Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Nifty Fifties, Daddy-O Roundup

Sweet baby jeebus, I am off to a late start writing this roundup! That's because I'm still feeling the love from BrickCon 2012 early this month. We had so many LUGNuts attend that we were all meeting old friends for the first time. Dylan came out all the way from Nebraska and Gilcelio, the party animal, as it turns out, made the journey all the way from Brazil! And let's not forget Anthony. Who the heck is Anthony, you might ask...its ok, I said the same thing. Anthony is sort of a silent stalker and major fan of LUGNuts. The kid has some mad skillz with the car building so hopefully he'll come out from behind that curtain and join in on our reindeer games. As Mad magazine calls their staff, "the usual gang of idiots" was also there, minus Nathan this year. You missed out, Nathan. All of us have scores of unpublishable photos from the after parties that will never see daylight. Don't worry, guys and girls. Your secrets are safe with me. What happens at BrickCon stays at BrickCon. Right, Gary? Wink, wink, smiley face. Alrighty, with that said, lets hide away the naked photos and get to this month's roundup for the challenge called Nifty Fifties, Daddy-O...all about automobiles from the fifties. Daddy-O.

Tim Inman was there. He got rear ended on the way up from SoCal and all of his LEGO MOCs turned to chop suey. He spent all of Thursday and Friday restoring them back to life including this dirty thugged-out ratrod he calls Yellowjacket. Way to class up the joint, Tim!

Ratrod: "Yellowjacket"

Aww cripes! Is this happening already? Yes, its Peter Blackert's legendary flurry of productivity. Make yourself some coffee. Get comfortable. Have some cheese and crackers. Maybe some hot cocoa with the little marshmallows...maybe some gin...I don't know, whatever you do to relax. Its gonna be a long journey starting with this neat 1950 Merc.

Mercury Eight - 1950

Chevy produced the Corvette and Ford had to come up with their own solution...in this case, Peter renders the 1955 Thunderbird, dubbed as the "personal luxury car." Turns out this car outsold the Corvette by a large margin. Hah! In your face, Chevy!

Ford Thunderbird - 1955

But Chevy...and incidentally Peter, had a few tricks up their sleeve including the 1958 Impala, which was the ulitimate late-50's American dream car on wheels. He cleverly makes most of his entries look like original ads from the 50's. This one says "you'll get that Chevy feeling-fast". I'm definitely feeling that Chevy Feeling.

1958 Chevrolet Impala Advert

Or did I just wet myself? I don't know. Its hard to keep the bodily fluids contained in the giddy afterglow of BrickCon. I mean, I have my own trading card now! Yep, the ever awesome Brandon Griffith put out a series of trading cards and nothing puts a swagger in your step like signing your own trading card for all your adoring fans. Oh, and Peter built a really cool 1959 Cadillac Series 62 4-Door 6-Window sedan.

1959 Cadillac Series 62 4-Door 6-Window Sedan

And appropriately enough, the card series is called Studs. So, in case there was any doubt that I am a big stud, I now have proof in trading card form. Me and Mickey Mantle are tight now. We both know what it's like to be a public hero tasked with signing trading cards for screaming kids and more than a few good looking moms. Peter builds a 1955 Chevrolet 'Task Force' 3100 Pickup in light blue.

Chevrolet 1955 Pickup Truck Advert

Then he chimes in again with the panel truck version in red. Grown-ass men want you to give them signed cards too. Who are you damned people? Have you ever known the tender touch of another? I bet you haven't. And you kids shut the hell up! You're all a bunch of animals! Get the hell off my foot! Wow, fame is hard! Nathan has his own Studs card too. I wonder how he's dealing with all the fame.

Chevrolet 1955 Panel Van Advert

Did that man just wet himself, mommy? Lets get away from the scary man pretending to be famous, Billy. Let's get a signature from Bruce Lowell instead. He's dreamy! You know what else is dreamy? This ad for the hard working '55 Chevy truck in yellow. Peter has really been working the magic with these ads lately.

Chevrolet 1955 Pickup Truck Advert

I live by one code and one code only...if its brown flush it down. But I'd have to make an exception for this lovely 1950 Cadillac Series 62 Hardtop Coupe. Man, look at those curves and clean lines! This is what we live for here at LUGNuts. That and BrickCon after parties. And wearing kilts, apparently. And waiting for Joe to finally publish the all LUGNuts issue of BrickJournal.

Cadillac 1950 Series 62 Hardtop Coupe

Man, that thing was supposed to come out in August, then pushed back to September. Now that it's mid-October, I don't know what to think. In the meantime, we'll just have to live for this final retro ad by Peter Blackert and my favorite of them all...the 1958 Buick Century Caballero 4-door Hardtop Wagon. A heart Warmer indeed.

