Tag Archives: 1980s

Feb 17 2019
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Town

Dangerous Erection

Lego MAZ, RSD-10 Pioneer SS-20 Saber

This website has featured a few tenuously linked erection puns over the years, but today there’s no tenuousness at all, as this green phallus-on-wheels is actually called an ‘erector-launcher’.

This Cold War era Soviet RSD-10 ‘Pioneer’ ballistic nuclear missile and the amazing MAZ 547 transporter erector-launcher which carried it come from TLCB regular Ralph Savelsberg, and they’re terrifying.

Measuring over 54ft in length, weighing 37 tons, and capable of flying 7,500km whilst carrying up to three warheads by the end of its development, the RSD-10 was at the very forefront of pointless nuclear dick-waving.

Over 650 of the things were produced, but are now thankfully destroyed (bar a few decommissioned for display purposes) after the U.S and the Soviet Union signed an agreement in 1987 to stop being total morons*.

The Soviet Union though, being a model of responsibility, sold a few of the launchers to North Korea, because they’re trustworthy and accountable state nation. Sigh.

There’s more to see of this rather brilliant mini-figure scale recreation of the MAZ 547 and RSD-10 at Ralph’s Flickr album via the link above, and if you fancy seeing a real one you can do so at the Ukraine Air Force Museum in Kiev and at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

Or on the streets of Pyongyang in North Korea of course.

Lego MAZ, RSD-10 Pioneer SS-20 Saber*And if you think the U.S is any better, guess who this year pulled out of the agreement that ended the RSD-10 Pioneer’s use… Yeah, this guy.

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Feb 10 2019
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Lego

Miami Vice

Lego Ferrari Daytona Miami Vice

Ferrari didn’t allow Miami Vice to use their cars, because they are – famously – dicks when it comes to their brand protection. The producers decided they wanted Ferraris anyway, and commissioned Corvette-based replicas to create their desired movie cars. We’re not sure who had the last laugh there, the Miami Vice production company or Ferrari, who received marketing for free without even having to lend out a couple of cars.

This neat replica of a replica of a Ferrari Daytona Spider in Miami Vice black on Magnolia spec comes from previous bloggee Jonathan Elliott, and a rather splendid job he’s done too. See more at the link above.

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Jan 19 2019
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Lego

Black Panther

Lego A-6E Intruder VA-35 Black Panthers

Jungle cat, 1960’s political movement, comic-book hero (and slightly overrated movie), and U.S Navy attack squadron, the name ‘Black Panther’ has seen varied use over the years. It’s the latter usage we’re focussing on here, and the squadron that adopted the name from the 1930s until its disbandment in 1995.

The Black Panthers were a carrier-based air squadron that flew combat missions in the Second World War, Korean War, Vietnam War and the First Iraq War, with all of those bar the first using this aircraft, the Grumman A-6 Intruder. This spectacular recreation of the A-6 comes from Master MOCer and TLCB regular Ralph Savelsberg (aka Mad Physicist), who has constructed the Intruder in A6-E Black Panthers specification in glorious detail.

With folding wings, a sliding canopy, custom decals and a full armament there’s a whole lot more to see. Take a look at Ralph’s A6-E Intruder Flickr album by clicking here, where over twenty high quality image are available.

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Jan 18 2019
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Model Team

Rear-ly Rapid

Lego Skoda Rapid

The current Skoda Rapid is one of the most boring cars ever made. Back in the 1980s though, before the company became yet another subsidiary of the Volkswagen empire, the little Skoda was much more interesting. Much worse too, but we’d take ‘interesting’ over ‘competent’ any day.

Whilst the Rapid only had 60bhp (at most) from its 1300cc engine, that engine was mounted in the rear, driving the rear wheels via a transaxle – just like a Porsche 911! Only worse.

We might be being unfair on the Rapid though, as whilst Skoda rightly had a rubbish reputation for quality in the 1980s (even compared to its British, French and Italian rivals) the Rapid was actually quite well made, being tough and reliable – even to the point of becoming a (moderately) successful rally car and being converted into a (moderately) stylish cabriolet by a UK-based specialist.

The excellent recreation of the ’80s Skoda Rapid pictured here comes from PsycoWard666 of Eurobricks, who’s taken some time away from terrorising the nurses to construct this wonderfully accurate Model Team replica of the classic rear-engined Czech coupe. With opening doors, trunk, and a brilliantly detailed interior Psyco’s Rapid is definitely worth a closer look – click on the link above to visit the Eurobricks forum and take it in the rear.

Lego Skoda Rapid

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Dec 23 2018
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Town

Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean

Lego Mr. Bean Mini

Mr. Bean, one of Britain’s most beloved TV characters, had quite an adventure in his 9th episode. Taking full advantage of the New Year’s Day sales, Mr. Bean bought himself an armchair, paint, brushes and a new mop. Only one problem; his little 1980s Mini was far too small to contain his copious purchases.

