Modular Rodular

January 18, 2016, 4:00 pm

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All of these brilliant Town-scale hot rods were discovered by one TLCB Elf, an Elf who is by far the luckiest in TLCB history, and who is soon likely to be the fattest in TLCB history too.

They all come from Flick’s Tim Henderson, who has designed a neat modular chassis to which a variety of body-styles and engines can be quickly and easily attached.

To demonstrate his systems’ flexibility Tim has built nine hot and rat rods using the same common architecture, and every single one looks thoroughly excellent. If there was any idea ideally suited to, er… LEGO Ideas, this is surely it.

Tim’s platform can be constructed in a variety of lengths to suit different applications, and it can fit both a traditional mini-figure and a Friends figurine behind the wheel.

You can see all of Tim’s hot and rat rods as well as the platform that unites them at his photostream – click here to make the jump to Flickr.

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Animal Automobiles

January 22, 2016, 7:08 am

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Automobile manufacturers have long used animal names for their products. From Cobra to Cougar, Ram to Raptor, and Stag to Stingray, it’s the fiercest and most dangerous of the animals that seem to catch the eye of marketing departments.

However Chevrolet decided not to go down the deadly-animal route when picking a name for their new luxury sedan in the late ’50s, instead choosing to name their new car after a medium-sized antelope from Africa that’s the favoured food of lions and cheetahs.

Despite Chevrolet’s new car not being called something big and scary, nor sharing a single characteristic with the light and nimble Impala that provided its name, it was a roaring success, becoming the best-selling car in America in the mid-60s. Powered by an inline-6, a V8, or even a turbocharged motor, the Impala was uncharacteristically forward-thinking for an American barge too, including such developments as cruise control and fuel injection.

Of course in the ’80s and ’90s the Impala had become – like every American car from the time – total crap, but let’s not dwell on that automotive wasteland and instead focus on the Impala’s golden age, with this wonderful sky-blue 1960 example from Flickr’s Ralph Savelsberg.

Featuring opening doors, hood and trunk, and a detailed engine-bay and interior there’s lots to see – click on the link above to visit Ralph’s photostream for all of the images.

The Purple People Eater

January 27, 2016, 5:10 am

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TLCB regular _Tiler is back with another glorious hot rod.

See The Purple People Eater on Flickr here.

Nightcrawler

January 28, 2016, 4:07 am

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This blue beast is a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville Coupe, with a few modifications courtesy of the inside of Lino Martins‘ head. A chop to the roof and ground-scraping lowered suspension accentuate the already ridiculous proportions of the ’66. It’s been built for the 99th LUGNuts challenge on Flickr, and with the 100th just a few weeks away we’re expecting something pretty special to celebrate… We’ll bring you more details of the 100th LUGNuts challenge soon, but in the meantime you can check out the 99th and Lino’s entry via the links above.

Blue Flame

February 1, 2016, 7:16 am

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It’s a well-known fact that a flame paint-job unleashes at least an extra 50bhp. Tim Inman’s 1968 Plymouth Fury is going to need all the help it can get, because the Fury was massive. Still, try telling an American that size doesn’t matter…

Tim’s classic Plymouth was suggested to us by a reader and you can see more at his photostream by clicking here.

Twin Jeeps

February 2, 2016, 4:28 pm

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These two delightful CJ5 Jeeps were discovered by a happy Elf today, built by previous bloggee and Lego Professional Nick Barrett. Nick’s work has appeared here several times over the years and his latest builds are everything we could want in a LEGO model. Both are beautifully realistic on the outside (whilst sturdy and playable too), and underneath each Jeep has gone a different route to achieving technical realism.

The red version is built on a traditional studded chassis and is all-mechanical, with live-axle suspension, a two-speed gearbox with selectable all-wheel-drive, mechanical steering and a working straight-4 piston engine.

The white version, whilst near identical externally, sits on a modern studless chassis fitted with Power Function remote control drive and steering, alongside the same two-speed gearbox with selectable all-wheel-drive and live-axle suspension.

