’80s cars are funny things. Worthless since about 1995, and without either the classic looks found before the ’70s or the rust-proofing of modern cars, they occupy of sort of automotive no-mans-land. This means that of probably any era of motoring, ’80s cars are the most endangered. If you think a McLaren F1 is rare try finding a Talbot Tagora. In our home nation there is just one example of his humble saloon left taxed on the roads. One.

Thankfully there are a few more Mark 1 Golf GTIs left, but even these went through a near extinction phase. Fortunately Volkswagen’s original hot hatch is now rather sought-after and with so many scrapped in the 1990s and 2000s the surviving examples are rocketing in value, safeguarding the model’s existence. This lovely Model Team example of the an early ’80s Mark 1 GTI comes from Joe Perez (previously Mortal Swordsman) of Flickr, and it reminds us of why the original is such a well-regarded car.

Beautifully clean lines (penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro), lightweight, and with just enough power to have fun, the original Golf GTI is the perfect antidote to today’s heavy, over-styled and ludicrously powerful yet un-involving hot hatches. Joe’s Model Team replica of the definitive ’80s hot hatch captures the iconic look brilliantly and we think it would make a rather good official set (LEGO have a license agreement with Volkswagen after all). There’s more to see of Joe’s 1980s Volkswagen Golf GTI at his photostream – click the link above and badger him to put it on LEGO Ideas.

Lost. The most cynical, the most money-grabbing, and very probably the worst series of nonsensical shite ever shown on television. Yes, even more so than ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’.

Originally a fairly clever and intriguing J. J. Abrams idea, Lost ended up being painfully dragged over 121 episodes, by which point almost half the audience had stopped watching. And for some reason there was a Volkswagen T2 van. No we don’t know why either.

Nevertheless Flickr’s Ralph Savelsberg has decided to add the dilapidated T2 to his ever-increasing roster of TV vehicles, thoroughly undeserving though it is. It’s a lovely build though, complete with sliding doors, rusty panels, and a Lost character whom we neither know nor care about.

There’s more to see of Ralph’s Lost Volkswagen at his photostream – head back to the island via the link above, and you can watch an angry four-and-a-half minutes of Lost’s utterly pointless plot holes, abandoned storylines and shamefully obvious filler content by clicking here.

Volkswagen’s T1 camper gets all the glory. Bought by surfer types, middle-class hippies who don’t understand irony, and people who would like others to think that they’re a surfer or middle-class hippy, the VW camper has become one of world’s most popular cult vehicles.

However it was the working varieties of the Volkswagen Transporter that allowed the camper to exist at all. Utility versions such as microbuses, panel vans, and this T1 crew cab made up of the bulk of production, and are now enjoying something of a resurgence in popularity thanks to the iconic camper which they spawned. Strange how things go in circles huh?

This lovely Volkswagen Transporter crew cab comes from serial bloggee Senator Chinchilla, and there’s no surfboard or fake-rust patina in sight! Everything opens and there’s more to see at the Senator’s photostream – click here to take a look.

*Today’s title song, selected because the band has Crew in the title. Sort of.

The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia may have just been a Beetle in a pretty dress, but what a dress! Penned by Italian design-house Ghia the car debuted in 1953 before going into production with German coach builders Karmann in ’55. A twenty year manufacturing run produced almost half-a-million Karmann Ghias, plus a few ultra-rare (and ultra-expensive) Type 34s.

Sadly only Volkswagen seemed to profit from such success, as whist the Karmann Ghia was replaced by the very different – but equally iconic – Scirocco in 1974, Karmann filed for bankruptcy in 2009 whilst Ghia were purchased by Ford and ended up no more than a trim grade on Fiestas and Mondeos.

We’ll remember their glory days, thanks to this brilliant 1960s Volkswagen Karmann Ghia from previous bloggee Henrik Jensen. With working steering, a fully detailed interior and engine, and wonderfully accurate bodywork, Henrik’s model is a fitting tribute to one of the world’s most beautiful cars. We think it’d make a rather lovely official set too, seeing as LEGO have already produced the Volkswagen Beetle and Camper as part of their Creator line-up.

There’s lots more to see of Henrik’s gorgeous Karmann Ghia at both Flickr and MOCpages – click on the links to see the full build details and all of the images.

