Tag Archives: Van

Survive the Fire

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Ford’s Transit was an emphatic success when it launched in the 1960s. By the late ’70s almost every van on British and European roads was a Transit, with vans called ‘Transits’ regardless of their actual make and model.

But the Transit was also disposable. Built as a tool, rarely looked after, and thrown away afterwards, the attrition of the Transit was almost total. Almost.

In 1960s-70s Germany, the Transit Mk.1 was a popular fire response vehicle, carrying ladders on the roof, pumping equipment inside, and with a siren and an upturned plant-pot blue light mounted above the cab.

Unlike their invariably white workhorse brethren, Transits in the fire service were well looked after, meticulously maintained, and travelled relatively low mileage. They were also kept for decades, and thus by the time they retired they were the only surviving examples of the Mk1 left. Which means that today if you see a Ford Transit Mk1 in Germany, it’ll probably be red, and once have carried ladders on the roof.

Cue Versteinert‘s lovely 7-wide German fire service Ford Transit Mk1, constructed following his more humdrum version that appeared here last month. Beautiful attention to detail matches the presentation, and there’s more to see of his fantastic fire service Ford at his photostream.

Click the first link in the text above for one of the few Transit Mk1 survivors, or the second for one that almost certainly didn’t.

In Transit

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In the late ’60s Ford were massive in Britain. With dozens of models produced in dozens of factories, they were the best selling car brand by miles. But we’re not here for their cars today, we’re here for something much more important. The Transit.

Launched in 1965 and built not far from TLCB Towers, the Ford Transit immediately became the best-selling van in Europe, and with the Mark 1 in production for twenty years it became so ubiquitous that even today many Brits still call vans ‘Transit-Vans’ regardless of the make or model.

In fact the Mark 1 Transit’s dominance was so great that by the early ’70s London’s Metropolitan Police estimated that 95% of all bank raids used one, as of course did the police themselves.

The Transit’s legacy continues today, with the fourth generation being the best selling vehicle of any type in the UK, and since its release in America, its the best selling van there too.

But back to 1965, and this fantastic 7-wide Speed Champions homage to Ford’s most important post-war vehicle. Constructed by Flickr’s Versteinert it captures the classic van’s aesthetics beautifully, and Vernsteinert’s superbly presented model looks the best way to move stuff about in the late-’60s that we can think of. Of course in the late-’60s, the Transit was pretty much the only way to move stuff about.

There’s more to see at Vernsteinert’s photostream, and you can join every other ’60s van driver from florists to bank robbers via the link in the text above.

Bat-Man

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It’s ‘Bat Man’! Kinda… but he is bequeathed with as many super-powers as the actual one.

Pictured here doing top superhero work rescuing a cat from a tree, PigletCiamek‘s ‘Bat-Man’ includes everything a baseball-based interpretation of the Dark Knight could want. If what they want is a van shaped like a baseball cap on a ball.

Join him in the strike zone at Flickr Park via the link above!

Moving Boxes

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Here at The Lego Car Blog most of the models we publish are supercars, sports cars, and giant off-roaders. Because we’re six. But if we were a vehicle, we’d probably be a crappy old van.

In our home nation that would most likely mean a Ford Transit, which isn’t just the best-selling van, but the best selling vehicle. However despite the massive numbers almost none survive beyond about fifteen years old (with many dying much younger), thanks to the disposable nature of vehicles used as tools, high repair costs, and a very robust annual inspection process.

In many parts of America though, there is no such inspection (leading to some truly terrifying vehicle conditions unthinkable in our home nation), and thus battered vans from decades past can are still a common sight.

This is one such van, a 1997 Ford Econoline, as built by newcomer yellowsquadron, who has utilised some sun-yellowed white bricks to superb effect to recreate the knackered exterior.

Posable steering, opening doors (including the sliding side door), a detailed engine under an opening hood, a realistic under-chassis drivetrain, and a wonderfully life-like interior all feature, and you can check out all the imagery (plus a link to building instructions) at yellow’s ‘Ford Econoline 1997’ album. Move some boxes via the link above.

Otto-ly Wonderful

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Sometimes a vehicle needs a name, and this wonderful Volkswagen T25 Westfalia camper, owned by friend of TLCB Nick Barrett, is one such time.

