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Overview
LEGO is the world’s #1 toy company for good reason: Its ubiquitous sets are as fun for the young at heart as they are for kids. If you grew up building LEGO City and Spacesports and are still building, or have passed your old bricks on to your children, these car builds offer exciting new possibilities.
Blackert—also the author of Motorbooks’ How to Build Brick Cars and How to Build Brick Airplanes—here uses his unique "common-chassis" platforms for scale-model cars to recreate 15 famous TV and movie vehicles from beginner to advanced builds, including:
- Knight Rider's KITT Firebird
- Herbie from The Love Bug
- Mad Max's Falcon Interceptor
- The Speed Racer Mach V
- Wayne's World Pacer
- Austin Powers' Shaguar
- And more
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780760365892 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Motorbooks |
| Publication date: | 10/01/2019 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 192 |
| File size: | 42 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Peter Blackert is the most prolific vehicle builder in the LEGO community. He has built thousands of cars from LEGO over the years, drawing on his experience as a Powertrain & Chassis Systems Engineering Architect for the Ford Motor Company. His Bugatti Veyron, featured in his first Motorbooks title How to Build Brick Cars, was listed #5 in TopGear magazine's “Ten Greatest Replica Lego Cars” in 2014. His work has also featured regularly in articles on LEGO fan sites, such as brothers-brick.com and TheLegoCarBlog.com, and car-club magazines. Peter's work can be found on Flickr under the username lego911, and on Instagram under lego__911. His second Motorbooks title How to Build Brick Airplanes published in 2018. He lives near the beach in Australia with his wife and three kids, and a large room full of LEGO bricks.
Peter Blackert is the most prolific vehicle builder in the LEGO community. He has built thousands of cars from LEGO over the years, drawing on his experience as a Powertrain&Chassis Systems Engineering Architect for the Ford Motor Company. His Bugatti Veyron, featured in his first Motorbooks title How to Build Brick Cars, was listed #5 in TopGear magazine's "Ten Greatest Replica Lego Cars" in 2014. His work has also featured regularly in articles on LEGO fan sites, such as brothers-brick.com and TheLegoCarBlog.com, and car-club magazines. Peter's work can be found on Flickr under the username lego911, and on Instagram under lego__911. His second Motorbooks title How to Build Brick Airplanes published in 2018. He lives near the beach in Australia with his wife and three kids, and a large room full of LEGO bricks.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
PONTIAC FIREBIRD — K.I.T.T.
KNIGHT RIDER
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRODUCTION: Third Generation 1982–1992
NUMBER MADE: 840,669
LAYOUT/DRIVE: Front engine, Rear-wheel-drive
ENGINE: 5.0 liter, 8 cylinders, Vee
POWER TORQUE: 165 hp (123 kW) / 240 lb-ft (325 Nm)
CONSTRUCTION/DOORS: Steel Monocoque / two-door Coupe
TV/FILM APPEARANCE:Knight Rider (1982–1986)
Fancy a car that can talk and even drive by itself? Today this technology seems to be just around the corner, but in 1982 when NBC launched Knight Rider, a TV show starring a computerized Pontiac Trans Am and an open-shirted, skinny-jeaned David Hasselhoff as the seat-warming sidekick, the future had arrived.
The star of the show was K.I.T.T., short for Knight Industries Two Thousand, voiced by William Daniels. K.I.T.T. was a crime-fighting machine full of advanced technology that for some reason had been installed in a 1982 Pontiac coupe.
In the fantasy world of the show, K.I.T.T. had a turbojet engine with modified afterburners fitted to an eight-speed microprocessor-controlled turbo-drive transmission — with autopilot for driverless operation. Off screen, Pontiac's 1982 Trans Am shared a platform with the Chevrolet Camaro. The car could be fitted with one of two versions of the Chevrolet 305 cubic-inch V8, producing 165 hp (123 kW) in fuel-injected form and 145 hp (108 kW) carburetted. In reviewing the show today, the ability to drive at very high speed across the desert utilizing K.I.T.T.'s gas-turbine engine seems fun, but it might not help crime-fighting in areas with traffic.
