Tag Archives: Classic Car

Red Square

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Russia isn’t exactly a bastion of commercial opportunity at the moment. Unless you’re a citizen able to buy a departing western brand at a knock-down price. Back in the 1970s though, Russia – and the wider Soviet Union – was seen as a land of opportunity. If you were Fiat anyway.

A range of obsolete Italian designs were sold to the Soviet Union, with the most famous being this; the Lada 1600 / VAZ-2106. Like the 2103 that preceded it, the 2106 was based on the 1967 ‘European Car of the Year’ Fiat 124, although now updated with the deletion of the chrome brightwork (dull black plastic was far more appropriate at ensuring the population knew its place) and a larger engine of Lada’s own design

The 2106 was hugely successful, becoming VAZ’s most numerous product, and being built in several factories across the Soviet Union including in both Russia and Ukraine. Production finally ended in the early-’00s, after which Renault became a majority stakeholder in the company and Lada designs switched from Italian to French.

Which brings us back to Ukraine and knock-down prices, as last year Renault sold their majority stake in the Avtovaz / Lada company for just two roubles ($0.026) due to Russia’s ongoing war with its neighbour. It cost Renault around $2billion, and created the bargain of the century for a lucky Russian buyer.

That lucky buyer is of course the Russian State (aka Vladimir Putin), who has Lada back in Russian hands, and with $2billion of modern French technology thrown in too. Who’d have thought we’d be longing for a Lada built from bits of old Fiat in Cold War Soviet Ukraine, rather than a re-badged Renault stolen via a vicious illegal war.

We are though, so here’s Legostalgie‘s superb Lada 1600 / VAZ-2106, which is not only wonderfully realistic visually, it includes four opening doors, an opening trunk and hood, a beautifully detailed engine and a lifelike interior, all presented via top quality imagery.

There’s lots more of the model to see at Legostalgie’s ‘Lada 1600 / VAZ-2601’ Flickr album, and you can jump back to a time when Ladas were old Fiats rather than stolen Renaults via the link in the text above.

Kookie Kar

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This is the ‘Kookie T’, one of the all-time seminal hot rods, and the inspiration for very probably a thousand hot rods that have followed. Built by hot rodder and actor Norm Grabowski, the Kookie-T exploded into magazines during the mid-’50s, creating such a stir that the car was chosen to make a starring appearance in the ’50s TV show ’77 Sunset Strip’.

Norm’s custom car prowess led to further TV and movie contracts, and eventually allowed him to appear in several productions himself, acting in films including ‘The Monkees’, ‘Batman’, ‘The Towering Inferno’, ‘The Cannonball Run’ and… er, ‘Sex Kittens Go to College’, amongst others.

This fantastic replica of the iconic hot rod comes from previous bloggee Andre Pinto, who has recreated the Kookie-T brilliantly in brick form. Stunning presentation matches the excellent brickwork, and there’s more to see at Andre’s ‘Norm Grabowski’s Kookie Car’ Flickr album. Click the link to take a look, unless you’re already Googling that last film title. You are aren’t you…

Bricking Bronco

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There’s a new Ford Bronco out. Which of course means a TLCB post saying ‘we’d prefer the old one’. But we would, so here it is, courtesy of TLCB regular 1saac W. Jump back to 1970 via the link.

Life Begins at Forty

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Or so people in their 40s like to say. For Ferrari however, it’s very probably true, as – despite their amazing pre-1980s back-catalogue – the Maranello marque’s all-time high water mark came in 1987 with its fortieth birthday present to itself, the astonishing F40.

Pioneering twin-turbochargers, a kevlar and carbon-fibre body, and semi-flat under-tray, the F40 was the fastest, most powerful, and most expensive Ferrari yet, and the last to be personally approved by Enzo Ferrari himself before his death in 1988.

All of which means F40s are now worth around $1.5million, even though they are not – at least in supercar terms – rare cars, with over 1,300 produced during the model’s five year production run.

Unfortunately the result of such iconic status is that even TLCB’s executive team can’t afford one, despite the immense riches that blogging about Lego brings, but no matter because today we have the next best thing; Lachlan Cameron’s brilliant Technic Ferrari F40 replica.