Entitled ‘Otto’, Nick’s fabulous Westfalia is christened after its previous owner, whose name was inside the manual it came with.

Working steering, suspension, opening/sliding doors, and a rear-mounted piston engine all feature, as does a glorious interior, complete with a fold down bed, table, rotating chairs, kitchen, and crapper.

There’s much more of Otto to see at Nick’s album on Flickr, and you can see what makes him tick in our Master MOCers series by clicking this bonus link.

Cosmically Cool

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Mankind’s future is in the stars. No, TLCB Team aren’t suddenly into astrology, but rather hold a belief that now that the world’s richest men are building space rockets, it’s only a matter of time before space travel becomes democratised.

Which means that space will then inevitably be conquered by influencers, requesting Likes and Subscribes to fund whatever space-based lifestyle it is they want you to think is worth following.

Cue OA KD‘s ‘Space Vanlife’, in which an invariably top-knotted douchebag and his hot-pants wearing girlfriend will evangelise about the benefits of an all-natural diet and 5am yoga via the medium of a pseudo-intellectual trope embossed on a picture of a sunset. Only in space.

Appropriately OA KD has pictured his marvellous Neo-Classic Spacevan on Mercury. Or its top-knotted owner is surfing in mercury. We’re not sure. Either way you can Like and Subscribe via the link to Space Vanlife above.

Today’s second dude-in-space creation revisits our old friend Benny from The LEGO Movie, who has equipped himself with one heck of a jetpack courtesy of Flickr’s Rubblemaker. Join him on an extreme journey through the cosmos via the link to Rubblemaker’s photostream above, and get ready for the first influencer in space any day now.

We’re All Like, People of the World Man

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It was the Eurovision Song Contest last night, and if any non-European readers tuned in during the vote reveal, they may have thought they’d accidentally arrived at a 1970s Vietnam War opposition rally.

Almost every country’s host took the opportunity to remind us that the competition’s songs were not in fact banal Euro-pop as we thought, but the source of love and world peace. Urgh. It’s enough to make us want to start a fight.

It was more straightforward back in actual 1970s, when world peace was dispensed not by pseudo-intellectual television hosts, but by Volkswagen-van-driving-hippies with names like Waterfall and Crystal, via beads, tie-dye, and foreign narcotics.

Cue previous bloggee 1saac W., whose Volkswagen T2 bus is so peaceful it has itself been tie-dyed. A kaleidoscope of coloured plates, afforded by LEGO’s ever expanding colour-pallet, make up the VW’s groovy exterior, and you can collect your beads and foreign narcotics from Waterfall and Crystal at 1saac’s photostream via the link above.

You’ll be contributing to world peace about as much as this does anyway…

Escort Service

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As revealed when we recently interviewed, er… ourselves, the single worst thing about running a world famous moderately well-known Lego website is having to remove endless spam comments.

Crypto currency, luxury goods that are absolutely definitely genuine, pills to make things bigger, pills to make things smaller, and – of course – escorts.

Thus today’s post is for the aforementioned escort commenters (most likely ‘bots from East Asia), as we have not one, not two, but four escorts appearing on the site today.

All come from previous bloggee Ralph Savelsberg, and represent (from left to right) two Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, a Volkswagen Transporter, and a Volkswagen Caddy, each perfectly capturing its real-world counterpart in mini-figure scale, with more to see on Flickr.

Book your escort via the link in the text above, whilst we delete another dozen comments advertising dubious services.

Little Haulers

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After a few car-less days we have a trio of vehicular creations to showcase today. None are cars mind…

Still, they are excellent, hence their appearance here, and each proves you don’t need a million pieces or to know The Brothers Brick secret handshake to see your creation blogged.

First up is a vehicle from way back at the very beginning of the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise, Brian’s Ford F-150 Lightning, complete with ‘The Racers Edge’ decals and a bed full of rather easily stolen car parts. Previous bloggee IBrickItUp is the builder and you can drive to Toretto’s to order a ‘tuna on white with no crust‘ via the link above.

Today’s second small-scale vehicle comes from Justus M., whose classic RV is quite magnificently beige. It also features some simply ingenious suspension, deploying your Mom’s recently blogged ‘golden handcuff’ pieces to brilliant effect. You can see how Justus has done it via the link to his photostream above, where you can also find a video of the springy ‘cuffs in action.

