Sunday, October 30, 2011

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Alternate Fuels Round Up

You asked for it. You even begged and pleaded. You entered my dreams and nightmares and demanded an Alternate Fuels challenge so I gave you what you wanted. And after all that the end result turned out to be one of the slowest challenges in LUGNuts history. This leaves us wondering if you folks really know what you want. But the few of us who submitted something for the challenge showed some moxie so let's review what they have done. This should be a quick and easy write up. lets get to it.

After a botched up job of removing my appendix and giving me lip implants I didn't really want, it turns out DoktorZapp wasn't even a real Doctor. And to think I was so trusting of someone who called himself Doktor. But he did give us our first entry in the challenge so he's good for at least that, anyway. It's Kenny Power's Rocket Fueled Lincoln Continental. Its about as high octane as my new Angelina Jolie lips.

  Kenny Powers' Rocket Powered Lincoln Continental 031

 Someone with a real doctorate degree but somehow incapable of making my new lips look less like a puckered fish is Ralph Savelsberg. There is nothing more alternate fuel-ish than his peddle powered bicycle. I'd say it the original alternate fuel and most dependable...unless you're me huffing it up a steep hill. Then I'd just assume ditch the bike and hitchhike with a stranger. Preferably one who claims to have candy.

 Cyclist (1)

If there is just one thing I know, its that there are no gas stations on the moon. Legogil knows this too...which is why his sleek lunar vehicle has fuel cells...and apparently a snowplow for all your moon roving  snowplowing needs. Neat!
  Vehicle lunar base

 Legogil chimes in again with this rickshaw. I always thought the rickshaw was a strange concept. Imagine, for a moment, riding in one. Here you have a man as a source of fuel...a source equally capable of getting around in both strength and speed as you are, yet here you sit lazily below its canopy while some poor soul schlepps your wide load around. I mean he's not a horse or even a bicycle...its just some guy you pay to take you here and there. Its a class thing, I guess.

  green Transportation

Dfuzz78 does what he does best...build realistic models of garbage trucks. Seems thats all he does. Well, some people can surf, others are guitar virtuosos...fuzz was born to build awesome garbage trucks. These are what the local refuse trucks looked like before they went with the Power Miner colors of lime green and orange. I'd love for you to build one, Mr. Fuzz. I know you've seen 'em.

LEGO Waste Management McNeilus / Peterbilt CNG Front Loader

Here Jason Son is going green...literally and figuratively with this natural gas powered CNG Mustang. This proves that going green doesn’t mean giving up wheel-spin-inducing, tire-shredding performance. This gives up hope that we can still burn rubber at breakneck speeds while protecting all the pretty trees. Or something.

  Ford Mustang cng (2005)

 When peddle power lets you down, 4estFeller has concocted the battery powered sci-fi tricycle. Its sci-fi cuz it has hub-less wheels and the flag staff appears to be a lightsaber...or maybe a neon tube. And I'm pretty sure Darth Vader would ride this...but not the 7ft2 evil black leather clad Darth Vader but rather the five year old one dimensional actor Darth Vader with the wooden way of speaking and the overblown sense of self. What's that kid doing nowadays, anyway?

  Sci-fi Tricycle

 Someone else with sci-fi on the brain is Lino Martins with my Soylent Green planetary rover/racer thingy. It has crazy four wheel steering and suspension and is named for its fuel source, which I don't know much about but they tell me is cheap, renewable, clean and plentiful. And its also a delicious and nutritious food. It sounds downright Earthy-Crunchy to me and with today's gas prices, I'm all for it! I'm sure there's no need to research the matter further. Nope, no reason for concern at all.

  Soylent Green

Finally Raphy chimes in late in the challenge with his diesel powered custom rat rod style Volvo 240 Wagon. Funny thing, my ignorance showed through by allowing diesel power into the challenge. Its a rare fuel form here in the states but is pretty much the standard in Europe. All a result, this entry is perfectly acceptable but plenty have groaned about it. You're welcome, world.