Joking aside, K.I.T.T. did preview many technologies that very soon will be common in production cars. K.I.T.T. could drive and park by itself, make phone calls and download data (prior to the invention of the public internet), receive voice commands and respond, and navigate via maps and the prevailing traffic conditions.
The original Knight Rider was broadcast for four seasons (1982–1986) and was reprised in 1997 and 2008 each for a single, poorly received season.
Knight Rider and K.I.T.T. made a lasting cultural impact, having been referenced in dozens of TV shows and movies because of their refection of 1980s pop culture, the stunts performed during the series, and the futuristic technology featured in the car.
CHAPTER 2FERRARI 250 GT SWB CALIFORNIA SPYDER
FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Italy
PRODUCTION: 1960&n dash;1963
NUMBER MADE: 56
LAYOUT/DRIVE: Front engine, Rear-wheel-drive
ENGINE: 3.0 liter, 12 cylinders, Vee
POWER TORQUE: 276 bhp (206 kW) / 206 lb-ft (280 Nm)
CONSTRUCTION/DOORS: Tubular Steel / two-door Spyder
TV/FILM APPEARANCE:Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Any Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder today is probably worth more than $2 million. Some have sold at auction for nearly $20 million.
You could imagine, then, how it would feel if, as a 17-year-old, you smashed one that your father owned. This could spell trouble.
In the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the car in question fortunately was one of three replica cars built for the film by Modena Design and Development. The real car was rare — only 56 were built — and extremely valuable.
The California Spyder was built in two configurations from 1957 to 1963.
The original long-wheelbase (LWB) convertible was produced from 1957 to 1960. The short-wheelbase (SWB) version reproduced for the film was made from 1960 to 1963. The SWB California was fitted with an evolution of Ferrari's 3.0 L "Colombo" V12, producing 276 hp (206 kW), just 20 hp shy of the racing GTO model.
Only three examples of the already lightweight SWB California were fitted with even lighter aluminum bodywork in place of steel.
The magic, though, was the Pininfarina styling — open topped and classically beautiful. As Ferris, played by Matthew Broderick, exclaims, "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."
The Ferrari in the context of the film was owned by the father of Ferris's best friend Cameron (played by Alan Ruck). While trying to wind the mileage back by running the car in reverse gear whilst up on axle stands, Cameron kicks the front of the car, angry at his father's life priorities. One last nudge and the Ferrari falls off the stands and sails out of the window of the mid-century Ben Rose House in Highland Park, Illinois, crashing into the valley floor below.
As Ferris says to Cameron, "No, you don't want this much heat."
CHAPTER 3FERRARI 365 GTS/4 SPYDER
MIAMI VICE
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Italy
PRODUCTION:1971–1973
NUMBER MADE: 122 Spyders (1,406 total Daytonas)
LAYOUT/DRIVE: Front engine, Rear-wheel-drive
ENGINE: 4.4 liter, 12 cylinders, Vee
POWER TORQUE: 347 hp (259 kW) / 318 lb-ft (431 Nm)
CONSTRUCTION/DOORS: Tubular Steel / two-door Spyder
TV/FILM APPEARANCE:Miami Vice(1984–1985)
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of fattery. Ferrari didn't quite see it this way when NBC launched the 1984 show Miami Vice.
The beautiful 1972 Ferrari 3z65 GTS/4 Spyder featured in the show was a fake — a replica car, built by McBurnie Coachcraft over a Chevrolet C3 Corvette frame and engine, that wore Ferrari insignia.
You might be curious as to why TV cops would be driving a rare and expensive Ferrari, but that was all part of the show. Set in neon 1980s Miami, the show's Vice division dealt with narcotics, money laundering, and other organized crime, all taking place under sunny Florida skies. The logic behind the fancy cars was a legal statute regarding asset forfeiture that permitted law enforcement agencies to confiscate the property of drug dealers for official use. The Ferrari 365 GTS/4 was a perfect prop for law men negotiating elicit deals — though surely word would get around that the guys in the black Daytona were actually cops.
