It’s the early-’90s, but no-one’s told Buick, who are continuing to make cars as if it’s 1978. Enormously-sized, enormously-engined, and wearing the hues of two separate but equally disgusting diapers, the Roadmaster was an ode to America’s automotive wilderness years. And yet… now, when everything is an abysmally dreary crossover SUV, Buick’s Roadmaster suddenly looks like the coolest family hauler on the road. Even in baby-poo brown. See this one courtesy of 1saac W.
Yarr! Today we be pirates, thanks to Captain Tom Skippy and his ‘Scalawag Sloop’! Though she be built from fewer than six-hundred pieces, her sails and hull be brick-built too, and you can board her at Port Eurobricks or Flickr Harbour before she sails for Barracuda Bay.
If you want to find all the best Lego models of your favourite car brand that the web has to offer, then look no further than our A-Z of Lego cars. A multitude of manufacturers from Alfa to Volvo are present, which admittedly doesn’t quite get the list to Z yet, but a few more Zastavas and we’ll be there.
We don’t stop at cars either. If you prefer your vehicles with two wheels and a predisposition to make you an organ donor, the A-Z of Lego motorbikes packs in everything from BMW to Vespa.
But what if you’re reading this from your cab in a truck stop, or you just like really big Lego vehicles? Well here at The Lego Car Blog we haven’t forgotten you… this is the A-Z of Lego Trucks!
DAFWe kick off our truck list not with A, but with DAF. Which at least has an A in it. Dozens of DAFs are in the Archive, with most from just a single builder. Find them all via the link above.
FreightlinerFamously flat fronted, except when they’re not, the American heavy-duty truck maker has appeared here half-a-dozen times so far. Click here to find all the brick-built Freightliners in the Archive to date.
GAZMostly Soviet-era military off-road trucks designed to go where the roads end. Many of the models we’ve featured have been designed with that in mind too, being powered by a suite of motors, and you can find them all – motorised or static – by clicking here.
HinoToyota’s truck building subsidiary has appeared here at The Lego Car Blog only a fraction of the times of its car-making parent company, but the brick-built Hinos are excellent nonetheless. Find them here.
IsuzuFellow Japanese truck maker Isuzu bank rather more entries, including fire trucks, flatbeds, and of course Lego versions of their box trucks that are prolific the world over. Find them all in the Archives here.
IvecoThe fifty year old Italian truck maker’s products have featured here around a dozen times over the years. Find every Iveco to appear via the link above.
KamazBack to the USSR, and a Soviet brand which surprisingly isn’t almost exclusively military. Kamaz are a modern success story too, and you can find an array of their trucks old and new in the Archives here.
KenworthSome of the largest and most visually stunning trucks ever built in Lego are those of the century-old American brand. If you’re into Lego trucks at the absolute peak, click this link and gawp.
MackAircraft haulers, garbage trucks, movie trucks, and even official LEGO sets, all manner of Mack models have appeared here to date. Find them all via the link above.
MANA vast variety of MAN models reside in the Archives, with the brand’s tippers, wreckers, heavy haulers, mobile cranes, and even off-road racers all represented. Find every MAN at the link above.
MAZBack to the Soviet Union, which of course means that many of the Archival entries are trucks designed to blow things up. But not all of them. Find trailers of cabbage alongside ballistic missiles here.
Mercedes-BenzAs famous for their trucks as they are their cars, over one-hundred Mercedes-Benz truck images are in the Archive to date. About 80% of which are Unimogs. Find them all, including several official LEGO sets, by clicking here.
MitsubishiTrucks don’t get any more workday than these. As white-goods as the brand’s air-conditioners, yet just as important to everyday life in East Asia, you can find each Mitsubishi truck to appear via the link.
PeterbiltOne of the most numerous brands in the Archive, there are some spectacularly detailed creations wearing the Peterbilt logo. Lights, chrome, and even a trailer full of beer are available here.
RenaultFrance’s national truck maker is most famous for one particular model, named after a champagne bottle. Or an ice cream. Or a condom. Find all the Magnums (plus a few other Renault trucks too) by clicking here.
ScaniaEurope’s most stylish truck brand. So we’ve picked something square from the seventies for the thumbnail… Find a huge quantity of Scanias past and present by clicking these words.
TatraThe highest average wheel-count of any truck manufacturer in the Archives, most Lego Tatras have eight. And nearly as many electric motors. A truck-trial favourite, join the off-road fun here.
VolvoDozens of Volvo trucks have appeared here to date, plus a whole array of construction equipment to wear the iron logo too. Find fan-built models and official LEGO sets alike by clicking here.
UralNamed after the mountains in their Russian homeland, most Urals in the Archive are – unsurprisingly – of a military flavour. They’re also really very good indeed. Click the link above to see them all.
