Tag Archives: Off-Road

Black to the Future

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This TLCB Writer is over new cars. Unending app updates, simulated ‘manual’ transmissions, three sub-menus to turn on the heater, and constant bonging to tell you to sit up straight, that you’re 1mph over the speed limit of the road next to you, and that the width to the central white line is narrower than the car itself. Bleugh.

We’d go back to analog cars any day, and it seems the villains of Blacktron have done just that, deploying a unique combustion-powered buggy to avoid leaving a digital footprint for the Space Police to follow.

That they’ve also made it look like every ‘70s concept car is even better, and you can see more retro-futurism Blacktron style courtesy of Flickr’s Kristof and his Febrovery entry via the link.

Printed Portals

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It’s not a purist day here at TLCB, as we follow four 3D-printed wheels with four more. And a canvas roof. And – most impressively – four exquisitely-made custom portal axles with reduction gears. Those gears are Technic, but the cases in which they are contained are bespoke and beautifully engineered by previous bloggee Michael Kulakov (aka Michael217), who has fitted them to his spectacular fully remote controlled Hummer H1.

LEGO Power Functions L Motors are combined with a third-party Geekservo motor to steer, with the model featuring all-wheel-drive, fully independent suspension, a detailed engine and interior, plus opening doors, hood and tailgate, alongside the aforementioned custom componentry.

Beautiful imagery accompanies Michael’s phenomenal creation, with lots more of the model to see at both his ‘Hummer H1’ Flickr album and at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the links above to take a look, and to see the unique engineering deployed in its making.

Anonymous Adventure

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Communism seemed to ban, amongst others things, inventive vehicle names, which all seemed to be a collection of numbers and letters. Which makes titling a post about one of them rather tricky, but no matter because the model is rather lovely.

It’s a UAZ 469B as built by PigletCiamek, and it’s also got a spicy back-story too, involving explorers and a rocket-launcher. Join the anonymously-named off-roader on an adventure in the desert via the link above.

Matt’s Off Road Recovery

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There’s a certain segment of the off-roading community who like to intentionally get stuck, just so they can winch themselves out again. Which to us feels like deliberately getting fat so that you can join Weight Watchers. But it nevertheless explains why ‘Matt’s Off Road Recovery‘ has over two million YouTube subscribers. Because when someone is really stuck, intentionally or otherwise, they’ll need this…

‘This’ is Matt’s all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steered hot rod wrecker, as faithfully recreated here by Technic engineering genius Anto. Staying true to the unique real-world off-road tow-truck, Anto’s model features all-wheel-drive and all-wheel-steering (with three selectable steering modes, as per one of our favourite ever LEGO Technic sets), a working V8 piston engine, immense multi-link live-axle suspension, opening doors, toolboxes and hood, plus no less than five working winches.

It’s a hugely impressive replica of a fantastic one-off real-world vehicle, with loads more to see – including engineering diagrams and over forty superbly presented images – at both the Eurobricks forum and Anto’s ‘Matt’s Off Road Recovery Heavy Wrecker’ album on Flickr. Get stuck in via the links above, plus you can watch this amazing model in action via the video below.

YouTube Video

Two-Wheeled Adventure

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This site regularly mocks American consumers for buying enormous, uncomfortable, inefficient pick-up trucks that carry nothing more than an overweight driver and a handgun to Walmart.

In TLCB’s home nation we are far more sophisticated, because the best-selling motorbike in the UK is… the BMW GS Adventure. Um… ok, perhaps we’re not so different.

Built to tackle the trails of South America, deserts of Nabia, and the Australian outback, the BMW GS Adventure is spectacularly over-specified for the outskirts of London. But it looks so cool!

This excellent Technic example comes from moc-nemooz, and captures BMW Motorrad’s off-road touring motorbike brilliantly, with a host of working functions and an accurate livery too.

There’s much more of the model to see at nemooz’s ‘BMW GS 1250’ album and you can cross the desert the London ring-road via the link above.

My Other Car’s Still a Bronco

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Wait, haven’t we featured a Bronco-based Suzuki before? Well, yes… but this one’s just as good, and we really like the Suzuki Samurai.

Built by previous bloggee gyenesvi, this neat Technic recreation of the diminutive Japanese 4×4 is constructed only from the pieces found within the official LEGO Technic 42213 Ford Bronco set, which is inspiring a plethora of alternates.

A working piston engine, all-wheel suspension, HOG steering, plus opening doors and hood all feature, and with building instructions available you can swap your own Bronco for a Samurai too.

There’s more to see of gyenesvi’s Bronco B-Model at both the Eurobricks forum and Bricksafe, where an extensive gallery of imagery is available, and you can take a closer look at this alternative off-roader via the links above.

Big Green Bogie

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We’re on a bit of an Eastern European streak here at TLCB which continues with this, gyenesvi’s fantastic Zil 131 6×6, which replicates a monstrous real-world trial truck.

The 6×6 drivetrain is propelled by three Powered-Up motors plus a fourth to steer, with the wheels also turning a V6 engine under the hood. More impressive is the immense suspension, which is a combination of live-axle at the front and a tandem bogie at the rear, each with spring-loaded linkages. The result is some seriously impressive ground clearance, as displayed in the wonderful on-location shots, and you can recreate it for yourself too as gyenesvi has produced building instructions for the design.

There’s more of the Zil to see at both the Eurobricks forum and at Bricksafe, and you can pick a big green bogie via the links above.

