Tag Archives: 2000s

Brick-Built Bugatti

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The Bugatti Veyron is, somewhat unbelievably, nearly twenty years old. Re-borne via Volkswagen back in the 2000s, Bugatti set out to build the fastest production car in the world. Just because they could. And we like that. After a painfully fraught development the 1,000bhp Veyron did indeed take the record in 2005, reaching a top speed of over 250mph.

However despite being a decade older than this site, and re-setting what was thought possible for a road car, the Veyron has only appeared here twice in TLCB’s history. We’ve featured three times more Lada Nivas, five times the number of Trabants, and even twice as many Zuks (What? Exactly). Although perhaps that says more about TLCB than it does the online Lego Community…

Anyway, today the Bugatti Veyron is finally making only its third appearance here at TLCB courtesy of previous bloggee 3D supercarBricks of Flickr. 3D’s brick-built Bugatti recreates the record-holding hypercar brilliantly in brick form, although to our eyes there may be a few mildly controversial 3D-printed pieces to assist with the visual accuracy.

Nevertheless it’s an excellent model, and there’s more of it to see at 3D’s album on Flickr via the link above. And if you’re wondering what the heck a ‘Zuk’ is, there’s a link in the text above for that too.

Virtually Toyotas

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It’s a digitally Japanese day here at The Lego Car Blog, as we have four virtual Toyota products to share with you. We don’t often blog digital creations here, but these are a) throughly excellent, and b) we’re as certain as we can be that they can be built for real, what with designer Peter Blackert (aka Lego911) releasing building instructions alongside the imagery, and having literally written the book on how to build Miniland scale vehicles.

Rule-breaking explained, on to Peter’s first pixel-based Toyota, which is the third-generation Celica, depicted here in face-lifted pop-up headlight form. Powered by a huge array of engines (although solely by the 2.4 litre in the US) the A60-generation Celica helped the Toyota brand gain a reputation for attainable sportiness, and you can see more of Peter’s version via the link.

Peter’s second model appearing here captures one of Toyota’s earlier attempts at a sports coupe, the decidedly un-sporty 1971 Crown Coupe. It looked lovely though, and the Crown station wagon is one of the most comfortable cars that this TLCB Writer has ever had the pleasure of journeying in. Jump back to 1971 via the link.

On to the early-’00s, and the single most dreary vehicle Toyota has ever created, the 2002 Toyota Camry. As we’ve highlighted here before however, dreary sells, with the Camry becoming the best-selling car in America in 2002. And 2003. And 2004. And 2005… You get the picture. There’s more to see of this one at Peter’s photostream via the link.

And finally… the Toyota that isn’t a Toyota, but heralded the arrival of the Lexus brand, the phenomenal Lexus LS400. Created to beat the best car in the world at the time (the Mercedes-Benz S-Class), the LS400 did just that, and is still lauded as perhaps the most thoroughly-engineered car ever produced. Peter’s Miniland-scale version captures the pivotal arrival of Lexus beautifully, and there’s more of the model to see at his photostream.

Further images of each design, details of the real cars, and links to building instructions can be found at Peter Blackert’s Flickr account via the links for each car in the text above, plus you can check out our interview with Peter and his published works by clicking the bonus link here.

Screeech… Crash!

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The absolutely inevitable sound that follows a Ford Mustang leaving a car meet. Like this one. Or this one. Or this one.

We’ll stand at a safe distance from IBrickedItUp‘s excellent 8-wide fourth generation Mustang then, which is pictured in front of an equally excellent forced-perspective city-scape backdrop. Expect to find the Mustang smashed into a telephone pole somewhere in there in about five minutes.

Grab your phone and head to the scene of the accident shouting “Ho-lee-shee-it!” on loop (the only other sound at an American car meet as inevitable as a crashing Mustang) via the link above!

My Other Car’s a Porsche

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No, really. Because this amazing looking Lamborghini Murcielago is constructed only from the parts found within the excellent 10295 Creator Expert Porsche 911 set.

Built by Lego-building legend Firas Abu-Jaber, who must be some sort of wizard, the pieces from the resolutely curvy Porsche have somehow been re-purposed to recreate the almost entirely trapezoid mid-’00s Lamborghini.

Opening scissor doors, accurate pop-up air-vents, a removable roof panel, and an opening engine cover and front trunk all feature, and this incredible 10295 alternate is available to build yourself thanks to the building instructions released alongside the model.

The complete suite of top-quality imagery can be viewed at Firas’ ‘10295 Lamborghini Murcielago’ album on Flickr, where a link to building instructions can also be found (or click here to jump straight to Firas’ own excellent website store), plus you can read his interview as part of our Master MOCers Series to learn how he builds astonishing models like this one via the second link in the text above.

