100 Ways to Win!…Roundup

We had ourselves a doozie of a challenge this month! It was our 100th build challenge and we called it 100 Ways to Win. Basically, participants pick a number from 1-100, admins dole out automotive assignments from a predetermined list we had on hand, then awesomeness ensued. And sometimes hilarity. As the name implies, it was an epic challenge and epic means prizes. With a little help from our friends at Constructibles, Brothers Brick, Dennis Glaasker, Dennis Bosman and No Starch Press, we were able to provide some ginormous LEGO sets to our three top winners as well as autographed editions of The Art of LEGO Scale Modeling by Dennis and Dennis. What sets did we muster up? Well, keep reading. But first, this is where a segue into my joke about why they load First Class passengers into the plane first. They corral them into their big, cushy seats, put a cocktail in their hands, then parade the unwashed masses into Business Class, Economy Class, and No Class to see how much better life can be if only you were a doctor. Or a stock broker. Or a former astronaut. Or a trophy wife with a boob job and yoga pants. Or someone in a fur hat. They always seem to be in first class. Yes, a bit of money, fake boobs, some yoga pants and a fur hat gets you pretty far in life. Just ask our winners!


The classiest of first class is, without a doubt, Firas Abu-Jaber. I'm certain he's no stranger to hoards of beautiful women with fake boobs, yoga pants, and fur hats cuz...have you seen the guy? Not to be weird about it but hot damn! I'd drag my nuts over a mile of broken glass just to hear him fart over a walkie-talkie and I'm not even into dudes. Did that just get weird? Anyway, Firas is a talented builder and our rightful first place winner with this Rolls Royce Silver Ghost and proud owner of the new Technic Volvo Wheel Loader.



Sometimes you can be a little rough around the edges, a little bit trashy, and still fly first class, like say, Kid Rock, Mamma June, and every dude from Slipknot. This is where D-Town Cracka falls into place. Now, I've never seen photos of Mr. Cracka. He could be a runway model or a fat dude living in his mother's basement with his belly hangin' from beneath a billowy pirate shirt. What I do know is dude has got talent as evidenced by El Laxante, a bad-ass bored, chopped, dropped, and tracked '74 El Camino. He's the proud owner of a new Technic 24 Hour Racer.



Finally, bringing the class back to first class is DePino and for some uncanny reason, the third place winning entry is also a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. Hey, what can I say? Non-LEGO folks from all over the globe voted and it turns out they like their LEGO cars really, really classy. And sometimes totally messed up. But mostly classy. Let that be a lesson to you all; rich people are just better people. Right, Justin Bieber? Anyway, DePino is the proud owner of the totally balls-out Technic Drag Racer. A heart-felt congrats goes to you all.



And now we bring in the unwashed masses. The most unwashed of the unwashed masses is a guy named John Marshmallow. He seems to live by only one code: come early and come often. And also bring your paper towels. Let me show ya what I mean. First up, this 1962 Chevrolet Corvair Lakewood station wagon on a paper towel.



Next on the John Marshmallow slab, he chose #85: "Build any French or Italian car for a secret agent." He then chose the 1968 Ferrari Daytona with an anti-everything gun (that shoots first, asks questions later) and a tiny wee minifig in a bow tie.



Next the human marshmallow draws #21, "Build any Racing Peugeot." Apparently in his world, racing cars come without sponsorships, numbers or even colors. This one came with a little help from marshmallow dad, so it makes it cool.



Just when John thinks LUGNuts is all about similarly shaped sports cars, we throw a wrench into the works with Challenge #32: "Build a 1975 Honda GoldWing". Yep, sometimes we're totally all about bikes. On a paper towel.



He called his fifth entry possibly his last but oh, boy, it wasn't! #86 was "Build any hot hatch", so John chose1999 Honda Civic Type-R that looks suspiciously similar to the racing Peugeot from earlier. Castle and spaceship builders think all LEGO cars look the same. Maybe they're onto something here.



Next on the marshmallow slab, he draws #35: Build any Divco, custom or stock. This is probably what a Divco looks like before they paint on the colored stripes and company logos. Seems John has also done some research, knowing full well that the Divco went unchanged from 1937-1986, even longer than the VW Bug.



