazs has appeared on these pages several times before, with vehicles that are fast, loud, or both. But not today, because his latest creation is at the opposite end of the vehicular spectrum. This is the communist East German Trabant, a car made fro cardboard for people that had no choice.

Almost three million Trabant 601s were made, making it the East German equivalent of the West German Beetle. Although the Beetle became a Polo. And a Golf. Whereas the Trabant carried on until the collapse of the Soviet Union and reunification of Germany in 1991. There’s more to see of Szunyough’s splendid Lego Trabant 601 on Flickr, and you can head to the other side of the iron curtain via the link above.

Red Before Yellow

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This is a Bucyrus 495HR electric rope shovel, a 1970s-designed mining excavator capable of lifting over 100 tons at a time. Which make is very large indeed.

So large in fact, that this astounding fully-functional recreation of the 495HR is actually mini-figure scale, making this probably the largest ‘Town’ category post this site has ever published.

Created by Konajra of Flickr, it’s an update to his previously blogged Caterpillar 7495, adopting the original red livery of its creator Bucyrus before the design was purchased by Caterpillar, who painted it yellow and who still use it today.

With remote control movement via a suite of motors and several third-party programmable SBricks, LED lighting, and authentically replicated decals, Konajra’s creation is one of the most impressive of 2025, and there’s lots more to see – including some work-in-progress shots – at his ‘Bucyrus 495HR’ album. Take a closer look red rope shovelling before Caterpillar yellow via the link above.

Barracuda*

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If TLCB Elves were to design a car, it’d probably look like a ’70s Plymouth Barracuda. Lime green bodywork, a black hood with a giant scoop in the middle of it, racing stripes, and an enormous V8 engine packing up to 425bhp from over 7 litres, the Hemi ‘Cuda was wildly different to the cars trundling around our home nation at the time.

Cue this splendid Speed Champions scale recreation of Plymouth’s third-generation Barracuda from previous bloggee gnat.bricks, which includes all of the aforementioned attributes plus -and more unusually at this scale – a brick-built drivetrain, including  full-length exhausts, gearbox, driveshaft and differential, and steering arms/suspension. These don’t function of course, but then neither did the steering/suspension of the real ‘Cuda.

There’s more of gnat’s brilliant Barracuda to see at his ‘CUDA SC’ album on Flickr, and you can jump back to ’70s America via the link above, whilst clicking the link below for the most appropriate soundtrack imaginable.

*Today’s excellent title song. Of course.

ZIL 130 | Picture Special

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It’s time for a truck here at The Lego Car Blog, and today’s is something rather special. Created by previous bloggee Michael Kulakov / Michael217, this gorgeous ZIL 130 captures one of the workhorses of the Soviet Union spectacularly in LEGO bricks. Plus a few items that aren’t strictly LEGO…

Powered by a mix of genuine LEGO motors and third-party electronics, Michael’s model can drive, steer, and change between high and low gear ratios remotely, and also features a working V8 engine under the raising hood, opening cab doors, a mechanically locking trailer hitch, plus all wheel suspension.

Those wheels are non-LEGO parts, beautifully replicating real truck rims from the period via 3D printing, and are shod in RC tyres. The steering arms too are 3D-printed, and include metal inserts, which – along with some metal driveshaft components – toughen the drivetrain to handle the remote control system.

The rest of the build, including that wonderful bodywork, engine bay and interior, is all LEGO, and demonstrates superb attention to detail. Over a dozen perfectly presented images are available to view at Michael’s ‘ZIl 130’ Flickr album, plus you can find full build details, further links, and a video of the model in action at the Eurobricks discussion forum.

Tanked Up

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We’re not sure what’s inside Arian Janssens’ excellent classic DAF FT 2800 truck and tanker trailer but – as is always the case with such posts – we hope it’s beer. Or wine. Or anything alcoholic in fact. Yeah, well… you try and work with mythical creatures for a job. Arian’s creation is perfectly hopped, and you can have a taste at his ‘DAF FT 2800’ album whilst this TLCB Writer tries to find some alcohol in the office that isn’t in a hand-sanitiser.

Rolling a Six

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The Lego Car Blog Elves are very excited today…

This is the 1976 Tyrrell P34, Formula 1’s only racing-winning 6-wheeler, and – as things currently stand – the only 6-wheeler that will ever win a race as the fun-sponges at Formula 1 banned cars with more than four wheels a few years later. Because… honestly we have no idea.

This fabulous recreation of the Elf-liveried P34 comes from TLCB debutant bentobrick, who has constructed motorsport’s most recognisable design brilliantly in brick, including a working replica Cosworth DFV engine and four-wheel steering (as shown in the excellent render below).

There’s more of bentobrick’s superb 1976 Tyrrell P34 to see at the Eurobricks forum, where a link to building instructions is also available, and you can head to a Grand Prix in 1976 via the link above.