1:8 Scale Classic American Hot Rod

[drdesignz]

This is my first Cuusoo submission, a fully detailed, functional, remote controlled, large scale, classic American hot rod.

Includes a detailed V8 engine. The supercharger is a Lego E-motor, which actually turns the engine. The "transmission" is also functional.

The body is 16 studs wide, not including the fenders, door handles, mirrors, etc.

The whole car is about 20 inches long. I'm not sure how many studs that translates to.

Suicide doors open by turning the engine and shifting gears.

The trunk opens manually to access the battery box, which can easily be removed to replace the batteries.

The interior is fully detailed. I photoshopped a few gauges in this image:

Underside of the car:

Interior view of the mechanics:

Here you can see how the doors open, simple and effective:

Here I photoshopped a license plate:

The design, building, and buying of parts has taken me about a half a year to complete. Ideas changed over time, and eventually I ended up with what you see here. It is meant to be a generic design, but it does share some resemblance with a commonly customized 1932 Ford roadster. Yellow seemed to be the best color for a Lego hot rod and I am quite happy with the result.

I originally intended to build a fully remote controlled car, that could be driven. But I started on this project long before I became aware of Lego's new servo and decided on other remote control Power Functions.

I tried to make the car as functional as possible. I chose a convertible version instead of a coupe, so that the IR receiver would be clearly visible. Although not necessarily immediately noticeable, it's right there sticking up between the seats:

It's more or less a body on frame design with a chassis similar to the real thing. A modern upgrade includes independent front and rear suspension. Of course, it includes a true V8, which is a must-have for an American hot rod, and it is supercharged too. For the supercharger I used a Lego E-motor, which turns the motor and connects to a functional gear box. The gear shifter has three positions, center being neutral. Forward opens the passenger door and pulling it back opens the driver's side door. Another Lego Power Function includes a second electric motor in the trunk, which turns an actuator that adjusts the rear suspension height. The battery box is also located in the rear, which is easily removed by opening the trunk (see flickr album). Another function includes the steering wheel, which does turn the front wheels. The steering geometry is not technically an Ackermann arrangement, but the result is very similar.

The entire model is 100% Lego. There are no "illegal" connections, to the best of my knowledge. All pieces are currently or recently available, except for maybe the exhaust manifold (which I happened to get from the only somewhat large Lego hot rod model produced: set 5541). I originally had a full exhaust designed with more traditional headers, which you can also see here:

With headers:

I recently bought the new 4x4 crawler, which came with black wheels, so I thought I'd see what the car would look like with them:

I also thought about a hood scoop instead of the triple air filter design:

So there you go, a fully detailed, functional, large scale classic American hot rod, which has never been done before. The closest set previously produced by Lego was the Model Team hot rod 5541 produced in 1995 and re-released in 2004. The only other hot rods I'm familiar with are small scale cars, such as city themed hot rods (e.g.: 6561), and alternate designs for a couple Technic models (e.g.: 8070). This is the set I would love to see Lego produce and I have no doubt they can improve on my concept. I hope you've enjoyed viewing my model, and if you have I would certainly appreciate it if you supported the project. Thanks, and have fun!

Here is a link to the Cuusoo page, by the way:

lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/25263

It is currently in the approval stage, but I hope it will be up within the next few hours.

Edited September 11, 2012 by drdesignz

[z3_2drive]

that is awesome, do the front wishbones have to be like that or can you give it a bit of flex?

[Kronos]

This car is AWESOME!!! I am absolutely blown away. IMO the triple air filter was the better choice. The attention to detail is amazing. Perfect in every way! I wish I could vote more than once! Excellent!!

-Mike

[OzBen]

Beautiful....

I dont know what else to say really except that if this was an official set i would buy it instantly!

I searched for it on CUUSOO but no luck and your link does not work, I want to vote for it!!

You have inspired me to keep working on my Technic MOC

Edited September 12, 2012 by OzBen

[Studio Draven]

That is gorgeous. I'd buy it in a heartbeat!

[timslegos]

The car looks awesome! I would love a video of the functions.

tim

[drdesignz]

that is awesome, do the front wishbones have to be like that or can you give it a bit of flex?

Weeell, it does, sort of, but it's minimal. Maybe a millimeter? Haha... it had more, when I first designed it. I built the car from front to back. It became heavier than I intended, so now the front end just barely hovers over the surface. I thought about raising the front height by adjusting the shock position. But then the steering geometry and other parts had to be adjusted too, so I decided that was too much work. Besides, the car's stance looks pretty mean the way it is now. One day I may decided to rebuild the whole car from scratch, to resolve these minor issues it has.

Beautiful....

I dont know what else to say really except that if this was an official set i would buy it instantly!

I searched for it on CUUSOO but no luck and your link does not work, I want to vote for it!!

You have inspired me to keep working on my Technic MOC

Thanks much! It just got a approved a few seconds ago: lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/25263

Edited September 12, 2012 by drdesignz

[OzBen]

Number 1 supporter

GOOD LUCK!!

[z3_2drive]

supporter #3! yet again very nice car

[drdesignz]

Awesome, thanks for the compliments and support!

[Out of Sight]

WOW, I'd just fainted for a sec there... :thumbup: Very nice AND functional.