Fortunately Bean is a clever fellow, and thus he managed to construct an elaborate driving mechanism from the very items that caused the problem in the first place! What could go wrong? Find out by clicking here, and you can see more of this superb homage to TV gold courtesy of Flickr’s PixelJunkie by clicking here.

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Dec 12 2018
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Town

Stranger Vans

Lego Chevrolet Van Stranger Things Netflix

Normally amongst the most mundane vehicles on the roads, vans don’t often appear here at The Lego Car Blog. Today though, we have two, and they’re strange ones at that.

First up is an admittedly boring 1980s Chevrolet G-Series panel van, although it has been wonderfully recreated in 6-wide mini-figure scale. However it’s a van which stars in the Netflix sci-fi series ‘Stranger Things’ and it really does do something strange. Click the link to find out what, and you can see more of the superb model pictured above courtesy of Andrea Lattanzio (aka Norton74) by clicking here.

Today’s second van doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary but it was, for America at least, a strange vehicle. This mid-’60s Chevrolet ‘forward control’ van mounted the driver and controls right at the front of the chassis, leaving more space in the back for carrying things. Common in Europe and Asia, this design never really took off in the ‘states, which is a shame as we think Chevrolet’s 1960s efforts looked pretty cool. This one comes from Tim Henderson of Flickr, it’s also built in 6-wide mini-figure scale, and there’s more of it to see at Tim’s photostream by clicking here.

Lego Chevrolet Van

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Dec 03 2018
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Model Team

Stack-a-DAF

Lego DAF FAS Trucks

We are going to have a very fat Elf in TLCB Towers shortly…

Arian Janssens has appeared here at The Lego Car Blog numerous times over the years, more often than not with his fantastic Model Team classic DAF trucks. But how to store a multitude of large LEGO models without them over-running the house? Fortunately the answer lies in how these trucks are transported in real life. Being designed to carry heavy loads, trucks are able to transport one another, and can be stacked on trailers several trucks high.

Lego DAF FAS Trucks

Arian’s ‘Jan de Rooy Transport’ DAF FAS 2800 shows how this looked back in the late ’70s to early ’80s, with an FT 2800 sleeper-cab tractor, an FA 1200 chassis-cab truck, and an FT 1600 tractor in transport behind it. Each is superb model in its own right (hence the Elf that found this is due to receive four meal tokens, to much jealousy amongst its co-workers), built with incredible attention to detail and further enhanced with realistic custom decals.

There’s much more to see of Arian’s DAFs-in-transit at his album on Flickr – take a closer look via the link in the text above.

Lego DAF FAS Trucks

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Nov 19 2018
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Lego

F1 of Ages

Lego McLaren MP4-6

The 2018 Formula 1 season is all but over, so we’re heading back in time to some of the sport’s greatest racing cars. TLCB regular Angka Utama is the builder behind them and he’s done a simply spectacular job of recreating three of F1’s most iconic entries.

First up (above) is the McLaren-Honda MP4/6 in which Ayrton Senna won the 1991 F1 World Championship. Angka’s model captures the real car beautifully, including a neat brick-built miniaturisation of the famous Marlboro livery.

Lego Ferrari 641

Angka’s second historic F1 car comes from the previous year, when Ferrari’s 641 took second in the F1 Constructors Championship driven by Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell. Like the McLaren above Angka’s model perfectly captures the famous racer’s shape and livery, and also includes some wonderful suspension and brake detail too, thanks to the ingenious use of mini-figure hands and Technic cogs.

Lego Williams FW14

Angka’s third and final classic Formula 1 car recreates one of the most advanced cars ever to enter F1. The Williams-Renualt FW14 was launched in 1991 with active suspension, traction control, and a semi-automatic transmission, and by 1992 it was utterly dominant, winning nine out of sixteen races and taking Nigel Mansell to the World Championship.

The model includes the FW14’s famous Canon/Camel livery and the superbly replicated bodywork and suspension of the Ferrari and McLaren too. There’s more to see of each brilliant miniature F1 car at both Angka’a Flickr photostream and via MOCpages – click the links to make the jump and ask Angka to build some more!

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Oct 13 2018
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Model Team

Sign-Written Steyr

Lego STEYR 26s37 Truck

Steyr trucks are relatively unknown in TLCB’s home nation, but the huge Austrian manufacturing conglomerate built them from the mid-1960s, and made all sorts of things as far back as the mid-1860s.

The business has since been split up and is today owned by a variety of different companies making an assortment of different products, however back when it was one entity it dominated the Austrian truck market with vehicles such as this one, the 26s37 6×2 truck.

This brilliant recreation of said hauler comes from previous bloggee Arian Janssens, and not only has he recreated the 26s37 beautifully, and added a curtain-sided trailer, he’s absolutely nailed the intricate ‘Nabek’ logos donating the company that ran it.

There’s much more to see of Arian’s superb brick-built lettering and the truck on which it’s written at his photostream. Click the link above to make the jump.

