Tag Archives: Japan

My Other Car’s a Bronco

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By American standards Ford’s new Bronco isn’t particularly large. But as this writer is not American, it still looks pretty massive. Which means this is much more to his liking, Suzuki’s diminutive Samurai.

Constructed only from the parts found within the LEGO Technic 42213 Ford Bronco set, damjan97PL / damianPLE shrinks the fat Ford into a rather smaller off-road alternative, complete with opening doors and hood, working steering and suspension, and a three-cylinder engine.

There’s more to see at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe, and you can put your Bronco on a B-Model diet via the links above.

Golden Girl

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The world is full of people with strange outlooks. These include those who think melon is an acceptable starter, enthusiasm for the Tesla Cybertruck, and people who put Christmas lights up in October. But right up there with the climate-change denying flat-earthers in the weird stakes are fans of ‘Girls und Panzer’, a Japanese anime in which high school girls compete against one another in World War 2 tanks.

Cue this golden Italian CV-33 tank commanded by a Japanese school girl named after a fish. It’s the work of Flickr’s lavishlump, here making their TLCB debut, and both tank and school girl are brilliantly built, particularly given the limitations of LEGO’s gold piece portfolio.

There’s more to see of lavishlump’s ‘Anchovy & CV-33 Tankette’ at their album of the same name, and you can head to a playing field in Japan for the weirdest school sports day via the link above.

Te-Ke

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The wonderful thing about the world is that it’s very big and its peoples like all sorts of different things. Which means that even the most niche of interests will exist somewhere.

Cue ‘Girls und Panzer’, a Japanese anime series in which high-school girls compete against one-another in World War II tanks. Because… um, well, the world is very big and its peoples like all sorts of different things.

Today’s creation captures a Type 97 ‘Te-ke’ tank from the anime series, having been faithfully recreated by Flickr’s Zat, and you can join in the tank-based school sports day at their photostream via the link.

Tokyo Drift

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When the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise headed for Japan for its third instalment, abandoning its main characters in the process, drifting was the new street racing. And the obvious car for drifting is an all-wheel-drive saloon famed for its grip…

Still, a lot more of the plot made a lot less sense than the inexplicable choice of a Mitsubishi Evo IX, so we’re willing to look the other way. Particular as it’s led to a creation as brilliant as this.

Recreating Sean’s modified Mitsubishi Evo IX from the movie, previous bloggee ArtemyZotov has constructed a superb homage to the Japanese super-saloon, with working steering and suspension, a highly detailed transverse 4-cylinder engine, opening doors, hood and trunk, and movie-accurate decals.

Building instructions are available and you can try to get sideways in Tokyo in a deeply inappropriate car at the Eurobricks forum via the link above.

Peak Mitsubishi

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It’s hard to believe today, but back in the 1990s Mitsubishi where one of the most advanced, dynamic and sought-after brands on the planet.

Dakar-winning 4x4s, World Rally Championship-winning sedans, and iconic street-racer favourites all came from Mitsubishi Motors, as did this – the wonderful 3000GT.

Available with a twin turbo-charged 24 valve V6, all-wheel drive, all-wheel steering, and even active aerodynamics, the 3000GT was a technical tour-de-force, becoming both a mainstay of ’90s racing games as well as proving to be quicker than much more exotic and expensive rivals on real roads.

Cue this fantastic recreation of Mitsubishi’s high water mark from Mihail Rakovskiy of Flickr. Opening doors, hood and tailgate, a highly detailed engine and interior, a brick-built drivetrain, and even accurate badging all feature, and you can check out more of Mihail’s stunning replica of the Mitsubishi 3000GT at his album of the same name via the link above.

And what of Mitsubishi Motors in 2025? Well their badge is now stuck, rather unconvincingly, on a Renault compact crossover… We’ll stick to the ’90s.