The Lego Cow Blog

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This is, obviously, not a car. But for much of the world, it really is. And unlike a clapped-out hatchback, when it’s too old perform reliably it can become a delicious dinner. Flickr’s Andreas Lenander is the builder behind this fantastic rural transportation scene, and you can join the road to the market via the link above.

Get Your Uniknicks

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We love weird old vehicles here at The Lego Car Blog. Whilst other automotive sites are enthralled by the latest Lamborghini, we’re more interested in obscure British saloons, communist-era economy cars, and Japanese boxes. Or this.

‘This’ is a Werner Uniknick UK52/60, a 1970s German forestry tractor based on the already awesome Mercedes-Benz Unimog, but cut in half and then re-attached with an articulated pivot in the middle.

This tremendous Technic recreation of our new favourite thing comes from previous bloggee and TLCB Master MOCer Nico71, who constructed it for the recent BuWizz Gathering 2025 in Slovenia.

Powered by a BuWizz bluetooth battery and four Power Functions motors, Nico’s Uniknick features remote control four-wheel-drive via portal hubs, articulated steering via twin linear actuators linked to the steering wheel, and a motorised winch, plus centrally-oscillating suspension, a working and removable four-cylinder engine, and opening doors and hood.

It’s a build as impressive as the real-world vehicle it replicates, and you can recreate it for yourself as Nico has produced building instructions too. There’s much more to see at the Eurobricks forum (including links to instructions) and you can articulate your way there via the link above.

YouTube Video

My Other Car’s a Bronco

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Is your new Ford Bronco too big to get to the really cool off-road places? Then you need to switch it for an ATV, thanks to TLCB Master MOCer thirdwigg!

Constructed only from the parts of the official LEGO Technic 42213 Ford Bronco set, thirdwigg’s ATV (or ‘quad bike’ in TLCB’s home nation) alternate features working steering, pendular suspension front and rear, plus a W6 piston engine, and with building instructions available you can create it for yourself too.

There’s more to see including that link to instructions at thirdwigg’s ‘42213 ATV’ album, and you can jump to a trail somewhere cool via the link above, or alternatively click here if you want to downsize your Bronco, but not quite this much…

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.

6x6x2

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The Lego Car Blog Elves are running about making spacey noises today, courtesy of this; Gaurav Thakur’s enormous Classic Space ‘Enceladus Expedition Convoy’.

Consisting of two linked 6×6 mobile laboratories, Gaurav’s creation is packed with Classic Space goodness, including complicated control centres, beep-boop robots, and a variety of lab equipment.

A crew of Classic Spacemen (plus a few Space babies – perhaps there’s an board crèche too) studiously operate the convoy vehicle and its contents, and there’s heaps more Classic Spacery to see on Flickr.

Join the ‘Enceladus Expedition Convoy’ at Gaurav’s album of the same name via the link above!

Rust n’ Dust

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It wasn’t just British and Italian cars in the late-’70s and ’80s that failed to start in the morning and/or dissolved if they got wet. No, the French made some awful cars too, including today’s, the woeful Renault 20.

Sitting at the top of their line-up, there was (much like the aforementioned British and Italian cars) a lot to like about Renault’s executive hatchback, including some innovative engineering that included both crumple zones and side-impact protection.

But none of that mattered when the cars were heroically unreliable, tragically underpowered, and rusted within just a few years of leaving the forecourt, resulting in a resale value of almost nothing at all. Still, there is one Renault 20 we like, the pioneering Turbo 4×4 Dakar, with a 1.6 litre turbocharged rally engine and all-wheel-drive courtesy of the rear axle from a Renault Trafic van.

Constructed by Flickr’s NV Carmocs, this 8-wide replica of the Renault 20 Turbo 4×4 captures the 1982 Dakar-winning car beautifully, thanks in part to a superbly accurate livery and some brilliant photo editing.

There’s much more of NV’s Renault 20 to see at their photostream, and you can head to the desert in 1982 via the link above, where the lack of rain and a whole load of available spare parts were probably sorely missed by every other Renault 20 owner at the time…

Brickin’ Blazer

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‘What’s that crunchy sound?’ muttered this TLCB Writer to himself as he sat in TLCB Office. A weary trudge out to the corridor revealed the source, as a remote control 4×4 drove forwards and backwards over a small pile of flattened TLCB Elves.

On seeing a human the Elf at the controls abandoned its activity and fled the scene cackling maniacally, leaving its vehicle of choice (and the pile of Elves underneath it) behind. We’ll administer first-aid to the victims later, but first let’s take a look at the model!

It’s a K5-series Chevrolet Blazer, as recreated superbly in Technic form by Madoca 1977. A suite of Powered-Up electronics are packed inside, providing remote control four-wheel-drive, steering and a high/low gearbox.

Madoca has also engineered a properly clever drivetrain, with linked pendular suspension that automatically locks the differentials at high rates of axle articulation. No wonder it made such light work of squashing our mythical workers.

There’s lots more of Madoca’s model to see – including images of the ingenious engineering within – at the Eurobricks forum, plus you watch the Blazer in action via the video below. Click the links to take a closer look.

YouTube Video

Just a Jeep

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It’s been a day of decidedly weird vehicles here at The Lego Car Blog, so we’ll round off with something resolutely normal. Splendidly built with Technic gears for wheels, a miniaturised roll cage, and a dismembered mini-figure hand for a winch, 1saac W.‘s Jeep TJ is as good as small scale building gets. Take a look via the link.