Tag Archives: 2000s

Height of Honda

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Some say Honda’s peak was its six-year dominance of the Formula 1 World Championship from 1986. Others the Ferrari-beating NSX that followed. Still others the fantastic S2000, a car with the highest specific output-per-litre of any naturally-aspirated engine for a decade. But we say it’s this, the mid-’00s ‘CL7’ euro-spec Honda Accord.

Launched in 2003 with Honda’s famous VTEC engines, imperious build quality, superb exterior design, and later the option of the brand’s first ever (and instantly world-beating) diesel engine, the seventh-generation accord was a huge success, with its big sales in TLCB’s home market no doubt helped by the best car commercial ever made.

Honda have never since recaptured that mid-’00s success (and neither have increasingly unimaginative car ads), so we’re heading back to the height of Honda courtesy of Mihail Rakovskiy and his incredible Lego Honda Accord Type-R.

Replicating the sharp exterior, interior, engine bay, and even chassis and drivetrain of the seventh-generation Accord beautifully in brick form, Mihail’s model features an opening hood, trunk and four opening doors, and is presented as perfectly as it’s been constructed.

There’s much more to see at Mihail’s ‘Honda Accord Euro-R (CL7)’ album and you can head back to when Honda were on top of the world via the link in the text above.

Cabs & Cops

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We’re sure that many of our readers are familiar with today’s car. And not just because we’re big in the criminal underworld. The Ford Crown Victoria was a car sold almost entirely to two very specific customer types; cabs and cops, with millions of Americans having sat willingly or unwillingly in the back seat. This one is likely to have a less-than-willing occupant in the back, and you can take a look courtesy of ilyabuilder724 on Flickr.

Stealth Bomber

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This is the Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit, otherwise known as the ‘Stealth Bomber’. In service since 1997 and designed to be invisible to radar, the B-2 is the only known stealth bomber capable of carrying nuclear bombs, which means it’s probably a good thing there are only twenty-one of them.

Well, twenty-two today, courtesy of previous bloggee Kenneth Vaessen. Constructed a decade ago but only recently photographed, Kenneth’s spectacular 1:36 scale B-2A Spirit is built from around 12,000 pieces, with working bomb bay hatches, flaps and landing gear doors, a folding crew entrance, refuelling receptacle, and a wing-span of nearly five feet (146cm).

It’s a jaw-dropping replica of one of the world’s most recognisable (and feared) aircraft, with more superb imagery available to see at Kenneth’s ‘LEGO Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit 1:36’ album. Click the link above to be spirited there for a stealthy closer look.

My Other Car’s Also a Ferrari

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It’s been two decades since the Ferrari Enzo, and two since an official LEGO set depicting it. Cue nopingrid of Eurobricks, who has recreated Ferrari’s iconic early-’00s hypercar from the parts of one of their newest, the Technic 42212 Ferrari FXX K. Using 85% of the FXX K’s 900 pieces, nopingrid’s Enzo includes working steering, a V12 engine, plus opening butterfly doors, and we think it looks rather better than the donor set. Building instructions are available and you can find out more at the Eurobricks forum via the link above.

Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R Nismo Z-Tune | Picture Special

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That’s quite a title. But then this is quite a car.

Created in 2005, the Skyline GT-R (R34) Z-Tune is a factory restomod of sorts, borne via Nissan’s motorsports arm Nismo who bought nineteen lightly used GT-Rs, returned them to factory, and outfitted them with 500bhp GT500 drivetrains.

The result was the most special version of an already special car (which feels a bit weird to say looking at the crap Nissan make today), and one we’re unlikely to ever see, let alone drive.

Today though, we can all have a bit of Nissan at their absolute pinnacle, courtesy of newcomer Grigoriy and his spectacular Technic recreation of the ultimate R34 GT-R.

Blending Technic and Model Team to perfection, Grigoriy’s Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R Nismo Z-Tune is one of of the most visually brilliant Technic creations this site has ever featured, and includes four-wheel-steering, independent suspension, opening hood, doors, and trunk, and a superbly detailed interior and engine.

