Tag Archives: 1970s

Shot of Lime

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The state of modern cars leaves this TLCB Writer very unenthusiastic about the automotive future. Dreary electric cross-overs connected directly to the Chinese Communist Party, there isn’t a single interesting one among them. Which means if you want to find something with a soul, you have to go back to a car – and brand – from decades past. This is the Plymouth Barracuda, a lime green muscle car powered by a Hemi V8 that was literally too big to fit under the hood.

Built by Szunyogh Balázs, this fabulous replica of the Hemi ‘Cuda replicates Plymouth’s iconic ’70s muscle car in LEGO ‘Icons’ scale, and includes working steering, opening doors and trunk, plus a highly detailed Hemi V8 underneath (mostly) the opening hood. It’s a superb homage to a time when cars weren’t just phones with wheels, and you can reclaim your automotive soul at Szunyogh’s ‘Hemi Cuda’ album via the link above.

Smoking Silhouette

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Lancia’s magnificent mid-engined Stratos is one of World Rallying’s most famous cars, winning the Championship three years in a row from 1974 to ’76.

But less well known is that the Stratos lived beyond its World Rally Championship success, becoming a turbocharged silhouette circuit racer in the wild late-’70s Group 5 ‘Special Production Car’ era.

Only the hood, roof, and doors had to remain production spec, leading to some pretty loose interpretations of ‘Production Car’, with Lancia’s Group 5 entry no different.

Created by Alan Guerzoni, this homage to the Group 5 Stratos Turbo captures its bizarre aesthetic brilliantly, with custom decals (including obligatory ’70s cigarette marketing) and 3D-printed wheels adding to the accuracy. Head to a circuit c1976 and hold on tight.

Short & Ugly

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Short, ugly, slow, and looks older than it is. No no, not this TLCB Writer (and he’s offended you thought so), but this neat render of the UAZ-469, a Soviet-era off-road vehicle that is still in production today. Flickr’s Thinh Thi is the creator of both these soft-topped military and civilian versions, which cunningly include four opening doors, and you can check them out via the link.

Plymouth Patrol

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It’s the late ’70s, and Ford’s Crown Victoria is still a decade-and-a-half away from police ubiquity. Which means a variety of barge-like metal is plying America’s highways wearing a star on the side. This is one such patrol car, the Plymouth Fury (a great automotive name), as recreated wonderfully by Sseven Bricks. Click the link to Protect and Serve circa-’78.

The Car You Always Promised Yourself

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Is there anything cooler than a bright yellow Mark 1 Ford Capri? No, of course not, and previous bloggee Versteinert had the coolest dad ever, because this is a replica of the exact car owned by his father in the ’70s.

Ford’s European coupe was offered in a bewildering array of trims and engine sizes, with Versteinert’s dad choosing a mid-range engine married to high specification, with his being 2000 GXL.

Capturing his father’s car in wonderful detail, Versteinert’s beautifully presented 7-wide model is packed with ingenious building techniques, and you can see it close up at his ‘Ford Capri’ album via the link.

And what of the Capri itself? Well after decades of hiatus, Ford have brought the Capri back as… an electric crossover. Because of course they have. It might be available in yellow, but we’ll take Versteinert’s dad’s Mark 1 2000 GXL any day.

Why Do Only Fools and Horses Work?

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And now for something that every one of our British readers will immediately recognise, the optimistically named Reliant Regal Supervan. Most famously wearing ‘Trotters Independent Trading Co’ livery, the Supervan was one the stars of the cult comedy ‘Only Fools and Horses’, in which it carried all manner of dodgy wares around Peckham, including – in this case – blow-up dolls that took their brief rather literally…

Newcomer BobKickflip is the builder behind this one, who has replicated it, its iconic ‘Trotters’ livery, and its payload of explosive replica females brilliantly. There’s more of the model to see, including a link building instructions, at Bob’s photostream, and you can head to Hookie Street via the link above.

Survive the Fire

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Ford’s Transit was an emphatic success when it launched in the 1960s. By the late ’70s almost every van on British and European roads was a Transit, with vans called ‘Transits’ regardless of their actual make and model.

But the Transit was also disposable. Built as a tool, rarely looked after, and thrown away afterwards, the attrition of the Transit was almost total. Almost.

In 1960s-70s Germany, the Transit Mk.1 was a popular fire response vehicle, carrying ladders on the roof, pumping equipment inside, and with a siren and an upturned plant-pot blue light mounted above the cab.

