j0n4th4n_d3rk53n sets the pace to this challenge on the first day with Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's Pentrike. Its one of Ed Roth's lesser known vehicles but Johathan pulls it off flawlessly with its strange five-wheeled configuration! Did you know Ed Roth invented the picture t-shirt? Yep, its true! Before he printed his wild Rat Fink monsters on them, t-shirts were plain white and only worn as underwear.
Our new LUGNuts moderator Tim "rabidnovaracer" Inman honors legendary model car builder Tom Daniel with this rendition of Hangman, the quintessentially classic showrod truck originally designed for Monogram Models. Tim...and...um...Tom gives us all hope...that you can be a legendary car builder without actually getting your hands greasy. But when not building with Lego, Tim also gets his hands greasy, but not Tom. Confused yet? It'll only get worse from here!
For his second entry, Tim honored another Tom...er...Thom with this Alternomad originally designed by Thom Taylor. Tim and Thom took a new Chevy Caprice wagon and grafted it with a '57 Chevy Nomad. It sounds stupid, but in the able hands of Thom and Tim they pull it off nicely. Great job, Tim...and um...Thom!
It turns out Raphy's big daddy is none other than Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. Here is a crazy rod that Mr. Roth was known for...but, um...Raphy. Where is the screamin' Rat Fink, man? Where's the monster with huge bulging eyes and a tongue that drags on the ground and snots and flames shooting out his nose? Ed Roth would be rolling in his grave if he saw this without the rat Fink...probably.
Just like Ed Roth, Raphy's other big daddy was plucked from this world too early. But Raphy shows the legendary Boyd Coddington some love with this tiny rendition of his famous Junkyard Dog. In case you can't tell from the 4-wide model, the car is a '57 Chevy Bel Air. Yeah, I kinda see it.
Lastly, Raphy jumps on the Tom Daniel bandwagon with his famous model called "Badman". Its a '55 Chevy so its totally different from his '57 Chevy. See, they don't look the same at all! Raphy says it was done in a hurry and submitted at the last minute so don't blame him for a crappy job. Maybe the last minute passed in Poland, but little did he realize he still had like nine hours before the real deadline would pass. Plenty of time to crank out 60 more 4-wides. Heh, silly Raphy!
Philip Ryman reaches for his trusty red bricks and cellphone cam to build George Barris' T Wagon. Its sort of...um...squarish but has a neat delivery door in the back and suicide doors. Phillip says he wished he could get the curve on the roof better, though.
Speaking of getting the curve on the roof right, Nathan Proudlove takes a cue from Rabidnovaracer with his own Tom Daniel's Paddy Wagon. Just look at that engine, those fenders...that wicked cool roof! The term wicked cool comes from New England...and so does the term paddy wagon. Know what it means? Paddy is an old derogatory term for folks of Irish origin. A large number of men on the police force were Irish Catholics...and incidentally a large number of drunken criminals being hauled away...were also Irish. Hence the Paddy Wagon. And now you know!
Later in the challenge Nathan takes us back to our childhoods...well, those of us old enough to remember one of the greatest Hot Wheels cars of all time...the iconic Stagefright originally designed by the great Larry Wood. Unlike the old Hot Wheels car, this new rendition has power functions! Be sure to check out the video of this model racing around the floor. Wicked awesome!
Lino Martins jumps on the Ed "Big Daddy" Roth bandwagon with his world famous Mysterion. Originally built in 1962, Ed Roth made the bubble top famous. 47 years later, lego comes out with the Agents Robo Attack set with a large bubble dome...and, well, this reconstruction was sort of inevitable. At least in my mind, anyway. Part showrod, part dragster and part UFO, this strange rod has not one, but two totally chromed Ford 406 engines! Far out, Daddy-o!
Charger Hornet shows Tom Daniel some love with this great new Vanbulance. Cool, wacky, powerful, dumb, "engine in wrong place"...these are so many reasons why this model was built and why we all should love it. I would also add its wild asymmetrical design, trans-blue windshield and strange gull wing van door to the list of things to love. Too cool!
Charger honors Tom Daniel once again but this time with the iconic Baja Beast! This Volkswagen Micro Bus has a chopped roof, menacing pipes and an aggressive stance that can tear through the desert! I'm digging the opening door and the beefy engine located in the rear cabin. I wonder if the inhabitants inside would get sick from the engine fumes. Eh, it doesn't matter...its all about looking cool!
But for the sensible, practical mind of Ralph "Mad Physicist" Savelsberg, things like an engine in the same space occupied by humans, bubble tops, crazy Rat Finks and the frivolous excess of show rods in general just doesn't make much sense. Not his "cup of tea", he says. Which is why he honored Virgil Exner and his '57 Chrysler New Yorker. He was the chief designer for Chrysler in the 50's and one of the main proponents for tail fins on cars. But we salute Ralph for reminding us that the likes of George Barris, Boyd Coddington, and even Ed "Big Daddy" Roth would be nothing without Virgil Exner.
Also not into the wild show rod scene, but we all know that Lego 911 likes fine crafted Italian machines. So it's no surprise that he came up with the 1962 Ferrari 250 GT Bertone Berlinetta originally designed by Giorgetto Giugario. This model looks classy in dark blue. I'm digging the mirrors and grille and its overall subtle shape. Like Ralph, 911 shows us that you don't have to be a hot rod builder to be legendary.
So what did we learn from this challenge? We learned that Ed "Big Daddy" Roth invented the picture t-shirt, a lot of Irish drunks were hauled away in paddy wagons, and Tom Daniel is THE MAN! That pretty much sums up this challenge. Stay tuned this month for Zombie Apocalypse Killfest '09! Headed by the mean and nasty Sgt. Rex Malone, he motivates us to turn ordinary civilian vehicles into post-apocalyptic zombie killing machines! So lets turn that Honda Civic into something badass! Booyeah!