Speed Champions 76917 ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34) | Set Preview

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Our sneaky Elves have unearthed another new-for-2023 LEGO set, and the names just keep getting longer. This is the brand new Speed Champions 76917 ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34).

As featured in the Oscar-winning 2003 ‘The Fast and the Furious’ sequel… wait, no that’s not right… Ah yes, the awful 2003 ‘The Fast and the Furious’ sequel, Brian O’Conner’s modified Nissan Skyline GT-R was as integral to the plot as street racing culture, something about drugs, and saying ‘bruh’ in every line of dialogue.

LEGO’s officially-licensed Speed Champions set recreates Brian’s whip really rather well to our eyes, with a decent balance between brick-built detail and decals, utilising plenty of ‘SNOT’ techniques.

Aimed at ages 9+, the Speed Champions 76917 ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34) set includes 319 pieces, a ‘Brian O’Conner’ mini-figure, and will reach stores in early 2023. Will that Supra be next?

Calsonic Skyline

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This is the Calsonic-sponsored Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 from the early-’00s Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, but of course, you probably already knew that.

Whilst Alexander Paschoaletto‘s brilliant Skyline GT-R R34 doesn’t say ‘Calsonic’ anywhere on it, we (and most likely you) would have recognised it anywhere. That’s because this car is burned into our psyche (and retinas) from Gran Turismo, where it has, in various generations, featured as one of the star cars for over two decades.

White 3D-printed wheels, blue bodywork, and a yellow sun-strip have transported us right back to hours of early-’00s pixellated racing, and you can join us at the Deep Forest Raceway courtesy of Alexander’s photostream via the link above.

Porsche Carrera GT | Picture Special

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Built for just two years in the mid-’00s, Porsche’s Carrera GT has become one of the most sought-after supercars of recent times. A 600bhp V10 – designed in secret for Porsche by the Footwork Formula 1 team in the early-’90s but never used – a six speed manual gearbox, and no driver aids make for one of the last truly analogue supercars, and one of the greatest vehicular sounds of all time.

This magnificent Technic tribute to the Carrera GT is the work of TLCB Master MOCer Lachlan Cameron, who has constructed it, its V10 engine, working suspension, an eight speed gearbox (two more than the real car), and deployable rear wing brilliantly in brick-form. Custom chrome pieces and superb outdoor photography add to the appeal, and there’s more to see of Lachlan’s incredible Carrera GT here, plus you can find out how he builds amazing creations like this one at his Master MOcers page by clicking here.

Life at the Top

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For those lucky enough to be fantastically wealthy, they’ll probably be slightly more so by the time you’ve finished reading this post. That’s because to make money, all you need is… money.

Take the Ferrari Enzo, a $660,000 car when it was new twenty years ago, and now worth just over $3million. Even inflation-adjusted that’s still an increase of $2.1million. That rise equates to $8,750 a month over the last two decades – double the median wage in America, tax free, and without working a day.

With a bleak economic forecast ahead we can expect many will suffer hardship probably not seen since the 2008 crash, but the new (unelected) Government of the TLCB’s home nation (it’s complicated…) has just slashed tax for the wealthy. Because to make money all you need is money. We’d make a joke about trickle-down economics, but 99% of readers wouldn’t get it.

Thus we won’t be previewing LEGO’s newly revealed $600 set, because it seems in rather poor taste at the moment (plus it’s Star Wars), and instead we’ll use this rather excellent recreation of an early-’00s hypercar by Flickr’s 3D supercarBricks to moan about the growing poverty in the sixth largest economy on earth.

So keep your eyeballs on the ads on this page, click them if you’re interested, and we’ll give away what we can of the proceeds. It might be needed more than ever this winter.

Prowler

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In the late ’90s to mid 00’s, American car manufacturers went nuts. There was the Chrysler PT Cruiser, the Pontiac Aztek, the Chevrolet SSR, and this, the Plymouth Prowler.

Inspired by hot rods of the ’40s and ’50s, the Chrysler Corporation hoped the Prowler would reinvigorate the dying Plymouth brand, and the wild two-seat rear-wheel-drive sports car certainly made headlines upon its reveal in 1997.

Sadly though, like everything else coming from the Chrysler Corporation in the late ’90s, it was also complete crap.

A 3.5 litre V6 from Chrysler minivans – making just over 200bhp – mated to a four speed automatic gearbox (four!) did not an invigorating drive make, whilst interior and build quality was, well… typical ’90s Chrysler

Less than 12,000 Prowlers were sold before its demise, along with the entire Plymouth brand, in 2002, whilst Chrysler itself filed for bankruptcy just seven years later.

But here at TLCB we still applaud the Prowler, as we much prefer interesting cars to good ones (which is probably why we’re writing about cars and not managing a car company…). However it probably would’ve been better for everyone if the Prowler had been built by anyone other than late-’90s Chrysler.