There’s more to see of both Nick’s mechanical and electrical versions of the classic Jeep on MOCpages and Flickr – click the links to his MOCpage and photostream to see all the images.

Common Brown Rat

February 3, 2016, 4:11 pm

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You don’t need 27,000 pieces to appear here at The Lego Car Blog. Sydag’s latest creation is built from around 100, and rather good it looks too. See more of his rat rod ‘The Beast’ by clicking here.

Got Gas?

February 12, 2016, 4:18 am

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Flickr’s Horcik has, in the form of this quirky remote controlled ‘gasser’ hot rod. Underneath the late ’50s Chevrolet Bel-Air(ish) bodywork are a suite of Technic motors, LEGO’s li-po battery and a Power Functions infrared receiver, plus bouncy live-axle suspension. There’s an extensive gallery detailing the build, plus a link to a video of the gasser in action, at Horcik’s photostream – click the link above to make the jump.

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Fifty-Five

February 14, 2016, 2:11 am

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Flickr’s _Tyler appears on these pages so regularly he’s going to need his own section soon. His latest creation is this absolutely gorgeous ‘55 Chevrolet, and we’ve never wanted a Town-scale car more. Ingenious parts usage and spectacular photography can be found at _Tyler’s photostream – click here to see just how good small Lego cars can get.

Black Friday

February 19, 2016, 4:20 am

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No, not that Black Friday. Our Elves are feeling quite sinister today (which means they might be plotting something), and thus we have a few dark and moody creations to share.

First up is TLCB regular piratecox‘s superb hot rod hearse, giving mini-figures the chance to go out in style. It looks the perfect funeral vehicle for a chap like the one below, who mixes driving his brutal-looking rat rod pick-up with piloting a jet-black Corsair fighter plane. Sydag is the builder and you can see more of his stunning build on Flickr at the link above, whilst we try to work out what the Elves are up to…

Crossover Clown

February 19, 2016, 9:27 am

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Despite being more expensive yet not as good as the hatchback or saloon on which they’re based, demand for crossover vehicles is booming. Several cars claim to be the originator of this pointless trend, including Toyota’s RAV4 and Nissan’s Qashqai, and a few more were derided at the time of their launch and failed miserably – yet if they were sold in today’s market they would probably do rather well, such as Rover’s Streetwise and Pontiac’s Aztek – however it was actually a forgotten little French company that came up with the idea of a normal car with off-road looks first.

Matra’s Rancho was based on the little Simca 1100, but with the addition of fibreglass rear bodywork and faux-4×4 styling, and was built from the mid ’70s to the mid ’80s. In a curious twist of fate Matra then invented another new class of car as the Rancho’s replacement, the world’s first MPV; the Renault Espace.

It was the Espace that gained immediate popularity and spawned a whole new market, with every major motor manufacturer copying the formula by the mid ’90s. However, by the 2010s demand for MPVs was plummeting, to be replaced by – you’ve guessed it – the crossover, the car which the MPV had replaced three decades earlier. Weird.

This colourful Lego version of the late ’70s Matra Rancho comes from TLCB favourite Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist, and it’s apparently the star of a Dutch TV show called ‘Bassie & Adriaan’. You can see more of Ralph’s Rancho, as well as the neat caravan in tow, at his photostream – click the link above to see more.

Fresh Prince

February 21, 2016, 3:49 am

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Now, this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I’d like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air

Oh yeah, this lovely mini-figure scale ’53 Chevrolet Bel Air was found on Flickr. It’s been built by LegoEng and there’s more to see here.

Engine No.13

February 23, 2016, 9:18 am

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Hot rod building extraordinaire and TLCB favourite Norton74 is back, with another wonderful recreation of a real-world show rod from decades past. His latest is this stunning Model Team replica of Chuck Miller’s ’67 Ford C-cab ‘Fire Truck’, and it’s gorgeous. Useless at fighting fires, but gorgeous nonetheless. There are more superb images available to view at Norton’s Flickr photostream – click the link above to dial 911.

