This might be the most Italian thing we’ve ever seen. This beautiful scene complete with two of Italy’s most iconic vehicles, the Vespa scooter and the Fiat 500, comes from the very Italian-sounding Gabriele Zannotti and the, er… Greek-sounding Zeto Vince. Whatever, this could only be more Italian with the addition of a pretty girl, and there’s more to see of this excellent collaboration at Gabriele Zannotti’s photostream – click here to take a look.
’80s cars are funny things. Worthless since about 1995, and without either the classic looks found before the ’70s or the rust-proofing of modern cars, they occupy of sort of automotive no-mans-land. This means that of probably any era of motoring, ’80s cars are the most endangered. If you think a McLaren F1 is rare try finding a Talbot Tagora. In our home nation there is just one example of his humble saloon left taxed on the roads. One.
Thankfully there are a few more Mark 1 Golf GTIs left, but even these went through a near extinction phase. Fortunately Volkswagen’s original hot hatch is now rather sought-after and with so many scrapped in the 1990s and 2000s the surviving examples are rocketing in value, safeguarding the model’s existence. This lovely Model Team example of the an early ’80s Mark 1 GTI comes from Joe Perez (previously Mortal Swordsman) of Flickr, and it reminds us of why the original is such a well-regarded car.
Beautifully clean lines (penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro), lightweight, and with just enough power to have fun, the original Golf GTI is the perfect antidote to today’s heavy, over-styled and ludicrously powerful yet un-involving hot hatches. Joe’s Model Team replica of the definitive ’80s hot hatch captures the iconic look brilliantly and we think it would make a rather good official set (LEGO have a license agreement with Volkswagen after all). There’s more to see of Joe’s 1980s Volkswagen Golf GTI at his photostream – click the link above and badger him to put it on LEGO Ideas.
The Citroen 2CV, affectionately (and unaffectionately) known as ‘ the tin snail’ owing to its looks and glacial speed, is one one of the world’s most important cars. Yes, you did read that right.
Designed in the 1930s, Citroen’s Car-for-the-People was intended for France’s numerous rural workers who were largely still dependent upon the horse for transportation. Reliable, fuel efficient, easy to maintain, and above all cheap, the 2CV was engineered to mobilise an entire population class. And then Hitler decided to be ‘a bit of a dick’.
The German invasion and the subsequent commandeering of French factories to build stuff for blowing up the British meant production for the innovative and much-needed 2CV never started. Fearful of the Nazi’s stealing the design, Citroen hid their 2CV prototypes across France in the hope they would remain undetected (some of which are still being unearthed today).
The Allied victory in 1945 left behind a ruined France, but thankfully for Citroen an undetected cache of 2CV prototypes. Three years later, and a decade after the car was first engineered, the 2CV finally reached production.
As much as Europe’s poor workers needed cheap reliable transportation before World War 2, they really needed it afterwards, and the little Citroen was a huge success. Half the price of Germany’s ‘People’s Car’ – the Volkswagen Beetle, the 2CV sold almost 4 million units in a production run that spanned five decades and nine different countries.
When Citroen 2CV production finally ceased in 1990 the car had become a bit of a joke, but for much of its life the 2CV was the most important car in Europe, and is surely one of the greatest car designs ever created.
This fitting tribute to one of France’s icons of motoring comes from previous bloggee and Technic building legend Nico71 who has recreated the simplicity of Citroen’s engineering beautifully. The 2CV’s legendary leading and trailing arm suspension (designed so a peasant could carry eggs unbroken across a ploughed field) has been faithfully reproduced in Lego form, plus there’s working steering and the doors, hood and trunk all open.
There’s lots more of Nico71’s brilliant Technic 2cv to see via Brickshelf, plus you watch a video of the model on YouTube by clicking here.
Flickr’s Pixel Fox has appeared here several times with his ever-growing assortment of off-road vehicles. His latest are these, a pair of wonderful Meyers Manx beach buggies.
Designed by a Californian boat-builder named Bruce F. Meyers in the 1960s the Manx took a shortened Volkswagen Beetle chassis and running-gear and added a custom glass-fibre body. Around 6,000 Manxes were built between 1965 and ’71 and the design dominated dune racing, despite the lowly Beetle engine power.
The B. F. Meyers & Co. company disbanded in 1971, by which point a wave of imitators had arisen. However the Meyers original is still held as the definition of the beach buggy and after several decades out of production a new Manx company formed in 1999, meaning you can still buy Meyers’ 1965 design today.
