The roads around TLCB Towers are surrounded by Range Rovers. Back-on-black with extra black and personalised number plates, the dirtiest they get is their owners’ fake tan rubbing off on the seat bolsters. Cue Nuno Taborda‘s antidote to the modern Ranger Rover, this splendid classic Range Rover monster truck, which is simultaneously both absurd and also instantly recognisable. And we love it. Take a look on Flickr via the link above, or click here for (maybe) the real vehicle that inspired it.
The Toyota Yaris is an excellent small car. Excellent, but not exciting. At all. Except… this one. This is the Toyota GR Yaris, and it’s probably the best hot hatchback in the world right now.
Built as a homologation special for the World Rally Championship, the GR Yaris features a unique three-door body-shell, a lowered (carbon-fibre) roof, a wider track, a four-wheel-drive system, and the most powerful three-cylinder production engine ever built.
All of which will help Mavis get to the shops in half the time. Or Elfyn Evans win the World Rally Championship, as he did last week.
This tremendous Model Team replica of the iconic homologation special comes from previous bloggee Mihail Rakovskiy, who has nailed the diminutive Toyota in 14-wide scale, complete with an opening hood (under which sits a replica engine), opening doors (inside which is a superb interior), an opening rear hatch, and even a brick built GR-FOUR drivetrain.
It’s a stunning recreation of a stunning car, and you can take a closer look via Mihail’s ‘Toyota GR Yaris’ album via the link above.
Jeep, that most recognisable of American brands, has been passed around like a bottle of Jack at an underage beach party. From their creators Willys-Overland, the company has passed through five pair of hands before landing with current owners Stellantis, with each taking a swig on the way leaving ever less for the next person. Plus a bit of spit.
Which means we want something from Jeep’s current line-up like we want a venereal disease, but at a push we would take something from fifty years ago, like this marvellous Jeep CJ5.
It comes from Flickr’s Rick Brick making his TLCB Debut, there’s working steering and suspension, and much more to see of this superbly smooth Model Team Jeep CJ at his photostream. Click the link above to take a drink from the bottle whilst there’s still something good in it.
TLCB Elves and cats do not get on well. The results of cat/elf fights are usually 50/50, but whoever comes out on top TLCB Staff are definitely losers, what with the tidying up and occasional requirement to dig a hole in the yard…
Today though we have a grey moggy that is welcome in TLCB Towers, being this rather neat Speed Champions-scale Mercedes-Benz Unimog by Flickr’s Fukku Guen. Excellent detailing abounds throughout the build and you can take a closer look at Fukku’s ‘mog via the link above.
We’re alternately off-roading at TLCB today, thanks to Master MOCer Thirdwigg and this neat Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer, an immensely capable military truck named after an Austrian cattle breed and built until the mid-‘00s.
Constructed from 755 parts of LEGO’s 42213 Technic Ford Bronco set, Thirdwigg’s recreation of the unusual Austrian off-road truck includes working suspension, steering, a mid-mounted piston engine, an opening hood, and – most importantly – a lunchbox.
Building instructions are available and you can click here to swap your American horse for an Austrian cow.
Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ may have concluded, but its vehicular legacy continues, with the cars, trucks and vans from the show still inspiring builders.
One such builder is Eurobricks’ paave, who has recreated Hawkins’ police chief Jim Hopper’s 1985 Chevrolet Blazer, complete with a working V8, high/low gearbox, steering, and suspension.
Building instructions are available and there’s more to see at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link above to visit Hawkins one more time.
As the world’s best selling car, the Toyota Corolla has been many things, but not often a 4×4 desert racer. Cue Randy Wilmenta, who has built his 1989 Corolla GT-S into an awesome all-wheel-drive off-roader, which Eurobricks’ 2GodBDGlory has faithfully recreated in Technic form.
With working all-wheel drive courtesy of two Power Functions L Motors (hooked up to both a transverse inline-4 piston engine and a remotely-operable 6+R gearbox), remote control steering, an electronic hand-brake, motorised clutch, pop-up headlights and differential lock, plus suspension, and opening doors, hood and trunk, 2God’s recreation of the unique Toyota packs in as much as its real-world counterpart.
3D-printed wheels and an excellent classic Toyota livery complete a superb build, and you can find out more about the model and the real off-road Corolla it replicates via the Eurobricks forum. Take a look via the link, where you can also watch a video of 2God’s brilliant build in action.
With over four-thousand pieces, the LEGO Technic 42082 Rough Terrain Crane is one of the largest sets ever released. Which means there are plenty of parts with which to create something new. Cue TLCB Master MOCer Nico71, who has constructed a number of alternates from the vast set, with his latest being this; a fantastic Mercedes-Benz Unimog tow-truck.
Utilising around 3,500 of 42082’s pieces, Nico’s phenomenal B-Model features no less than five motorised functions, plus four-wheel-drive, an inline-6 piston engine under a tilting cab, working steering and suspension, and opening doors, toolboxes and compartments.
Like the donor set, a single motor provides motion to a huge array of functions via a sophisticated gearbox, with Nico’s B-Model cleverly including reverse switches so the battery box can be switched on and left.
Working stabiliser legs, an articulated towing-platform, an elevating and extending crane boom, and a winch (which is ingenuously synchronised with the boom to maintain its hook level) are all operable through a series of levers, allowing Nico’s Unimog to function exactly like the real thing.
It’s an astonishing alternate and perhaps the very best B-Model build that this site has ever published, with full details, engineering diagrams, and a link to building instructions available at the Eurobricks forum. Find all of the above and convert your own 42082 Rough Terrain Crane set into this amazing alternate via the link, plus you can watch the model in action via the video below.
YouTube Video
An adventure 2,000 bricks in the making… this is the brand new LEGO 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler!