Honour in Tokyo

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We can’t really remember what happens in ‘The Fast and the Furious; Tokyo Drift’, except that one of the characters inexplicably comes back from the dead several movies later, and the Yakuza somehow agree to a street race to decide honour or something.

Anyway, it did have some cool cars, including this modified Nissan Fairlady / 350Z VeilSide, which drifted around a multi-storey car park to decide honour or something.

This excellent Technic recreation of that car comes from previous bloggee ArtemyZotov, who has captured the wide-body exterior and art-car paint from the movie, with the model also featuring a working V6 engine, steering, and opening doors, hood and trunk.

There’s more of Artemy’s ‘Tokyo Drift’ Nissan Fairlady Z to see at the Eurobricks forum, including a link to building instructions so you can race it around at home. For honour or something. Drift over to Tokyo via the link above.

Virtual Adventure

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These days most adventuring is viewed digitally. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube… there are millions of videos purporting to show adventure, available to watch from the comfort and safety of wherever people consume such content on their phones. Which is everywhere. And so ironic it hurts.

Thus today we too are virtually adventuring, courtesy of newcomer CelestialCapture and this tremendous overland-equipped Toyota Land Cruiser 70-Series. Replicating the legendary off-roader brilliantly, Celestial has also fitted an exciting array of adventure items, including a snorkel, spot lights, bull-bar, and roof-rack, whilst some excellent bespoke ‘decals’ add to the adventure-based vibe.

There’s more to see of Celestial’s digital Land Cruiser 70-Series on Flickr, and you can head on your own virtual adventure via the link above. Once you’ve done that though, perhaps put your phone in your pocket and head outside. Real adventure is often just around the corner.

2JZ Inside

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It wasn’t just Supras that had the 2JZ under the hood. In fact several Toyota and Lexus products were powered by the internet’s favourite engine, including really weird stuff. Which means if you want 2JZ kudos without having to spend ridiculous Supra money, you could get one of these; the excellent Toyota Mark II / Chaser.

Launched in 1992, the seventh generation ‘X90’ Mark II was a mid-size sedan that lasted until 1996, and was available with a variety of engines, including a diesel, a twin-turbo, and the 2JZ.

This splendid Model Team example comes from recent bloggee Mihail Rakovskiy, who is making a name for himself here at TLCB with his excellent ’90s Japanese cars. His ‘X90’ Mark II is as wonderfully life-like as his other creations, with opening doors, hood and trunk, a detailed engine bay, a realistic interior, and even an accurate drivetrain visible underneath.

Superb presentation tops a brilliant build, and there’s lots more of the Toyota to see at Mihail’s ‘Lego Toyota Mark II’ Flickr album. Click the link above for the thinking man’s 2JZ.

Gran Turismo 2

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Much like Toyota’s ‘A80’ Supra is forever bound to ‘The Fast & The Furious’, Nissan’s ‘R34’ Skyline GT-R will be associated in perpetuity with the Gran Turismo video game franchise.

Although its production run spanned just three years, the R34 was – through those famous pixels – an automotive zeitgeist, defining an entire generation’s interaction with cars.

Cue this superb brick-built homage to Nissan’s legendary performance saloon, constructed by recent bloggee Mihail Rakovskiy, which is more lifelike than anything we drove on a Playstation.

Opening doors, hood, and trunk, a detailed ‘RB26DETT’ engine and drivetrain, and even an interior fit for a Technic figure all feature, and you can reimagine you’re back in an R34 at Trial Mountain in the early ’00s via the link to Flickr above.

Three-Hundred Zeds

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In 2025, in TLCB’s home market, Nissan sell exactly nothing that we would want to buy, own, sit in, or be seen in. Back in the early ’90s though, and Nissan were altogether more exciting.

This is just one of several sports cars Nissan used to sell before they gave up trying to do anything at all, the fabulous second-generation 300ZX.

