Tag Archives: model team

Orange Squash

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This incredibly low – and incredible orange – car is a 1972 McLaren M20, one of the stars of the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (or Can-Am) racing series that ran from 1966 to 1974. With no limit on engine size (in fact, with few regulations at all of any kind), Can-Am became an almost unrestricted racing series, with the cars even out-performing Formula 1.

The results were wild, often using the largest engines available (usually Chevrolet), and with many drivers coming from Formula 1 and Le Mans, including a few that would become champions of each.

McLaren won the series five times, with Bruce McLaren himself taking the driver’s crown twice. The M20 didn’t make it a sixth Can-Am championship for the British team however, as its 1972 debut coincided with the arrival of Porsche’s monstrous 917, powered by a 900bhp flat-12 that was rumoured to make up to 1,500bhp in qualifying trim.

The M20 still took two wins during the 1972 season however, finishing a distant second in the championship behind the Penske-Porsche, before McLaren left the series as a works-team to focus on Formula 1.

This spectacular Model Team recreation of the final McLaren Can-Am racer comes from Luciano Delorenzo, who has captured the M20 brilliantly in brick-form. The accurate bodywork includes authentic decals, there’s working steering, and a highly detailed replica of the 8.3 litre Chevrolet V8 is fitted underneath the removable rear section.

There’s more of the model to see at Luciano’s ‘1972 McLaren M20’ album on Flickr, and you can jump back to the mightiest racing series there’ll probably ever be via the link in the text above.

500 Green Bottles…

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Here at The Lego Car Blog we do not understand America’s obsession with enormous pick-up trucks. Seemingly used to carry only an American flag, a ‘MAGA’ bumper sticker, and an anti-vaxxer in denial of the election result, they’re a world away from the pick-up we’ve got here.

This is the Fiat 500 Camioncino, a tiny two-seat pick-up truck, capable of carrying… well, not very much. But easily what most American pick-ups seem to.

The cutesy brick-built version pictured here today is the work of Nuno Taborda, who has based it upon the official LEGO 10271 Fiat 500 set, much like the real Camioncino was adapted from the 500 city car too. With the rear seats, roof and bodywork replaced by a load bed fitted above the rear-mounted engine, there’s space for a few dozen green bottles to make their way to the piazza. And that’s considerably more than what’s in the beds of 95% of American pick-up trucks.

Join Nuno trundling across Italy in a pick-up truck small enough to fit in the bed of an F-150 via the link above. And there’s not a bumper sticker in sight.

Nooteworthy

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The Online Lego Community can be a wonderful place of collaboration. Take this spectacular three-in-one build by TLCB Master MOCer Dennis Bosman.

Despite his own prodigious talent, Dennis can still find inspiration from other builders, and thus his stunning Scania T143E heavy haulage truck uses elements of a remote control chassis design by the late Ingmar Spijkhoven, hooked up to his own remotely operable Nooteboom low loader trailer, with motorised neck height. Riding atop the Nooteboom sits a previously-blogged Doosan DL 470-7 front loader by fellow Master MOCer Eric Trax, who himself was inspired by Dennis’ work. Which is gloriously circulatory.

Head to Dennis’ photostream by clicking here to see more of the build, and you can check out the builders and models that helped to create it via the additional links above.

Drove my Chevy to the Levy*

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The end of the ’60s seemed to mark the death of the American Dream. Picked up by Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ and Don McLean’s ‘American Pie’, he drove his Chevy to the levy, but the levy was dry. If Don was disillusioned by Americana in 1971, how much further it has declined since then.

Yet the 1960s – and the American Dream found within them, its loss lamented by Don – are nevertheless worth celebrating, as successive generations cling on to a memory they never had.

No where is this more true than in automobiles, where new generations preserve and salute classic cars and trucks from an era in which they were not part, such as this fantastic 1966 Chevrolet C10 pick-up truck by Jakub Marcisz.

Complete with opening doors, hood and tailgate, working steering, and a brilliantly executed body, Jakub’s C10 has TLCB Team romanticising about the decade of civil rights, the space race, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the assassination of JFK, race riots, Stonewall…

Perhaps then, the American dream was as flawed and unreachable for most in the 1960s as it is today, and Don’s ‘American Pie’ could have been applied just as pertinently a decade earlier. The cars though, like Jakub’s superb ’66 Chevy, surely were America’s automotive high-point.

*Today’s most poignant title song.

Where’s Buffy?

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We’ve not seen the TV show ‘Supernatural’. It sounds like ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, only without Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And we only watched that show for, well… Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Still, whilst it’s missing the obvious key ingredient, ‘Supernatural’ does feature a cool car; an awesome black ’67 Chevrolet Impala.

This top-quality Model Team example of that car comes from previous bloggee Szunyogh Balázs, who has constructed and captured his Supernatural Impala model beautifully.

There are four opening doors, a detailed engine under an opening hood, an accurate brick-built drivetrain, and the trunk opens to reveal a weapons rack for hunting ghosts and ghouls. Although it might just be the content of the average American’s trunk.