Pixel Fox’s lovely mini-figure scale Meyers Manxes capture the real car brilliantly and there’s more to see of the Manx and his other excellent off-road vehicles at his photostream via the link above.
A double post today, as two previous bloggees appear here with a pair of black mini-figure scale classics. First up (above) is _Tyler‘s glorious 5-wide Ford Anglia 100E in police specification, complete with a brilliantly authentic 1950s British police officer.
Today’s second black classic comes from Jonathan Elliot who has built a lovely 6-wide ‘anonymous black sedan’ from a similar era. Smart techniques abound on both models and there’s more to see of each via the links above.
There’s a lot of music this writer would like to have been old enough to hear first time around. Elton John’s ‘Nikita’ is not one of those songs.
Elton’s 1985 hit probably says something poignant about the Cold War and oppression behind the iron curtain, but to the casual observer it could appear as though he’s being chauffeured to a Communistical border post in a bright red Bentley just to mock those on the other side.
Whatever, this neat Lego replica of Elton’s Bentley Continental convertible – complete with Elton himself – comes from previous bloggee Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist and it’s a superb recreation of the car (which was Elton’s own) from the music video.
There’s lots more to see of the Bentley and Ralph’s other cars at his photostream via the link above, and you can try to work out what the hell Elton John is up to by clicking here.
So good they named it twice. The French Polynesian island does look pretty nice, but it’s not quite as lovely as this. This brilliant little Speed Champions style 1971 Maserati Bora comes from previous bloggee Jonathan Elliott and he’s captured the gorgeous Giugiaro design wonderfully. There’s more to see of Jonathan’s 6-wide Bora on Flickr at the link above, where you can also find several other superb Speed Campions classics.
The Lego Car Blog staff might all have clothes slightly too small for them after Christmas but the Elves, locked up over the festive period, are hungry. Imagine the delight of the first Elf back then, when it was awarded not one but four meal tokens. Will it spread its four meals out, or binge on four dinners in one go? I think we all know the answer to that.
The cause of this Elven gluttony is Vibor Cavor (aka Veeborg) who has built four beautiful versions of the mid-1940s Chevrolet Fleetmaster. Clockwise from top left is a police fastback, a taxi sedan, a fire chief coupe, and a delivery-bodied ambulance conversion. Each model is wonderfully detailed inside and out, includes opening doors, hood and trunk/tailgate, and features hand-of-God steering.
There’s more to see of all four Fleetmasters at both Vibor’s Flickr photostream and MOCpage – click the link to check them out.
Back in the 1960s a rather special deal was done. Hertz, recognising the interest in Ford’s new muscle car, signed a deal with Ford, who provided the company with 1,000 specially-painted Mustang GT350s. The cars joined the rental fleet and immediately gave both companies marketing gold, allowing almost anyone to drive the hottest car in America for a day.
After the rental arrangement concluded the cars were refurbished (hopefully very throughly!) and sold on as the Mustang GT350-H. Some of these cars survive complete with their iconic black and gold liveries, and they look gloriously cool in today’s world of white and sliver.
This spectacular replica of one of the original 1,000 Hertz Mustangs comes from previous bloggee Pawel Kmiec (better known as Sariel) and it captures the famous livery beautifully.
Sariel’s GT350-H isn’t just beautiful on the outside either, as underneath the removable bodywork sits a fully remote controlled drivetrain, with twin Power Functions drive, remote steering, plus a working V8 piston engine and front and rear suspension.
There’s lots more of Pawel’s brilliant Ford Mustang GT350-H to see on Flickr at his photo album, you can read our interview with him as part of the ‘Become a Professional’ series by clicking here, and you watch the model in action via the excellent YouTube video below.
YouTube Video
*Something about your Mom.
LEGO’s 75875 Speed Champions set is a neat officially-licensed product, complete with a modern Ford F-150 pick-up and a retro Ford Coupe hot rod. Previous bloggee Jonathan Elliott is feeling even more retro though and he’s reworked the set backwards by around 40 years to create a 1970s F-150 and a 1925 Ford Model-T racer. Step back in time at the link above.
Launched in 1970 the Dodge Challenger was the Chrysler Corporation’s answer to the Ford’s Mustang and General Motors’ Camaro. To compete with the wide variety of models available from Ford the Challenger could be specified in a myriad of engine and trim options, from a 3.4 litre slant-6 making about 4bhp to the monstrous 7 litre and 7.2 litre Hemi and RB V8s. You can guess which end of this scale we have represented here today!
