MOC: Brambley Sporto R

[Gnac]

Since I am a huge fan of the 8w and 10w Creator-themed sports cars, and seeing as I can't wait for Lego to release another one, I designed my own. I wanted to create a model which incorporated some of the nice ideas from the Super Speedster (5867), such as the clean-looking mirrors, visible engine, and opening bonnet - but I wanted these features in an eight-knob wide model.

Most of the black parts were originally coloured Earth Blue, to match the paintjob of a die-cast Lancia model that I owned when I was a wee bairn. The chassis was always going to be black, but due to the absence of a lot of Earth Blue parts, the whole thing now looks like a bumblebee.

The Lancia which inspired the colour of this model may have been a rally car (can't remember, I was five), so I mashed the words "rally" and "bumblebee" together, and came up with a fictional marque: "Brambley Motor Works". This segues nicely into some waffle about how the shape is mostly inspired by a BMW touring car design.

A spare tyre! OH YES. I really think the Super Speedster should have had one of these.

FUN FACT: part 56902 seems to be the only wheel hub for technic snaps which can be attached to a jumper plate in LDD 4.2. Maybe this is an oversight.

GRRRRR.

It is VERY hard to get these wheels on after attaching the wheel arches, and impossible the get them off again without breaking the thing to bits, but this only feeds the imagination - you wouldn't want your wheels to fall off in the middle of a SICK DRIFT.

Exhausts as wide as baked bean tins - perfect for letting everybody within a 1-mile radius hear that you have a car.

Here's an attempt at making it road-legal. Tinted windscreens are not allowed in Blighty, because the Ministry of Transport thinks that they will make our drab weather look like darkness. The spoiler was also modified for rear visibility. The sills below the doors and wheel arches are not necessary, since this vehicle will not be expected to slide around muddy hairpins.

Exposed engines are also not allowed in Britain, so this wouldn't actually pass an MOT. I really wish there was a "glass pane" for part 2352. It's a shame, but cripes, look how flush everything is around it.

An LXF is available here, if you like that sort of thing.

Edited September 7, 2012 by Gnac

[soccerkid6]

Great car, the overall look of it is very nice and the working doors, hood, and trunk add a lot

[bootz]

This is a great looking car you've built. By the looks, I'm going to guess the Lancia model you had was an 037 http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_037#section_1 though the light blue color could mean it was a Stratos instead. Either way, this is a good looking car. I do mainly 4w cars for my city, but this makes me want to try a non-minifig scale.

[Gnac]

This is a great looking car you've built. By the looks, I'm going to guess the Lancia model you had was an 037 http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_037#section_1 though the light blue color could mean it was a Stratos instead. Either way, this is a good looking car. I do mainly 4w cars for my city, but this makes me want to try a non-minifig scale.

LAWKS! You're absolutely correct with the suggestion that it was an 037. The model I owned was most likely the Grifone Team car in the article you linked to. There are some photos of a model here, complete with light pod.

I just remembered the name of the BMW which partly influenced the shape, too: it's an M1 touring car. So you've not only helped me to remember some things from 27 years ago, but I now know why I wasn't sure whether to label this MOC as a Rally or GT car. It's a bit of both!

Looking at the Stratos, I think that would be a nice thing to build. If you ever try making something a bit larger yourself, I'd love to see it.