The Jaguar XJS is a rare sight these days (away from the banger track at least), and as a result is looking ever more beautiful, especially from this angle. Those are ‘flying buttresses’ and – as is often the way with unique designs – they weren’t appreciated in their own time. They look awesome now though, and Stefan Eekman (aka Sebeus I) has captured them beautifully in brick form as a gift for a colleague. Fly over to Flickr or Eurobricks for more.
TLCB staff do not like the modern Volkswagen Golf GTI. Too heavy, too powerful, too expensive, too automatic, and with cabin controls that even VW themselves acknowledge are total crap, what with them being invisible in the dark. But hey the front grille lights up! Sigh.
Yes we’re grumpy old men today, because we much prefer this, the mid-‘80s Mark II Golf GTI. Low power, low weight, and not a touch sensitive unlit temperature slider in sight. Although they aren’t ’in sight’ in the modern Golf either, which is the problem.
This splendid Speed Champions recreation of probably the best Golf GTI of them all comes from regular bloggee SFH_Bricks, who has nailed the brief.
Just over 300 pieces, instructions are available, and you can head back to when hot hatches didn’t need three sub-menus to change the stereo volume via the link above.
Is there anything more 1970s than a brown police car crashing through some gratuitously placed boxes? Of course not, and Flickr’s SvenJ. takes us straight to ‘The Streets of San Francisco’ with this fabulous early-’70s Ford Galaxie as driven by Lieutenant Mike Stone and Inspector Steve Keller. Usually through some gratuitously placed boxes.
Clever building techniques and wonderful detailing match the top quality presentation, and there’s lots more of Sven’s seventies Galaxie to see via the link above. Plus you can hear tyres squealing on gravel and watch a few shots used twice in the hope TV audiences wouldn’t notice in this glorious ‘The Streets of San Francisco’ montage!
Some cars are just cool. And this is one of them, the tremendous 1969 Chevrolet Nova SS, equipped with a near 400bhp V8 and – in the case of PleaseYesPlease’s brick-built example – dropped to the floor under bulging arches. Never has the office Rover 200 looked more upright. Or slower. Join us imagining we’re cool at Please’s ‘Nova SS 1969’ album via the link.
Corvettes, like Mustangs, are often driven by people who think their car can spin on the spot. Or fly. Or both. They are mistaken.
But not today! Because we have two Corvettes that can do just that. Previous bloggee Sergio Batista has taken the 76903 Speed Champions Corvettes set and added a whole lot more vertical ability, with inspiration from artist Alejandro Burdisio, the ‘Blade Runner’ movies, and a heap of unusual LEGO Bionicle and Exo-Force pieces.
LED lighting adds to the aura, and there’s more to see of both the Corvette Stingray hover car and Corvette C8.R ‘Spinner’ at Sergio’s photostream. Click the links to take a look, or here for another bonus Corvette crash.
I gotta go ’cause I got me a drop-topAnd if I hit the switch, I can make the ass dropCube’s Impala is the base
Sergio Batista’s even added his faceLow ‘n slow wins the race
Chrome bricks, printed rims and paint, for purists this Chevy ain’tBut listen homies, that’s not a complaintBounce over to Flickr, so you can acquaint.
Yes we’ve murdered Ice Cube’s ‘It Was a Good Day’, but with Sergio’s ’64 Chevrolet lowrider straight from the ’92 video we were pretty much obliged to. Click here to make the ass drop.
It’s funny how words change over time. What once meant herding livestock across the Mongolian steppe, living in a tent and drinking yaks milk, now means sitting on a beach in Bali selling crap digital marketing / lifestyle coaching / crypto courses to the terminally gullible.
There must be a middle-ground…
Fortunately there is, and today we’re showing you how to have a nomadic lifestyle whilst neither freezing in a tent in Mongolia nor becoming an insufferable digital douchebag. This is the Chevrolet Nomad.
Based on the Chevrolet Bel-Air and featuring a gorgeous two-door two-tone station-wagon body, the V8-powered Nomad was the height of ’50s ‘Motorama’ design. Growing to become an equally dramatic four-door station-wagon from ’58, it’s the ’57 model-year we have here, courtesy of previous bloggee Tony Bovkoon and his fabulous Model Team recreation.
Opening doors, hood and tailgate all feature, as does a superbly replicated V8 engine and interior, with lots more to see at Tony’s ‘Chevrolet Nomad’ album. Building instructions are available too so you can go nomadic for yourself; click the link above to find out more, no yaks milk or dodgy digital marketing course required.
A pen has just been dropped by a grey-suited lawyer in Maranello. He looks up. He can sense something is wrong. Somewhere, someone has used the F-word without his permission.
Ferrari do not like it when their logo is applied to something they haven’t built (or even if it’s removed from something they have), so they’re really not going to like this Ferrari Dino 246 GTS by Flickr’s Nathanael Kuipers. Because underneath, this Ferrari is a Corvette.