Today’s third and final creation is two really, with Thomas Gion‘s ace 1969 Dodge A100 van and BBQ smoker trailer in tow. As Thomas also goes by the moniker ‘HotDogSandwiches’ it’s a rather appropriate pairing, and you can grab a bun and tuck in to a perfectly smoked sausage via the link in the text above.

Meals on Wheels

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This is a Chevrolet P30 Step-Van, a ‘multi-stop’ truck primarily designed for the package delivery industry, and a common sight across America. This particular Step-Van is much more interesting though, being of the food truck variety, and therefore containing, well… food.

Built by previous bloggee Max Ra, who has used some excellent sideways building techniques, this 8-wide Chevy P30 could only be more realistic if it included a queue of brick-built hipsters waiting to place their order.

Join us in the queue at the serving hatch via Max’s photostream at the link above!

On the Fly

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The most hated vehicle in TLCB Office, and very probably the entire of TLCB’s home nation, is the tipper van.

Often seen with tatty and deeply ironic ‘Eco Recycling’ type decals on the doors, they are used to collect people’s waste (for a fee), and then dump it at the side of the road. Or in the middle of the road. Or in farmers’ fields. Or in lay-bys. Or anywhere that isn’t a recycling centre.

Cue this superbly-engineered Technic example by kralls_workshop, which features working steering, an opening bonnet, and a two-way tipper that can tip both rearwards and sideways for maximum illegal dumping ease.

It doesn’t include an indolent, tracksuit-wearing, oxygen-wasting, fly-tipping scumbag at the wheel though, which would’ve been nice for maximum realism.

Anyway, there’s more of the truck to see at Krall’s ‘Tipper Van’ Flickr album, and you can vandalise a quiet lane in the countryside via the link above.

Streamlining Deliveries

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The late ’20s and early ’30s are a much romanticised time. Art deco architecture, wild opulence, delightful dancing, extravagant hats, tuberculosis, fascism, the Great Depression…

Anyway, the vehicles and buildings from the time really were marvellous, and it’s these (rather than tuberculosis and unemployment) that Andrew Tate (no, not that one) has chosen to capture in brick form.

Andrew’s wonderful ‘Streamliner Van’ pictured above is part of a much larger – and absolutely stunning – ‘Metropolitan Club’ scene, and there’s much more to see of both it and the club at his photostream.

Put on your best hat and click the link above to join in.

Quality Escorts

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Running a world-famous Lego blog has its upsides. Probably.

We however, are running a crumbling ruin in the corner of the internet, and whilst we receive precisely none of the fame and riches of the proper Lego sites, we do receive all the spam, marketing messages, ‘guest post’ requests, and doubtless-deserved complaints that go with it.

These take many forms, but are usually centred around medicines of a dubious nature, ‘Gucci’ handbags, and women of an also dubious nature. Cue today’s title, because we already receive a torrent of spam on the subject, how much worse can it get?

These two mini-figure scale escort vans are not the European Ford variety (nor ladies of negotiable affection), but the sort used to prevent inattentive drivers from crashing into the back of a slow-moving house, boat, or house-boat.

Built by regular bloggee Ralph Savelsberg they are a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Volkswagen Transporter respectively, both feature some neat decal-based liveries, and there’s more of each van to see at Ralph’s photostream. Click the link above to be escorted there.

Stranger Danger

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This classic Ford Econoline van, complete with some, er… ‘tasteful’ period modifications, was found by one of our Elves on Flickr, who clearly hadn’t listened to the office talk on stranger danger.

Driven by Brad, who makes a living selling foreign narcotics part-time, and his girlfriend Tiffany, who works in ‘entertainment’, this modified late-’70s to mid-’80s Econoline has got more red flags flying than a minefield.

But it’s also got a wicked three-tone stripe, side-pipes, a moon window, and is blasting Buckcherry out of the stereo, so maybe it’s worth a closer look after all… no. NO.

HCKP13 is the builder, and if you’re old enough there’s more to see of their superbly built and beautifully presented creation on Flickr, where alternatively if you’re not yet of age (or you’re a TLCB Elf), there’s also a bitchin’ monster truck version.

Want to Get into My Van?

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As if that old Dodge van parked down the street wasn’t creepy enough, Flickr’s 1saac W. has made it hover. Still don’t get into it kids. See more (from a distance) at 1saac’s photostream.