A Disney holiday is sure to be filled with wholesome activities, harmless japes, musical numbers, and mild antisemitism. Besides the last one you can count us in!
Suggested by a reader, Bas van Houwelingen‘s delightful creation could be straight from a Disney cartoon, with Mickey and Pluto on a caravan road trip courtesy of Goofy’s jalopy.
Bas has used some wonderfully chosen pieces to capture the cartoon high jinks, and you can join in the fun on Flickr at the link above, or alternatively click here to see how this holiday would unfold in real life. The Disney one would be better…
This is not a car. But it is transport, and it is beautiful, so here it is. Built by Montgomery Burns this excellent wagon scene is titled simply ‘small diorama’ and there’s more to see of it and the amazing wider world in which this features via the link above.
If you’re going to tow a shed with wheels behind you to a field where you have to crap in a bucket, you may as well do it in something cool. This 1956 Pontiac Catalina certainly fulfils that brief, and the dinky caravan in tow doesn’t look too bad either. See more of both courtesy of LegoEng on Flickr.
Here in The Lego Car Blog’s home nation caravanning is deeply, heroically uncool. Boring middle aged couples drive – slowly – to a field, where they then proceed to shit in a bucket.
Not so in North America or Australia, where the wide open spaces and abundance of animals that want to hurt you make it a vastly more exciting affair. You still drive – slowly – to a field, where you then have to shit in a bucket, but you might get eaten by a bear whilst doing so. And that’s cool.
As is this bright yellow pick-up truck and caravan combo by Flickr’s Gilcélio, of which you can see more at the link. It’s a beautifully clean build, and there’s not a bucket in sight.
Despite being more expensive yet not as good as the hatchback or saloon on which they’re based, demand for crossover vehicles is booming. Several cars claim to be the originator of this pointless trend, including Toyota’s RAV4 and Nissan’s Qashqai, and a few more were derided at the time of their launch and failed miserably – yet if they were sold in today’s market they would probably do rather well, such as Rover’s Streetwise and Pontiac’s Aztek – however it was actually a forgotten little French company that came up with the idea of a normal car with off-road looks first.
Matra’s Rancho was based on the little Simca 1100, but with the addition of fibreglass rear bodywork and faux-4×4 styling, and was built from the mid ’70s to the mid ’80s. In a curious twist of fate Matra then invented another new class of car as the Rancho’s replacement, the world’s first MPV; the Renault Espace.
It was the Espace that gained immediate popularity and spawned a whole new market, with every major motor manufacturer copying the formula by the mid ’90s. However, by the 2010s demand for MPVs was plummeting, to be replaced by – you’ve guessed it – the crossover, the car which the MPV had replaced three decades earlier. Weird.
This colourful Lego version of the late ’70s Matra Rancho comes from TLCB favourite Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist, and it’s apparently the star of a Dutch TV show called ‘Bassie & Adriaan’. You can see more of Ralph’s Rancho, as well as the neat caravan in tow, at his photostream – click the link above to see more.
Caravans don’t usually feature highly on our blog list, but today we made an exception, as not only is this one rather pretty, it’s got one hell of a tow car. The gorgeous mid-’60s Corvette Stingray, complete with roof-mounted surfboard, is the work of car building legend – and TLCB Master MOCer – Firas Abu Jaber.
Firas’ beautiful build features some stellar detailing, including all the assorted camping paraphernalia you might expect to see in a 1960s caravan. There’s lots more to see on both MOCpages and Flickr – click the links to take a trip.