I like it when people learn stuff. Next John draws Challenge #1 Build any Donk or Funny Car Dragster. He went the badonkadonk route with this 1981 Chevrolet Impala donk called Nice Cream Bar. Or as John calls it, the hilarious and positively stupid route . Apparently a bit of Ralph is rubbing off on the young man.



A bit of Peter is rubbing off on the young man, too. Whoa boy, is it ever! This roundup is taking me weeks to write and it isn't even Peter's fault this time. Seems the boy wants to be as prolific as our resident Aussie engineer with his eighth entry; Challenge #49, "Build any car from 1942". For this option, he chose a 1942 Willys pickup.



Not only is he building nearly as often as Peter, but he's showing some love for the continent Down Under with this 1962 Ford Falcon Ranchero called "Ranch Racer". Its the perfect thing for racing around the Australian ranch where there are no less than 4, 565 weird and deadly animals who want to kill you.



If Ted @ndes posted his McLaren F1 just a couple hours sooner, he'd not only hold the record for the fastest production car, but it would have been the fastest entered into this challenge. Ted proves you don't need a zillion parts and an unemployable amount of free time to pull off an honorable mention for the win.



Ted proves good fortune can strike twice with this Bugatti Type 57. Yep, there was a nod or two for the win on this one as well. Just like Susan Sarandon, this vintage lady has curves where they count.



A guy named Dicky Laban builds himself into a mad frenzy with this Plymouth SuperBird Roadrunner. This and plunging necklines were about the only awesome things coming out of the 70's.



Sometimes the list of choices I wrote are all about the numbers. When I came up with #64, I offered the choice between a '64 Impala or '64 Barracuda. A dude named Firstinfantry goes the less obvious route with a 1964 Plymouth Valiant Barracuda. Nice!



Much later in the challenge Firstinfantry gets #75 during the reshuffle and conjures up "Any Japanese Drift car". Here he presents the Toyota AE86 that is colored either like the Portuguese flag or a holiday fruitcake. Also Octan.



A builder who sounds more like a rare bird than a builder, Mockingkakapo builds this 1984 Kawasaki ZX900 Ninja. Rarely seen in the wild, the elusive mockingkakapo eats only unripe berries and its haunting mating call of "five dollar makes you holla!" can be heard deep in the Amazon jungle.



The mockingkakapo builds its nest among the acacia trees. It also draws #72 and builds the Ferrari 458 Speciale and poses it next to a farmer and some pigs. Cuz nothing says Ferrari like pig farming!



The next assignment for mockingkakapo stated simply: Google "Chip Foose's best designs" and go from there! He did some googling but according to the episode of Overhaulin' I saw, this black Ford F-100 was built for Mr. Foose by his team and not by Chip Foose.



Next the rare bird with the funny name was handed assignment #83; Steampunk-ify any Fiat 500 or VW Microbus. Seems he went the VW Microbus route and make it look very much like a log cabin.



Mockingkakapo proves to be a rare but rather prolific bird with #4. Pay homage to either Boyd Coddington or Bo Huff. When faced with a choice between two dead car dudes, he ultimately went with Bo's 1927 Ford in white instead of his original rusty dark brown.



Luke-M proved to be a headliner early in the challenge with not one, but two pearly white Nissan Fairlady Z's They're pretty sweet and, as it turns out, 50% more influential than Stanley Kubrick, Pablo Picasso and the Apostle Paul.



While you're mulling over that pop culture reference, Luke comes back later with another assignment, this time a bubble-top car that goes by the name Atomic Punk. Its 50% more influential than grated cheese.



TVarious has a little family history with rat rodding. Which makes it fortunate that he pulled #3; Any rat rod. Apparently his dad was all up into the scene and "can't build a rat rod anymore", so with his dad's suggestion, went with this '37 Ford pickup just the way his daddy would have done it.



In terms of quantity, not quality, Johnni D was in direct competition with John Marshmallow. First on the Johnny D slab is #50; Mad Max-ify any Dodge or Citroen. He chose the Citroën Mehara. While this model is a fairly accurate depiction of the real car, it seems he missed the definition of Mad Max-ify. Even in the silly original movie, I've never seen a vehicle this happy and yellow.



But you can't count Johnni D as a total wash out. He came back for #33 Any Bonneville Salt Flat Racer...and it's matching hauler. This camper and salt flat racer got at least one nod for the win from my co-worker twice removed who seems to live with his mom.