Utilising the latest parts from the official LEGO Technic 42143 Ferrari Dayton SP3 set, Lachlan has faithfully recreated the definitive Ferrari in brick form, complete with a v8 engine and 5-speed gearbox, working steering and suspension, opening clamshells and doors, a highly detailed interior and engine bay, and pop-up headlights.

Accurate decals, chromed pieces, and printed tyres maximise the realism, and there’s lots more to see of this incredible creation at Lachlan’s ‘Ferrari F40’ album on Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum.

Join Ferrari’s fortieth birthday celebrations via the links in the text above, plus you can find out Lachlan builds amazing models like this via his interview here at The Lego car Blog; click these words to read more.

Brown Range

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It’s FebRovery, but it’s not all sci-fi lunar rovers here at TLCB. Nope, because here’s the real deal. Launched in 1970 the Range Rover took the immensely successful Land Rover, added coil springs, a luxury-ish interior, and a 3.5 litre V8 engine to create arguably the world’s first luxury off-roader.

Which means of course that the Range Rover is responsible for more hateful gargantuan vehicular atrocities than probably any other car in history, as its success led to the ever increasing SUV arms-race that has culminated in vehicles like this. Apologies if you’re eating whilst reading this.

Still, that’s not exactly the Ranger Rover’s fault, particularly as early 3-door cars were – by modern standards – tiny. And excellent.

Cue this fantastic (and fantastically brown) Creator-style version of the early first-generation Range Rover, as created beautifully by 1corn of Flickr.

Opening doors, hood and split tailgate, a detailed engine and interior, and working suspension all feature, and there’s more to see of 1corn’s superb recreation of the difinitive luxury 4×4 at his ‘Range Rover’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to take a look.

Cooler Box

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We don’t care what anyone says, this is the coolest car we’ve ever posted. Yes, this magnificent slab of Swede, a Volvo 242, is so deeply cool that The Brothers Brick can’t look at it directly. We on the other hand, being connoisseurs of cool, can’t get enough of Stephan Jonsson’s glorious grey box. Even more so as it’s the ‘Coupe’ variant.

Of course being an ’80s Volvo the 242 is the single squarest coupe ever devised, and – unlike every other Volvo of the time – your Ikea boxes have to go on the roof rather than in the boot, but that just makes it cooler.

A beautifully detailed engine, opening doors, hood and boot, a spectacularly orange interior, and accessories like a roof rack and tow bar add to our delight, and there’s more to see of the coolest car we’ve ever posted at Stephan’s ‘Volvo 242 Group H’ album on Flickr. We like really like old Volvos.

My Other Car’s a Mustang

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This is a Meyers Manx beach buggy, the definitive car-made-from-another-car. And so too is this superb Model Team recreation of the iconic ’60s design, which uses only parts from the excellent 10265 Ford Mustang set in its construction.

Built by Brian Michal of Flickr, this 10265 alternate includes steering, suspension, a removable roof, and – much like the real Meyers Manx – probably leaves a few parts from the donor vehicle left over too.

There’s more of Brian’s B-Model to see at his photostream, and you can switch your horse for a tailless cat via the link above.

Old Lady’s Bathroom

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This is a Trabant 601, accurately resplendent in the colour of an old lady’s bathroom, and made from a similar material too. Created by László Torma in Speed Champions (ironically) scale, this neat miniaturisation of the rubbish East German people’s car captures the original wonderfully, and there’s more to see – including a ‘Combi’ station wagon version – at László’s photostream. Click the link above for more Hearing-Aid-Beige communist wonders.

600 Redux

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Britain feels like it has returned to the 1970s. Inflation is ludicrous, everyone’s on strike, and it’s only a matter of time before brown patterned wallpaper makes a comeback.

Cue Jonathan Elliott, who has also returned to 1971 via this superb remake of one of the first ever LEGO vehicle sets, the 600 Ambulance. Whilst the original set is a somewhat low-res right-angled affair, Jonathan’s remake is a gorgeous, highly detailed, and surprisingly functional model, wonderfully recreating the station-wagon-based ambulances that were commonly used half a century ago.

There’s more to see of Jonathan’s beautifully presented 600 Ambulance Redux at his photostream, and you can head back to the early ’70s with the rest of us via the link above.

