Tag Archives: 1980s

Arabian Nights

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Truck drivers travel a looong way. Few however, travelled quite so far as those on the overland haulage route from Europe to the Middle East.

Crossing more than a dozen countries and over 4,000 miles, trucks such as this ‘Rynart’-operated Scania LB141 journeyed from Holland to Saudi Arabia (and back again) in the late-’70s and early-’80s, before the existence of most highways, and long before Google Maps and sat-nav. We’re guessing they probably weren’t transporting vegetables or milk…

This astonishingly life-like recreation of one of the trucks to travel that epic route has been constructed by Dennis Bosman (aka legotrucks), who has replicated the Scania LB141, trailer, and ‘Rynart, Holland – Saudi Arabia Express’ livery in stunning detail.

Fantastic presentation matches the phenomenal build, and you can join Dennis on the long road from Europe to the Middle East at his ‘Scania LB141 “Rynart” album on Flickr, plus you can check out how he creates spectacular models just like this one via his Master MOCers interview here at TLCB.

Big Fifty

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Turning fifty is a big occasion, and especially so for today’s birthday boy. Yes Big Foot, the original car-crushing monster truck, is half-a-century old!

This spectacular brick-built replica of the Ford F-250-based colossus is the work of Orion Pax aka Alex Jones (no not that one), complete with custom chrome, superbly authentic decals, plus LED lights and remote control drive and steering.

It’s a monstrously good build and there’s more to see of Alex’s fantastic fiftieth birthday homage to the all-time monster truck great at his photostream. Click the link above to take a look, or here to see more of Big Foot doing what it does best.

Three-Hundred Zeds

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In 2025, in TLCB’s home market, Nissan sell exactly nothing that we would want to buy, own, sit in, or be seen in. Back in the early ’90s though, and Nissan were altogether more exciting.

This is just one of several sports cars Nissan used to sell before they gave up trying to do anything at all, the fabulous second-generation 300ZX.

Launched in the late ’80s, the 300ZX was ridiculously futuristic, and utilised one of the first supercomputers (and – at the time – the world’s fastest) in its design. It was also powerful, with a naturally-aspirated V6 producing over 220bhp or a twin-turbo over 300bhp – big figures for the time.

Cue this brilliant Model Team replica of Nissan’s high water mark, created by previous bloggee Mihail Rakovskiy, who has captured the 300ZX beautifully.

Opening doors and hood, a ‘glass’ targa roof, and a superbly detailed interior, engine bay, and drivetrain all feature, and you can jump back to a time when Nissan made something other than wheeled sleeping pills at Mihail’s ‘Nissan 300ZX’ album.

Click the link above for a very different sort of Z to ones Nissan induce today.

Bowser’s Castle

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On to another ’80s German automotive icon through the medium of vintage cartoon characters, and this – a Mercedes-Benz Unimog U1700L ex-military truck turned into an off-road camper by a man named ‘Bowser’.

We suspect he’s not the fire-breathing arch-nemesis of an Italian plumber, but he still sounds pretty cool, what with this awesome ’80s Unimog as his home. Sseven Bricks is the creator of this brick-built replica of Bowser’s truck, and you can find it on Flickr via the link above.

Duck Tails*

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Ducks have the best tails of any animal. Fact. And yes, we have seen those stripy lemurs (but The Brothers Brick ruined them).

Anyway, we love ducks’ tails (and Ducktails*), particularly on a car. Some readers (including TLCB Elves) might favour gargantuan spoilers on the back of cars, but they’re wrong. Duck tails are where it’s at.

Cue previous bloggee Laszlo Torma, and his superb Speed Champions duck-tailed Porsche 911. Capturing the definitive ’80s sports car brilliantly in brick-form, you can recreate Laszlo’s model for yourself, as he’s made building instructions available, both with and without the duck-tailed engine cover. But why ever would you option the latter?

You can take a look at all the images of Laszlo’s ’80s Porsche 911 on Flickr via the link above, whilst we look up a certain duck-based cartoon of similar vintage…

*Woo-oo!

When a Truck Overtook a Rally Car

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Back in the ’80s, motorsport rules were… loose. Group B rallying created monsters beyond anything seen before, and Dakar… well that was even wilder. Entered in the late-’80s, DAF’s unbelievable eleven-ton TurboTwin 95 X1 was powered by two engines with three turbochargers each, producing a combined 1,200bhp, and which – as this infamous helicopter footage from the 1988 event shows – made it so fast it could overtake the leading cars.

Piloted by Dutch legend Jan de Rooy, the TurboTwin won the truck category in 1987, before an awful 180km/h crash killed one of Jan’s teammates the following year, causing DAF to immediately halt all motorsport activities and withdraw the TurboTwin mid-competition.

Sadly we’d not see its like again, but we can still get up close to DAF’s astonishing Dakar racer courtesy of previous bloggee Nanko Klein Paste, and his spectacular brick-built replica.

Constructed in 1:16 scale, Nako’s TurboTwin recreation includes those two triple-turbo engines, complete with intake pipes, radiators and intercoolers, pressure vessels and ancillaries, a removable body liveried with superbly replicated decals, a hugely detailed interior behind opening doors, and full LED lighting from Brickstuff.

