Tag Archives: Classic Car

A Fabulous Hudson Hornet

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The ‘Fabulous’ Hudson Hornet wasn’t just an all-conquering stock car racer. You could buy one for the road too. Available with two doors or four, as coupe, sedan, hardtop or convertible, and powered by a five-litre inline-6 with twin-carburettors, the Hornet could produce over 200bhp with minimal modifications.

It also featured a clever ‘step-down’ design, where – even though it was built on a separate chassis – the floor-pan sat between the chassis rails, lowering the centre of gravity and enabling beautiful streamlined bodywork. Flickr’s SFH_Bricks has recreated the Hornet’s fabulous shape beautifully, and there’s more of his superb small-scale homage to the classic Hudson to see via the link above.

Small Saab

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Today Saab is solely an aerospace and defence company. And before 1949 it was too. But in the middle it also made cars. Some of them wonderful. And this is their first.

Launched in 1949, the Saab 92 featured a 25hp 764cc two-cylinder two-stroke engine based on a German DKW design (Sweden was closer to Germany’s Nazi regime than they’d probably like to admit), a three-speed gearbox, front-wheel-drive, an aerodynamic body pressed from a single piece of sheet metal, and paint left over from the company’s aeroplane division.

Over 20,000 92s were produced, with the car becoming something of a rally legend during its production run, and later evolving to feature a trunk (with an opening lid!) and paint options other than military-surplus.

This lovely (and rather cleverly constructed) Saab 92 comes from SvenJ., who has packed front and rear fenders, door handles and mirrors, and even a split windshield into the pretty 7-wide bodywork.

You can take a closer look at Sven’s Saab 92 at his photostream, click the link above to make the jump.

Should’ve Got the Estate

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There is surely no better car than an ’80s Volvo estate for carrying a Christmas tree. Unfortunately for Flickr’s Sseven Bricks, this classic lump of Swedish medal is a sedan, and thus his tree has had to go on the roof. We’re not quite sure we’d have strapped it in the orientation he has, but who are we to argue. Dodge the low bridges to get home via the link above!

Wait For It…

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These days, everything is turbocharged. Which normally means a tiny engine, often with three-cylinders, fitted under the hood of a homogenous crossover. Sigh. But turbos used to be cool. Albeit laggy.

This is the BMW 2002 Turbo, one of the first turbocharged production cars, and powered by a 2.0 litre engine fitted with a 0.55 bar twin-scroll KK&K turbocharger that boosted power to almost 170bhp. Well, it did once the turbo-lag was over, usually a few seconds after you asked for it.

Launched in 1973, the 2002 Turbo’s arrival coincided exactly with the oil crisis, which meant it wasn’t exactly a success. The technology it pioneered however, is now fitted to almost every new non-electrified car on sale, and with the lag left in the past.

This excellent brick-built homage to the 2002 Turbo comes from brickphisto of Flickr, who has recreated it beautifully in 8-wide form. The doors, trunk, and hood all open, under the last of which is a replica of the M10-turbo engine that powered it, and there’s more of the model to see at brickphisto’s photostream. Put your foot down and wait a few seconds via the link above.

Mon Ami

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1960s Citroens were properly weird. This is a Citroen Ami 6, a front-wheel-drive economy car available as saloon, estate, or van, powered by the mighty 602cc sub-30bhp two-cylinder engine from the 2CV, with a reverse-rake rear window, and seats you could remove to form picnic chairs. Because France.

This glorious homage to the little Citroen captures the, um… ‘unique’ styling of the Ami brilliantly in brick form, and it comes from previous bloggee SIM CAMAT who owns the real thing. With opening doors, hood and trunk, plus a detailed engine and interior, SIM’s Ami is a really lovely replica, and you can head to 1960s France via the link to his photostream above.

Cardboard Car

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Flickr’s Szunyogh Balazs has appeared on these pages several times before, with vehicles that are fast, loud, or both. But not today, because his latest creation is at the opposite end of the vehicular spectrum. This is the communist East German Trabant, a car made fro cardboard for people that had no choice.