  Detail

 Anywho, that wraps up our round up for this month. Yeah I know...short and easy. Now I have plenty of time for paying bills, watching Survivor, eating a sandwich and surfing the net...all of which I'm doing while wearing a wrestling mask. I bet you didn't know that. Anyway, LUGNuts is Four Years Old this month and the birthday challenges are always a hoot. You have the opportunity to build any challenge from the previous year and its already turning out to be a pretty stellar month. Stay tuned later to see how it all turns out. Now time to research that whole Soylent Green thing...I don't know what all the hubbub is about... Oh Cripes! Oh God NOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOO......

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Two Of A Kind Roundup

For this month's challenge called Two Of A Kind we made some serious demands that all builders had to adhere to...otherwise they could suffer the wrath of the Headless Buddha ...whatever that means. First we demanded they must build not one, but two things. Second, both things had to match in color scheme and in design. You see, there is a phenomenon that happens at races and car shows. Often we see a prize winning vehicle accompanied by perhaps a trailer, speedboat, motorcycle, snack cooler, or surf board that matches the color scheme and design of the original. Merely building a red car and a red speedboat is not enough to satisfy the demands of the challenge but a red car and speedboat both with silver rally stripes, exposed chromed out engines, and bubble dome windows...now we're talking! What you have then is a cohesive team, a family portrait, if you will that looks as if it was designed and labored over by the same person. Chances are, they were. So with these rules in mind, lets take a look at the entries.

First we have Ace and his...uh...well he...um. You see, its this vehicle...and...uh. Then it sort of does this other thing. Um...you see, we were supposed to build two things and...um. Well, it sort of...you know. Yeah.

Flex

 Lets read the rules again. Seems like DrZapp had the right idea with this Hot Rod Caravan. The trailer matches the overall 60's era design and color scheme of the hot rod that lugs it. Neat!

The Hot Rod Caravan (3)

 If you're like me you've probably woken up handcuffed naked to a dumpster with no recollect of what happened and no clue as to where your wallet is. C'mon, don't deny it, we've all been there, right? Right? Anyway, if you're like me you may also really enjoy this sleek yellow and black pickup and matching trailer as built by Legogil.

Travel trailer

You take a surf board, plus a hot rod, plus a straight four, plus some dark blue and white and you get this cool duo built by Jonathan Derksen. The refreshing six pack of cokes are a great touch. Jonathan tells us this chopped little creation is yet unnamed and elicits a name from all of us. Might I suggest Zipperhead Snickerdoodle Copperbottom? No? Aw, c'mon!



Speaking of weird names, Shunazaver has aliens on the brain with this Eloyan Motors Extraterrestrial Off Road Rover model ALBERT. This is made complete with Mahjqa style power functions and either a stratospheric/ ionospheric tow sensor or a golf bag...one or the other. My money is on the golf bag.

Eloyan Motors Extraterrestrial off-road rover- model ALBERT

With a name like Bobofrutx our next builder is probably an interstellar bounty hunter hellbent on chasing Han Solo across the galaxy. Or maybe he's a vending machine that dispenses fruit. Whatever he is, he's a man of very few words, which is fine, as he lets this Land Crawler speak for itself. There's a lot of neat techniques used here.

land crawler 1

Strange crop circles have been mysteriously showing up around here and the likely culprit may be this custom '66 Dodge A-100 Alien Crop Circle Maker as built by Lino Martins. Done up in Alien Conquest colors, this van features bubble windows, a light up, spaced-out interior, UFO sound and rampside door and a feature that makes the whole shebang appear to be levitating! Eerie! Alien Crop Circle Maker Levitating!

You know what else is eerie? How yet again, Nathan Proudlove builds the same thing I've built without planning it...in this case the '66 Dodge A-100 pickup version (which I almost built). This has happened or nearly happened several times already and its enough to get us both a little spooked. Perhaps its brainwaves, similar chemistry, nature, nurture...or maybe even unseen forces at work. Either way, the Canadian style Boler trailer is pretty neat.