On display at the DAF Museum in Eindhoven later this year, there’s more to see of Nanko’s amazing creation at his ‘DAF TurboTwin 95 X1’ album on Flickr, and you can overtake a Dakar-winning Peugeot rally car at 200km/h in an eleven ton truck via the link above.

Advanced Turbo Intercooling

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It’s the ’80s, and everything has a ‘Turbo’ badge, because turbos are cool. But you know what’s cooler than a turbo? Advanced Turbo Intercooling, that’s what. And it wasn’t a European sports car or Japanese techno-fest that pioneered it, but Dutch truck-maker DAF.

The DAF 3600 FTG ATi was one of the first to feature an intercooled turbocharged diesel engine, which – in top trim – made a hefty 370bhp. And it had a hypoid drive axle, which sounds nearly as cool as Advanced Turbo Intercooling.

This incredible Model Team example comes from previous bloggee Nanko Klein Paste, and it is stunning in its realism. Based on a real DAF 3600 FTG ATi operated by ‘G.J. van Die’, Nanko has replicated every detail, including applying excellent custom decals to recreate the livery worn by its life-size counterpart.

Just one image is available at the time of writing but it’s well worth checking out, showing both this astonishing creation as well as the real truck it replicates so beautifully. Click the link above to visit Nanko’s photostream and spool up your turbo.

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.

Tall, Dark & Handsome

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What’s strong, handsome, nearly 6ft, and born in the ’80s? No no, it’s not this TLCB Writer (although thank you for thinking that), but this astonishing Peterbilt 359.

Constructed by TLCB Master MOCer Dennis Bosman (aka legotrucks), this stunning creation is based on a real 359, and – at 1:13 scale – measures an enormous 5ft 10″ from bumper to bumper.

Pulling a Fontaine 53ft trailer loaded with a whole lotta pipe, Dennis’ Peterbilt is one of the most intricately and accurately detailed models this site has ever published, and includes a hugely detailed Caterpillar V8 under a front-opening hood, working steering, a wonderful interior complete with opening doors and sleeper, plus chromed exhaust stacks, mirrors, steps, wheels, horns, lights, and bumpers.

It’s a truly spectacular creation, with more stunning imagery available at Dennis’ ‘Peterbilt 359’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to take a closer look at one of the most life-like Lego trucks ever built.

F___ Bros

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The Ferrari F40 is probably the finest Ferrari ever made. And therefore it’s possibly the finest automobile ever made too. The F50… isn’t. Still, they’ve both been built by Flickr’s RGB900 and you can see more of one the all time greats, and the F50, via the link above.

Ol’ Yella

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This amazing machine is a Kenworth 993, a cab-over, six-wheel-drive, heavy duty truck designed in the 1980s to move heavy equipment. And, in one extraordinary case, a nuclear reactor.

We say ‘cab-over’, but the cab was not in fact over anything, as the 700bhp Cummins V12 that powered the 993 was too large to fit under the it, instead being mounted directly behind.

Capturing this unusual design is TsungNing Lee, who has recreated the Kenworth 933 in spectacular detail. Enormous third-party tyres afford a scale that enables incredible realism, with TsungNing both building and presenting his creation in stunning fashion.

There’s much more to see, including work-in-progress photos, at TsungNing’s photostream, and you can take a closer look at this remarkable truck via the link above.

It’s the East German Rozzers!

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The Trabant 601 may not have seemed a formidable police car, but seeing as most of the East German population would have had, at best, their own Trabant 601, and more likely a crappy motorcycle or a pushbike, it was probably a sufficient deterrent.

Perhaps less so by the early ’90s though, when – after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany – East German criminals suddenly had access to the Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

This example comes from _Tiler, who’s been sitting on some official LEGO ‘Polizei’ stickers for a decade just for this moment. Join him keeping the streets of East Germany safe via the link above.

Camp Beige

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The holiday season is near its end, and thus we’re already thinking about the next time we can escape this crumbling ruin of an office filled and the mythical creatures within it (the Elves, not TLCB staff).

Cue recent bloggee Nick Kleinfelder‘s recreation of his own 1980s Volkswagen T3 Westfalia, complete with a boot-rack, a pop-top, and a delightful beige hue that could have been marketed as ‘Infant’s Nappy’.

There’s more of the model to see at Nick’s photostream, and you can holiday in an ’80s VW via the link above.

Italian American

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Most Chevrolet Corvette owners would, we suspect, happily swap their American sports car for one wearing the prancing horse. But perhaps not this Corvette for this Ferrari.

The early-’60s ‘C1’ Chevrolet Corvette is one of America’s greatest cars. The Ferrari 308 is not one of Italy’s. Still, it looks good in Lego form, at least at the hands of Firas Abu-Jaber, who has used only the parts from the LEGO Icons 10321 Chevrolet Corvette set to create this superb 308 B-Model.

Less pretty, less powerful, and less reliable than the two-decade-older ‘Vette, the 308 still wears that famous prancing horse, and thus if you’d like to swap your American classic for an Italian one you can take a look at Firas’ photostream, where all of the excellent images of his 10321 alternate can be found.

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.