Crashing through cinema screens back in 1993, the square-headlamped Jeep Wrangler instantly became an icon of film, despite being quite literally in the shadow of pursuing dinosaurs.
Part of an expansive new LEGO ‘Jurassic World’ line-up that includes dinosaur skeletons, Duplo, and mini-figure scale sets, 77984 brings one of the most recognisable movie cars of all time to the 18+ Icons range.
Constructed from 1,924 pieces, including a trick new canvas roof, 77984 allows for any one of four different variants of the Jurassic Park Jeep to be created. All feature working steering via the spare wheel, a lovely engine under an opening hood, opening doors, a variety of accessories from the movie, plus an info plaque and a Dennis Nedry mini-figure ready to meet a gruesome end.
Expected to cost £179.99 / $199.99 / €199.99, you’ll be able to get your claws on the LEGO 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler set from May 2026.
This bizarre machine is a 1984 DAF ‘Double-Head’, built to compete in the Paris-Dakar rally by Dutch driver Jan de Rooy, who wanted more power than one DAF truck could provide. So he used two.
Joining two 11.6 litre DAF 3300s back-to-back behind the cabs, Jan created a twin-engined all-wheel-drive 13-ton behemoth, and one of the strangest Dakar competitors to ever enter.
Sadly the DAF ‘Double-Head’ failed to finish, but it set the template for Jan de Rooy to refine the idea and return with a vehicle that would go on to become a Dakar legend…
But we’ll stay in 1984 for now, courtesy of this spectacular recreation of the DAF ‘Double-Head’ by Flickr’s p.vanderloo, who has replicated not just the truck’s mad exterior but its drivetrain too.
A beautifully replicated livery and full LED lights complete the build, and you can head to the desert in 1984 – twice – via the link above.
We’ve featured a lot of Unimogs over the years here at The Lego Car Blog. Some of which are very big, very detailed, and packed with working features. Today’s is very small, very detailed, and packed with working features.
Built by Flickr’s Reddish Blue, this Unimog U5023 isn’t reddish-blue at all, being rather yellow, and has got as much going on as models ten times its size. There’s working steering and suspension, three drop-sides, working stabiliser legs, and an incredible posable Palfinger crane complete with a functional winch.
An astonishing amount of visual detail joins this wealth of functionality, and is all the more impressive given the model is barely 8-studs wide.
Exquisitely presented, there’s a huge amount more of Reddish Blue’s phenomenally rendered creation to see at his ‘Mercedes-Benz Unimog U 5023’ album, where links to building instructions can also be found. Take a look via the link above at the best small-scale ‘mog you’re likely to see this year.
It’s not a purist day here at TLCB, as we follow four 3D-printed wheels with four more. And a canvas roof. And – most impressively – four exquisitely-made custom portal axles with reduction gears. Those gears are Technic, but the cases in which they are contained are bespoke and beautifully engineered by previous bloggee Michael Kulakov (aka Michael217), who has fitted them to his spectacular fully remote controlled Hummer H1.
LEGO Power Functions L Motors are combined with a third-party Geekservo motor to steer, with the model featuring all-wheel-drive, fully independent suspension, a detailed engine and interior, plus opening doors, hood and tailgate, alongside the aforementioned custom componentry.
Beautiful imagery accompanies Michael’s phenomenal creation, with lots more of the model to see at both his ‘Hummer H1’ Flickr album and at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the links above to take a look, and to see the unique engineering deployed in its making.
Communism seemed to ban, amongst others things, inventive vehicle names, which all seemed to be a collection of numbers and letters. Which makes titling a post about one of them rather tricky, but no matter because the model is rather lovely.
It’s a UAZ 469B as built by PigletCiamek, and it’s also got a spicy back-story too, involving explorers and a rocket-launcher. Join the anonymously-named off-roader on an adventure in the desert via the link above.
There’s a certain segment of the off-roading community who like to intentionally get stuck, just so they can winch themselves out again. Which to us feels like deliberately getting fat so that you can join Weight Watchers. But it nevertheless explains why ‘Matt’s Off Road Recovery‘ has over two million YouTube subscribers. Because when someone is really stuck, intentionally or otherwise, they’ll need this…
‘This’ is Matt’s all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steered hot rod wrecker, as faithfully recreated here by Technic engineering genius Anto. Staying true to the unique real-world off-road tow-truck, Anto’s model features all-wheel-drive and all-wheel-steering (with three selectable steering modes, as per one of our favourite ever LEGO Technic sets), a working V8 piston engine, immense multi-link live-axle suspension, opening doors, toolboxes and hood, plus no less than five working winches.
It’s a hugely impressive replica of a fantastic one-off real-world vehicle, with loads more to see – including engineering diagrams and over forty superbly presented images – at both the Eurobricks forum and Anto’s ‘Matt’s Off Road Recovery Heavy Wrecker’ album on Flickr. Get stuck in via the links above, plus you can watch this amazing model in action via the video below.
YouTube Video
Wait, haven’t we featured a Bronco-based Suzuki before? Well, yes… but this one’s just as good, and we really like the Suzuki Samurai.
Built by previous bloggee gyenesvi, this neat Technic recreation of the diminutive Japanese 4×4 is constructed only from the pieces found within the official LEGO Technic 42213 Ford Bronco set, which is inspiring a plethora of alternates.
A working piston engine, all-wheel suspension, HOG steering, plus opening doors and hood all feature, and with building instructions available you can swap your own Bronco for a Samurai too.
There’s more to see of gyenesvi’s Bronco B-Model at both the Eurobricks forum and Bricksafe, where an extensive gallery of imagery is available, and you can take a closer look at this alternative off-roader via the links above.