Dodge A100 and Boler

New guy Felipe Descomplicado chimes in for the first time with this duo of gear trucks called The Spear and The Mallus. The yellow is the factory standard version while the red and white is the customized edition. The point of the challenge was slightly missed by not designing two things with the same color scheme and overall design, but you can't help but enjoy the neat techniques used. I'd say Felipe will be a good addition to the LUGNuts team.

Gear Trucks - The Spear and the Mallus
When any of you disappear for a while I worry like a Jewish mother. Miss a month and I can only assume you've been accosted by bloodthirsty homicidal vampire maniacs. Its what my own mother worries I'm up to almost daily. But thankfully Sangi13 is still amongst the living and totally making up cars as evidenced by this 2012 Sangerati Di Lusso SS with trailer.

2012 Sangerati Di Lusso SS + trailer

Also thankfully amongst the living is Ricecracker and his Mercedes Actros Car Transporter. Its yellow with these black and red wavy things. And there's a couple of cars on it. Yeah. Zipperhead Snickerdoodle Copperbottom. Stratosperic/ ionosperic tow sensor golf bag...OK, phew, I used my 3-5 lines. Lets move on.

Mercedes Actros Car Transporter

Dover is my real life boss at the LEGO store. When not yelling at me to quit dicking around and get some work done for once, he enters a challenge...for once...with this neat truck. Before the ADU was the Alien Defense Unit, it was the Alien Discovery Unit. These good ol' boys were just having a good time, listening to music and looking for life on other worlds when these green skinned hooligans came along in a Dodge A-100 and cramped their style by defacing fields of wheat. (Who, me? I wasn't me, officer, really!) It was all out war after that.

Alien Discovery Unit

When TechnicFenix13 hears Two Of A Kind, he hears two of almost exactly the same thing. Here we have what looks like a slightly modified 4404 set towing another 4404 set...also slightly modified. There is nothing like a heavy off-road vehicle towing another almost identical heavy off-road vehicle to unknown off-road destinations. Nice view outside the window there. Surely there are no bloodthirsty homicidal vampire maniacs out there.

4404 dually with trailer and off road truck 1

You take a classic 1957 Chevrolet Cameo pickup truck, lose its usual factory standard red trim and instead give it a twist of lime and you get this sleek creation built by The Big Rafalski. The ice skate blades used on the hood are a nice touch. Ben only had time to build one truck, but in a challenge that demands at least two things what's a Big Rafalski to do?

Lego 1957 Chevy Cameo 

Well, The Big Rafalski recruits the help of...The Big...uh...Ralph-aski. Finally I get to use that joke! The challenge states you can team up with a buddy so Ralph Savelsberg delivers the newer lime and white counterpart with a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado sports truck. Being a true European, Ralph doesn't understand the point of the whole custom sport truck phenomenon but for the rest of us, there is plenty to love about these old and new Chevy siblings.

Silverado Sport truck (1)

Yep, its true. Most Europeans love their cars pristine and factory standard while Americans seem to like 'em customized beyond recognition. Curtydc must be an American as evidenced by this pair of custom chopped Deuces. Once again the point is slightly missed by having a pair with different colors but you can't help but overlook that to great style and build techniques.

A pair of Deuces

Spanning both worlds of being American and European and spending half the year in each place is Raphy. Here he asks the question...What wonders could this Porsche Renntransporter hold? Is it a ham and cheese sandwich? A doggy treat? The secret to life itself? Turns out its four more little Porsches crammed tightly in the back. Neat!

1970s Porsche Renntransporter

Detail

Smoke 'em if you got 'em! That's what Lego911 would say with this Toyota Celica ST205 TTE WRC Marlboro sponsored racer. He tells us this car was disqualified in '95 for...smoking in a movie theatre? Selling cigarettes to kids? Demanding a break from work every hour to alleviate the nicotine fits? No, for cheating...which is just as bad, really.