Buick 1958 Century Caballero Advert

Now that we're all warm and fuzzy, DoktorZapp builds a decidedly cool 52'Ford COE with a 50's styled dragster posing on its bed. And by bed he means its negotiating the punishing terrain of his neatly made bed. I wonder if it has regulation hospital corners. And can you bounce a quarter off of it? A well made bed is next to godliness, which could explain why mine looks like a crumpled leopard print heap with donuts on it. True story, bro.

52' Ford COE with a 50's styled dragster


The Bing-Bong Brothers, who previously brought you the bathroom Lamborghini now bring you the bathroom Santa's New Ride. Its a custom 1949 International KB-2 Pick up truck with Chip Foose styling and Bel-Air fins. Are the Bing-Bong Brothers actual brothers like the Arvos or is it just one guy? Can somebody clear the air on this mystery, please? Please!?

Santa's New Ride

I'm pretty sure Ralph Savelsberg is just one guy. One guy with a doctorate degree who has definitely traveled in time and is the reason strip clubs now exist. He also has a penchant for "bog standard" vehicles. Looking pretty bog standard yet still exciting is this 1954 Hudson Hornet. Ralph, you've traveled in time, can you make it so that the Hudson Company is still producing cars today? never mind the Butterfly Effect, it'll all be good.

1954 Hudson Hornet (3)

While we're waiting for Ralph to tear a hole in the space-time continuum and thereby turn us all into slaves to some alien master race, lets enjoy this Li'l Gassa built by Raphy. With very few pieces, he has captured the essence of the '57 Chevy Bel-Air custom gasser. While he may build small, I found out the little bugger is no little bugger at all but actually he's 6ft2. Does this really mean I'm the shortest LUGNut now? Damn it!

1957 Chevy gasser

You Goth kids can now change your Facebook status to slightly less melancholy with Rolic's 1957 Cadillac Hearse all dolled up in wedding regalia. Marriage asks us to vow to love one another 'til death do us part, but Rolic asks the question what if that never happens? That is a concern indeed. Might I suggest more skydiving. Deep sea wreckage salvation can be quite nice and ice road trucking isn't without its charms. Just sayin'.

1957 Cadillac hearse - wedding car

A face can say a lot. Sometimes a person's naturally pompous face says "I'm glad I don't have to look at the other passengers in coach." My face says "I just sold a human foot to some Chinese dudes in a van." Jonathan Derksen's face says "cookies!" I have lots and lots of cookies and I'm willing to share. Its a clean, honest face...pleasant to be around. But don't let his boyish charm fool you. He can build a mean T-Bucket.

Classic 1950's t-Bucket

Lino Martins can also build a mean T-Bucket, but this time I went with a mean black and blue '53 Ford Panel Truck. I shed my gruff, crass exterior and for once I considered the needs of a wheelchair guy and built him the most badass, handi-capable retro ride on the planet. With two customized ports of entry, our friend doesn't necessarily need handicapped parking spaces to get around. And thanks for the write up, Brothers-Brick.

'53 Ford Panel Truck

See, this roundup starts all warm and fuzzy and ends all warm and fuzzy. And somewhere in between there was Studs trading cards, slaves to an alien master race and naked photos of Gary. Sounds like a successful roundup, then. Which is perfect considering there will be many new looky-loos brought to us from BrickJournal magazine. For realz this time. I know I mentioned that like three months in a row but now we are definitely ready for you. Yep...still ready and waiting. Looky-loos. Plenty of 'em. Any day now. And while we're waiting, stay tuned for our very special challenge called Happy 5th Birthday, LUGNuts! Yep, we're 5 years old this month. And just like BrickCon after parties, the birthday challenges are pretty much a free-for-all excuse to do whatever you want. Will you build a snazzy new sports bike for the Rubber Side Down, Shiny Side Up Challenge? Will you grace us with your own rendition of the classic VW Beetle for the Love for the Bug challenge? or will you go way back in LUGNuts history and build us a millennium marvel for...Millennium Marvels? You'll just have to stay tuned and see. That's the magic of the birthday challenge. Anything goes. Cookies! Cookies for all you new looky-loos!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Order By Numbers Roundup