Ice Cool

February 23, 2016, 9:28 am

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Lancia may be a shadow of its former self reduced to making ugly Chrysler knock-offs, but there was a time when owning a Lancia was seriously cool. The legendary Stratos was one of the brand’s highlights, winning the World Rally Championship three times and remaining a rally winner until the mid 1980s, a full decade after its launch. This neat Lego ice-racing version comes from Flickr’s Peter Blackert and was suggested to us by a reader – see more at the link above.

Bazinga

February 24, 2016, 4:22 pm

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Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist is living up to his name with his latest build. We’re not sure that the laws of physics allow for what’s going on with this Volkswagen Beetle ‘Zinger’, but whatever the practicalities it looks damn cool! There’s more to see at Ralph’s photostream – click the link above to make the jump.

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Plan B

February 25, 2016, 4:01 pm

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This is a Ford RS200, and it could have been one of the greatest rally cars of all time. Unfortunately for Ford, who had invested millions in the project, the insane Group B class in which the RS200 was due to compete was terminated almost exactly as the car launched.

Needing at least some return on their investment Ford turned to European Rallycross, which still maintained an almost ‘anything goes’ approach to the rules. Alongside the other orphans from Group B, such as Audi’s S1 quattro and Rover’s monstrous Metro 6R4, Ford’s RS200 created a spectacular show.

Rallycross has since become a global phenomenon thanks largely to the X-Games and YouTube stars like Ken Block, with Ford currently dominating the sport in their 600bhp all-wheel-drive Fiesta, but this weird little racer is where it all began.

Only 200 road-going RS200s were ever built, but today MOCpages’ Heiko Ruutel has taken it to 201 with a stunning replica of the 1980s legend. Featuring working suspension, 4-cylinder engine, steering and fully opening bodywork Heiko’s RS200 recreation is a throughly excellent homage to the often forgotten original. There’s lots more to see at Heiko’s MOCpage – Click the link above and get sideways.

El Laxante

February 26, 2016, 4:00 pm

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LUGNuts’ 100th Challenge draws to a close soon, and it’s yielding some superb results. This entry is the our Elves’ favourite so far, and had it been entered in our own Summer Building Competition last year we’re fairly sure it would have taken home some prizes. Racing stripes? Check! Ridiculous engine? Check! Flames? Check! Tank tracks? Double Check! D-Town Cracka is the irresponsible adult behind it and you can see more of his extensively modified ’74 Chevrolet El Camino via the link above.

Pixels

February 29, 2016, 2:46 am

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For our readers too young to remember the SNES and Sega Megadrive, and who might be wondering what the graphics were like, wonder no more! This odd pixelated hot rod by Flickr’s RGB900 takes us back to a time of 8bit, cartridges, and blowing dust out of slots – click the link above to join us in the past.

Little Red Corvette

February 29, 2016, 3:01 am

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The Chevrolet Corvette C4 was – like all American cars from the mid ’80s to late ’90s – total garbage. With its enormous 5.7 litre V8 engine making as little as 205bhp in the early cars not even intervention by Lotus (owned by General Motors at the time) could turn the Corvette into a competitive sports car. Nevertheless the C4 Corvette sold well because it looked… like this.

Heiko Ruutel makes his second appearance here in two weeks with this superb Model Team recreation of the stunning C4 ‘Vette and there’s more to see on MOCpages – click the link above and party like it’s 1990.

Multiculturod

February 29, 2016, 4:01 pm

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Unlike last night’s Oscars (props to Leonardo DiCaprio for his climate change winners speech), this lovely little rat rod by TLCB favourite _Tiler includes every colour, and just look at how excellent it is as a result! Something of a metaphor for cohesive society…

You can see more of _Tiler’s wonderfully diverse and beautifully photographed rat rod on Flickr – click the link above to make the jump.