There’s more of the model to see at both Eurobricks and Flickr, and you can take look via the links above if – unlike us – you haven’t already got distracted Googling pictures of Buffy the Vampire Sla…

Just the Tip

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Whilst we like trucks here at The Lego Car Blog, we don’t really know much about them. The engine denominations of British family cars from the ’60s, sure. Trucks… not so much.

Cue our surprise then, when one of our Elves found this magnificent DAF FT 2600 truck complete with an enormous tanker trailer, and we discovered it tips. We didn’t even know tankers could do that.

Every day’s a school day, and we have previous bloggee Arian Janssens‘ brilliantly detailed Model Team DAF FT 2600 and tipping bulk trailer to thank for our education.

Both truck and trailer are superbly constructed and photographed, and you can take a look up close via Arian’s photostream. Click the link above for just the tip.

The Cat’s Out of the Bag

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‘Oh cra…’ thought this TLCB Writer upon entering TLCB Towers this morning. Locked during Sunday, with the Elves left to their own devices, Monday is always a riskier day to come in to the office.

And so it proved, as one of their number grinned at him from eye level, sat as it was atop a bookshelf, thumbing through a classic car magazine.

A brisk jog through the office revealed other elevated Elves, although fortunately none in off-limits areas following to our revised key-storage-policy, but all either curiously exploring things, or – less harmlessly – eating them.

The cause of the chaos then came trundling down the corridor, a rather brilliant fully remote controlled Caterpillar telehandler, commanded by an Elf sat atop the forks wearing a paper crown on its head.

With the King for a Day removed and order restored, we can take a look at the vehicle the Elves had used to access various previously inedible objects, including a book, a photo, a wooden ornament, and – perhaps most surprisingly – a potted cactus.

Built by previous bloggee LegoMarat, this superb Caterpillar TL642 telehandler is powered by no fewer than four motors, driving the wheels and steering, the boom elevation, and the fork tilt, all of which can be controlled via bluetooth thanks to a third-party BuWizz battery.

A life-like body is constructed from system pieces, enhanced by some excellent decals, and there’s more of Marat’s exceptional remote controlled Caterpillar to see at his photostream. Click the link above to take a look, whist we set about returning an undetermined number of Elves to ground level…

Wiiilsoon!

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This spectacular creation is a Scania R143 heavy haulage truck, as operated by H.C. Wilson of Elmswell in the UK, and created by truck-building legend Dennis Bosman (with the phenomenal decal work of fellow previous bloggee JaapTechnic).

Dennis’ model is a near perfect replica of H.C. Wilson’s restored classic Scania, complete with a ballast box for traction, behind which would be an enormous trailer when the truck was in use.

Dennis’ incredible Model Team replica also includes a suite of motors hidden within, powering two drive and two steered axles.

It’s an astonishing build that is absolutely worth a closer look, and you can find all of the beautiful imagery and further details at Dennis’ ‘Scania R143 H.C. Wilson’ album on Flickr, plus you can find out how he makes amazing creations just like this one via his Master MOCers interview here at TLCB.

Only By the Night*

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From a tiny and beautifully packaged vehicle to… er, not that. The Ram 1500 is a ‘full-size’ (read ‘bloody massive’ for non-Americans) pick-up truck, marketed first as a Dodge, and today spun-off as an independent brand.

Now in its fifth generation, the 1500 is available with an array of enormous engines and – as pictured here – also as a ‘Night Edition’, which according to Ram’s own website means “Boasting a menacing monotone exterior and backed by equally intimidating capability”.

The words ‘menacing’ and ‘intimidating’ appear a few times on the first page in fact, which suggests both that Ram really need a thesaurus, and also that the 1500 ‘Night Edition’ is very much not our kind of vehicle.

Despite the real truck’s pointless dick-waving, this Model Team recreation of the Ram 1500 ‘Night Edition’ is rather excellent however, and comes from previous bloggee 3D supercarBricks.

Featuring working steering and suspension, plus opening doors, hood, load cover and tailgate, 3D’s creation also includes a few 3D-printed pieces and custom wheels. Presumably to enhance the truck’s menacing monotone exterior and intimidating capability.

There’s much more to see at 3D’s photostream, and you can click the link above to check out all of the superb imagery.

*The first track from today’s title album. It’s a good one.

Challenge This

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Chrysler, beaten to the ‘pony car’ market by the Ford Mustang, decided that if was going to be late, strength in numbers would win the day. As such the corporation launched about a dozen pony/muscle cars, all of which seemed to do more-or-less the same job, and each being available with a bewildering array of engines.

This is one of Dodge’s offerings from the time, the Challenger. Like its Charger brethren that appeared here last month, this stunning replica of the ’70s pony car comes from Szunyogh Balázs (aka gnat.bricks), who has recreated the Challenger magnificently in Model Team form.

A detailed engine resides under an opening hood, the doors open to reveal a life-like interior, and even the Challenger’s chassis and drivetrain have been accurately replicated.

Excellent presentation caps a really impressive build, and there’s much more of the model to see at both Szunyogh’s ’12 Studs Challenger’ album on Flickr or via the Eurobricks discussion forum by clicking these words.

