Tag Archives: vintage

Ferrari Before Ferrari

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Lego Alfa Romeo P3

‘Scuderia Ferrari’ have been around longer than you might think…

Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, Scuderia Ferrari were winning races decades before their own cars would wear the famous prancing horse shield. The young Italian began his career driving for Alfa Romeo in 1920, winning the Coppa Acerbo in 1924. By 1929 Enzo took a step back from racing himself to manage the Alfa Romeo team, which became known as Scuderia Ferrari and wore the crest of Enzo’s friend Count Francesco Baracca, a logo which has now become synonymous with Ferrari cars.

Enzo’s partnership with Alfa Romeo gave his team access to the best racing car of the era, the glorious eight-cylinder supercharged  P3, and they translated this into a string of victories. However by 1938 Alfa Romeo wanted to race under their own name, and an unhappy Enzo decided to leave to build his own cars. Mussolini had other ideas though, and racing was duly halted during the kerfuffle whilst Enzo’s factory was converted to build military tooling.

After the war ended Enzo Ferrari finally got the chance to build and race his own car under his own name, and… Alfa Romeo won absolutely everything – in 1950 Enzo’s Italian rivals won all eleven races. However in 1951 the unbelievable happened; the ex-driver-turned-manager beat his old team, winning the 1951 British Grand Prix and becoming the first team to break Alfa Romeo’s dominance in over a year.

Ferrari would compete in every Formula 1 Championship thereafter, making them the only team in the sport’s history to do so, whilst the once mighty Alfa Romeo exited Formula 1 just a year later.

This wonderful diorama containing one of Scuderia Ferrari’s first race-winning cars (even though it’s not actually a Ferrari) comes from previous bloggee and TLCB regular PixelJunkie, whose stunning recreation of the Alfa Romeo P3 – complete with Scuderia Ferrari crest – is one of the finest mini-figure scale vintage racing cars we’ve seen. There’s more to see of this Ferrari-before-Ferrari on Flickr at Pixel’s photostream – head back to the early 1930s via the link above.

Memory Lane

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For builders of a certain generation Dennis Bosman has performed a miracle of Lego reconstruction. The 8889 Technic Ideas book was published in 1984, just four years after the original 8888 book. 8889 showed just how quickly the parts available and building techniques for the Technic part of the Lego System had moved on. As well as step-by-step instructions for some builds (this writer’s favourite was the strange 6-wheeled vehicle) there were photos of additional models. Across two double-page spreads was a massive truck. How to build it though? This is what Dennis Bosman has done, using only contemporary parts. Click this link to travel back in time…

Red Russian

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Lego DT-75 Bulldozer

This magnificent DT-75 vintage Belarusian bulldozer comes from TLCB favourite Jakeof_, and it’s glorious! But then, we are sometimes a bit odd here at TLCB, as obscure pieces of agricultural machinery from behind the Iron Curtain shouldn’t really excite anyone. If you’re as sad as us though you can see more of Jakeof_‘s excellent recreation at his photostream via the link above.

Lego DT-75 Tractor

Fly Away

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Lego Biplane

I wish that I could fly
Into the sky
So very high
Just like a dragonfly

I’d fly above the trees
Over the seas in all degrees
To anywhere I please

The lovely Lego Biplane comes from Flickr’s 6kyubi6. See more here.

Bullet Magnet

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Lego Armoured Car

This 1919 Kresowiec ‘armoured car’, based on a tractor plough chassis, is the absolute last place we would want to be in war-time. Horrendously slow, hugely unreliable, and a great big (and interesting) target for everyone to hit, we can’t image it was fun to be inside one bit. We’d have rather had a horse. Or this.

Anyway, the Kresowiec does make for an intriguing Lego model, especially when constructed by TLCB favourite Karwik. You can see more of this unusual vintage contraption at Karwik’s Flickr photostream via the link above.

Ol’ Blue

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Lego Triumph Motorcycle

It’s not a car, but it is rather pretty. This vintage Triumph-esque motorcycle is the work of Joe Perez aka MortalSwordsman. See more on Flickr here.

I’m a Wanderer

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Lego Gypsy Wagons

Most of the gypsy/traveller vehicles that we see near TLCB Towers are not like these. New Toyota Hilux and Range Rovers with private number plates seem to be the preferred choice at the moment, but very occasionally we do see travelling done the traditional way.

These beautiful Polish gypsy wagons by Flickr’s Karwik remind us of a time when there was only one horse power available up front. Click here to go travelling.

Kickin’ It Old Skool

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Lego Vintage Vehicles

We often post old-timey vehicles here at TLCB, but it’s a rare treat when we can post old-timey vehicles that have been built in an old-timey way!