That said, a real Ferrari Spyder was probably out of budget for the show — only 122 open cars officially were built from the total of 1,406 Daytonas. Many Berlinettas have subsequently been converted to open cars, though these have less value than authentic Spyders. The Daytona is a brutally fast car, hurled by its 347 hp (259 kW) 4.4 L V12 to a top speed of 174 mph (280 km/h). The car is also stunning to behold — classic proportions draped in distinctive bodywork by Pininfarina under the pen of Leonardo Fioravanti.
Despite the car being a fake, the profile and success of Miami Vice led to a compromise. During the third season, the fake Daytona disappeared in a fiery inferno, only to be replaced by the then brand-new Ferrari Testarossa — a real one provided courtesy of Ferrari North America.
CHAPTER 4MINI COOPER S
THE ITALIAN JOB
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United Kingdom
PRODUCTION: 1959–2000
NUMBER MADE: Cooper S 26,870 (5,387,862 total Mini)
LAYOUT/DRIVE: Front engine, Front-wheel-drive
ENGINE: 1,275 cc, 4 cylinders
POWER TORQUE: 76 hp (56.7 kW) / 80 lb-ft (108 Nm)
CONSTRUCTION/DOORS: Steel Monocoque / two-door Sedan
TV/FILM APPEARANCE:The Italian Job(1969)
It the start of the 1969 film The Italian Job, one is led to believe that the automotive star of the film will be a brand new orange Lamborghini Miura being driven through curvaceous mountain passes in northern Italy. This notion is brought to an abrupt halt when the car collides with a bulldozer and is pushed over the edge of the road into the chasm below.
The film, released by Paramount Pictures, is a comedy caper about a crew of British crooks trying to steal gold bullion. Our characterful felons hatch a plan to steal the gold from the FIAT factory in Turin, Italy. The real automotive stars, the three Minis (red, white, and blue), are modified to carry the gold through the streets of Turin; the police and mafia are unable to catch them due to the traffic chaos caused by a deliberate misprogramming of the city's traffic signals. The small size of the Minis allows them to navigate through shopping arcades and even the sewer system (filmed in the UK) before the gold is transferred to a soccer tour bus.
No more spoilers though, in case you haven't seen the film.
The Mini was, by this stage, ten years old, but The Italian Job cemented the Mini in popular culture just as much as the car's association with the Beatles and its placement as street furniture in almost every British film during the decade. When BMW sought to create a new Mini in 2001, a remake of the film shot in the United States in 2003 was a key ingredient in bringing back some of the nostalgic Mini magic.
CHAPTER 5VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE
THE LOVE BUG
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: West Germany
PRODUCTION: 1938–2003
NUMBER MADE: 21,529,464
LAYOUT/DRIVE: Rear engine, Rear-wheel-drive
ENGINE: 1,192 cc, 4 cylinders, Boxer (horizontally opposed)
POWER TORQUE: 40 hp (30 kW) / 65 lb-ft (88 Nm)
CONSTRUCTION/DOORS: Steel Platform Chassis, two-door Sedan
TV/FILM APPEARANCES:The Love Bug(1968), Herbie Rides Again (1974), Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977), Herbie Goes Bananas (1980), The Love Bug– TV (1997), Herbie Fully Loaded (2005)
Herbie probably is the most famous film car of all time, starring in six films after premiering in 1968. The first film The Love Bug follows the exploits of racer Jim Douglas, played by Dean Jones, who rescues the car named Herbie from an exclusive car dealership, where it had been rejected by a rich client for the use of one of their domestic staff. Herbie responds to this act of kindness, demonstrating his (its?) sentience by driving without input from Douglas.
Douglas is a race driver, and, as unlikely as this seems, Herbie becomes his race car, competing in and winning auto races through the film wearing the famous number 53. If you like rare and fancy cars, The Love Bug is a car-spotter's delight, with various Ferrari, Porsche, and Lotus cars as well as a variety of others competing alongside this humble VW Beetle.
All is not as it seems, though; the original car built for the film is a special "fast" car. Fitted with the engine from a Porsche 356 Carrera, the "fast" Herbie would have dusted most of the competition.