Toyota Celica ST205 - Toyota Team Europe WRC Marlboro

So how does Peter's solo car qualify? Well he teamed up with none other than Dylan Denton with his counterpart, a 1998 Toyota Corolla WRC in the same red and white Cowboy Killer color scheme. Both builders are against smoking, which is good. It seems the only people who smoke anymore are rebellious teens with mullets and rednecks...also with mullets.

Toyota Corolla WRC 1998

 Lego911 would not be lego911 if he didn't post multiple entries. He chimes in much later in the challenge with this neat pair of '76 Fords done up in '76 color scheme. One is a Pinto Cruising Wagon and the other is the Ford Cruising van. The style and composition are taken from an ad back in '76 within the pages of National Geographic.

Too Much!

That was a good retro way to end our challenge but what happens when we look to the future...a future of Alternate Fuels? In this month's new challenge anything goes...anything except gasoline powered cars. My ignorance was already pointed out when it was made clear that diesel is not really an alternate fuel in Europe but rather the standard. Oh well...there are still other options to choose from, everything from solar power, to wind, to chocolate to organic human waste. Gross! A future where cars run on poo...is it viable? Or should we just forget the future all together and go with steam power? We'll just have to wait and see what next month brings us. And speaking of next month, who's going to BrickCon? I sure am. Hope to see you there. Until then, happy building everyone! Oh, and I've never been handcuffed naked to a dumpster. it was all just a ruse to entertain you readers. I hope it worked.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Everything Under The Sun Roundup

Finally we have a challenge that begs us to not really build everything under the sun, but rather everything...under the sun. Why so confusing, you may ask...well what I mean is everything under the sun...as in vehicles where the driver's head is exposed to the elements. We're talking bikes, convertibles, Formula 1 racers, that sort of thing...good summer rides where the driver can enjoy the sunshine and/or burn to a crisp under the intense summer heat. Speaking of which, I just got back form Portugal where I spent lots of time on the beach and got the worst sunburn of my life. I always brag that I never burn and my people are of a perfect bronzed skin. This seemed true for everyone else who was there, but my pasty white self has lived in cloudy Seattle far too long. For about four days I couldn't sleep, nor even raise my arms...and the peeling stage was like having a shirt full of potato chips. But seeing all the pretty topless babes on the beach made it all worth it. So we go from topless babes to topless cars in this month's challenge. See what I did there?



And see what Sharpspeed did here? its a Rogue Firepower GTC convertible followed by a Rogue Firepower FCGT Roadster/Racer thingy. Forget trying to look up these vehicles on the interwebs as they're both entirely made up cars, as typical to what Sharpy does. I guess it still follows the rules of the challenge, what with the driver's head being exposed to the open sky and all.



Rogue Firepower GTC



FCGT roadster



Sharpy chimes in later in the challenge with this...uh...dragster/roadster thingy. He tells us this is the biggest engine ever put in a 4-wide LEGO car and since I'm too lazy to look it up, I'm just going to assume he's right. Anybody else wanna claim anything? I'll just take your word for it too.



Open Hot Rod



Ape Fight takes a break from fighting and slinging poo with other apes just long enough to build us this Devil-may-care-all studs-showing sports car in classic Lego style. No parts or techniques date after the mid eighties or so and thus this takes us all back to a simpler time when cheese slopes and half stud offsets were just a thing of the future.



Lego Sports Car Rear



He then follows up with a classic looking technic style Buggy with V-4 engine, rack and pinion steering and adjustable seat. Ahhh just look at that oldschool Tecnic style! Its like the 90's all over again and we were all going gaga over the 8880 Supercar set. Good times.



Lego Buggy



jmaokoen builds f1 racers. Its just what he does. He even jokes about his total predictability with paraphrasing my words: "You’re encouraged to go as different as possible on this" followed by "I guess I didn't get the memo." Here is a Formula 1 racer, true to his usual form.