Unlike their invariably white workhorse brethren, Transits in the fire service were well looked after, meticulously maintained, and travelled relatively low mileage. They were also kept for decades, and thus by the time they retired they were the only surviving examples of the Mk1 left. Which means that today if you see a Ford Transit Mk1 in Germany, it’ll probably be red, and once have carried ladders on the roof.

Cue Versteinert‘s lovely 7-wide German fire service Ford Transit Mk1, constructed following his more humdrum version that appeared here last month. Beautiful attention to detail matches the presentation, and there’s more to see of his fantastic fire service Ford at his photostream.

Click the first link in the text above for one of the few Transit Mk1 survivors, or the second for one that almost certainly didn’t.

In Transit

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In the late ’60s Ford were massive in Britain. With dozens of models produced in dozens of factories, they were the best selling car brand by miles. But we’re not here for their cars today, we’re here for something much more important. The Transit.

Launched in 1965 and built not far from TLCB Towers, the Ford Transit immediately became the best-selling van in Europe, and with the Mark 1 in production for twenty years it became so ubiquitous that even today many Brits still call vans ‘Transit-Vans’ regardless of the make or model.

In fact the Mark 1 Transit’s dominance was so great that by the early ’70s London’s Metropolitan Police estimated that 95% of all bank raids used one, as of course did the police themselves.

The Transit’s legacy continues today, with the fourth generation being the best selling vehicle of any type in the UK, and since its release in America, its the best selling van there too.

But back to 1965, and this fantastic 7-wide Speed Champions homage to Ford’s most important post-war vehicle. Constructed by Flickr’s Versteinert it captures the classic van’s aesthetics beautifully, and Vernsteinert’s superbly presented model looks the best way to move stuff about in the late-’60s that we can think of. Of course in the late-’60s, the Transit was pretty much the only way to move stuff about.

There’s more to see at Vernsteinert’s photostream, and you can join every other ’60s van driver from florists to bank robbers via the link in the text above.

Volvo²

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No this time we’re not making classic Volvo jokes. Because today’s post is a Volvo atop another Volvo, for some kind of Volvo².

This phenomenal Volvo Aero truck is the work of MCD, and it might be – visually at least – the most life-like Technic truck our Elves have found to date. Constructed in 1:21 scale, the Technic panels MCD has used fit the model so perfectly it looks like they were purpose made for it, as do the genuine stickers from the LEGO Technic 42175 Volvo FMX set which work a treat here.

A five-axle Nooteboom trailer in tow carries another beautifully recreated Volvo hauler, with MCD’s classic Volvo F89 every bit as good as the modern Aero transporting it.

There’s more to see of both creations at the Eurobricks discussion forum, and you can click the link above to get to the square root of Volvo trucks.

Digitally Dinky

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Britain’s new car market was once filled with light, nimble, rear-wheel-drive sports cars. Dozens of different models were produced, and there was room for all of them… until the arrival of the hot hatchback.

Killing off the sports car in just a few short years, the hot hatchback became the affordable driver’s car of choice, and – to some extent – still is, despite the seemingly unending march of the SUV. Thus here are three of them (although one isn’t technically a hatchback), all created digitally by Flickr’s Peter Blackert, and each was another nail in the sports car coffin.

First up (above) was Ford’s Fiesta XR2. Released in 1981, the XR2 added a 1.6 litre crossflow engine (and some black plastic, stripes, and extra lights) to Ford’s humble supermini, creating a car that could out perform any comparable sports car of the day, and yet could seat four and their luggage.

Of course small quick cars didn’t start with the Fiesta XR2, having been around since the Mini Cooper of the early ’60s. Austin and Morris – now morphed (along with many other brands) into the dysfunctional behemoth British Leyland – continued with their own sporty offering, the Mini Clubman 1275 GT. Effectively the same car as the decade-old Mini Cooper, the Clubman wore a squared off front end to make it, um… marginally uglier. The ’70s were weird.

Our last hot hatchback comes from one of the genre’s giants; Peugeot. But this isn’t their iconic 205 GTI. The 104 arrived a decade earlier, with this example being the strangely truncated three-door ‘Coupe’ version (which was some rather optimistic marketing on Peugeot’s part). A 205 GTI it was not, but it set the scene for what was to come, and you can see more of it plus Peter’s other virtual recreations of sporty seventies’ superminis at his photostream via the link above.