Oh yeh, the model! This superb Speed Champions scale Plymouth Prowler captures the outlandish design brilliantly – no mean feat at this scale – and there’s more to see courtesy of Thomas Gion of Flickr. Click the link to take a look!

Motoring Mundanity

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Aaaand here it is; the pinnacle of mundane motoring. It’s the plain white rice of cars. It’s anything by Will.I.Am since ‘Where is the Love?’. If it were a country it would be Belgium. TLCB’s fridge has more character than this. Yes, it’s the mid-2000s Toyota Corolla Sedan. In white.

There are interesting iterations of the Corolla of course, and the current one is actually a rather funky looking thing (even more so when the Gazoo Racing version arrives), but this one… er, no.

Which means it’s exactly the sort of thing we’re’ looking for in the Festival of Mundanity Competition we’re co-hosting with BrickNerd.

Flickr’s 1saac W. is the lucky duck who owns one of these in real life, and has recreated the world’s best selling car in brick form in the hope of winning some most excellent prizes.

He’s scored some decent mundane points, but there’s a long way to go, with a load of new entries appearing in the Flickr group over the last few days. You can check out these and 1saac’s brilliantly boring build via the links above, and if you’re inspired to build you own entry (we haven’t had any large scale cars yet) you check out the competition details here or over on BrickNerd, where mundane objects are the order of the day.

Soporific Sedans

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Is there anything more automotively dreary than an American full-size sedan?

OK, American mid-size SUVs, which have almost completely replaced the sedan market, are the new pinnacle of blandness, but we’re not sure that even they can eclipse a grey Ford Crown Victoria.

This Lego version of the wheeled white space comes from Flickr’s Ralph Savelsberg, who somehow managed to complete it without falling asleep during construction.

Ralph’s Ford Crown Vic joins some other tediously drab sedans in the corner of his garage, and there’s more to see of it and them at his photostream via the link above, all of which are perfect for something that’s coming soon here at The Lego Car Blog…

Discotheque

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Before unnecessary off-centre number plates and fake vents, the Land Rover Discovery looked like this. Which is infinitely better than the new one. Recreating the iconic ‘Disco 3’ is Jonathan Elliott, who has miniaturised it perfectly in Speed Champions form. Despite the Disco 3’s squareness, it’s actually not an easy thing to build well from LEGO, but Jonathan has nailed it. See more at the link.

Racing Snake

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Early-’00s American cars are fat, badly built, inefficient, poor handling crap-boxes, and you’d have to be an idiot to like any of them.

This is an early-’00s Dodge Viper; a fat, badly built, inefficient, poor handling crap-box, and it’s one of our favourite cars ever.

Even more so in this configuration, the 2003 GTS-R endurance racer, as constructed to near-perfection in 1:14 scale by TLCB favourite SP_LINEUP.

SP has used over 1,300 pieces to recreate the iconic American racing car, including a beautifully detailed interior, engine bay, chassis bracing, brick-built drivetrain, and the spectacular GTS-R long-tail bodywork.

There’s more to see at SP’s photostream and you can make the jump to an early-’00s endurance race – and one of TLCB favourite cars ever (because we’re idiots) – via the link above.

VTEC Just Kicked In Yo

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The car of nine thousand memes. And nine thousand revs. Which is a lot.

The Honda S2000 was quite a special thing when it debuted in 1999, taking Honda’s VTEC system to the max, and fitted with a naturally-aspirated engine delivering a higher specific output per litre than anything that had gone before. Supercars included.

It also had rather spiky handling and a gauge cluster from a 1980s microwave, but none of that mattered when you reached peak power output at 8,800rpm.

This one was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr, and comes from Mihail Rakovskiy who has captured it near perfectly in brick form.

Take it to the 9,000rpm red line via the link above.

Green Eyed Monster

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Everything is green or eco these days. Even when it’s not. Which is both kinda great, and a bit depressing, as companies seem to only decide to go green when they can market it for extra $$$.

Which makes the lime green Ford Focus RS second generation rather refreshing, as the only thing green about it was the paint. Powered by a Volvo-derived inline-5 turbo producing 300bhp (all of which was sent to the front wheels only – which must’ve been terrifying), the RS could dispatch the 0-60mph dash in under six seconds, with the RS500 version even quicker still.

Fast internal combustion engined cars like the Focus RS are now in their final years, with the latest fast Fords switching to electric propulsion (which is absolutely a good thing. Just don’t believe that EVs are ‘good’ for the environment. We’re back to greenwashing again…), so the second generation Focus RS will either become outlawed and worthless or a certified classic.

We’d bet on the latter though, so if you’re lucky enough to have one hold on to it. For those of us that don’t, here’s SP_LINEUP‘s fantastic Lego version, which features more ingenious building techniques than models five times the size. And it’s exceedingly green.

There’s more to see of SP’s Ford Focus RS at his photostream, take a closer look via the link above.