Almost three million Trabant 601s were made, making it the East German equivalent of the West German Beetle. Although the Beetle became a Polo. And a Golf. Whereas the Trabant carried on until the collapse of the Soviet Union and reunification of Germany in 1991. There’s more to see of Szunyough’s splendid Lego Trabant 601 on Flickr, and you can head to the other side of the iron curtain via the link above.

LEGO Technic 42223 1966 Ford GT40 MKII Race Car | Set Preview

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It’s that time of year again, when a crack team of Elven ‘Volunteers’ are fired over The LEGO Company’s perimeter wall by way of the office catapult, tasked with uncovering the newest LEGO sets due to hit shelves next year.

We’ll report their finds for 2026 in the coming weeks, but we have one 2026 Technic set to share ahead of the main event today. This is the brand new LEGO Technic 42223 1966 Ford GT40 MKII Race Car!

Bringing one of America’s* greatest ever race cars into the Technic line-up, 42223 recreates the car that finished 1, 2, 3 at the 1966 Daytona 24 Hours, Sebring 12 Hours, and Le Mans 24 Hours sixty years ago, becoming an all-time legend in the process.

The new LEGO Technic 42223 Ford GT40 captures the exterior of the all-conquering ’66 MkII variant with a range of pieces appearing in new colours – including those gold wheels – plus an array of decently-authentic looking decals adding the side and centre stripes, roundels and seat details.

793 parts make up the new 42223 GT40 in all, with the set featuring the default working engine (a miniaturised V8), working steering, and the opening doors and engine cover expected as a minimum at this scale, and no more.

Except 42223 does have one unexpected variance from the mid-size Technic vehicles that have preceded it… An 18+ age and £65 / $75 price tag.

No, that isn’t a typo. Despite being constructed from under 800 pieces, and with no more working features than any other mid-size Technic vehicle, LEGO have somehow determined that 42223 requires a brain eighteen years or older to complete it, and thus it carries a price to match.

Which is – and there’s no other way to put this – a marketing scam.

We’re admittedly idiots here at The Lego Car Blog, but we don’t like LEGO treating its customers as such. The brand new 42223 Ford GT40 MkII Race Car might bring one of greatest cars of the 1960s to the Technic range, but the cynical, unscrupulous, and exploitative marketing that accompanies it is definitely from 2026.

At £55 / $65 and an age of 12+, 42223 could have been a strong set. As it is, this GT40 should have stayed in ‘66.

*Except it was British. Ford are no strangers to marketing scams either…

On the Wings of an… um, Seagull

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Seagulls are roundly disliked in TLCB’s home nation. Found on rubbish dumps or in British seaside resorts (which amount to the same thing), they make irritating ‘CAAAW!’ noises, crap all over the place, and mug people for their chips. However in car form, they’re rather wonderful…

This is the mid-’50s Mercedes-Benz 300SL ‘Gullwing’, perhaps the only time a coupe has been more desirable than the roadster, thanks entirely to those magnificent doors.

This splendid Speed Champions version, complete with the aforementioned gullwing doors, comes from previous bloggee SFH_Bricks, and with building instructions available you can recreate it for yourself. There’s more to see at SFH’s ‘1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL’ album and you can CAAAW, crap all over the place, and steal someone’s chips via the link above.

Barracuda*

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If TLCB Elves were to design a car, it’d probably look like a ’70s Plymouth Barracuda. Lime green bodywork, a black hood with a giant scoop in the middle of it, racing stripes, and an enormous V8 engine packing up to 425bhp from over 7 litres, the Hemi ‘Cuda was wildly different to the cars trundling around our home nation at the time.

Cue this splendid Speed Champions scale recreation of Plymouth’s third-generation Barracuda from previous bloggee gnat.bricks, which includes all of the aforementioned attributes plus -and more unusually at this scale – a brick-built drivetrain, including  full-length exhausts, gearbox, driveshaft and differential, and steering arms/suspension. These don’t function of course, but then neither did the steering/suspension of the real ‘Cuda.