ZILWe couldn’t start with A, but thanks to ZIL we have Z in the bank! Tipper trucks, tankers, Arctic expedition vehicles, and – of course – weird Soviet military contraptions are all available here!
That’s Lego creations representing twenty of the top truck manufacturers from DAF to ZIL, where there are sufficient entries in the Archives (and that we could remember when writing this…).
Of course if we’ve missed the one you’re looking for you can search for any truck make or model via the search function on every page. Plus a whole lot more besides. Happy trucking!
Well, if it’s not Eunos (Japan) or MX-5 (Europe). It is here at The Lego Car Blog too, as today’s post is this excellent Technic recreation of the first (NA) generation of Mazda’s iconic sports car.
Constructed by recent bloggee Brictric, this instantly recognisable model includes motorised drive, steering, four-speed gearbox, and pop-up headlights (all controlled remotely via BuWizz bluetooth battery), all-wheel suspension, plus opening hood, doors and tailgate.
Building instructions are available with lots more to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Find the answer to every enthusiast’s car question via the link above.
Here’s one we had to look up. The Henry J was a 50’s American economy car built by the Kaiser-Frazer corporation, named after its founder, and aimed at consumers who – at that point – could only afford a used vehicle.
Designed to use as few parts as possible, the Henry J succeeded in being cheap – costing just $1,300 in 1950 – but for good reason. A glovebox, armrests, ventilation, and even an opening trunk were omitted, with owners having to access their luggage by folding down the rear seats.
Unsurprisingly it was a sales flop, and when the car was relaunched under the Allstate brand to be (weirdly) sold by the Sears department store, it flopped for a second time.
One for a footnote in the American automotive history books then (which means we feel rather better about not knowing what the heck it was), but the Henry J did earn itself an interesting second life.
Small, light, and cheap, the Henry J became a favourite of 1960s drag racers, who threw away the 4-cylinder Jeep engine under the hood and fitted rather more exciting power-plants.
This superb Model Team example is based on a real Henry J ‘gasser’ drag racer, and comes from previous bloggee Tim Inman of Flickr. Opening doors (but not trunk, naturally), a detailed interior, and an enormous engine all feature, and there’s more to see of Tim’s ‘Janky J’ at his photostream.
Click the link above to flick through an early-’50s Sears catalogue to buy an economy car. Or just stop at the bra section like everyone else did…
This is a SinoTruk Howo 8×4 tipper truck, and it’s incredible. OK, the real thing isn’t particularly, being just another generic-looking Chinese state-owned truck, but newcomer P McCatty’s Technic recreation sure is.
Powered by two BuWizz bluetooth batteries, MCatty’s model features eight-wheel-drive, four-wheel steering, live-axle suspension, a six-cylinder engine, and an on-board pneumatic compressor.
Said compressor generates pneumatic pressure that can be used to both tilt the cab or raise the huge tipping load bed, which alone uses six pneumatic cylinders in its operation.
There’s also opening and locking doors and tailgate, and opening hood revealing the radiators and spinning cooling fan, adjustable sun visors, windshield wipers and glovebox, and custom foam-filled RC off-road tyres.
It’s a seriously impressive piece of Technic engineering, and you can see how it’s been done courtesy of an extensive photo album on Flickr and a huge Bricksafe gallery, both of which include renders of the mechanics within, plus an incredibly detailed build description can be found at the Eurobricks forum.
Click the links above to take a closer look at one of the most impressive working Technic trucks of the year, you can watch McCatty’s SinoTruk Howo in action via the excellent video below, and you can even find building instructions so you can recreate it for yourself via the various links above.
Like regular train, only in space! if we’re honest we’re not quite sure how the overhead power-lines work, but Daniel Barwegen‘s build looks lovely nonetheless. It’s also available to buy in this year’s Creations for Charity fundraiser, to which Daniel has donated it. There’s more to see at his photostream via the link above, and you can click here to check out the fantastic Creations for Charity page.
The attribute that matters least with the world’s fastest, best driving, and highest performing cars is… the way they drive. Allow us to explain.
Bought alongside seventeen others by the super-rich, such cars are simultaneously placed on a balance sheet by an incredibly boring accountant, and in a sealed storage unit by company that specialises in not driving cars.
Thus when Ferrari announced a hypercar that couldn’t be driven, was stored by them, and cost over €2 million (back in 2015), it was perfect for their ultra-wealthy client base.
Based on the Ferrari LaFerrari, the FXX-K produced over 1,000bhp from a race-derived 6.3 litre V12 and Kinetic Energy Recovery System (fancy speak for ‘Hybrid’), wore specially developed Bridgestone tyres, featured uniquely engineered Brembo brakes, and generated nearly half-a-ton of downforce from an extreme aerodynamic package.
None of which mattered of course, for what is essentially a €2 million statue.
