Tag Archives: 2000s

Ramshackle

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The Dodge Viper was famous for having a truck engine. Thus in the early-’00s Dodge decided to take the truck engine out of the Viper and put it back in, well… a truck. And the result was one of the post pointless vehicles ever created.

Based on the Dodge Ram 1500, the Dodge Ram SRT10 featured the Viper’s 500bhp 8.3 litre V10, with Bilstein shock absorbers, performance-tuned springs, and an extra shock on the rear axle to prevent wheel hop during wheel-spin, in an attempt to make it drive less… well, like a Dodge Ram.

The Ram SRT10 was immediately the fastest pick-up truck in the world, reaching a top speed of 154mph. Which must’ve been terrifying as it still definitely drove like a Dodge Ram.

This brilliant Model Team version of what was once the world’s fastest truck comes from previous bloggee Szunyogh Balázs (aka gnat.bricks), who has captured the Dodge Ram SRT10 superbly. There’s a detailed engine under the opening hood, a suitably black-plastic interior behind the opening doors, a raising rear load deck, and even a life-like brick-built drivetrain under the chassis too.

There’s much more of Szunogh’s model to see at his ‘Dodge Ram SRT10’ album on Flickr, and you can do 154mph in an early-’00s pick-up truck via the link above.

Striped Snake

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We suspect the engineers of the Dodge Viper and The Lego Car Blog Elves have much in common. Hopefully not in the way they look or smell, but if you were to ask the Elves to design a car, it’d probably have a racing stripe, an enormous rear wing, and the engine from a truck in it. All of which are key attributes to the late-’00s Dodge Viper ACR.

Cue this very mean-looking Technic version by Grigoriy, which features a racing stripe, an enormous rear wing, and has the engine from a truck in it.

It also packs in working steering, independent suspension, opening doors and hood, plus custom decals and 3D-printed headlights (as LEGO don’t yet produce the part in trans-clear).

Building instructions are available (you can switch those clear headlight pieces for grey) and there’s lots more of Grigoriy’s superbly presented build to see at both the Eurobricks forum and at his ‘Dodge Viper ACR’ Bricksafe album. Click the link above to take a closer look.

Bumblebee-ish

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This is not a Transformer. But it is kinda like one. In the same way that this TLCB Writer is kinda like Usain Bolt. What? We both have running shoes.

You see back in the late 2000s, when Michael Bay blew up everything in the first instalment of the ‘Transformers’ movie franchise, General Motors wanted in on the alien robot action. Cue some pretty egrigeious product placement, and – if you had a particularly smooth brain – the option to specify your own Chevrolet Camaro to look like the ‘Bumblebee’ from the movie, ‘Transformers’ badges and everything. Even if you only bought the V6.

Today’s model recreates the real ‘Transformers’ specced Camaros brilliantly in Technic form, with working steering, a V6 engine, opening doors, hood and trunk, and no ability to transform. ArtemyZotov is its maker and you can find all the images and a link to building instructions at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link for the most ill-advised options package of the late 2000s.

Connecting Virginians

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We’re taking the bus today, thanks to previous bloggee JLui15 and this stellar Orion VII NG bus in Fairfax Connector livery.

Fully remote controlled with working drive, steering, and motorised doors, JLui’s model is so realistic we can almost hear the kid playing terrible R&B through his phone speakers in the back row and smell the old man in the front.

There’s lots more to see at JLui’s ‘Orion VII NG Fairfax Connector Bus’ album on Flickr and you can hop on board to transit Northern Virgina via the link.

Insert Moderately Monied Male

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The early-‘00s Porsche 911 (997) is driven by exactly one sort of person. They may or may not wear sunglasses, a shirt or a blazer, be forty-six or sixty-four, but they will – without exception – be a Moderately Monied Male.

This means that none of TLCB Team have an early-‘00s Porsche 911 as we only fit half of the required characteristics, but if you’re more fiscally successful than we are you can get your hands on this one courtesy of Flickr’s ilyabuilder724, who has made building instructions for his excellent Speed Champions Porsche 911 Carrera S available. Take a look via the link!