A complete parts list and building instructions are available – meaning you can build Grigoriy’s R34 GT-R Z-Tune for yourself – and you can find these along with the model discussion at the Eurobricks forum, plus you can check out LEGO’s own official Nissan Skyline R34 Skyline set by clicking on these words.

Farm Fresh

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We don’t usually know what’s in the back of a truck, but we do today thanks to those tell-tale openings. Delicious animals, that’s what.

But if you’re vegan don’t worry, today’s other post will be for you. Until then we’re off to have a steak, lamb shank, or rack of ribs courtesy of Arian Janssens’ splendid DAF FA XD livestock truck, and you can join us for dinner via the link.

Virtual Yuk

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The recent assassination of Charlie Kirk – ironically during a speech where he was criticising gun control – continues the descent of America (and many other nations, our own included) into a tribalist, binary, them and us, anyone-who-doesn’t-think-like-me-is-the-enemy hellscape.

Thus today we’re showing some BBC-esque impartiality and featuring a model of a car we dislike immensely will write about objectively.

Digitally created by Peter Blackert (aka lego911), this is an early-’00s GMC Yukon; a full-size SUV based on the Chevrolet Tahoe and powered by an enormous 5.7 V8 that made just 250bhp, similar to the vastly superior Toyota 4Runner’s much smaller V6 some 250bhp. The Yukon/Tahoe also featured side airbags, four-wheel disc brakes, and automatic headlight control, plus many other, um… facts.

Alright, we’re not very good as this factual stuff. But it doesn’t matter if we think that the GMC Yukon is two-tons of early-’00s American automotive malaise and you think it’s the best vehicle ever made. It’s OK to disagree. Even if someone’s opinions are bit unusual. We quite like the Fiat Multipla after all.

You can take a look at Peter’s excellent virtual Yukon at his photostream via the link above, whether you love the real thing, hate it, or have no opinion whatsoever.

French Fighter

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Despite this site’s home nation mocking the French military for some eighty years, it is in fact one of the most formidable in the world. This is one of the reasons why, the Dassault Rafale fighter.

In operation since the turn of the millennium, the Rafale remains one of the most advanced fighters in the world, capable of air supremacy, ground strike, ship strike, and carrying France’s nuclear deterrent.

Entirely engineered and constructed in France, around three-hundred Rafales have been produced to date, operating across nine air forces. This one comes from previous bloggee John C. Lamarck, and as well as being superbly detailed includes an opening cockpit, adjustable canards, accurate landing gear, and an array of armaments.

There’s more of the model to see at John’s ‘Rafale’ album on Flickr, and you can fly there via the link above.

Towing Package Optional

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Arriving in the mid-’00s, the sixth generation Dodge Charger was a boring four-door sedan with an anaemic 2.7 V6, a four-speed automatic, and Chrysler-corporation interior plastics. Yay.

However, the Charger was also available with a much more interesting 5.7 litre ‘Hemi’ V8, and could be optioned up to 6.1 litres in SRT8 trim, with a further Road/Track package adding ten more horsepower, a sunroof, satellite navigation, a 322-watt stereo, a rear-seat DVD entertainment system, and a heavy-duty cage for pulling a bank vault. That last one may not have been on the official options list.

This incredible replica of the Dodge Charger SRT8 is the work of Michael217 / Michael Kulakov, who has equipped his remarkably detailed model with working steering and suspension, a V8 engine, plus four opening doors, hood, and trunk.

Better still, Michael has also fitted his creation with a suite of third-party remote control electronics including RCBric management, Geekservo steering and Buggy Motor drive, which we’re currently using to pretend we’re a giant bald-headed baby horrifically murdering Rio police officers with a bank vault on a cable. Well, we’re whacking TLCB Elves with a shoe-box on a string, but we’re still having fun.

Anyway, whilst we reenact the chase scene from ‘Fast Five’ in the corridors of TLCB office you can check out more of Michael’s fantastic build at both Eurobricks and Flickr. Click the links to take a closer look!

