The sedan-based pick-up known as the ‘Coupe Utility’ is an icon of Australian motoring. Built by all of Australia’s indigenous manufacturers, and with a few others importing to Australia too, they were hugely popular in decades past.
But with Australian motor manufacturing having ceased in recent years, the Australian ‘Ute’ has almost died out, although the body type lives on (in a smaller form) in South America.
Flickr’s chris.elliott.art remembers the golden age of the Aussie ute however, with this ace ‘1971 Aussie Turbo Coupe Utility’.
Based on no particular model, but somehow looking like all of them, Chris’ ute captures the Australian motoring icon brilliantly, and there’s more to see of his superbly presented creation at his Flickr album. Click the link above to visit Australia some time in the early ’70s.
Whiiiir, crunch. Whiiiir, crunch. That’s not a good noise thought this TLCB Writer. A weary and well-worn trudge out of the office revealed the source, and more Elven carnage than we’ve experienced for some time.
Stampeding down the corridor was a troop of Elves, being chased by the most enormous, and enormously fast, truck that this writer had ever seen. Behind it, squashed thoroughly into the carpet, were those that had failed to keep up the pace, or – more likely – those that had been tripped by one of their colleagues.
With the driver apprehended we can take a look at this astonishing 1 metre long machine, which turns out to be a fully working replica of the enormous 160-ton Australian REXX mining truck.
It comes from previous bloggee Kirill Mazurov (aka Desert Eagle/desert752), and it is a phenomenal bit of kit.
No less than fifteen motors and four third-party BuWizz bluetooth batteries power the REXX, with five Buggy Motors delivering power to all ten fully-suspended wheels. That explains the almost implausible speed.
Three Servo Motors drive the steering, the vast tipping bed is powered by both an XL and L Motor, whilst five Medium Motors operate the cab’s motorised ladders, doors, and even the windscreen wipers.
It’s a truly astounding build and one that is definitely worth a closer look via Kirill’s ‘REXX Truck’ Flickr album, the Eurobricks discussion forum, and via the excellent video showing the model in action below.
Click the links above to make the jump, and you can check out the BuWizz bluetooth bricks that provide Kirill’s REXX with all that power by clicking here.
This TLCB writer has learned something today; the Royal Australian Navy uses little red kangaroos in place of the red dot more usually found in the centre of the RAF roundel! Kangaroos!
Entering the rabbit hole he has now learned that South Africa’s insignia features an eagle, Trinidad and Tobago a hummingbird, Papua New Guinea the mythical phoenix, and Luxembourg an extravagant lion.
If we ever start a military campaign against The Brothers Brick perhaps we should outline an Elf for the centre of ours?
Following that somewhat tangental start to this post, the aircraft depicted here that features the kangaroo-in-a-circle markings is a Hawker Sea Fury, in this case flown by the Royal Australian Navy.
Based on the Hawker Tempest, the Sea Fury entered service at the end of the second world war and flew until the early ’60s, operating first a pure fighter and then as a fighter-bomber as its suitability for multi-role use became apparent.
This particular Sea Fury is a F.B.11 that operated with Squadron 724 from the H.M.A.S. Albatross, most notably serving in the Korean War, and it’s been recreated beautifully by John C. Lamarck, complete with folding wing-tips, retractable landing gear, an opening cockpit, and – of course – accurate Royal Australian Navy markings including kangaroo roundels.
There’s much more to see of John’s superb Hawker Sea Fury F.B.11 on Flickr – hop on over via the link above!
This is a Holden Torana A9X, Australia’s late-’70s muscle car and dominator of the Touring Car Championship. The ‘A9X’ option added the race V8 motor usually reserved for the sedan to the hatchback body style, with just 100 units produced in this combination. Now worth around $500k AUS, the Torana A9X is a ridiculously sought-after car, but fortunately we have one today that’s far more attainable.
Built by TLCB Master MOCer Lachlan Cameron (aka Lox Lego) as commissioned model, this stunning Technic recreation of the Torana A9X captures the real ’70s muscle car in spectacular fashion, with a full remote control drivetrain and BuWizz bluetooth brick, LED lights, accurate live axle rear and torsion beam front suspension, custom chrome pieces, opening doors, hood and trunk, and – of course – a replica of the A9X’s famous five-litre V8 engine.
It’s one of our favourite cars of the year so far and there’s plenty more to see of Lachlan’s incredible creation his ‘Holden Torana A9X’ album on Flickr and the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the links above to set the lap record at Bathurst in 1979.
Suggested to us by a reader, this is Bricks_n_Trucks‘ superb Kenworth T900 Australian Road Train, a fully remote controlled Model Team behemoth. The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that whilst doubtless impressive, it’s lacking a few of the necessary components to be an actual road train, being only the tractor unit, but nevertheless this build is well worth Bricks_n_Trucks making their TLCB debut.
