52 Pickup Roundup

Welcome to the first roundup that sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud...52 Pickup Roundup. The challenge stated that we either build any 52 pickup, or better yet, something having to do with cards and card games. You know how the game goes...I played it once when I was a kid. You ask a friend if they want to play 52 Pickup, they say hell yeah, then you drop the cards all over the floor and tell them to pick them up. Then came a series of events I had to repress until I was 30. Stupid childhood demons! Anyway, lets just brew some Three-Peckered Billy Goat coffee, kick back, and see how this hand was dealt, shall we? See what I did there? Card games...hand was dealt. Hah, I'm so clever!

Clearly Gilcelio still had Batman on the brain from the last challenge with this Joker-Mobile. The bombs look pretty cool and with a turn of a gear the boxing glove up front slowly telescopes out. Nah, go ahead, stand right there. I'll punch you with my oversized boxing glove, this'll take a few minutes. Anyway, all joking aside, this haunting ride is just fitting for the psychopathic clown prince of crime.



You could say Lino Martins had Batman on the brain too with this Two-Face looking lead sled, but actually I didn't. Named for the King of Hearts, the king who holds a knife to his own back, this Suicide King is a chopped and lowered '50 Merc with chromed out bits, suicide doors, and a striking bilateral color scheme. Black, white, and red are the primary colors of playing cards and this whole radical ride takes design cues from classic hot rodding. This is what we live for, people...um...Suicide King.



Tires on the road cause friction and friction slows you down. This is why in racing, you want the least amount of rubber on the road as possible to get you across the finish line before anyone else. This is why this eight wheeled, eight carbs, and eight pipes having formula 1 racer built by Oldeconoline is so damned crazy. Naturally, this wild orange and blue get up is called Crazy 8's. And to think, he started this project as a Model T with 8 seats and ended it like this. Pretty crazy, right?



You know who's crazy? Jonathan Derksen. Probably. All I can say is I met the kid, and behind all that boyish youthful charm is a no pants wearing, bus riding, mouth breathing lunatic waiting to happen. But enough about me. Lets just enjoy this 1952 Austin A40 pickup. Not only does it follow the alternate non-card related clause of the challenge, but it is also an alternate build of the official VW Bus set. Pretty alternative, right? Makes me want to wear guyliner and listen to Siouxsie and the Banshees.



I think I built my VW Bus while wearing a cape made of human skin. That has nothing at all to do with being creepy or weird...its just the LEGO room was cold and I just happen to have it handy. They say, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade and when life hands you yards and yards of human skin, you make a cape out of it. And possibly a lamp shade. Oh and Tim Inman built this very slick 1960 Cadillac Coupe deVille called Spite and Malice. Its one of my all time faves by Tim. The engine looks sort of like a Venus Flytrap.



Ever heard of the card game Rummy 500? I never did, but this 1969 Ford Galaxie 500 Country Wagon built by Christopbrill may be just the thing to cure what ails ya. I love wagons so it certainly works for me. Ask your doctor if the 1969 Galaxie 500 Country Wagon is right for you. Side effects may include profuse sweating, dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea, heartburn, stank breath and fallen arches. Consult your doctor if you experience heart palpitations or erections lasting more than four hours.



What do you call it when you cram a modified VW Microbus chock full of technic Porsche Martini racing team dudes? A full house. Just ask Malte Dorowski. He knows. He also knows the square root of pi, probably. I don't know the square root of pi. I left that information on the bus a long time ago...along with my pants. But I do know this is a pretty cool creation.


You know what else is cool? If The Joker drove the Deathproof Nova you'd get something like this next creation as built by Raphy. The skull ornament, the racing stripes, the dark green hood scoop, the little hint of yellow in the rims, all neat touches...but I like best the forced perspective photography featuring the Joker card. It makes everything seem all moody and sinister. But Raphy...clean your lens, sonnyboy! You've got schmutz all over it.




Speaking of moody and sinister, check out this murdered out all black F1 racer built by DeTomasso77. It is simply called The Player and it looks like it is becoming self aware and could quietly follow you down a dark ally in the dead of night. If Christine was a F1 racer, it would look like this. If that sinister truck in the movie Duel were a F1 racer it would look like this. If the car in that movie...um...The Car were a F1 racer it would look like this.




L@go plays the hand he was dealt and comes up all Aces with this thugged out little rat rod called Ace of Spades. In this case the jokes just write themselves. Let me simply copy/paste what L@go wrote: Meet Jack, called Ace by his friends. You've probably already spotted all the shovels he's got stored in that crate. He's a shovel salesman - which is how he got the nickname 'Ace of Spades' (insert drum roll and hi-hat crash)...



Well, it was short and sweet, but there you have it, the 52 Pickup Roundup. Yep, its still just as silly when spelled out a second time. In case we have any readers out there who are FBI agents I didn't build my VW Bus while wearing a cape of humanskin. I think I was in black pants and some sort of t-shirt. Both woven from cotton, not skin. I built it on the kitchen table with my girlfriend. I also keep my pants firmly on while riding the bus. I'm not even drinking Three-Peckered Billy Goat coffee...its trader Joe's French Roast. Sounds downright boring, truth be told. Sorry to disappoint. Can you find it in your hearts to forgive me? While you're mulling that over stay tuned for next month's challenge called Love For The Bug...all about the cute little VW Beetle. Whether it be bog standard or wildly customized...whether it be classic, the 1999 redesign or even the sportier new 2012, the sky is the limit with this challenge. Ted Bundy owned a VW Beetle. Talk about creepy and sinister!