All the Herbie films have somewhat unbelievable plots mixed in with some kooky stunts and Disney Studio special effects. Such is the enduring fondness for the franchise that Herbie reappeared in 2005 in the film Herbie: Fully Loaded, staring Lindsay Lohan, though the car in this film was newly built and featured numerous period-specific modifications.
The model featured in the build here shows Herbie as we see him in the second and third films, featuring red and navy stripes, black running boards, and the asymmetrical fitment of the Carello fog light. The model can be easily reconfigured, however, to any of the various movie iterations. If you look carefully in the first film, the VW logos have been removed from the car to avoid copyright infringement. Subsequent film cars were officially endorsed by Volkswagen and have the features reinstated.
CHAPTER 6FORD MUSTANG
BULLITT
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PRODUCTION: 1964½–1973 (First Generation)
NUMBER MADE: 317,404 (1968)
LAYOUT/DRIVE: Front engine, Rear-wheel-drive
ENGINE: 390ci (6.4 liter), 8 cylinders, Vee
POWER TORQUE: 325 bhp (242 kW) / 427 lb-ft (579 Nm)
CONSTRUCTION/DOORS: Steel Monocoque, two-door fastback Coupe
TV/FILM APPEARANCE:Bullitt (1968)
Bullitt, like many Steve McQueen films, is not an easy first-time watch. If you like cars, it's great, but even then you will be waiting a long time for the iconic car chase through the hilly streets of San Francisco.
McQueen films tend to be short on dialogue and long on mood, meaning that this film is generally appreciated more after a second or third viewing. By that stage, though, you are left thinking "How many hubcaps does that car have?" or "How many times was that green VW Beetle overtaken?" These minor continuity errors can be forgiven for what is arguably one of the greatest car chase sequences in cinema.
At the end of the chase, the two cars head out of San Francisco city and into the hill country around Brisbane, a journey that takes only five minutes in movie time, though much longer in reality.
Car aficionados contend that even equipped with the big 390 cubic inches V8, producing 325 hp (242 kW), the Bullitt Mustang would not have been a match for the 375 hp 440-Magnum powered Dodge Charger.
Though original guidance indicated that the sequence should have speeds of only 75–80 mph (121–129 km/h), the chase stuntmen exceeded 110 mph (177 km/h) at times — a range more representative of what these two muscle cars were capable of.
The film is not solely about the chase. Like many period movies, it is about power, corruption, and the powerlessness of the average man and woman.
The Bullitt mystique, though, is irresistible. The Ford Motor Company returns to the well every five years or so to dress up their current Mustang model in dark green paint and rerun the famous chase sequence for promotional purposes.
CHAPTER 7TOYOTA AE86 TRUENO SPRINTER
INITIAL D
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan
PRODUCTION: 1983–1987
NUMBER MADE: No data available
LAYOUT/DRIVE: Front engine, Rear-wheel-drive
ENGINE: 1.6 liter, 4 cylinders
POWER TORQUE: 118 hp (88 kW) / 105 lb-ft (142 Nm)
CONSTRUCTION/DOORS: Steel Monocoque, three-door Liftback
TV/FILM APPEARANCE:Initial D (1999)
That is the deal with the AE86 Corolla?
Nowadays the car is considered the quintessential Japanese classic, but the reality is that the car was the last vestige of the old rear-wheel-drive (RWD) Corolla genes. Even stranger still, the car was not considered particularly special when new — after a few years and a few dozen thousand miles, was just another used car.
The kind of car that might be driven by a student with a delivery food run. If that take-out food was in Japan, it might just be tofu being delivered, and as with all "first" cars, the ability to be independently mobile was more important than any objective faults the car may have had. The driver could now play at being a race driver.
And thus: Initial D — the story of 18-year-old Takumi Fujiwara, a high- school student who delivers tofu in his father's 1985 Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT Apex AE86 coupe. Initial D was originally an illustrated manga in Weekly Young Magazine from 1995 to 2013 but was adapted to anime in 1998.
Though legendary in native Japan, Initial D also has a cult following outside of the country, with English-language distribution through Tokyopop and latterly Funimation.
