Stripes on the Streets


‘Street takeovers’ don’t happen in our home nation. Partly because we don’t have a grid system giving wide intersections, but mostly because an economy hatchback isn’t really the right tool.

Americans of course have it much easier, with vehicle-based douchbaggery in reach for all thanks to a plethora of cheap, powerful, but crap sedans. Cue Mihail Rakovskiy’s splendid Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which you guarantee on any given night in America will be doing donuts in the middle of a four-lane junction.

Mihail’s Model Team version captures the real Camaro superbly, with a highly detailed engine bay, interior and drivetrain, opening doors, hood and trunk, and a pair of racing stripes that add at least 50bhp.

There’s lots more of the model to see at Mihail’s ‘Lego Chevrolet Camaro ZL1’ album, and you can close a street to do a poorly executed donut via the link above.

Stingray


It’s 1973, the US President is engulfed in scandal, and the US are supporting an Israeli war in the Middle East causing a global energy crisis. Thank goodness things like that don’t happen now…

Anyway, back to ‘73 and this, the gorgeous ‘C3’ generation Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.


Surely one of best American car designs of all time, this C3 Corvette comes from Ciamoslaw Ciamek Ciamek, who has captured it brilliantly in Speed Champions form.

Building instructions are available and there’s more to see at Cismoslaw’s photostream. Click the link above and head back to an era with no similarities to today whatsoever…

More is More


When it comes to cars, we’re ‘less is more’ people. Subtlety and understatement are the order of the day. For TLCB Elves however, more is definitely more. Which means they’re very excited by this Classic Space ‘Wayfarer’ spaceship, which is absolutely bursting with ‘more’. Flickr’s Gaurav Thakur owns the hands that have packed an enormous array of spacey things into, onto, and underneath the ship, and there’s even more ‘more’ to see at their photostream. Take a look via the link above.

Porsche Pair

It’s a Porsche sort of day here at TLCB, with two more joining the prior proper Porsche.

These two Speed Champions Porsches come from their endurance stable, bookending it across half a century.

Built by previous bloggee SFH_Bricks, there’s more to see of the 1975 917KH and 2025 963RSP on Flickr, and you can take a closer look via the link above.

A Proper Porsche


Porsche are in big trouble. Despite the success of their EVs (and perhaps because of it…), Porsche are currently undertaking a rapid de-electrification of their future models. Because whilst a tax-avoiding businessman may want his luxury sedan to be electric, the sports car customer wants an engine. Cue a 92% drop in Porsche’s operating profit and a knock-on effect elsewhere in the Volkswagen empire, as the cancellation of Porsche EV platforms hits other brands.

But fear not readers, because today we have a real Porsche. Open-top, combustion-powered, rear-wheel-drive, and the only thing the battery does is start the engine. This is of course a 1950s Porsche-Diesel tractor.

Built by MP LEGO Technic Creations, this gorgeous recreation of the vintage Porsche features working steering, a single-cylinder piston engine connected to the rear wheels with a selectable power-take-off, a high/low gearbox, and a functional rear hitch.

Both constructed and presented beautifully there’s lots more of MP’s wonderful model to see on Flickr, and you can get back to a proper Porsche via the link above.

Land Roadster


What do you get if you cross a Land Rover with a vintage roadster? A Land Roadster of course, with this one owned by Adventurers hero Indiana Jones Johnny Thunder. There’s working steering, space for three mini-figures, and more to see courtesy of Sseven Bricks via the link above.

The SS


From one end General Motors’ cool spectrum (well, almost. There was the Chevrolet Matiz) to the other. This is the glorious 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, with racing stripes and a 7.4 litre V8 that could be optioned up to 450bhp.

This spectacular brick-built version of the top dog Chevelle comes from Jakub Marcisz who has updated his previous iteration of his model, and features working steering, a two-speed gearbox, and V8 engine, plus opening doors, hood and trunk.

Building instructions are available and you can see all of the images and find full details of Jakub’s incredible creation at both Flickr and Eurobricks. Click the links to take a look.

Top G


The Lego Car Blog Elves like Lamborghinis and monster trucks and things with rocket launchers. Which means they’re pretty unimpressed by this. The Lego Car Blog staff however, rather like humdrum mundanity, and in Europe few things are more humdrum and mundane than an old Opel Astra Caravan (also known as the Vauxhall Astra Estate).

The G-series Astra was launched in 1998, looked quite fantastically boring even back then, and was available in a bewildering range of bodystyles and engines, with a hatch, sedan, station wagon, van, coupe and convertible, a dozen petrol and half-a-dozen diesel engines, production across eleven countries, and Holden and Chevrolet versions too.

Most G-series Astras were bland 1.6 litre petrol hatch and station wagons though, just like this splendid brick-built example from Flickr’s Mansur Soeleman, who has recreated his grandfather’s final car as a gift to him.

There’s a detailed interior, space for four mini-figures, and you can take a ride with Mansur’s grandfather via the link above.

Cease & Desist


Italian lifestyle brand and occasional car maker Ferrari are rather enthusiastically legalistic. Even if you legitimately buy one of their products and decide to have some fun with the badges (as electronic music producer Deadmau5 knows), they’ll send you a letter threatening court action. Because you modified your car. Something to do with brand protection apparently, which is a bit rich considering all the tat they sell with their logo on.