Today, the day of American Independence, we remember what makes America great. It’s not its military, it’s not a flag, it’s not building walls, and it’s not all this stuff.

What makes America great is – in this writer’s mind – the greatness of all the countries that have built it. The British, the Irish, the French, the Dutch, the Italians, the Russians, and later the countless arrivals from Africa, Asia, Central America and the Middle East.

The same can be said for the greatest cars in history, products not just of their designer, but of a multitude of nations. Today we feature two, that without contributions from beyond their country of origin, would have been mere footnotes in automotive history.

First up (above); Bugatti, who were founded by an Italian living France, and are now owned by the Germans. The gorgeous model pictured above is a Type 37A from 1928, when the French Bugatti factory built the world’s finest racing cars thanks to Italian design, and there’s more to see courtesy of Pixeljunkie on Flickr.

Second (below); Volkswagen, who were rescued from the ashes of the Second World War by the British Army. In the 1950s the company expanded into Brasil, and have since built over 20 million vehicles there, starting with this – the Type 1 – in 1958, which became the best selling vehicle there for 24 years. The excellent homage to the Type 1 pictured below was suggested to us by a reader and comes courtesy of Ben of Flickr, who has built three variants of Volkswagen’s ever popular Transporter.

Both of today’s vehicles, and countless more besides, have flourished thanks to the welcoming arms of nations found far from their origins. We believe America is great because it has allowed greatness to live within it, regardless of where that greatness may have come from. Happy Independence Day.

We’re back with a car (sort of), and one that’s been grossly overlooked by both the Lego and automotive communities. This is a Volkswagen T25/T3 ‘Autosleeper’, basically the 1980s version of VW’s Transporter camper.

Thanks to being a bit square and not breaking down all the time, the T25/T3 Transporter has just a fraction of the following of its T2 predecessor, despite being better in every way and even featuring water-cooled engines so you could hear yourself think on the highway.

This means that hippies aren’t interested in them and thus T25/T3s are far more affordable than their older brethren. Even more affordable still is this neat 5-wide Lego version by Flickr’s 1saac W, who has recreated the Autosleeper in late-’80s square-headlight configuration (the least cool of them all).

There’s more to see of 1saac’s excellent 5-wide Volkswagen T25/T3 camper at his photostream, within which there’ll be no tie-die, smelly bong-water, or smelly hippies to be found anywhere! Take a look via the link above.

Volkswagen, following the need to pay some huge fines, are having a bit of a model cull at present. In the for the chop are pretty much all of their three-door cars, including the Scirocco (boo) and the New New Beetle (meh). Still, that makes room for even more SUVs (sigh)…

With the Volkswagen Group’s line-up becoming ever more boring by the minute we’re going back to more interesting times, before dieselgate, greedy shareholders, and every customer needing a truck to take their kids to school.

This is the original Beetle, commissioned by Hitler, designed by Ferdinand Porsche, and becoming the world’s most successful car design ever.

This superb Model Team style Beetle comes from previous bloggee Lennart C, who has built one of the toughest cars to recreate from LEGO ever brilliantly, including a wonderfully detailed interior and an authentically replicated flat-4 engine.

There’s more to see of Lennart’s beautiful bug via the link above, and you can see LEGO’s own officially-licensed Volkswagen Beetle set by clicking here.

Before Michael Bay, Megan Fox and General Motors sponsorship, Bumblebee wasn’t a Camaro. He was in fact a humble Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle, a car that regular bloggee Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist recreated beautifully some years ago. Using – we assume – magic, Ralph has now turned his original (and perfect) Beetle design into a fully transforming Bumblebee autobot. Take a look at the scarcely-believable image below and then join us in amazement at Ralph’s photostream by clicking here.

Once the preserve of smelly hippies, the Volkswagen Transporter Camper has unfortunately now become the default vehicle of insufferable YouTube/Instagrammers promoting #vanlife and #adventure (but mostly themselves), all whilst never being further than fifty feet from a Starbucks’ free WiFi.

Still, that’s not the Transporter’s fault, and today we’re successfully dodging all of the T2’s millennial baggage because, despite the real Volkswagen wheels, this incredible van has been built from 400,000 LEGO bricks by Certified LEGO Professionals Rene Hoffmeister and Pascal Lenhard in just 6 weeks!