Just the Tip

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The Mazda RX-8 was a triumph when new. With an astonishing buttery-smooth rotary engine displacing just 1.3 litres yet making 240bhp, bizarre rear suicide doors, seating for four, and styling – to quote one famous Top Gear host – “busier than the Pope’s hat”, there was nothing else like it.

And then they got old, and that amazing engine… failed. A lot. Even well maintained RX-8s suffered from terrifying oil consumption and rotor tip wear leading to engine failure, but the poorly maintained ones (as older sports cars often are) died alarmingly quickly.

Values tanked, and now one of the most interesting cars of the ‘00s is worth absolutely nothing at all.

But we like weird, flawed, unreliable cars here at TLCB, and so we love today’s model; this fantastic Model Team Mazda RX-8 from previous bloggee Mihail Rakovskiy. Featuring a highly detailed interior, realistic drivetrain, a remarkably replicated exterior, and a working rotary engine, Mihail has captured Mazda’s mad ‘00s creation beautifully in Lego form.

Excellent presentation matches the build, and there’s lots more of the model to see at Mihail’s ‘Mazda RX-8’ album on Flickr. Take a tip from us and check it out via the link above.

Bus Boy

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We’re travelling slowly through Westchester New York today, on a twenty-year-old Orion Industries V (05.505) bus. Over a hundred Orion Vs still operate on Westchester’s ‘Bee-Line’, and are the last not be hybrid or electrically powered.

This Orion V actually is battery powered though, as its maker JLiu15 has equipped it with full motorisation including the drive, steering, and doors.

There’s more of the model to see at JLiu’s ‘2005 Orion V (05.505) Bee-Line Bus’ album on Flickr, and you can take the No. 52 to Bronxville via the link above.

Top G

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The Lego Car Blog Elves like Lamborghinis and monster trucks and things with rocket launchers. Which means they’re pretty unimpressed by this. The Lego Car Blog staff however, rather like humdrum mundanity, and in Europe few things are more humdrum and mundane than an old Opel Astra Caravan (also known as the Vauxhall Astra Estate).

The G-series Astra was launched in 1998, looked quite fantastically boring even back then, and was available in a bewildering range of bodystyles and engines, with a hatch, sedan, station wagon, van, coupe and convertible, a dozen petrol and half-a-dozen diesel engines, production across eleven countries, and Holden and Chevrolet versions too.

Most G-series Astras were bland 1.6 litre petrol hatch and station wagons though, just like this splendid brick-built example from Flickr’s Mansur Soeleman, who has recreated his grandfather’s final car as a gift to him.

There’s a detailed interior, space for four mini-figures, and you can take a ride with Mansur’s grandfather via the link above.

Back to the Studio

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Unlikely as it may sound today, in the 2010s the biggest television programme in the world came from an old airfield hangar just outside of Guildford, in which three middle-aged men talked about cars.

The newly rebooted BBC ‘Top Gear’ grew from its producer having to pay audience members from his own pocket to stick around to the end of filming, to the most-watched television event on the planet. Over twenty seasons, dozens of cross-country adventures, and countless celebrity laps in reasonably-priced cars are now embedded in the memory of an entire generation, and Flickr’s NV Carmocs takes us right back to the height of mid-2010’s television with his fabulous homage to the place where it was all made.

With mini-figure versions of Top Gear’s three most famous hosts, a studio audience, and some of the most iconic vehicles and sets from the show, NV Carmocs has captured a hundred Top Gear memories in one spectacular diorama.

The studio set includes ‘The Cool Wall’, a V8 coffee table, the ‘Power Board’, and the plinth for perhaps Top Gear’s most famous ever vehicle, the near-destroyed late-’80s Toyota Hilux, also faithfully recreated in brick form.

There’s a huge amount more to see of NV Carmocs’ incredible mini-figure BBC Top Gear Studio diorama at their Flickr photostream, where over a dozen high quality images are available to view, plus even more of the starring Top Gear vehicles themselves.

Click the link above to go back to studio, and to take yourself back to when Sunday night TV couldn’t get any better…

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.