Cue previous bloggee Fabrice Larcheveque (aka ABFab74), who has recreated the Ferrari FXX-K brilliantly in 8-wide Speed Champions form. Presented superbly, there’s more of the model to see at Fabrice’s Flickr album, including a link to building instructions so you can create your own FXX-K at home. Whereafter – for the authentic FXX-K experience – you can pay someone €2 million to put it into storage…
Measuring over one-hundred studs in length, the family jewels of the Lego sci-fi community are the ‘SHIPs’. This one, constructed by Flickr’s Duncan Lindbo, measures in at 116 studs, and it’s a properly impressive specimen.
A ‘Samovar-Class’ tanker, Duncan’s design utilises an array of orbs to transport various fluids, hung within a plum-straight outer casing which looks like it was rather testy to create, what with LEGO’s limited sand-green parts inventory.
You can head to Duncan’s photostream to check out this nuts creation, bouncing on over via the link above, and fifty TLCB Points to you if you found all the testicular vernacular. Although most of our posts are bollocks anyway we suppose…
It might seem like the posts here at The Lego Car Blog are simply a scattergun of whatever the Elves have found that meets our criteria, but no – just look at the seamless and completely non-coincidental links running through the last few posts; a Ma.Ktober mech that looks like a Jurassic Park dinosaur followed by the Jurassic Park Jeep and said dinosaur, and an ancient little Fiat followed today by an even more ancient little Fiat. Exactly.
Anyway, this ancient little Fiat is a 126p, a cheap 1970s rear-engined city car that unbelievably endured until 2000 in Polish Polski-Fiat form. Over three-million Fiat / Polski-Fiat 126s were produced during its 28 year production run, and this excellent brick-built homage to one of Europe’s most popular people’s cars captures the real Polish 126p in wonderful detail.
Working suspension, posable steering, opening doors, front trunk and engine cover, an accurate engine, and a superbly life-like interior all feature, and there’s much more to see – including a link to building instructions – courtesy of SIM CAMAT on Flickr.
Click the link above to take a look, whilst we try to somehow link whatever the Elves find next with a 1970s Fiat…
We’ve all been there when off-roading; you get stuck in a muddy river bank, lose your glasses, and then you’re eaten by a velociraptor.
Flickr’s 1saac W. has captured the number one off-roading danger perfectly with his early-’90s Jeep Wrangler, resplendent in Jurassic Park livery and with the prerequisite velociraptor courtesy of a LEGO 76958 Dilophosaurus Ambush set.
Join the off-road adventure via the link above, or click here to see a velociraptor eat a fat guy.
It’s Ma.Ktober, one of the many annual sci-fi build-a-thons of which – here at The Lego Car Blog – we know nothing. This entry comes from previous bloggee SweStar, and is based on a piece of concept art.
Entitled the ‘Camel’ – presumably because it looks exactly nothing like one (instead appearing more like a cross between one of those dinosaurs in Jurassic Park that ate the guy on the toilet, and some sort of grasshopper) – SweStar’s creation is nevertheless a beautifully inventive machine.
Clever construction techniques and excellent presentation are in abundance and there’s more to see of SweStar’s Ma.K Camel on Flickr – click the link above to take a look.
The Fiat 500 might be very nearly as old as the car it’s pretending to be, but thousands of people still buy it each year in TLCB’s home nation and they all seem to be, um… girls of a certain type.
This is particularly true for the 500c variant, which has a sort of pram-esque canvas roof that can pile up where the back window should be.
Cue newcomer brictric and their lovely Technic recreation of the Fiat 500c. Constructed in roof-down configuration, brictric’s Fiat comes complete with working steering, all-wheel-suspension, opening doors, hood and boot-lid, adjustable seats, a (mildly inaccurate) piston engine, and bodywork as orange as the girls that drive it.
There’s lots more of brictric’s Fiat 500c to see on both Eurobricks and Flickr, and if you’re fortunate enough to live somewhere where ‘Fiat 500 Girls’ aren’t a thing, you can educate yourself here, here and here.
…Straight to the Moon! Or from the moon we suppose, as this marvellous lunar base is likely already on one. Flickr’s Chris Malloy is owner of this microscale marvel and you can head to his ‘Horizon Lunar Launch Base’ via the link above.
Sally, you’re a real swell gal [combs hair]. I don’t got no money for a ring yet, but I’m gonna [combs hair].
Every ’50s date seemed to take place in a diner like this. Which is a whole lot better than whatever the 2020’s equivalent is (swiping right and Netflix probably).
Previous bloggee SFH_Bricks takes us back to the era of slicked hair, poodle skirts and jukeboxes, with this fabulous ’50s diner diorama. An array of classic American metal is on display in the parking lot (many of which have appeared on these pages), and you can join Sally, her date, and a host of other old-timey mini-figures at the diner via the link to Flickr above.