Later, Johnni D comes back with #63; 1956 Chevy Cameo...stock or custom. Known as "the gentleman's truck" this little Cameo is hauling some car parts which, like burying some snitch bastard neck deep in an ant hill, is a decidedly un-gentlemanly duty.



He comes back later with #85 is any vehicle outfitted as a snow plow. Its the perfect thing for shoveling all that snow that fueled the beautiful Disco crowd in the 70's. Was that too obscure a reference?



Anyway, here's a reference only LEGO people would appreciate. I wrote assignment #22; Any vehicle from 1978-1987 and give it a LEGO "Classic Space" motif. Johnni answers the call of duty with this little entry.



What are the chances Johnni D would be assigned both Mad Max inspired assignments? Chances are pretty good actually when you come back like a bazillian times. Here is a Mad Max Bug.



Phew! This is the part in the roundup where I get bored and start looking up weird celebrity trivia. Huh, whaddya know, Megan Fox has hideously misshapen thumbs. Anyway, here's a 1951 Mercury Custom Lead Sled Coupe.



Seems Madonna had herself a drunken melt down on stage recently. You know, I met her at a party once. Some producer guy, said he knew celebrities, invited me and my buddies to a party at his place and low and behold, Madonna. It was in her brown hair, cigar smoking, gold tooth phase. I thought she was self-centered and abrasive. True story, bro! Anyway, here's the Twisted Metal Road Boat.

(seems the photos for this one have disappeared)

Right around that same timeframe I had an argument over the phone with Andrew Dice Clay. At least I think it was him. Coulda been some other douchebag from Brooklyn. I was young and in the Navy and stationed in Staten Island at the time. My buddy said he knew him personally, called him up, and there you go. Lastly Johnni D chose #99 keyword Audi Racing.



Is that all the Johnni D entries? Seems it is. Phew! A guy named The Solitary Dark draws #37, Any motorcycle with sidecar. I was imagining some old-timey German or Russian vehicle someone with a handlebar mustache would own, but instead he goes with a racing bike with sidecar. That's one crazy sport, man!



Turns out The Solitary Dark is not as solitary as you'd be lead to believe. He liked Ted Andes McLaren F1 so much that when he was later assigned the same car he gave Ted a nod with this not quite miniland scale entry. That makes him, at the very least, The Marginally Sociable Dark.



A guy named Aliencat was assigned Any 1952 pickup and came back with this tan and dark green beauty. With a surf board, beach chair and excellent presentation, it got more than a couple of nods for the win and looked to be among the top contenders early in the challenge.



It seems we have an important elected official in our midst. One with an irresistibly soft coat, who loves to sleep in small holes, take dust baths, and chew on empty toilet paper tubes. Senator Chinchilla was assigned a 3,850 lb, sixteen cylinder-double hemi, all wheel steering monster. In other words, a Jeep Hurricane.



Senator Chinchilla is all about signing important bills into law, taking month long vacations and burying his poop under a pile of cedar chips. He also seems to be all about monstrous vehicles, this time in the shape of a custom hot-rodded Dodge Power Wagon that got at least one vote for the win.



A guy named Marcu44 was tasked with Googling "Larry Watson paint" and figuring out the rest. My imagination soared with all the possibilities that could have been with this one. After all, Larry Watson's paintjobs are synonymous with hot rodding culture. This is what Marcu came up with.



Our next entry is a Ford Boss 302 Mustang. Its a pretty good entry, but what is the contestant's name? -Wat-. I said, its a pretty cool entry, but what is the contestant's name? -Wat-. The contestant's name, what is it? -Wat-. For the love of god! If you say "what" again, I swear to Christ I'll punch you in the balls! What's the contestant's name!?...



Sorry, couldn't resist that one. It seems some of our own admins could not resist the juggernaut that was our 100th challenge. For this reason, a clause was written in that said admins can enter if they couldn't stand sitting on the sidelines. No prizes could be had and, since we held the list, LUGNuts members at large had to assign our numbers. Not to let a good challenge pass him by, Peter Blackert shows some love for the 1972 Lancia Stratos Rally Car.