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Oct 06 2018
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Model Team

The Road Warrior

Lego Mad Max V8 Interceptor

It’s been a while since the last Mad Max post here at TLCB, but today one of the Elves returned a hero and our smelly little workers are all now crowded around the old TV/VHS combo in their cage room watching Mel Gibson smash stuff up.

We have previous bloggee crash_cramer of Flickr to thank for the relative peace this has brought, and his huge 1:10 recreation of the V8 Interceptor from 1981’s Mad Max II – The Road Warrior.

Underneath the superbly accurate exterior is a working V8 (with supercharger), functioning steering and live axle suspension, courtesy of some custom curved lift-arms.

There’s more to see of crash-cramer’s epic build at his photostream, and if you’d like your own Mad Max Interceptor (albeit rather smaller) then check out the excellent custom kit from Manner-Spielzeug here.

Lego Mad Max V8 Interceptor

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Sep 09 2018
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Model Team

Big Fish, Little Fish, Cardboard Box

Lego DAF FAs 2500 Truck

A staple dancemove in this writer’s repertoire, you can now do ‘Big Fish, Little Fish, Cardboard Box’ in Lego form! Well, it’s more ‘One Box, Two Box, No Box at All’, but close enough.

This unusual truck is a DAF FAS 2500 in ‘DHS Houtmotcentrale Rijen BJ-08-DT’ specification. Of course we know exactly what that means, we’re just choosing not to explain it here.

Lego DAF FAs 2500 Truck

Moving on… previous bloggee Arian Janssens of Flickr is the builder behind it and, as we’ve become accustomed to, his attention to detail and eye for realism are second to none.

There’s much more to see of his superb DAF FAS 2500 DHS Houtmotcentrale Rijen BJ-08-DT on Flickr via the link above, and if you’d like to learn ‘Big Fish, Little Fish, Cardboard Box’ so you can dance as well as this writer, here’s an excellent instructional video courtesy of Bob the Builder.

Lego DAF FAs 2500 Truck

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Aug 12 2018
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Model Team

’80s Truckin’

Lego DAF, Mercedes-Benz Truck

We jump back to the 1980s now with two trucks that were everywhere in Europe back then. The DAF FT95 and Mercedes-Benz 1632 could be found on every highway in Western Europe, usually pulling anonymous curtain-sided box trailers full of anonymous things.

These two top quality Model Team versions by Flickr’s Arian Janssens are pulling more unusual loads though, as each has a huge three-axle steered dropside trailer in tow complete with an on-board crane.

Each is a wonderfully detailed model with a bunch of working functions thrown in too. Head over to Arian’s photostream via the link above to see the image shown here in full size, and to find the complete galleries and build details of each model.

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Aug 03 2018
3 Comments
Lego

Hippies Need Not Apply

Lego Volkswagen Autosleeper Camper

We’re back with a car (sort of), and one that’s been grossly overlooked by both the Lego and automotive communities. This is a Volkswagen T25/T3 ‘Autosleeper’, basically the 1980s version of VW’s Transporter camper.

Thanks to being a bit square and not breaking down all the time, the T25/T3 Transporter has just a fraction of the following of its T2 predecessor, despite being better in every way and even featuring water-cooled engines so you could hear yourself think on the highway.

This means that hippies aren’t interested in them and thus T25/T3s are far more affordable than their older brethren. Even more affordable still is this neat 5-wide Lego version by Flickr’s 1saac W, who has recreated the Autosleeper in late-’80s square-headlight configuration (the least cool of them all).

There’s more to see of 1saac’s excellent 5-wide Volkswagen T25/T3 camper at his photostream, within which there’ll be no tie-die, smelly bong-water, or smelly hippies to be found anywhere! Take a look via the link above.

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Jul 10 2018
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Technic

Side Strakes

Lego Technic Ferrari Testa Rossa

Some cars are remembered for having one defining feature. The Austin Allegro’s square steering wheel for example, or the Tyrrell P34‘s extra wheels, the ’63 Corvette Stingray‘s amazing rear windows, or even the FSO Polonez‘s universal crapness.

The mid-’80s to mid-’90s Ferrari Testarossa was another such car, and you can probably guess what its defining feature was from these images.

Jeroen Ottens has built the Testarossa’s unique side strakes – along with the rest of the car – as a commissioned piece, and an incredible job he’s done too. Those amazing strakes are built from stacked Ninjago blades, capturing the Testarossa’s stand-out design feature brilliantly.

The beauty of Jeroen’s build isn’t just on the outside either, as underneath the superbly replicated body is a flat-12 engine, 5+R gearbox, all-wheel independent suspension, working steering with Ackermann geometry, pop-up headlights, adjustable seats, and opening doors, hood and engine cover.

There’s much more to see of Jeroen’s stunning Technic Ferrari Testarossa supercar on both Flickr and Eurobricks – click the links to see all the images and to read Jeroen’s details on the build.

Lego Technic Ferrari Testa Rossa

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