I relate to the story, having delivered takeaway food in my own RWD Corolla during the same period. I did not have the benefit of the punchy fuel-injected 4A-GE 1.6 DOHC inline four cylinder — but then, I didn't have to race through mountain passes in the Kanto region of Japan up against Mazda RX7s. What all RWD Corollas do, though, is go sideways, and in a front-wheel-drive world, that still is a big deal.
The name "AE86" has so much cachet that when Toyota released a new RWD sportscar in conjunction with Subaru, they named it the "86".
CHAPTER 8FERRARI 308 GTS
MAGNUM P.I.
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Italy
PRODUCTION: 1977–1985
NUMBER MADE: Approx. 12,200 (all types)
LAYOUT/DRIVE: Mid-engine, Rear-wheel-drive
ENGINE: 2.9 liter, 8 cylinders, Vee
POWER TORQUE: 202 hp (151 kW) / 179 lb-ft (243 Nm) 1980–82
CONSTRUCTION/DOORS: Tubular Steel Spaceframe Steel Panels, two-door Targa Top
TV/FILM APPEARANCES: Magnum P.I. (1980–1988), Cannonball Run (1981)
Ferraris do not need to feature in TV and film to be considered objects of desire. If anything, the reverse is true — they add cachet to their screen companions. The Ferrari 308 GTS Targa certainly helped actor Tom Selleck's character Thomas Magnum and his trademark moustache in the TV series Magnum P.I. Filmed in Hawaii, the series ran from 1980 to 1988. The Ferrari 308 featured in the show was replaced each season with a new car; differences can be seen season to season as Ferrari updated the model.
The 308 was the first Ferrari to pass the 10,000-unit production barrier, close to the total of all previous models combined. The 308 also had a long production life with regular updates. The first cars, from 1975 in GTB (Berlinetta) specification only, had bodies made of fiberglass (which changed to steel in mid-1977 after 808 cars had been built). These early cars are highly coveted today, partly for the 330 lb (150 kg) lighter weight and partly due to pre-1980 vehicles producing an extra 41 hp (31 kW). All 308 GTS models had steel bodies and were built from 1977 on.
The Ferrari 308 styling was created at Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina under acclaimed designer Leonardo Fioravanti. They set a new Ferrari design aesthetic with the 308 GTS and also the two-year-earlier 365 GT4 BB: low and wedgy with hidden headlamps and open rear buttresses.
Despite a ten-year production run, the core shape survived an additional four years in the form of the Ferrari 328. Key visual differences were revised body-color bumper, front and rear, along with a 3.2 L version of the Midengine V8 with 270 bhp (201 kW).
A reboot of the television show Magnum P.I. aired in late 2018, the new lead character driving a current-model Ferrari 488 Spider after the iconic 308 GTS is destroyed by a truck in the first episode. Thankfully the 308 is CGI and not the real thing.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "How to Build Brick TV and Movie Cars"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Peter Blackert.
Excerpted by permission of The Quarto Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Preface, 4,
Introduction, 5,
How to Use This Book, 6,
Section 1: Foundation, 10,
1. Knight Rider: Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, 12,
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder, 16,
3. Miami Vice: Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Spyder, 24,
Section 2: Intermediate, 32,
4. The Italian Job: Mini Cooper S, 34,
5. The Love Bug: Volkswagen Beetle "Herbie", 44,
6. Bullitt: Ford Mustang, 58,
7. Initial D: Toyota AE86 Trueno Sprinter, 76,
8. Magnum P.I.: Ferrari 308 GTS, 90,
9. James Bond 007 The Spy Who Loved Me: Lotus Esprit, 106,
Section 3: Advanced, 128,
10. American Grafiti: Ford 1932 Coupe Hot Rod, 130,
11. Mad Max: Ford Falcon V8 Interceptor, 144,
12. Austin Powers in Goldmember: Jaguar E-Type "Shaguar", 162,
Appendix I: Build Components, 174,
Appendix II: Parts Index, 186,
Appendix III: Printed Parts Index, 190,
Acknowledgments, 191,
About the Author, 191,