There’s more of gnat’s brilliant Barracuda to see at his ‘CUDA SC’ album on Flickr, and you can jump back to ’70s America via the link above, whilst clicking the link below for the most appropriate soundtrack imaginable.

*Today’s excellent title song. Of course.

Beetle Built Different

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Hope, magic, and more than a little ingenuity. The Lego Car Blog staff have built a great many things, but none have deployed antenna ball-joints as fenders. There’s so much going on in 1saac W.‘s Volkswagen Beetle there is genuine bafflement here at TLCB Towers as to how it all holds together. Join us trying in vain to figure it out at 1saac’s photostream via the link above.

Black or White*

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New cars in TLCB’s home nation are a sea of monochrome. Because the British public are a) unimaginative and b) under the mistaken impression that a black SUV is classy. But back in the 1960s monochrome could look so good, as proven by this fantastic Ford Fairlane.

Constructed in white, black, and grey, builder Jonathan Elliott has presented his model on a curving grey background (a neat trick to avoid corner shadows), adding to the monochrome cool. Head to Jonathan’s photostream for more of his work.

*Today’s wonderful (if ironic) title song.

The Smallest Car in the World

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The British motor industry was weird. At one end of it in the 1960s was the fastest car in the world (the Jaguar E-Type), whilst at the other was the smallest. Because, um… honestly we have no idea why Peel decided to make the smallest production car in the world, but make it they did for a few years in the mid-’60s.

Powered by a 50cc scooter engine the P50 could fit only one moderately-sized human, but – as proven in an iconic episode of Top Gear – it could also fit in a lift with a newsreader. Because, um… we have no idea.

This ingenious brick-built example of the world’s smallest car comes from Michael Jasper of Flickr, who has managed to construct it in mini-figure scale. We’re not sure one will fit in it mind…

There’s more (although not a lot more) to see at Michael’s photostream, and you can head to Britain in the mid-’60s for some very small motoring indeed via the link above.

Walking a Cyber Skyline

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A classic Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R, cyberpunk, bosozoku, and Liberty Walk are quite a lot to squeeze into one model. The result could therefore be described as ‘busy’, but heck it works! This cyberpunked, bosozokued, and Liberty Walk bodykitted Skyline 2000 ‘Kenmeri’ comes from Flickr’s Sergio Batista, and is based on the artwork of Kantaro Gashilo. A glorious mash-up of conflicting aesthetics, there’s more to see at Sergio’s photostream, and you can take a walk through a cyberpunk skyline via the link above.

Green Gas

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If we saw a cloud of gas this colour floating our way we probably wouldn’t stop to find out what it smelled like. Still Tim Inman is made of braver stuff than us, because he’s taken one of LEGO’s rarest hues and somehow found enough parts to create this glorious 1933 Willys ‘gasser’ hot rod. With absurd side-pipes, an octuplet of engine trumpets, and packing a parachute, Tim’s ride isn’t messing about, and you can gas your way over to his photostream for a sniff at the link above.

*Today’s

A Virtual Triumph

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The Triumph 2000-series was, like so many British cars of the time, fantastic. Beautifully styled by Michelotti, powered by a range of smooth 6-cylinder engines, and with over 400,000 built in five countries, it was one of the finest mid-sized saloons of its era.

Which of course meant that British Leyland would go on screw it – and all of Triumph – up, as exemplified by the fact that its predecessor was a Standard and its successor a Rover. And if that makes no sense… you’re right, it doesn’t.

But let’s not get bogged down in the collapse of the British automotive industry, because back in the late-’60s and early-’70s it was still riding high, with the Triumph 2000-series a big part of that success.

This one is a 2500S estate, as superbly recreated in digital form by Lego Professional Peter Blackert (aka lego911). Alongside the excellent exterior the doors, tailgate and hood all open and there’s a detailed engine and interior too, with more to see of Peter’s virtual Triumph at his photostream. Take a look via the link whilst we fantasise about buying the real thing…