Weighing over 1,500lbs/700kgs and measuring 16ft long Rene Hoffmeister and Pascal Lenhard’s creation is an exact 1:1 scale replica of Volkswagen’s iconic 1960/70s T2 Transporter Camper. There’s even a superbly replicated interior inside the working sliding door, complete with a kitchenette, a functional pop-up roof, and some groovy artwork on the walls. And with no insufferable YouTubers around there’s not an all-natural-vegan-organic-peace-crisp-packet in sight!

Rene and Pascal’s amazing life-size T2 Camper is on show now at the F.re.e Travel and Leisure Fair in Munich (alongside a few real ones), and if you fancy your own LEGO Volkswagen Camper (although a bit smaller) you can check out our review of the official LEGO 10220 Creator Expert Volkswagen Camper set here.

Whilst in the U.S the answer to every car based question seems to be ‘Miata’ (and rightly so), in Europe it seems to be ‘Golf’. Well, it used to be – now it might be more ‘bland crossover SUV’ – but there are about fifteen Golf-based versions of those so in a way the answer is still ‘Golf’.

It’s mostly decades of clever marketing as the Golf isn’t really any better than a myriad of other hatchbacks, but somehow it’s still the default choice.

Back in the mid-’70s though, the Golf really was way ahead of the competition, thanks to sharp styling by Giorgetto Giugiaro, front-wheel-drive, and the fact that it didn’t fall apart like every other car of the era.

This near-perfect Model Team replica of the Volkswagen Golf Mark 1 comes from Serge S who has captured the classic hatchback brilliantly. There’s a realistic interior and engine bay, opening hood, doors and boot, and there are even instructions available too. Click the link above to get to the default answer c1976.

Volkswagen’s Beetle is a surprisingly capable off-road machine. Lightweight and with the engine mounted directly over the driven wheels, the humble bug makes for an excellent platform, as countless beach buggies and even military vehicles based upon it testify. Flickr’s ianying616 has kept his mods light, as his Technic off-road Beetle is still definitely Beetle-shaped, but we think it’s all the cooler for that. See more on Flickr at the link.

Volkswagen campers have long been a favourite vehicle to recreate in LEGO form. From the official 10220 set to life-size brick-built replicas, via TV stars, Technic, workshops and tenuous links to the worst music video ever made, the VW Transporter has appeared here in almost every shape, size and theme.

Today we can add a mini-figure camper to that impressive roster thanks to previous bloggee de-marco and this lovely 4-wide iteration of the classic van. Complete with a front mounted spare, surfer-dude mini-figure and the pre-requisite roof-mounted surf board there’s more to see of de-marco’s Volkswagen camper on Flickr, where there’s even a link to video instructions.

Take a look via the final link in the text above, plus you can click the other links that preceded it to read our past inane gibberish on the subjects of air-cooled Volkswagens, vloggers, and terrible ’80s synth-pop.

Porsche and Volkswagen have history as long as the two companies’ existence. A shared dark past links the Beetle and the 911, the 1980s 924 was powered by a VW van engine, and more recently Volkswagen have bought Porsche outright, adding the brand to their ever-increasing and possibly slightly evil empire.

But before ‘dieselgate’, some of the largest fines and lawsuits in corporate history, and an ongoing criminal investigation, Volkswagen and Porsche collaborated to create something rather more charming than breathing difficulties and lung cancer. This is that collaboration, the slightly odd but utterly wonderful VW-Porsche 914/916.

Launched in 1969 the VW-Porsche 914 was produced until 1976, with 120,000 made during that run. A flat-4 engine powered the Volkswagen version, whilst it was joined by an optional flat-6 in the Porsche, giving the two ‘914/4’ and ‘914/6’ names depending upon the engine specified, with power ranging from 75 to 110bhp.

This gorgeous Technic recreation of the Porsche 914 comes from newcomer Wilbert Engels who has built the ’70s oddity beautifully in Lego form. Wilbert’s model includes working suspension, steering with Ackermann geometry, pop-up head-lights, a removable roof, adjustable seats, a gearbox, and a choice of both the flat-4 and flat-6 engines that powered the real cars.

There’s much more to see of Wilbert’s brilliant Porsche 914 at both his Flickr album and at the Eurobricks discussion forum, including a full gallery of images and build specifications.

Take a look via the links in the text above, and cross your fingers that Volkswagen and Porsche can return to making cars like this, rather than an ever expanding range of depressingly identikit SUVs.