Later Peter comes back and is assigned #14 Design any car for Green Lantern or Spiderman. This is hilarious considering Peter is an excellent engineer but tends to blow a fuse when tasked with having to flex some creative artistic muscle. He fancies Green Lantern would fancy a 60's era BMW Spicup. In green, of course.



This second entry had a bit more creative thought. Spiderman proves to get around New York City pretty well without a car, so what car would enable him to jump out in an instant and keep driving itself while the webslinger fights crime out on the rooftops? Why the convertible BMW i8 Spyder, of course.



Veeborg had a potentially difficult assignment, but gave it, in my opinion, the most logical application possible. He was told to design Herbie The Lovebug, but not as a VW Bug. When I wrote this assignment it bugged me a little (get it?) as it was the only color specific one. Fearing a lesser builder would fail it for lack of correct color parts, but he squelched my fears with Herbie The VW Karmann Ghia.



You might want to tuck in that shirt. Maybe clean up the beer cans you got lying around here. Maybe you ought to hide those nudey magazines and comb your hair. You might want to empty the trash and fluff up those pillows. And for the love of god, put some pants on, for cripe sakes! We have a lady in our midst and a rather talented one. Brixe63 graces us with the Mercedes 300SL Gull-Wing.



Proving she doesn't mind hanging out with us crude and uncultured boys after all, Brixe comes back later with a shiny red 1956 Ford F-100. I never met Brixe in person, but I imagine she could be fun and carefree like one of the boys. In my opinion she is one of the best LEGO motorcycle builders in the world. Yep, I stole techniques from her when I first built mine, so gotta give the lady credit where credit is due. But is it safe to fart yet? Cuz I've been holding this one in for like a week!



Somebody named soccersnyderi also got the Green Lantern and/or Spiderman assignment and obviously went with Green Lantern. Let's see, what else is in weird celebrity news? It seems the entire Kardashian clan is banned from the Hamptons, the White House, Oscar parties, Vogue Magazine, The Met Gala, South Beach, Miami and a burger joint in Buenos Aires. Nice!



Ralph Savelsberg, on the other hand, is welcome here anytime and probably all the places the Kardashians are banned as we never really hear about his antics. A great thing happened during the challenge; the usually straight-laced Ralph was assigned a Zinger. He, at first, saw no sense in his logical brain for something so frivolous but once he did his research, had a great time with it. It put a smile on his face and got him at least one nod for the win.



Cleverniftydude lived up to his name when he was assigned any hot hatch. He whipped up a 1979 VW Golf GTI ready to race in scorching hot colors. He tells us this challenge brought many fond memories of his wayward childhood, cruising the streets and cramming far to many dudes into a little car. That's what these challenges are all about. Fond memories.



Autobaas unwittingly saw the future when he was assigned any Ambulance or Hearse. This current 101st challenge is pretty much all about ambulances and hearses, so...yeah. Bet you didn't know I snuck in future challenges right in the assignments! I hope my copy/paste features carry over the Russian text but this UAZ 452 Ambulance from 1965 was nicknamed Таблетка (tabletka, a pill).



A guy named W. Navarre was tasked with paying homage to one of two dead car building legends; Boyd Coddington or Bo Huff. I'm not too sure what either legend would think. Here's something yellow.



Thirdwigg is a contestant that begs the question: What happened to the first two wiggs? No, seriously, I don't think I can sleep soundly anymore unless I know. Were they destroyed in a fire? Did they go the way of Terrence Howard and were replaced by Don Cheadle in Iron Man 2? I just don't know! One thing I do know, this '92 Porsche 911 is chock full of Technic goodness.



Oh and don't get me started with Micky Rourke's performance in that movie! That Russian accent was barely plausible and what was with those filthy hands? His face looks like it was pieced together by a cobbler. A guy named rkc62 was also assigned a Porsche, this time a 959.



When I wrote assignment #60 I was thinking surf, sand, and some good ol' nostalgia. A contender named Velocities pulled it off nicely with this 1948 Chrysler Town & Country Convertible. I can say with confidence this little car got more than a few nods for the win.



There was a time when a younger Raphy was much more involved in the club. I miss that. He has grown up, as boys do, and discovered other things, I presume. Like solving the mystery of where those other two wiggs went. Still he stopped by just long enough to build us a little hot rod towing a seaplane and to wish us another 100 years. Years?! What?!