Launched in the late ’80s, the 300ZX was ridiculously futuristic, and utilised one of the first supercomputers (and – at the time – the world’s fastest) in its design. It was also powerful, with a naturally-aspirated V6 producing over 220bhp or a twin-turbo over 300bhp – big figures for the time.

Cue this brilliant Model Team replica of Nissan’s high water mark, created by previous bloggee Mihail Rakovskiy, who has captured the 300ZX beautifully.

Opening doors and hood, a ‘glass’ targa roof, and a superbly detailed interior, engine bay, and drivetrain all feature, and you can jump back to a time when Nissan made something other than wheeled sleeping pills at Mihail’s ‘Nissan 300ZX’ album.

Click the link above for a very different sort of Z to ones Nissan induce today.

Nice Wheels

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Almost exactly one year ago, builtbydave_’s wide-body ‘Magic’ Mazda RX-7 appeared on these pages. It drew much admiration from TLCB Team, who secretly wish they were part of Japan’s underground car modifying scene, instead of secretly writing for a janky car website held together by sticky tape and hope.

Dave’s evolution of his RX-7 is doing nothing to dull those dreams, as he’s now equipped his creation with a set of superb 3D-printed Rays TE37 wheels, which are icons in car culture.

First learning Fusion 360, Dave designed his TE37s from scratch, before 3D-printing them at his local library (what a cool library!). The results are – as you can see – fantastic, and add even more authenticity to his already top-drawer build.

There’s more to see at Dave’s ‘TCP Magic Rx7’ album on Flickr, and further details on the tools and training he used to design and produce his very own wheels can be found there too.

Adding an ‘R’

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If you’re from the Playstation Generation, this is the coolest car ever made. Apart from maybe a Supra. Constructed by Flickr’s Michał Wolski (aka Porsche96), this Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 is built only from the parts found within the 42154 Ford GT set, and features working steering, opening doors, hood and trunk, and an inline-6 cylinder engine with nearly as much hype as Toyota’s 2JZ. An an ‘R’ to your Ford GT via the link above!

The Crispy Peking Duck Please

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This beautiful creation is a goza bune, a type of pleasure ship owned by Japan’s rich and powerful officials during the Edo period of the Tokugawa shogunate, from the early 1600s to the late 1800s. But we all know about that.

This writer thought it looks rather like the giant ‘Jumbo’ floating Chinese restaurant that resided in Aberdeen Harbour, Hong Kong. He ordered the crispy Peking duck amongst many other things.

Which yes, does mean he’s conflated a 17th century Japanese ship with a barge-based restaurant from an entirely different culture built in the 1970s…

Anyway, with apologies to our Japanese readers, there’s more to see of this superbly detailed Chinese restu… Edo era goza bune courtesy of previous bloggee Markus Ronge, including the stunning detail within. Order your Chinese meal via the link above.

Fanboys Assemble!

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The third generation Toyota Supra. The greatest sports car ever made, a car with Ferrari-beating performance, and capable of a million wheel-horsepower on stock internals. At least if the internet is to be believed…

This superb Model Team scale A80 Supra captures the mid-’90s fanboy favourite brilliantly, with previous bloggee Mihail Rakovskiy‘s creation including opening doors, tailgate and hood, a life-like chassis and drivetrain, and a replica 2JZ engine. With a million wheel-horsepower on stock internals. Beat some Ferraris in the greatest sports car ever made via the link above!

Celebrating Humdrum

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We love mediocrity here at The Lego Car Blog. Which is probably because we are ourselves deeply, completely, terminally, mediocre. And what’s more mediocre, automotively speaking, than a ’90s Toyota Starlet with try-too-hard pin-striping? It’s TLCB of cars. Only it’s well made and reliable.

This glorious example of Toyota’s mundane ’90s subcompact hatchback comes from Ilyabuilder724, and can fit two figures, includes an opening hood, and is fitted with try-too-hard pin-striping. Plus building instructions are available so you can build mediocrity at home. Take a look at all the imagery via the link above.