Welcome to the best blog on the net that no one reads. That'll all change as the all LUGNuts issue of brickJournal is coming out real soon. This means a lot of new lookyloos will suddenly become hip to our LEGO car buildin', crass bloggin' ways. So since we'll have a lot of new eyes on us, lets bring the newbies up to speed on what we're all about. When it comes to dog ownership, food goes in the sharp end and poop comes out the stinky end...and never the other way around. Bane from The Dark Knight Rises sounds like Sean Connery trapped in a toilet while eating a sub sandwich, Three-Peckered Billy Goat coffee is the bee's knees and aluminum foil on your head will keep the monsters at bay. When a lady is present, we can't tuck in our shirts as none of us wear any pants around here, and Burt Reynolds is the reason my dog puked on the rug. Tim is no stranger to paying for strange, Ralph has definitely time traveled and is the reason we now have strip clubs and you can always expect one disgraceful sacrilege or another from Rolic. Ok, I think that about covers it. Now that we've brought the new readers up to speed...and then scared them away, lets get to this month's build challenge called Order By Numbers...all about choosing 10 vastly different ideas off a menu. For quick reference, here are the orders we had to choose from:

1. A legendary vehicle...in Europe
2. Raphy makes a Batman trilogy in 2025 and Catwoman needs a new set of wheels
3. Some good ol' American muscle
4. A vehicle to go with the new LEGO Monster Fighters line
5. A vehicle suitable for a James Bond movie
6. A hard working farm vehicle
7. A vehicle to contend in the 2013 races
8. Any badass vehicle...customized to accommodate a wheelchair
9. The perfect vehicle for a family road trip
10. A vehicle to handle any extreme terrain

Lets see how we did, shall we?


Tim Inman starts us off and orders up a #3...Some good ol' American muscle. In this case a totally badass, balls out gray and black 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner called Hammer.It was the car that Vin Diesel drove in the final scene of "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift." And if Vin Diesel is involved, you know its got to be good!

"Hammer" 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner

When it comes to American muscle cars, just like chips, no one can eat just one. That's why Tim orders up another, but this time a lime green'71 Hemi 'Cuda convertible. Who's that aloof fig with his arms crossed? Why that's none other than Don Johnson. If you want one of these for reals, yo...be prepared to plunk down well over a million dollars. I'll see what I have in the couch cushions.

'71 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda Convertible

No stranger to going up for a third helping at the all-you-can-eat buffet, Tim graces us once again, but this time mixes up a combination of #1, #5 and #7 with this Maserati Tipo 151/3. This car is laden with a dry sump something or other, 15 inch doohickies, Dunlop thingamajigs and all kinds of other techno-fritz I don't understand. Let me share a little secret with you new readers...Tim is a real car guy. I, on the other hand, am a real car dunce.

Maserati Tipo 151/3

How am I qualified to lead this group, then? I have a way with words and apparently some mad skill with the brick.None of that skill was made apparent however when Lino Martins (hey, that's me!) ordered up a #1 and presented this 2012 Fiat 500. The result: scores of comments about how the tires are too small, and I messed up the back end. Turns out there's just no love for this little car. Awwww nuts!

2012 Fiat 500 Abarth

But there is plenty of love for LEGO Junkie and his camo Tumbler from The Dark Knight Rises. It technically qualifies as a #10 as the streets and rooftops of Gotham are pretty extreme. Is it time for a seemingly unrelated joke? If you ever see Howie Mandel, tell him Burt Reynolds will break a foot off in his ass. He'll totally know why.

The Tumbler.

Living up to his name, LEGO junkie tweaks out again, but this time with Bane's Semi, also qualifying as a #10. The extreme terrain in question presumably would be Batman's face. Bane is such a badass. Its too bad in the movie he sounded like a kind old pensioner who wanted to sit in a rocking chair and tell me war stories while falling asleep mid

Bane's Semi.

Making good on the aforementioned sacrilege disgrace, Rolic picks on poor handicapped Batman. Yes, Bane breaks the bat and as a result he now has to tool around in this wheelchair accessible classic El Camino, which presumably only gets classic rock stations. Still Batman falls out of his wheelchair anyway. Is it wrong to laugh? If so, I don't wanna be right. This is hilarious! Hey, at least he gets all the best parking spaces now. Right? Right?

LUGNuts 08.2012

Don't taze me, LEGO bro! Sorry, couldn't resist the reference. It was like 5 years ago in Florida. Remember? Anyway, look it up on youtube...but before you do, take a nice long steamy gawk at this bright blue Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic. Its tazer-ific!

Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic

Lets say you're in England, just drinking tea, minding your own business and doing whatever it is people do in England. Now lets say the Thames floods and suddenly you're ass over tea kettle in water. What to do? Luckily, Ralph Savelsberg averts the crisis with this Land Rover Defender in the livery of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a British charity dedicated to saving lives at sea. Jolly good indeed!