The Elves, driven by hunger and a strict ‘find us a bloody car’ policy have started to return to TLCB Towers. They’ve come up trumps too as this most excellent Volkswagen Käfer (or Kaefer) Racer comes from Lino Martins and is his first car for almost two years. Pictured alongside the Hot Wheels toy it’s based on, Lino’s heavily modified Beetle features a removable body, a mid-mounted V8 engine, and official LEGO decals. See more on Flickr at the link.

LEGO’s 10252 Creator Volkswagen Beetle set is not the first source of parts we’d think of when designing a truck. Resolutely rounded, and with a surfboard on the roof, it is a most un-truck-like vehicle. However that hasn’t stopped Flickr’s Serge S from designing this superb cab-over truck using only the parts found within the 10252 set.

So good is Serge’s design that had he not included a note to the parts source within the description we’d have published this without ever knowing the origin of its pieces. Head to Serge’s photostream via the link above to see more of this remarkable Alternate, and if you own the Creator Volkswagen Beetle set give it ago yourself and see how versatile LEGO bricks can be!

The lovely LEGO Creator 10252 Volkswagen Beetle set has spawned several B-Models from the blue bricks found within it. Nathanael Kuipers (a previous set designer for LEGO no less!) has created another, and has made instructions available for owners of the 10252 set to recreate it for themselves. Drawing on several classic pick-up truck designs from the late ’30s to the late ’40s Nathanael’s B-Model captures the style of the time wonderfully and there’s more to see of his 10252 B-Model (including a link to building instructions) on Flickr here.

How do you see where you’re going when your dragster’s pulling a wheelie? Krass & Bernie have the answer, with their patented Beetle Dragster! A piece of automotive artwork from George Trosley in the ‘CARtoons’ magazine, Krass & Bernie’s creation was powered by both a huge mid-mounted V8 and the engine from a Volkswagen Beetle, which we don’t suspect is adding much.

Canter-levered out the back, with a precarious chain linking the Bug’s engine to the rear wheels (which are kinda the Beetle’s front wheels), the Volkswagen’s shell becomes a level cockpit when the dragster’s front wheels are pointing at the sky. Genius! We think…

This brilliant recreation of Trosley’s unique design comes from Brick Flag (making his second appearance today), and he’s even built cartoon hot rodders Krass & Bernie to go with it. Head to a very tilted drag strip somewhere in a CARtoons magazine via the link above!

Volkswagen’s T1 ‘Transporter’ has been many things. Hippy camper, fire engine, pick-up, and covered van, the versatile VW has been used for all manner of tasks, however not – to our knowledge at least – as a medium duty dropside truck.

Thank the miserable 1200cc-1600cc air-cooled engine for that. Still, if you’re going to turn a T1 into a truck, you’re going to need to move the rear-mounted engine anyway, so upgrading it is going to be the least of your problems.

Flickr’s Tony Bovkoon has done just that though, with his lime green wooden drop-sided T1 hot rod truck, complete with a mid-mounted engine that is presumably somewhat beefier than the tiny flat four that originally hung out the back.

We’re not sure what to make of Tony’s VW T1 hot rod truck arrangement but you join us in pondering its existence at his Flickr album by clicking here.

Short things are sometimes good things. Shortbread for example. Being short-listed. Skirts. Salma Hayek. OK, we’re getting off track, but this Volkswagen T1 Camper ‘Shortie’ by 1saac W of Flickr is definitely a good thing, and you can see more of it at his photostream just a short click away.

Yes we’ve opened this post with a fart joke. Named after a hot wind, Volkswagen’s Scirocco took the successful Golf GTI recipe and coupe-d it, creating a quick and light front-wheel-drive two-door.

Like the Golf GTI on which it was based, the Scirocco was an excellent car, but it would be even more excellent if it were rear-wheel-drive (ah, now the title makes sense! Ed.). Cue Danifill of Eurobricks, who has built this rather neat looking Volkswagen Scirocco MKII, fitted remote control drive and steering via bluetooth (thanks to a BuWizz battery), and sent the power to the rear wheels.

Of course that is an easier way to build an RC Lego car, but it also means Danifill’s Scirocco can drift! There’s more to see at the Eurobricks forum here, where you can watch a video of Danifill’s RWD Scirocco getting far more sideways than the real car ever could.