All of which means Flickr’s Sharpspeed can probably expect a call from Ferrari’s lawyers, because his Speed Champions ‘Montichiari’ looks almost exactly like a Ferrari Daytona. That is to say, really good.

There’s more of the ‘Montichiari’ to see at his photostream via the link above so take a look before Ferrari get it removed.

LEGO Icons 11378 Douglas DC-3 PAN AM Airliner | Set Preview

It’s a new set day here at The Lego Car Blog, because LEGO are flying back in time to the dawn of commercial aviation with this; the brand new Icons 11378 Douglas DC-3 PAN AM Airliner!

Wearing the iconic livery of the now defunct (but curiously still trademarked) Pan American World Airways, 11378 is a fabulous homage to one of the most important aircraft ever produced, the wonderful Douglas DC-3.

First flying in the mid-1930s, the DC-3 transformed commercial aviation, and – somewhat unbeleivably – there are over a hundred still in service today.

Landing in April of this year, the new 11378 Douglas DC-3 PAN AM Airliner set is sure to add many more to that count, coming with over 1,900 pieces, a crew of four bespoke mini-figures (including a stewardess who may well nod to Kelli Garner’s character in the 2010s ‘Pan Am’ TV show), a detailed cockpit with a new printed windshield, working retractable landing gear, a brick-built display stand, and a cabin outfitted with appropriately too-small seats for any passengers to fit in them.

Marketed at ages 18+, the new Icons 11378 Douglas DC-3 PAN AM Airliner is expected to cost £199.99 / €219.99 / $219.99 when it reaches arrivals, and you’ll be able to book your ticket from April 4th.

Perfect Seaplane Pavilion

The coolest way to travel is – and there’s no argument here – by seaplane. You taxi through sparkling waters, the engine roars, and the thumping of the hull on the waves suddenly becomes total serene smoothness. You look down below to the retreating ocean, now dotted with islands and boats, as you travel to a place that you know can only be at least as beautiful as the one you’ve just left. Yeah… we want to join Eero Okkonen‘s ‘Seaplane Association’, whose utterly gorgeous pavilion stands atop a rocky pinnacle with its aircraft waiting beneath it. Join us in enquiring about membership via the link in the text above.

Yavin’ a Rebellion

TLCB Staff are leaving the comfort of their garages today and heading to the jungle moon Yavin 4, where the Rebel Alliance are planning an audacious attack on the Galactic Empire.

Hidden inside an ancient temple, a multitude of mini-figure Rebels, their X-Wing and Y-Wing fighters, and a handful of helpful droids are readying themselves for the momentous mission.

Constructed by Flickr’s Viktor Fäldt, this enormous brick-built recreation of the Rebel Alliance headquarters features an array of exceptional details from ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’, plus the aforementioned starfighters, hover trollies, and the encroaching jungle outside.

There’s a whole lot more to see of Viktor’s exceptional Star Wars diorama at this photostream, and you can head to Yavin 4 too via the link above.

Big Forker

One of LEGO’s finest themes and eras was the early-’90s ‘Town’ range. Railways, airports, emergency services, and harbours all featured, with perhaps the best of them all being the huge 6542 Launch & Load Seaport.

Cue regular bloggee Thirdwigg, who has set out to recreate all of the elements of the wonderful 1991 set in Technic form, including the crane, containers, ships, truck, and forklift.

It’s the latter of these that he has recently completed, supersizing the original forklift from the set to Technic scale with working rear-steer, and tilting / raising forks, all operated mechanically.

There’s much more of Thirdwigg’s Technic 6542 forklift, and the other components completed so far, at his ‘6542 Bigger’ album, and you can take a look on Flickr via the link above.

Magnificent Mog

We’ve featured a lot of Unimogs over the years here at The Lego Car Blog. Some of which are very big, very detailed, and packed with working features. Today’s is very small, very detailed, and packed with working features.

Built by Flickr’s Reddish Blue, this Unimog U5023 isn’t reddish-blue at all, being rather yellow, and has got as much going on as models ten times its size. There’s working steering and suspension, three drop-sides, working stabiliser legs, and an incredible posable Palfinger crane complete with a functional winch.

An astonishing amount of visual detail joins this wealth of functionality, and is all the more impressive given the model is barely 8-studs wide.

Exquisitely presented, there’s a huge amount more of Reddish Blue’s phenomenally rendered creation to see at his ‘Mercedes-Benz Unimog U 5023’ album, where links to building instructions can also be found. Take a look via the link above at the best small-scale ‘mog you’re likely to see this year.

Neeeaaaw Whudhudhuhdua…

Pew pew, neeeaaaw, whudhudhudhudua, ploouuuumph, glaaaark! As has been documented on this pages, TLCB are not Star Wars fans. Which is probably why we like ‘Episode 1; The Phantom Menace’, because real Star Wars fans seem to dislike it greatly, and there’s a race in the middle of it with a cacophony of noises most likely made from various household appliances and some audio nicked from Formula 1.

Cue this exquisite recreation of Anakin Skywalker’s podracer (which deployed the aforementioned F1 soundtrack), flying through the desert of wherever it was they were racing being chased by the one that went ‘whudhudhuhdua’. Flickr’s Thomas Jenkins is its maker and you can join the smorgasbord of sounds at his photostream via the link above. Neeeeaaaaw! Kahsmuuush!!