Controlled via bluetooth courtesy of a third-party SBrick the Kenworth is powered by two L motors with steering via a Servo, all of which is hidden underneath an exterior of brilliant detail. Take a closer look via the link above, and if you’ve spotted a creation that you think our Elves have missed you can let us know at the Feedback page (just make sure you read the Guidelines first).
But a pair of Abt locomotives that are, well… beautiful. We thought Abt were a motorsport company specialising in Volkswagen Group products, but then we are a car blog after all. Sharing a name but otherwise totally unrelated are these Abt locos built for the Mount Lyell Mining Company’s narrow gauge railway on the Tasmanian West Coast. And they really are built for Tasmania’s West Coast, as builder Alexander (aka narrow_gauge) was commissioned to create these for The West Coast Wilderness Railway who now run the real restored locomotives. Custom decals, 3D printed valve gear and motors complete the realism, and there’s more to see at Alexander’s photostream via the link above (or at the The West Coast Wilderness Railway Museum).
But one heck of a beautiful steam train. And who doesn’t like steam trains? This particular locomotive is a New South Wales AD60 Class, of which 42 were built in the 1950s. Coming right at the end of the steam’s reign on the railways the AD60 Class were the most powerful locomotives ever used in Australia and this 97 stud long replica packs a punch too, being powered by twin Power Functions XL motors. Alexander of Flickr is the builder behind this stunning recreation of the AD60 and there’s lots more to see, including some ingenious ‘how to’ photos detailing the hidden building techniques, via the link above.
The LUGNuts group on Flickr is currently holding a dragster contest and Lino Martins has produced a souped-up ute in response. The “ute” is a classic vehicle of the Australian outback, like the pick-up in North America or the camionetta in South America. Holden still produce utes, despite having been subsumed into the General Motors empire. With an engine of 6.2l available as standard, we don’t think that you’d need to do much to make a great drag-racer of this car. It’s also the only car manufacturer’s website that we’ve visited with a button to press just listen to the engine noise. Click here to see Lino’s ute at full size and click here to hear the roar of its modern counterpart.
This beautiful classic Ford Falcon XA comes from TLCB regular Senator Chinchilla. There’s lots more of this Australian classic to see on Flickr – click here to make the jump to the Senator’s photostream.
Australia is mostly a big empty bowl of dust, and the few people that live in its vast interior are a long long way from everything. If you fall ill or get injured in the outback you’re in for quite a wait to get medical assistance. Which is where the Royal Flying Doctor Service comes in, saving lives from the skies. Using planes such as this GAF N22C Nomad short landing and take-off aircraft, the flying doctors can get to those in need in a matter of hours. Previous bloggee Henrik Jensen has recreated the twin-engine Nomad superbly, and you can see more at his Flickr photostream by clicking here.
The 2015 Formula 1 championship kicks off in Melbourne Australia today! Will anyone challenge Mercedes? Will Maldonado get around Turn 1 without crashing into anyone? Will McLaren even finish? There’s only a few hours to go before we find out!
Oh, this lovely Ferrari SF15-T is the work of Nathanael L (aka Lego Builders) of MOCpages and Flickr. It’s gotta be better than last year’s car right?
This classic Holden one-ton ute is probably the most Australian thing this side of a hat with corks. But they don’t have wheels so this’ll have to do. Plus it’s also allowed us to write an obscure – but very clever if we say so – Australian band reference as a title.
Anyway, back to the Holden. It’s a half car, half flatbed V8 mongrel that’s so manly just sitting in it would make you pregnant. Even if you’re a dude. Flickr’s Senator Chinchilla built this Model Team version of the Holden in less than 24 hours to limit his exposure, but if we were him we’d still take a trip to the pharmacy for one of those blue sticks.
You can see more of the Senator’s classic Aussie on Flickr – click here to go to the land down under.
When we think ‘muscle car’ we usually picture an American behemoth with a massive V8 and two stripes painted over the bonnet. However that would be stereotyping the genre, because this is an Australian behemoth with a massive V8 and two stripes painted over the bonnet.
Australia’s muscle car tradition is as strong as the US’s, and whilst their road racers are derived from their US parent companies, they were very much home-grown down-under.
Sadly in recent times all mass vehicle production has, or will very shortly, cease in Australia, with GM (Holden), Ford and Toyota all abandoning manufacturing in the country. Doc Brown’s 1971 Ford Falcon XY GTHO remembers a time when the industry was flourishing, and you can see more of his Power Functions controlled Technic supercar at both Eurobricks and Flickr.
Another day, another Elf, and another Smartie and meal token awarded. Today’s lucky worker earned its dinner via Brickshelf, where digital specialist lego911 has recently uploaded a few brick-built creations. This one is a 2009 Ford Territory, a yawningly boring SUV built by Ford Australia.
Ford Australia, GM Australia (Holden) and now Toyota Australia have all recently announced they will no longer be building cars in the country. Sadly this is very bad news for the thousands of workers in the manufacturing plants, and the many more who work in the supply chain; our sympathies and best wishes go to all affected.
But on the brightside the Territory will be no more too. You can see more of this one and lego911’s other creations by clicking on the link above.