This model would be right at home on any of ZZ Top's music vids I prefer the ones with the black wheels though, either with the axle 'spinners' for the hub or personally a dish to simulate the wheelcaps found on more traditional hotrod.

[Mhauen]

It looks truly amazing! Good job!

[jorgeopesi]

Oh good work and please black wheels!.

[Razvy_cluj_ro]

Wow, very cool Hot-rod I'll sure support it!

Do you have a video with it?

[Sariel]

The whole car is about 20 inches long. I'm not sure how many studs that translates to.

62.5 studs.

The car is lovely, I like the details and the body color which somehow works really well. You also did superb job with the photos. I would think about the rear wheels though - perhaps some wider, typical slick wheels would work better, as they did for my old HR:

Edited September 12, 2012 by Sariel

[efferman]

i think the tires which he has used are perfect for his gorgeous design

[Jim]

That's awesome!

I love the model team look you created. Any chance to see it with chrome rims?

You've got my vote

[bord4kop]

Nice.. very nice!!

One stunning looking car it truly is!

[Technic Gearhead]

Wow! That's an amazing creation. I love the color scheme and design. The details are a feast for the eyes as well. I love the radiator/'electric' fan, plug wires and nearby coil packs, supercharger/fuel system, brake system and fluid reservoir on the firewall. I love the hemi-heads on the engine also - Boss 429 or Hemi?

Very well done - congrats!

[drdesignz]

Thanks again for the compliments and support everybody!

I would think about the rear wheels though - perhaps some wider, typical slick wheels would work better, as they did for my old HR...

That hot rod design is awesome! I see some similarites with my design, too. The front grill is especially similar. My grey grill pieces are turned though, so that the vertical lines face front, and I set mine back 1/2 a stud. The front suspension is similar and so are the headlights. I like the amber signal lights on the front. That's a good idea. I have none. Your front wheels are what I had originally started with. But the model became too big for them and I switched to the 8070 supercar wheels/tires. I also used them for the rear, but that looked silly by the time I had the body designed, so I switched those to the Unimog ones. I didn't like that 100% at first, because the tires are a bit too knobby for a street car. But now that the car is finished I'm satisfied. I do agree that wider tires would be better. I only recently became aware of the rear tires you used. But I think they might still be too short, I'm not really sure... Either way, I would like to have a more appropriate set of wheels and tires for both the front and rear.

Any chance to see it with chrome rims?

When I joined flickr I browsed many Lego car creations and noticed lots of chrome. I found a good source on bricklink and have entertained the idea of going all chrome. But that's quite expensive. One of these days I'll see what the final cost would be and consider it. Another issue I'm not sure about is chroming the supercharger (E-motor). I think I might have to take that apart somehow, which I don't know is possible. I also wondered about how chrome plating affects the connections. Lego is designed with such a slight tolerance, it would seem that the chrome would make connections too tight. But I've seen enough creations now that it somehow must not be a problem.

Boss 429 or Hemi?

Actually, I'm a Chevrolet fan :P But, either way, the whole car is meant to be generic, not specific to any brand. I originally had a small block Chevy design, with a carburetor and distributor. Also, no supercharger. For the distributor I used pneumatic lines for the wires. The finished design didn't look right though, since the wires were too fat. I then tried different things and eventually it evolved to a system very similar to a Hemi. There was just no way I could come up with to route the spark plug wires to the side of the cylinder heads, nor could I figure out a good distributor design. That's when I went with a modern fuel injection system. The distributor then became a set of coil packs and the carburetor switched to a throttle body with fuel rails. I found a pair of Lego hoses randomly on eBay, which turned out to work very well for the fuel lines. The fan was originally on the motor and that was moved to the radiator to be an electric fan. Also, while browsing Lego Education's website, I noticed the E-motor which had studs on top and immediately realized that would be perfect for a supercharger.

Edited September 12, 2012 by drdesignz

[Erik Leppen]

Love this thing. I like all the little details (lol @ gear stick ) and the bright color scheme. Also they're very good photographs :)

Only one thing... why is it that in such a beautiful model you chose to put such ugly seats? I would have used some tiles or slopes, rather than the overused double-bent Technic beams for those.

[Meatman]

WOW! What a beautiful model! The front steering control arms seem a bit too bent upwards, but then again, I am not familiar with this type of auto.

[Bricksonwheels]

As said before, I like it a lot.

[drdesignz]

Love this thing. I like all the little details (lol @ gear stick ) and the bright color scheme. Also they're very good photographs :)

Only one thing... why is it that in such a beautiful model you chose to put such ugly seats? I would have used some tiles or slopes, rather than the overused double-bent Technic beams for those.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I've been considering redesigning the seats lately, actually. I was a bit lazy with the idea, I'll admit. I am thinking I could work on a fancier bucket seat concept and do another round of Bricklink orders. The final round of orders took a little over three weeks for everything to arrive though, and I just couldn't wait another month to put this on Cuusoo. I think the current black and dark grey design works well for now. It's clean, simple, and a good concept for a better design. There seems to be enough detail in the rest of the car that the simplicity and unoriginality of the seats is not very noticeable. But I knew somebody would point that out soon enough :P

[cgarison]

Great looking Model!

Supporter #33 for the HotRod on Cuusoo. 33 is the lucky number!