Interception

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TLCB Elves love Mad Max. V8s engines, extreme violence, and everything blows up. Cue much excitement today therefore, when one of their number returned to TLCB with this excellent mostly-LEGO recreation of the 1973 Ford Falcon-based ‘V8 Interceptor’ from the original movie, which they’re now delightedly watching. They have Flickr’s GolPlaysWithLego to thank and you can see more of this superbly-presented homage to post-apoc vehicular violence via the link above.

Russian Wings

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Russia, or the Soviet Union before it, are the world’s most prolific maker of military helicopters. Tens of thousands of MiL helicopters have been built since the first design way back in the late 1940s, and are operated by dozens of nations the world over. Including a few you might not expect.

Cue Flickr’s Francis Bibeau, here making their TLCB debut, and these two incredible brick-built replicas of Russia’s finest rotary-wing aircraft.

The first (above) is a Mil Mi-17V-5, as leased by the Canadian military for extraction duties in Afghanistan, whilst the second (below) is a Polish Air Force Mil Mi-8T, the world’s most numerous military helicopter, depicted here on a fast-roping training exercise.

Wonderfully realistic, Francis’ models display forensic attention to detail, clever construction, and deploy custom mini-figures to great effect to bring the scenes to life.

There’s much more to see of each MIL helicopter diorama at Francis’ ‘Bird’ album, and you can hover under rotating Russian wings via the link above.

Polishing a Fiat

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It might seem like the posts here at The Lego Car Blog are simply a scattergun of whatever the Elves have found that meets our criteria, but no – just look at the seamless and completely non-coincidental links running through the last few posts; a Ma.Ktober mech that looks like a Jurassic Park dinosaur followed by the Jurassic Park Jeep and said dinosaur, and an ancient little Fiat followed today by an even more ancient little Fiat. Exactly.

Anyway, this ancient little Fiat is a 126p, a cheap 1970s rear-engined city car that unbelievably endured until 2000 in Polish Polski-Fiat form. Over three-million Fiat / Polski-Fiat 126s were produced during its 28 year production run, and this excellent brick-built homage to one of Europe’s most popular people’s cars captures the real Polish 126p in wonderful detail.

Working suspension, posable steering, opening doors, front trunk and engine cover, an accurate engine, and a superbly life-like interior all feature, and there’s much more to see – including a link to building instructions – courtesy of SIM CAMAT on Flickr.

Click the link above to take a look, whilst we try to somehow link whatever the Elves find next with a 1970s Fiat…

The Last of the V8 Interceptors

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Law and order is breaking down. Fuel is ruinously expensive. And the land is turning into a scorching desert. But enough about today, let’s indulge in some dystopian movie-based escapism. 1979’s ‘Mad Max’ depicted a future in which law and order has broken down, fuel is ruinously expensive, and the land is a scorching dese… oh.

One movie plot difference is that Max did get to drive a V8, whereas here it won’t be long before they’re a remnant of history. Which means we’d probably take the ‘Mad Max’ post-apocalyptic dystopian future over whatever hell-scape is actually on the horizon.

Helping us imagine it is Peter Blackert (aka Lego911), who has recreated Max’s modified ’73 Ford Falcon XB Interceptor brilliantly in brick form. An enormous supercharger, eight side pipes, and roof and boot spoilers accurately capture the film Falcon, and you can hit the highway across a post-apocalyptic wasteland via the link above.

Top Grades

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After extolling the virtues of creations that don’t need a suite of electronics earlier today, here’s one with a suite of electronics. Because shut up, that why.

It is astonishing though, coming again from Flickr’s Beat Felber who is on something of a mass upload. This one is a Champion 100-T motor-grader, a Canadian design from the 1970s, and the world’s largest.

Powered by one LEGO Power Functions L Motor and eight third-party CaDa micromotors, Beat’s grader can drive, steer, lean its front wheels, pivot the cab articulation, plus raise, lower, angle, pitch, and side-shift the blade, all remotely operable via bluetooth thanks to three SBrick controllers. Which would make it an unmatched Elf-squishing device if it wasn’t so slow.

Still, whilst the TLCB Elf that found Beat’s Champion grader may be disappointed, we certainly aren’t, and there’s more to see of this astonishing creation at his ‘Champion 100-T’ album. Click the link above to receive top grades.