Ferrari 150 Italia



Later he paraphrases the same quote again but this time maybe got the memo with this rather unusual 8-wheeled configuration. I hate to spoil the plot for ya but its another F1 racer. Every build from jmaokoen had been a F1 racer and probably every entry in the future. I also hate to spoil the plot but that chick in The Crying Game is totally a dude! Yeah.



Ferrari 312 T8



And speaking of spoiled plots, Darth Vader was Luke's father, the killer in Saw was lying in the middle of the creepy bathroom the whole movie and it turns out Bruce Willis was dead the whole time in The Sixth Sense. Sorry to spoil all that for ya but you kinda shoulda seen all those movies anyway. Matthew Maulfair builds a roadster called Caterham. We never saw that coming!



Caterham



Another plot we didn't see coming was Granada Turnier and his little yellor roadster called Yellocular. I've never even heard of the dude until this month but we're glad to have him as all builders are welcome, no matter how great or small. He seems to be an enthusiast of model railroading, The Ford Granada, and an accomplished LEGO builder. Cool!



Yellocular:)



Another accomplished builder we already know is Zenn. This month he chimes in with little Throttle Hot Rod. There is some neat parts usage here including a hammer for the door handle, a LEGO backpack and a couple of weird, unidentified thingies in the engine. They say LEGO so they are official...just can't place what they are.



Throttle Hot Rod



With a challenge that demands no roofs its no surprise there's a lot of hot roddin' going on around here. The Big Rafalski shows us all how its done with this classic '32 Ford rod called "Dogbone". Its namesake is a nice new part used for the front bumper. I've got a slew of these bones in my Queen Anne's Revenge set and I can't wait to use them in some way.







First he throws us a bone, then later in the challenge he comes back and throws us a whole 30's era Shell Service Station with too many not-to-be-missed details to mention. Its chock full of old timey goodness and just perfect for all your hot roddin' and summertime cruising. Nice job!



Lego Hotrod and Shell Service Station



And speaking of old timey goodness, fe2cruz has built us a tiny motorbike with sidecar. Its so tiny, in fact, the sidecar is a minifig castle helmet. This embodies the very definition of nice parts usage and the photography is top notch. He tells us its "for that summer camping trip where you want to scare all the dirty hippies out of the forest". Ah, dirty hippies...when will they ever learn?



MZ ES250 sidecar dual-sport



I'm sure dirty hippies (and anyone for that matter) would be scared silly by Sideswipe as built by NK DeSign-er. First he's a Lamborghini Countach, then he's a robot, then a car again. And how does this fit into the challenge, you might ask? Well sometimes the driver's head is also the...uh...car's head. And its exposed to the elements. Somehow. Well its all very...um...scientific. But it works!



SideSwipe Transformer



Intrond delivers all kinds of eye candy with this curvy and unconventional futuristic hot rod. Equally curvy and unconventional is the illustrated babe superimposed into the photo. He's becoming known for these enhanced illustrations that give his LEGO vehicles a bit of extra character...some extra zip, some bang, some Va-va-va-voooom!



Hot Rod



Lino Martins would add illustrated babes to his/my photos too if only I knew how. Is there a button on this thingamajig that makes Megan Fox appear? What about a code that superimposes Mila Kunis into these aquarium pictures? What does this thing do? Awww crap, it erased my saved fonts! Anyway, I like to keep it oldschool as evidenced by this Green Machine. Its what all the cool kids were riding in '78.



The Green Machine!



Brixe63 adds some much needed class to this joint with her Morgan Plus 8. Yep...she's a chick and one of the world's most impressive LEGO motorcycle builders. The rest of her work is pretty phenomenal as made obvious by this roadster. This proves once and for all that this isn't just a boy's car club so I'd put away that pinup poster, if I were you. And tuck in that shirt. Maybe put some tea and crackers out or something. And for the love of God, put on some pants!