NEE NAW!

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It’s been quiet. Too quiet…

Not because TLCB Elves were plotting anything, although that is a perennial concern, but because they hadn’t found anything blogworthy in ages. Fortunately the quiet was shattered today by a multitude of Elves all screaming ‘NEE NAW!!’ as loud as they could.

We have necomer lukarepinc, here making their TLCB debut, to thank for ending the drought, with not one, nor two, but a whole fleet of superb Model Team emergency vehicles.

Uploaded simultaneously to Flickr, these include a Slovenian Volkswagen ambulance (pictured above), a NYPD Bell 429 helicopter, ERV-1, and – in the absence of a title or description – a Giant Fire Truck (all pictured below).

Each is a fantastic brick-built recreation of its real-world counterpart and there’s more to see of all of the creations featured here, plus a lot more besides, at lukarepinc’s photostream. Switch on your siren via the link above!

Take Charge

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The Lego Car Blog Elves are happy today because, whilst this isn’t Dom’s Dodge Charger, it’s close enough for us to relent and let them watch one of the terrible ‘Fast & Furious’ movies.

Szunyogh Balázs (aka gnat.bricks) is the builder behind this stunning Model Team Dodge Charger, which features opening doors, hood and trunk, a detailed interior, a life-like V8 engine, and some brilliant details of the real car’s mechanics, including brake discs and callipers, a full-length exhaust, and even a brick-built differential.

Szunyogh’s presentation is top-drawer too, and you can check out all the images on Flickr via the link above, whilst we watch Vin Diesel repeatedly mumble ‘family’ in an attempt make up for the lack of a coherent plot, dialogue, or physics.

My Other Car’s a Porsche

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TLCB Team are not fans of BMW’s M-Division right now. From sticking ‘M’ badges on literally everything to this utter, utter abomination, who needs the ‘Ultimate Driving Machine’ when you could have a 2.7 ton SUV instead? Well, we’d rather prefer the former, but we need to take a look in BMW M’s back-catalogue to find it.

Fortunately there are plenty of gems to be found, and perhaps none more so than the very first car created by M-Division; the BMW M1.

Partly developed by Lamborghini, the BMW M1 featured a mid-mounted 3.5 litre inline-6, a wedge-shaped fibreglass body designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, and engineering to take on Porsche in Group 4 homologated racing.

The M1 proved competitive, racing at Le Mans, in various GT series, and in BMW’s own ‘Procar Championship’, won in 1980 by Nikki Lauda and in ’81 by Nelson Picquet, who would both become three-time Formula 1 world champions.

This lovely recreation of BMW’s first M-car is the work of TLCB Master MOCer Firas Abu-Jaber, who has constructed it solely from the parts found within the 10295 Porsche 911 set. There are opening doors, front trunk and engine cover, working steering, plus a detailed engine and interior, and there’s lots more of Firas’ BMW B-Model to see at his ‘10295 BMW M1’ album on Flickr.

Click the link above to take a look, the one above that to view the 10295 set that Firas’ M1 is derived from, or here to see another wedgy-alternate built from that rather more round Porsche.

Foxbat

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It’s 1970, and the Cold War is approaching its coldest. The U.S have taken images of an unknown Soviet fighter plane, and they’re terrified.

It’s massive, with huge wings, and looks highly manoeuvrable. The aircraft is the MiG-25, a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance plane, armed with-air-to-air missiles, powerful radar, able to climb to the edge of space, and still to this day one of the fastest aircraft ever created.

This phenomenal Model Team recreation of the fighter that defined the Cold War is the work of previous bloggee [Maks] of Flickr, who has recreated the MiG-25P ‘Foxbat’ in stunning detail. Working landing gear, four air-to-air missiles, and accurate markings all feature, and you can pretend you’re U.S intelligence worriedly studying grainy images c1970 via the link in the text above.

Hot Hatch Zenith

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We go from the beginnings of the hot hatch in a small factory in Scotland in the late-‘70s, to their zenith some 45 years later. Yes, the days of the hot hatch are numbered, what with imminent safety, CO2 and fuel legislation, which will effectively outlaw small, fast, fun cars in favour of EV crossovers. Sigh.

Still, they’re going out with a bang, with several hot hatches now making more power than even supercars of a few years ago.

This is Subaru’s last hurrah in the genre, the Japan-only Impreza WRX STI Spec-C.

Packing over twice the power of the world’s first hot hatch, the WRX STI Spec-C features all-wheel-drive, over 400Nm of torque, and a lightened and stiffened body.

This amazing Model Team replica of the ultimate WRX comes from Mihail Rakovskiy of Flickr, who has captured it brilliantly in brick-form, with opening doors, hood and tailgate, a life-like interior, and a superb recreation of the 308bhp turbocharged boxer engine.

There are more excellent images to see at Mihail’s ‘Subaru Impreza WRX STI Spec C’ album on Flickr – take a look at the zenith of the hot hatch via the second link in the text above, and you can jump back to its genesis via the first.