RNLI Land Rover Defender (1)

Later, Ralph orders up a second helping, but this time he has a craving for the Citroen 2CV Charleston...a legendary vehicle in Europe, but not in the US. Our LUGNuts member with a doctorate degree makes it a point to tell us this car is a horrible little shitbox but it developed a bit of cult-status over the years and was in production for several decades. Tee-hee! He said a naughty word!

Citroen 2CV Charleston (1)

Lets say you're in the bathroom, just drinking tea, minding your own business and doing whatever it is people do in the bathroom. Now lets say you're suddenly very, very bored and figured the bathroom could use some spicing up. What to do? Luckily, The Bing-Bong Brothers flushes out a real winner with this bathroom Lamborghini seen here negotiating the punishing terrain of the bathroom counter. Remember, if its yellow let it mellow.

Lamborghini Diablo 6.0

Are you comfortable? Do you have your feet up and wrapped in a blanket? Have you brewed yourself some Three-Peckered Billy Goat coffee? Why not? Get to it, god damn it! For you new readers I always crack similar jokes at the start of Lego911's entries cuz Peter is the world's most prolific builder and this is gonna be a long haul. He starts us off with a Jaguar F-Type GT2 Racer, qualifying as a #7.

Jaguar F-Type GT2 Racer

Next the prolific Peter orders up a #1 with a generous helping of BMW 2002 TI. He tells us its the ultimate driving machine genesis.Speaking of which, remember when that one guy let somebody drown off his boat? Then Phil Collins invites him to his show and plays that real creepy song "In The Air Tonight" and the whole place is dark except for one spotlight on the guy the whole time. You know what I'm taking about?

BMW 2002 ti Coupe

Dude, you can't deny its totally true! Even that Emenem song "Stan" referenced it, so if Emenem raps about it, you know its totally true. Just like that story of Richard Gere and that gerbil. Oh, and Peter builds some American muscle...a badass '68 Olds Hurst Sport Coupe.

Oldsmobile 1968 4-4-2 W30 Hurst  Sport Coupe

Next Peter tells us the Bowler EXR-S Ultimate Offroader can handle any terrain, making it a top contender for the Paris-Dakar races and the perfect #10 for our challenge. It was also seen in the Top Gear's England vs Germany challenge. I haven't seen that one yet so don't spoil it for me. I was gonna see that Titanic movie then someone told me the boat sinks and the whole ending was spoiled so I said awwww screw it.

Bowler EXR-S Ultimate Offroader

Oh wait, is Peter done? Already? That wasn't so bad. Anyway, if you're like me, you've spent many a night crying on your sweaty pillow wishing someone would contribute a number 4 to the challenge. Luckily, Volume X remedies all our crying and night sweats with this Zombie Junk Racer...made to look like an official LEGO Monster Fighters set. I'd totally buy that.

THE ZOMBIE JUNK RACER

I'd also plunk my hard earned scratch down on his second entry, a TRT or Tactical Riot Truck. Its like a party in my mouth and everyone is being arrested. And sprayed with pepper gas and a riot hose. Heh! Riot hose! I know, right! I can't believe how funny I am! Where do I think up this stuff?

TRT - Tactical Riot Truck 2026

Where does Gilcelio think up his stuff, for that matter? He's submitted a number 10 and a Batman vehicle simply called Bane. Yes, the venom-enduced bruiser has his own look-alike vehicle to pound Batman's face into a pulp. Poor Batman. He's really taking a beating with the riot hose this month. Hah, RIOT HOSE!!

Bane 2025 (The Dark Knight Rises)

Raphy finishes out our roundup with a Saab Sonet III that qualifies as an order #1. What it lacks in riot hoses and the ability to beat Batman's face into a pulp, it makes up for in yellow and black Saab goodness. Its like a party in my mouth and everyone is swimming in grease. Or something. I don't know, my jokes just went stale.

Saab Sonett III

Perfect timing, too. That was this month's round up, kids. What did you new readers think? Like most things in life, this roundup started with poking fun at Vin Diesel, ended with a greasy taste in my mouth and there was some tazing and making fun of the handicapped somewhere in between. Sort of like a job interview I had recently. So, what to we have in store for next month? You'll have to tune in next month to see, but its a little challenge we like to call Nifty Fifties, Daddy-O...all about 50's era cars. Many people cite the 50's as their fave automotive era so we're bound to have some pretty exciting entries with mile long fins and copious chrome. I, for one, can't wait to see how this all unfolds. So for now I'll sit in my 50's era bomb shelter, sip a highball and hope the commie reds don't harsh my conservative groove. What? Its what they did in the fifties!