Veryrusty82 was assigned any vehicle mentioned in a song, so naturally he went with a decidedly not-rusty dune buggy from a song of the same name by The Presidents of the United States of America. If real former presidents made a band, I wonder what it would sound like. That scenario is just ripe for clever jokes that I just can't think up right now cuz its the end of the day.



Some coffee would perk my mood. As well as something totally balls-out crazy like say...a lime green rocket powered, fire breathing, drag racing, 80's era fire truck . I'd call it something crazy like The Afterburner. I really wish such a thing could be built, but no one, not even Nolnet has that kind of imagination or talent. Oh, well. A boy can always dream, right?



Geraldcacas was assigned something to do with Peugeot racing (probably) and was surely very excited about it. Here is a quote he gave us; "...and he pulled that E-brake at the right point and smashing that rev at peak rpm on 1st gear, clearing that tight turn like a greased cold stallion! And that's what the Peugeot 208 GTi Peugeot Sport can do!!!"



I have to say it was a bit cringe-worthy not seeing TechnicNick take home a prize. To be clear, this 1956 Ford F-100 is three feet long and an engineering marvel. I can see the hours of hard work put into it. It would be an attention getter in a public convention setting but in the end, I think the weird cropping and the fact that this monster didn't fit in his photo studio was his undoing. Still, there were plenty of well deserved nods for the win.

No photo link so clicky clickyh ---->  https://flic.kr/p/DEqu4h

Marin Stipkovic was assigned to build any car from the year he was born so went with a space car from...Total Recall. That's the one where Schwarzenegger's head explodes, right? The diorama was a good effort but a bit dark and hard to see the vehicle in question.



A guy named jamescox027(at some website) was tasked with Mad max-ifying a school bus and so there's like power functions and spikes. Clearly, the kids aren't all right. That was a The Who reference. Went over your heads? Yeah, mine too. Let's move on then.



With a name like bricksftw, this next contestant would be a shoe-in for the win...unless, of course, his version of "ftw" means "f*** the world", then not so much. His end product is a 2006 Renault Nepta concept with weird lime green front fenders on an otherwise all gray car.



Whenever there is a LUGNuts challenge with prizes, Don't Talk to Robots comes a'runnin' and presumably doesn't mention it to any robots. He was tasked to google "wildest cars SEMA" and in doing so came up with the Darth Vader real life Hotwheels car. While Vader is more machine than man, he is still technically a skinny white kid that somehow turned into a big hulking black guy and thus not a robot. I wonder if he knows I built this same model several months ago.



_Tiler knows the formula for success. Its good photo presentation and Volksrods. No, seriously, its been scientifically proven; you take good photos, throw a Volksrod or two into the mix and you have yourself the makings for earning a Nobel Peace Prize. Probably. Or at least getting 10% off your purchase at any participating Red Lobster. Or you can cut in line at Walmart. Either way, nice Volksrods, dude.



Eka-Rahajra was assigned a Chevy Cameo or "The Gentleman's Truck". Here we see it in dark gray and red. I literally have nothing funny or notable to say about this. Lets move on.



Perhaps a more humor worthy entry is this Hotwheels Deco Delivery Truck. Its not so much that the entry is funny, but it was built by a contestant named krazykooter22. A quick google search proved Crazy Cooter to be the dim-witted mechanic from Dukes of Hazzard. And now you know.



Norm.fm shows his zombie face around here and gets assigned any bubble top car. His entry is suitable for any weirdo space alien, in this case Squidman from the LEGO Space Police line that teaches kids that anyone who looks different from us is always the bad guy and should be arrested at once.



No stranger to being hassled by The Man and arrested is Outlawcustomdiecast, if his name is any indication. Actually he has a promising name for a LUGNuts newbie. It conjures up ideas of kit-bashing die cast cars into diabolical customizations but alas his photostream showcases nothing but pics of this Jeep Hurricane apparently built by his young son.



Legopard got the assignment I love so much, we probably should make it a future challenge. I should appeal to whatever a-hole runs the LUGNuts challenges to see if I can make that happen. So anyway, #16 was 'Any vehicle from 1978-1987 and give it a LEGO “Classic Space” motif" and 'pard did a swell little dune buggy.