These charming 6-wide Town vehicles were discovered by… er, The Brothers Brick*, and are the work of Flickr’s grubaluk. There are lots more photos of the individual models available to view on Flickr – simply click the link above to make the jump.

*Our Elves have been sternly reprimanded, the lazy turds.

Our Fine Four Fendered Friend

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Chitty 01

Okay, we admit it, the Elf Riot was our fault. It all started when we promised our pointy-eared workers a night off, watching a DVD. The story was based on a book by the man who wrote James Bond and the film features some explosions and a transforming car. What could go wrong?

The Elves settled down in expectation of seeing something with Megan Fox, fireballs, Megan Fox, Optimus Prime, Megan Fox… Well you get the idea. Dick van Dyke just didn’t cut it. The Elves who made it through the ensuing mutiny and endured 144 minutes of 1960s musical spectacular have been irredeemably scarred.*

Anyhow, relax and feast your eyes on Ralph Savelsberg’s latest creation in his series of vehicles from film and TV. Featuring detachable wings and a brick-built Caractacus Pott, this Lego version of the most expensive theatre prop of all time looks splendid on its vintage, 1970s wheels. Click the link in the text to see more photos of this car, including WIP shots and Ralph’s neat solution to building Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s long exhaust pipe.

Chitty 02

*They’ve started to demand payment in Toot Sweets instead of Smarties.

Two Trucks

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Green Truck

Like magpies, the Elves are attracted to pretty, shiny things. This lovely little truck by South Korean builder bigcrown85 was an instant success with them. It features a neatly detailed body, with some novel parts usage such as the steps and the hammers to which the mirrors are attached. Fortunately the hammers are minifig scale. This allowed only slight damage to be inflicted in the ensuing Elf-fight over the green Smartie that the finder was rewarded with.

The truck’s wheels are very delicate and we suspect the application of a bit of “Kragle” to achieve this. However, we’re not too purist at TLCB* and so we’re happy to feature this neat build. Click this link to Flickr to see details of the chassis and the alternative van version.

We’ve previously featured bigcrown85’s superb Dakar Support Truck, when the Elves found it on MOCpages. You can now revisit it on Flickr and view its amazing detail in high resolution by clicking this link to bigcrown85’s Photostream.

Green Truck Not

*We can’t be, we work with the Elves.

Stolen Property

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Lego Vintage TruckThis lovely vintage truck was found on, er… The Brothers Brick. But it’s about time we got our own back and nicked something of theirs. Built by the previously unknown-to-us Carl Merriam, you can see more on Flickr.

*TBB lawyers have politely asked that we confirm that no TBB posts have originated from TLCB. Now please return our kidnapped Elves!

Emerald Truck

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Gambort’s Gas Truck

Once the temperatures drop the TLCB Elves start getting a little lazy. You can hardly get them out of their hammocks. But they know they’re most likely to relax again when they bring home the nicest car MOCs out there. The threat of the Air Horn looms if they don’t…

Anyway, talking of the nicest car MOCs out there, this superb gas truck (or lorry) is built by TBB’s gambort (Tim Gould). It’s based on a ’30s Leyland Beaver and surely one of the finest vintage vehicles we’ve seen this year. The Elf who found this is happy, too. We granted her three days off. See, we’re not always mean.

Ye Olde Mercedes

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Henning Birkeland’s Mercedes Simplex

Henning Birkeland has built this wonderful 8-wide Mercedes Simplex produced between 1902 and 1909 by Daimler.  Look at all those angles and offsets, and the marvelous colour design!

It’s got everything a car needs – four wheels (plus a spare tire), a drop-top, and a crank. What has been improved since those days? I really don’t know … Oh yes, we have airbags. Show your appreciation on MOCpages.

Rust-eze Delivery

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Vintage Lego Truck

Rust-eze sponsorship before Lightning McQueen; a bit… slower.

After ages without a single Lego Car Blog Elf returning to the office, three arrive back in the same day. We were beginning to think there was another dog with a taste for Elf flesh on the loose. Anyhow, the third addition to our bumper-day of posts is this splendid Vintage Truck from old-school master Marcus Paul aka Er0l. It’s complete with Disney Cars-themed decals, chromed exhaust manifold and headlights, and you can view it on MOCpages.

Black Betty

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Black Betty Hot Rod

It took us ages to spot the cleverly edited newspaper headline. Or even to realise there was a newspaper in the picture at all.

To celebrate LUGNUTS’ 5th Anniversary (LUGNUTS being probably the most popular Lego vehicle group on Flickr), the mysteriously named VolumeX created this angry looking Lego Rat Rod. We must say it’s the presentation that really caught our eye…