Morgan Plus 8   01



And while you're at it, clean your room! Its a pigsty in there, it looks like you invited Mickey Rourke over. And would it kill you to floss for once? And stop picking at that acne...you want to grow up looking like Edward James Olmos or F. Murray Abraham? I mean if you want to look like a beige orange peel, then pick all you want. Oh and Ace is having some fun under the Tuscan sun with this teeny tiny Runabout II.



Runabout II



Dandyman500 is having some fun of his own with this red and white '55 Chevy. I'm seeing some good techniques throughout the build. And I'm having some fun of my own with this writing. Can't you tell? Well, its either that or be completely bored with it. I'm sure you like the weird ramblings and crass jokes. Who reads these things anyway? No seriously, who reads these? I want to know so comment if you do.



'55 Chevy



Alcak kofte makes his LUGNuts debut with this yellow Cabrio sportster and matching trailer hauling a boat. The steering wheels for the boat rollers is a good touch and I'm digging the red interior. alcak tells us he hails all the way from Turkey. Welcome aboard!



concept vw cabrio w/ boat trailer



Hailing all the way from Australia but no stranger to our challenges is the ubiquitous Lego911. In fact, 911 is so ubiquitous (look it up, kids!) he usually single-handedly submits more entries than all of the others combined. This month he must be taking it slow with only four entries...the first a 1989 Mazda MX5 Miata.



Mazda MX5 Miata (NA) - 1989



Next is the 2005 Ferrari 575M Superamerica complete with a rotatable roof and "flying buttress" rear pillars. I have no idea what that means but a buttress that flies ought to be pretty impressive. My buttress just sits on the couch, drinks coffee, and watches Family Guy reruns!



Ferrari 575M Superamerica - 2005



Third on the 911 slab is this Ferrari F50 Barchetta. There is no references to buttresses in this write up, flying or otherwise. But the engine was hard mounted to the carbon fiber tub. Surprisingly, I have no jokes to go with that so I'll just drink some coffee. Mmmm, Trader Joe's Dark . That's good stuff. Ok, I used my 3-5 lines. Lets move on.



Ferrari F50 Barchetta



Lastly 911 conjures up a 1972 Dino 246 GTS Targa in lovely blue. Pftttt...only four entries! Its like he was asleep all month or something...or maybe designing real cars for Ford Australian Division. Nah, I'd rather go with the asleep theory. But four entries is still three more than I can usually pull off so that's something.



Dino 246 GTS Targa - 1972



What else is something is this Tractor Puller with real remote controlled power functions as built by vmln8r. You can throw practicality out the window as its big, scary, loud, pulls wheelies, and can pull a sleigh, which happens to be hidden by all the superimposed smoke. Its like the Smart car's bigger, louder, stupider brother. That's why I love it!



Power Puller



If you're like me, you've stayed up all night wishing somebody would build an orange and lime pair of go-karts. Well, thankfully it seems Legogil came to the rescue to remedy all my crying and night sweats with this orange and lime pair of go-karts. Gil informs and astounds when he tells us Art Ingels is known as the father of karting and built the first kart in So-Cal in '56. Nice!



Kart



TechnicFenix13 lives up to his name somehow with this duo of Technic retro rides. The first being a totally cool hot rod with surfboard, suicide doors and great oldschool shaping.



hotrod complete 1



The second is a droptop tractor with low stance, a giant exhaust pipe and white on black flames. Its like the Smart car's bigger, louder, stupider...oh wait, I already said that. My buttress just sits on the couch, drinks coffee, and watches...said that already too. Like having a shirt full of potato chips...awww crap, I got nothing. Let's move on.



lowride tractor 6



Dylan says Ace beat him to the "Under the Tuscan Sun" joke, but anyway, here is more Italian topless cruising Ferrari Dino 246 GTS. Ahh to be driving along the Italian countryside with the wind in my hair...shirtless with a midget in the passenger seat. It reminds me of...wait, isn't this like the second Dino 246 GTS entered in this challenge?!



Ferrari Dino 246 GTS



Aaron F1 gets all up in yo' face with this Alpha Romeo Spider. Actually he doesn't. He's a man of few words, Aaron is. The only word in his write up is...front. Be sure to dig through his photostream for the riveting "side" and "back" shots. They're...exactly what you'd expect them to be.