A guy named SPARKART! got the other assignment I really, really liked...build any Batmobile from movies, TV, comics or imagined. I'd joke that we should appeal to the a-holes in charge around here but we already had that challenge awhile ago. He had plans for the whole Tumbler but only had enough parts and imagination for the Batpod.



Lego Junkie has been clean and sober for awhile now. He stayed off the bricks, even got his 90 day coin from Legohaulics Anonymous. Things were looking pretty promising right up until this challenge made him fall off the LEGO wagon and hit the bricks pretty hard with this Audi R18. Now he's hopped up on the LEGO all over again. One day at a time, brother. One day at a time.



A long, long time ago, not in a galaxy far, far away, but rather in a small apartment in Seattle, I looked at the Hot Wheels Deco Delivery cast, specifically the one with the Skittles themed paintjob and thought about building it someday. I deemed it too difficult. I chickened out. I'm a big huge failure. Low and behold Alexander Paschoaletto comes along and shows us all how its done. Bravo, Alex!



Brickadier General was tasked with Steampunk-ifying any Fiat 500 or VW Microbus. Here we have a steamy VW bus with a groovy wild west diorama. He says we'd recognize a familiar face. Let's see, is it Bea Arthur? George Washington? Edgar Winter? Oh, its Doc Brown!



A guy named Dodge was assigned a Mini Cooper. I know, I know, this entry is just ripe for Dodge references. Why wasn't he assigned a Dodge Daytona or a Dodge Dart? Hey, thems the breaks when you enter one of our challenges where we have to assign you something. Its a pretty cool Mini Dodge...er, I mean Cooper.



Saberwing007 was assigned any vehicle inspired by a sea creature or a dinosaur. There's plenty of good potential here, like the Corvette Stingray, the Hyundai Tiburon, the T-Rex motorcycle, the Dodge Raptor (hear that, Dodge? You coulda built a Raptor!). But instead Saber built some...uh...thing with a write up longer than this roundup. So much for short, punchy write-ups.



Speaking of short and punchy, Doctor Mobius (truth be told, I more fit that description than he does) demands that you witness him and his Mad Max-ified Spoiler Sport. You can tell he demands it as evidenced by the fact that there are three exclamation marks. With so many exclamation marks, all he needs is the inclusion of the misspelled phrase "4 SAIL!!!" and he'll have the makings of your average craigslist ad.



Chrisbuilds demands nothing from his 1965 AMC Marlin and he gets it in spades. Wait, what? That was rude! I know, right? But what other joke can I put here? Nah, seriously, I like how he had the choice of a 1967 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale or an AMC Marlin. Seems Chris made the right choice with this sweet ride. Pretty amazing considering he pulled it off all on the last day.



AlanHrafn clocks in just under the deadline with this Mk1 Ford GT40, which is odd considering the GT40 is such a fast car. You'd think he'd be among the first done. Get it? Cuz its fast? Right? OK, that joke fell flat. You can tell I am loopy from this long write-up. That and vodka. And sniffing glue.



By this point we've already waved the checkered flag and sent all the spectators home, but two more totally sweet entries came through after the deadline that I'd be remiss not to include here. They couldn't be considered for the win, but were a valiant effort anyway. Here is DarthNick's Koenigsegg Agera.



Our 77th entry for this challenge, making it our most popular LUGNuts challenge in the history of the world ever (probably) is #81 'Any vehicle from Twisted Metal or Super Mario Kart'. Duq answers the call of duty with the mean and nasty Warthog, clearly not from Super Mario Kart.



Is that all of them?! OMG, it is! Phew! What a roundup! This took a long-ass time to write, but all was worth it when you look back on so many phenomenal entries. Thank you all for a hugely successful challenge. Some of these great MOCs have put plenty of new builders on the map and that is what's important. From reading everyone's comments it seems most of you built things you never would have thought of in a million years and still had a lot of fun while doing it. That's what LUGNuts is all about, my friends. That and vodka. But mostly awesome cars, bikes, and trucks built in LEGO. We hope you can all stick around and build with us, even when we're not giving away prizes. Like for next month's challenge, for example. We're calling it A Matter of Life and Death. We may see an ambulance or two, maybe a hearse or a fire truck. You'll just have to tune next month to see what diabolical things we do. Oh, and chime in with your witty and insightful comments if you actually read these round-ups all the way to the end in 3...2...1...