Do It Yourself

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Taking advantage of the new year sales is not something this TLCB Writer is inclined to do. Mr. Bean on the other hand, was very excited at the prospect of grabbing himself a bargain. Cue one of the most brilliant vehicular capers in TV history, wherein an ingenious Bean attempts to transport rather more than he should home via his British Leyland Mini. Flickr’s Tomáš Novák is the latest builder to create a brick-built Bean atop a bright green Mini, and there’s more to see of his homage to TV gold at his photostream. Click the link above to push the mop onto the accelerator!

Time Attack

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We’re back to cars, and what a car to return to our site title for. This is a ’68 Chevrolet Camaro ‘Time Attack’ racer, modified with a twin-turbo V6, side-exit exhausts, aero, and a full roll-cage, all built in miniature in Speed Champions scale.

Flickr’s Stephan Jonsson is the creator behind it, and there’s lots more of the Camaro to see – including excellent imagery showing the highly detailed engine and a radically extreme aero-package – at his ‘1986 Pro Street/Time Attack Camaro’ album. Click the link above to set your time.

Supernova

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Whilst both part of the General Motors empire, America’s Chevy ‘Nova’ was rather different to the Vauxhall one we got… Still, we have the cool one today, courtesy of IBrickedItUp and this neat recreation of the third generation Chevrolet Nova SS in Speed Champions scale. Racing stripes and an unnecessary hood bulge add to the image (again, somewhat different to what we got…), and there’s more to see via the link!

To the Tip!

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Christmas at TLCB Towers is over for another year, and thus the slightly depressed-looking Christmas tree in the corner of the office can finally be laid to rest. This usually means strapping it to the roof of the office’s Rover 200, driving to the tip, and lobbing it into a giant container of compostable waste.

Flickr’s Jonathan Elliott takes a much more fun approach to tree disposal though, with his Christmas tree dragged behind a Land Rover 109 tow-truck like a wake-boarder behind a power-boat. Or a soon to-be-executed 15th century criminal behind a horse.

The Land Rover is mighty good too, with the exquisite detailing including probably the best small-scale Land Rover tail-lights we’ve ever seen. There’s more of the model to see at Jonathan’s photostream, and you can take a look via the link above whilst we find out if a knackered Rover 200 is up to the job of towing a Christmas tree through the streets.

Model Team Miura

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Launched in 1966, the Lamborghini Miura is probably the the world’s first supercar, and was designed by Lamborghini’s engineering team in their spare time, against the wishes of their founder. He changed his mind when he saw their work however, and gave them free reign to complete the car, with styling direction from the great Mercello Gandini.

Powered by Lamborghini’s 3.9 litre V12, transversely mounted behind the cabin, the Miura produced around 345bhp, with later versions upping the figure to almost 400bhp.

Now worth a gagillion dollars, Miuras are one of the most sought-after cars in the world, so the closest any of us here at TLCB will get to one is in Lego form. Fortunately today we can do just that, courtesy of Pingubrick’s beautiful 1,200-piece Model Team recreation of the iconic ’60s Lamborghini.

Opening doors, front and rear clamshells, and a detailed interior and engine bay feature, and there’s more to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the link above to take a look at Pingu’s recreation of Lamborghini’s finest work.

My Other (Muscle) Car is a Camaro

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What’s better than a ’69? Two ’69s obviously. Cue Brian Michal, who has taken LEGO’s excellent 10304 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 set and created another ’69 icon, the Ford Mustang Mach 1.

A performance package available on the first generation Mustang, Mach 1s were powered by V8s engines of 5.8, 6.4, or 7.0 litres, were fitted with upgraded suspension (although – we suspect – not nearly upgraded enough), and a 3-speed automatic or 4-speed manual gearbox.

A host of other options were available too, including Ram-Air, a Drag Pack, a ‘Traction Lok’ rear axle, and – as pictured here – a ‘Shaker’ hood. All of which sound marvellous.

Brian’s 10304 alternate captures the ’69 Ford Mustang Mach 1 superbly, with more to see at his Flickr album, where a link to building instructions can also be found should you wish to switch your own ’69 muscle car for another.

And if a ’69 isn’t really your thing, here are a few bonus links to a rather more modern Mustang, a Porsche 911, and a Chevrolet C10 pick-up, also built solely from the 10304 Camaro Z28 set.