Alfa Romeo Spider



DrZapp may appear to be about 10 years old with this rather rudimentary Blue Rocket 60's era...uh...spoiler dragster thingy. But if he's a real doctor, I'm sure he's a man of advanced education and years...somebody who could operate on my pancreas with the skill of a ninja. Or maybe he's a doctor of literature and smokes a pipe in a tweed jacket with patches on the elbows.



Bluerocket



We know for sure Tim Inman doesn't have a doctorate degree, but he's still one smart cookie when it comes to automobiles as evidenced by this 1954 Ferrari 375 Plus. Tim asks the question; What would the Lugnuts challenge "Everything Under the Sun" be without a sleek, sexy vintage Ferrari race car? it would be a lot less sleek and sexy, thats for sure.



1954 Ferrari 375 Plus



You know who's bringing sexy back? Justin Timberlake. Oh and the Bing-Bong Brothers with this Ferrari Dino in bright yellow. What's the deal with the Bing-Bong Bros. anyway? Are they like one guy or are they really brothers? Are they the Arvo Brothers in disguise? What the hell is going on here?! Someone please shed some light on the matter before my head explodes!



Ferrari Dino



Its really a shame Rolic couldn't join us for this challenge. Wait...hold the phone! Is this an impostor or does Rolic finally have some pieces other than white? It looks like he has plenty enough black and dark red to pull off a very nice Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (topless, of course) But how did the Thin White Duke get so many dark red bricks? can someone please shed some light on the matter before my head explodes?



Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (topless)



And while you're mulling over that David Bowie reference, check out this Lamborghini Spyder built by Mad Physicist. Ralph is a real live physicist with a doctorate and when not playing with test tubes or inventing time travel...or whatever Ralph does...he builds cool cars. Upon his suggestion, I finally read "The Hunt For Zero Point", all about anti-gravity technology. I feel like I finally know some big secrets...not like movie plot secrets but secrets that could get me killed by special agents. Awesome!



Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (2)



No stranger to some good secrets is Tommy n, probably. Here we see an MR2 Spyder converted into a hot rod. Its tiny and just perfect for keeping in your pocket and bringing out to play with while you wait bored at the dentist office or at the supermarket. Ok, maybe not the supermarket.



Cruiser Rod



Looking almost like the Speed Racer Mach 5 is this Motorama show car built by Raphy. Its no surprise the car looks a bit like the Mach 5 as it was designed in the same timeframe, in the '60's. The man in the suit looking like the long lost 5th Beatle is the car's designer.



1950s Motorama show car



Raphy may have been born in the 90's but he sure knows a couple of beatnik rockabilly hipsters when he sees them. Also hip and rockabilly is their '32 Ford Hi-boy hot rod. Kinda like a real '32 hot rod, the passenger sits comfortably...so long as she doesn't have any legs. The pose looks great for the photo, though, just like something out of the pages of Ol' Skool Rodz magazine...the best magazine where everything in the title is spelled wrong.



1932 Ford Hi-boy hot rod



We've seen plenty of Ferraris, hot rods, go-karts...and a few really weird things thrown into this challenge, but what happens when we're asked to build a pair of things emulating the same color scheme and overall design cues? Merely building a red truck and a red speed boat to go with it is not enough to satisfy the grueling demands of this challenge, but a truck pulling a speed boat, both with matching silver rally stripes, exposed chromed out engines and bubble tops...now we're talking! What we have then is a well thought out cohesive pair...a family portrait, if you will. This is not the challenge for procrastinators or mediocre builders, but it would make a great buddy challenge with a good pair of builders. You'll just have to tune in next month to see how we do in this challenge we like to call Two Of A Kind. I'm keeping mine a total secret that I'll take to my grave...or until I post it later this month...one or the other. But look to the skies...the truth is out there. We have the technology. Bye for now.