Yes this Dino 246 GTS is constructed entirely from the pieces found within the Icons 10321 Chevrolet Corvette set, and includes opening doors, engine cover and front and rear trunks, a removable roof, and a detailed interior, with all of it rebuildable at home as Nathanael has published building instructions too.
There’s much more to see at Nathanael’s photostream and you can take a closer look – and maybe recreate it for yourself – via the link above, before Nathanael is handed a Cease & Desist notice by a disgruntled Italian lawyer.
Jaguar don’t actually make anything at the moment. Which means that if they and LEGO wish to continue their partnership they’ll need to look backwards. And look back they have, to – in the words of Enzo Ferrari – the most beautiful car ever made. This is the brand new LEGO Icons 11381 Jaguar E-Type!
Constructed from 1,673 pieces, including a new windscreen, wheel arches and wheels, 11381 attempts to recreate the E-Type Roadster’s spectacular curves in brick form and… well, it’s perhaps not the most beautiful LEGO set ever, despite the source material.
Like the previous 10262 Aston Martin DB5 set, 11381 proves that 1960s curves are tricky to create from bricks, but it is nevertheless instantly recognisable, and includes working steering, a folding roof, a detailed straight-6 engine under the forward hinged hood, opening doors, and an opening trunk complete with a toolbox (it is a classic Jaguar after all).
Aimed at ages 18+, the new LEGO Icons 11381 Jaguar E-Type is expected to cost $140 / £130 / €140, and you’ll be able to get your hands on it later this year.
Here in TLCB’s home nation we know the ‘Nova’ as an early-‘80s to early-‘90s supermini that was everywhere, and then nowhere, as rust and neglect killed – like all ‘80s economy cars – almost every last one.
In 1960s America however, an ‘economy car’ meant something rather different, and General Motors used the same nameplate for the Chevrolet Nova, the base engine for which was more than twice as big as the largest engine ever fitted to its later Vauxhall namesake.
But we’re not interested in the base Nova, not when there was a V8 engine of over five litres available in the Super Sport variant. Imagine that in a Vauxhall shopping car…
This beautiful ‘67 Chevrolet Nova SS is the work of Flickr’s PleaseYesPlease, and it’s about a billion times cooler than the Novas we got. Superbly built and presented, there’s more to see at Please’s photostream and you can take a look via the link.
From one beautiful classic car to another, only this one isn’t real. But gosh we wish it were.
Created by Flickr’s SHARPSPEED, this gorgeous classic coupe has notes of Corvette, Volvo P1800, E-Type, Aston Martin, and many others, with our particular favourite elements being the conical rear lights and ice-skate grille.
There’s more to see at SHARPSPEED’s photostream and you can take a look via the link.
Exactly half-way between the death of King Edward VII and Salad Fingers came this, the glorious 1957 Jaguar D-Type.
Launched in 1955 the D-Type was specifically designed to win the Le Mans 24 Hours, with a 3.4 litre straight-six and a host of aeronautical inspired innovations – most notably the tail-fin to provide stability for the (then un-chicaned) Mulsanne Straight.
The result was an outright win in ‘55, ‘56, and most dominantly in ‘57, when 250,000 spectators watched the D-Type – now with an enlarged 3.8 litre engine – take first, second, third, fourth, and sixth places.
This lovely Speed Champions recreation of the ‘57 Le Mans winner comes from regular bloggee SFH_Bricks, with custom stickers from Brickstickershop and building instructions available too.
There’s more of the model to see at SFH’s photostream, and you can head down the Mulsanne Straight in 1957 via the link above.
We’re used to big black Cadillacs, and they’re, um…. not really our bag. Except today, because this is a 1965 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, and it’s all the class a modern Escalade isn’t. Flickr’s gGh0st is its maker and you can take a closer look via the link.
The Lego Car Blog’s home nation has just come last in the Eurovision Song Contest. Again.
Yes the nation of Adele, The Beatles, The Cure, Dire Straits, ELO, Florence & the Machine… and that’s just the first six letters of the alphabet… can’t beat any disposable European electropop.
So to cheer ourselves up we’re heading back seven decades to when the UK could actually beat Europe at something, and this glorious 1951 Talbot-Lago T26 and 1959 Aston Martin DBR1.
The gorgeous Talbot-Lago isn’t British of course but French, and it came second at Le Mans in 1951 to a Jaguar, which supports our patriotic narrative, whilst the DBR1 beat Ferrari to win at Le Mans in 1959.
Each superb Speed Champions creation comes from SFH_Bricks of Flickr, and you can jump back to when Britain could win at something in Europe via the link above.
Exactly half way between the Second Boer War and the iPhone 11 came this, the Cadillac Eldorado ‘Woodie’. Although perhaps it never really existed at all, as the imagery available today seems to be more of a Hot Wheels toy than a real car.
Whether a genuine vehicle or not, the ‘59 Eldorado station wagon looks unarguably fantastic though, with this tremendous brick-built version capturing the Hot Wheels toy beautifully, complete with its surfboards protruding from the rear. 1saac W. is its maker and you can take a closer look on Flickr via the link.