The original Challenger only lasted a few short years, arriving very late to the muscle car party when most people were already passed out or staggering home. The fuel crisis of the 1970s didn’t help much either and the Challenger was gone by 1974. Despite its short lifespan though, original Challengers are seriously sought-after, and the design made enough of a lasting impression for Chrysler to resurrect it with a retro-styled reboot in 2008, a car which is still available today.
This absolutely spectacular 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T (with the big V8) comes from previous bloggee Dave Slater who has captured the real car beautifully in Model Team form. Opening doors reveal a wonderfully detailed interior, whilst the iconic hood can raise to reveal a stunning (and very orange) replica of the 426 Hemi V8 underneath.
There are lots more brilliant images to see at Dave’s Dodge Challenger R/T Flickr album – click the link above, find an empty and dead-straight road, and nail the throttle.
Certain cars are synonymous with the technology with which they popularised. Early on in the SUV’s meteoric rise they were all called Jeeps, whether or not they were made by the Jeep Company, and until recently all vans in the UK were known as Transits, regardless of their actual model name.
And then there’s ‘Turbo’. Back in the ’80s everything was a turbo. Turbo bags, turbo aftershave, turbo sunglasses. Turbo became a synonym for ‘fast’, and everyone wanted to cash in. There was however one car that defined the turbo era. The Porsche 911 Turbo.
Produced from 1975, first with a turbocharged 3.0 air-cooled flat-6 and then a 3.3, the Porsche 930 series was indeed simply badged as ‘Turbo’ in some markets. It was also terrifying. With up to 330bhp on offer – all of which would arrive some considerable time after the driver pressed the accelerator peddle – 930s became the second largest killer of stockbrokers after cocaine.
We’ll stick with this one then, which looks far easier to pilot than the real thing. Built by previous bloggee Dornbi, who’s better known for his superb Lego aircraft, this brilliant Model Team mid-’80s Porsche 911 930-series perfectly captures the real Turbo. It’s even in 1980s white! There’s much more to see at Dornbi’s photostream – take a look via the link above. Just be careful with the throttle.
Toyota’s legendary Hilux is now in its eighth generation, and it’s more impressive than ever. But we’d rather have this one, a glorious mid-’80s fourth gen. Still seen all around the world in the most inhospitable climates, the ’80s Hilux has become something of a cult car, helped no doubt by BBC Top Gear’s unsuccessful attempts to destroy one.
Which makes it a little strange that we don’t see more Hiluxes recreated in LEGO form. However today, after three years of engineering, we do have a LEGO Hilux to share, courtesy of Technic wizard Egor Karshiev (aka rm8).
Egor’s N40 series Toyota Hilux looks absolutely spot-on, even including the famous ‘TOYOTA’ script on the tailgate. Underneath the accurate Technic bodywork Egor has installed a wealth of superb off-roading goodies, allowing his model Hilux to do everything the real one can. Only in miniature obviously…
An XL motor provides power to all four wheels via differentials on each axle, both of which are solid and fitted with three or four link suspension. Remotely controlled steering is provided by a Servo motor, LEDs illuminate the headlights, and a third-party SBrick bluetooth receiver allows the model to be controlled via a mobile phone.
Finally the entire pick-up bed is removable, and the doors, hood and tailgate all open, revealing an engine bay and a detailed five-seat interior.
Egor has built both stock and ‘adventure’ versions of his remote control Hilux and has photographed them brilliantly both in-studio and in some awesome outdoor shots. There are lots more images available of both the stock and adventure versions on Flickr via the links above, you can read full build details at Egor’s MOCpage, and you can join in the discussion at the Eurobricks forum by clicking here.
Finally of course, no Technic model can be considered a proper remote control off-roader without a suitably cool video. Take at look at the Hilux in action below…
YouTube Video:
What’s more manly than taking your hot rod to the forest and cutting down your own Christmas tree? Nothing, that’s what. Flickr’s sanellukovic is the builder behind this scene of yuletide masculinity and there’s more to see at his photostream via the link!
Is it us or is Porsche’s original 911 becoming increasingly pretty the older it gets? Now looking wonderfully simple, the original Porsche 911 was launched in the early 1960s with an air-cooled 2-litre flat-6 making around 130bhp. By the 1980s 911s were producing almost three times as much power, and they were almost all crap, making the 1960s original the perfect example of ‘less is more’.
The beautiful 1960s 911 pictured here comes from Flickr’s klingen_guru and it captures the original car brilliantly. Opening doors, front trunk and engine cover reveal wonderfully detailed internals to match the accurate exterior and you can see all the photos at klingen’s photostream. Click the link above to make the jump.