My Other Car’s a Porsche

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Germany have a reputation for making iconic sports cars. The Z4 M is probably not one of them, but it was a worthy entry into the faster end of the class in the 2000s. Launched in 2003, the Z4 was available with a variety of engines from a mundane 2.0 4-cylinder making 150bhp, through a variety of straight-sixes with around 200bhp.

The fastest was of course the Z4 M, which deployed a wider track, the rear axle from an M3 CSL, hydraulic power steering, and the M-Division’s 340bhp S54 engine, for a 0-60mph time of 4.8 seconds.

This neat recreation of the first-generation Z4 M is the work of FanisLego, who has built it entirely from the pieces from the Creator Expert 10295 Porsche 911 set.

There’s a detailed engine under the opening hood, opening doors, working steering, and a remarkably good rendition of the famous Bangle-era ‘flame surfacing’, particularly given the constrained parts choice.

Building instructions are available and you can swap your own 911 for a Z4 M via the link to Fanis’ Bricksafe gallery above.

Gran Turismo 2

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Much like Toyota’s ‘A80’ Supra is forever bound to ‘The Fast & The Furious’, Nissan’s ‘R34’ Skyline GT-R will be associated in perpetuity with the Gran Turismo video game franchise.

Although its production run spanned just three years, the R34 was – through those famous pixels – an automotive zeitgeist, defining an entire generation’s interaction with cars.

Cue this superb brick-built homage to Nissan’s legendary performance saloon, constructed by recent bloggee Mihail Rakovskiy, which is more lifelike than anything we drove on a Playstation.

Opening doors, hood, and trunk, a detailed ‘RB26DETT’ engine and drivetrain, and even an interior fit for a Technic figure all feature, and you can reimagine you’re back in an R34 at Trial Mountain in the early ’00s via the link to Flickr above.

Fish Face

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This TLCB Writer never particularly liked the McLaren Mercedes SLR. It looked like some kind of sad deep-sea fish. But no matter, because if you do like Mercedes-Benz’s mid-’00s collaboration with their then Formula 1 partner McLaren, previous bloggee Fabrice Larcheveque has recreated it brilliantly (sad fish face included) in 8-wide Speed Champions form, and with building instructions too. Find all the imagery and that link to instructions at Fabrice’s ‘McLaren Mercedes SLR’ album above.

My Other Car’s a Porsche

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The first generation Audi TT is – in the writer’s opinion – one of the greatest automotive designs of the last quarter-century. With curved surfaces, minimalist detailing, and brushed aluminium everywhere, it was a zeitgeist for the new millennium aesthetic.

That it didn’t drive anywhere near as good as it looked was irrelevant to the tens of thousands of buyers in TLCB’s home nation, where the TT was an enormous success. They bought it on design alone, a niche today filled by the Range Rover Evoque.

Cue Nathanael Kuipers’ recreation of the TT, constructed solely from the LEGO 10295 Creator Expert Porsche 911 set. An opening hood (with a detailed engine underneath), doors and rear hatch feature, and you can jump back to peak late-’90s automotive design at Nathanel’s photostream.

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.

My First Pick-Up

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In TLCB’s home nation, first cars tend to be rubbish. The Inbetweeners’ Fiat Cinquecento may have been a running joke throughout the series, but it was also perfectly accurate for most of us. Imagine our surprise then, when newcomer and Italian builder brittle.lime.joint / CaptainSerMig recreated his first car in Lego form and it wasn’t a crappy little Fiat.

No, his first wheels were all driven, coming attached to a third-generation Mitsubishi L200 double-cab pick-up. Which is about a thousand times cooler than whatever we were driving in our late teens.

Brittle’s brick-built replica of his first car includes working steering, accurate independent front and leaf-spring rear suspension, plus opening doors, hood and tailgate, and there’s more of his model to see at both Eurobricks and Flickr. Join us in wishing our first wheels were as cool as his via the links above.