A Cult Following!...Roundup

Something with a cult following is a little hard to define. Sometimes its a movie, book, or band that is so odd, that it'll garner a following despite mediocre sales or reviews. Sometimes it'll lead to 909 people willingly offing themselves via ingesting tainted kool-aid in hopes for passage into heaven. Some cars have a cult following but luckily they tend not to influence mass suicides. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the best, coolest, fastest, biggest, best selling, or prettiest but they accumulate a fanatical fanbase that are highly passionate in regard to their loyalty to the brand. A car with a cult following somehow speaks to their fanbase on an emotional level. There is just a certain indescribable…feeling that a cult car can manifest. A cult following is reserved only for cars such as the Buick Grand National, the BMW M3 the Fiat 500, the Shelby Cobra, the Porsche 911 Turbo, the DeLorean DMC-12 and the Mazda Miata. That' what this month's challenge is all about. Care to see how we've done? Then sit back, grab yourself a drink (but not tainted Kool-aid cuz we ain't that kind of cult) and read on.


Senator Chinchilla tells us that the new Jeep Wranglers are as comfy as all get out, but the older Jeeps, just say this yellow Jeep CJ were not as comfy but still garnered a cult following.



NKubate likes the Shelby Cobra and built us something that is kinda-sorta reminiscent of it. This 31070 alternative model is a mixture of the classic one and the concept model from 2004. Perhaps it has some correlation with a classic Corvette as well.



First on the Peter Blackert slab, he presents both a cult car and a cult movie. The classic Mini Cooper S was cool long before The Italian Job came out, but the movie sort of sealed the deal, so much so that they had to make a remake of the movie when the newer model Mini Cooper came out in 2003.



The Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS is arguably the most recognizable of all sports cars. Clearly this has had a huge impact on Peter "Lego911" Blackert. I'm pretty sure he didn't name himself after the number you call when you get your fist stuck in a can of Pringles.



Turns out when you do something rock stupid in Australia, like say jumping on a trampoline with a bowling ball, you'd dial 000 instead. Good to know as there are no less than 4156 deadly animals out to kill you in Australia, including the insidious bowling ball. Here's a '72 Holden HQ SS V8 Sedan.



When you take an economy car chassis, give it a two door body, beef up the engine and give it some racing stripes, you have the formula for mid-sixties success in the form of this Ford 1965 Mustang GT Convertible. Its not the best car, Peter tells us but we already knew that. It still counts as a cult classic.



Some people are fanatical about how an engine works. Some wanker in Germany invented the Wankel-rotary engine, which has been described as a triangle spinning around inside a figure-8 - but the triangle is also simultaneously rotating eccentrically around a different circle inside the triangle - crazy! This '78 RX7 SA22C Coupe has such an engine.



Peter tells us the Lancia Delta Integrale Evoluzione is good in the sense that you can play SEGA Rally at the arcade, then jump into a similar car on the way home. The only problem with Peter's theory is anyone coming home from a hard day at the arcade is usually on foot, bus, or skateboard.



You'd be hard pressed to find an Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti Typ-901now, but between 35 to 45 years ago they were all the rage amongst Italian guys in tight jeans. Mama Mia!



What are German guys in tight jeans into? Germans, by in large, are notoriously more restrained and less emotional than their Italian counterparts so it makes sense the 1992 BMW E36 M3 Coupe would be all the rage and quite the cult car.



Americans are a different breed altogether. Not as calculated and logical as the Germans, not as fiery as the Italians, but with a flare for showmanship and flamboyance. Hence the 1957 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster is the embodiment of the American Dream.



The nation that created Anime, drift racing and pixelated pubes has also concocted the Toyota Corolla Sprinter Trueno Liftback - AE86 4A-GE. Just like Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend, it has quite a cult following.



There are fast Ferraris and there are beautiful Ferraris. You combine them both and you get the 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder. It doesn't hurt that it was also in a cult film. No, not Urotsukidoji, but rather Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In the movie, the car suffered a fate almost as horrific as inching in Urotsukidoji.



You like a hot hatch? Sure. You like a fast Ford? Heck yes! What could be better? Give it a railcar turbo engine and a huge rear wing and you have yourself the 1992 Ford Escort RS Cosworth. This had such a cult following amongst thieves on joyrides that there was a time it costed nearly as much to insure a three year old Cosworth as it was to buy one.



Peter and I are both old. Same age, pretty much. When I was a kid, all the cool kids (which I wasn't) had the '69 Chevelle. It was a car guaranteed to get you laid in high school. The cool kids in Australia, however, had the Datsun Bluebird 1600 Sedan 510 Series.



But what if you were a cool British kid and wanted to get laid while the wind blew through your long, luxurious Beatles era hair? I presume you'd do it in a 1962 MG MGB Roadster. This served as the inexpensive roadster right up until theMazda MX5 Miata showed up in 1989.



Ralph "Mad Physicist" Savelsberg is all about getting laid while the wind blows through his long luxurious Beatles era hair. I know this because I met him in person about a month ago and he said, "Hi, I'm Ralph "Mad Physicist" Savelsberg and I'm all about getting laid while the wind blows through my long, luxurious Beatles era hair." I have very little hair to deal with so I just had to take his word for it. Here's a VW T3 Camper van.



I don't know much about what the cool kids do, or what it's like to have the wind blow through long, luxurious Beatles era hair, but I do know what the 70's were all about. Orange and brown, it turns out. That's why I, aka Lino Martins, built a '78 El Camino in super 70's orange and brown.



Jonathan Elliott builds us a couple versions of the Citroen DS. He tells us the beloved Citroen helped Charles de Gaulle survive an assassination attempt when it's unique suspension system allowed it to drive away at high speed after two of its tires were punctured by gunshots.





Alexander Paschoaletto shows us that the 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS indeed has a cult following and reminds us that 911 is the number you call if you get your nuts caught between a fence post and a charging steer. (Not applicable in Australia or anywhere outside of Texas.)



Marco qm proves that when it comes to guzzling the automotive cultish Kool-aid, Porsche can't be beat. He also asked timidly if he could still post this when it was still the 31st in his timezone. Apparently he hasn't followed Peter's work or thinks someone would be tentatively keeping track of deadlines. Nah, that ship sailed right around the time I became too old to stay up past midnight. Here's a Porsche 993 and a 991 GT2.



Paulo D submits a model of the Lamborghini Contact, rendered by Alice Dee. (not sure if they're related or not.) No matter which member of the Dee family did this, one thing for sure is this is a fave car amongst strip club owners around the world.



Is that all of them? I think it is. Just like every other roundup, this one started with a Jonestown massacre reference and ended with a D rendering a Lambo for strip club owners. In between there were jokes about bouncing on a trampoline with a bowling ball and not outrunning a steer, both can be hazardous to your nuts, it turns out. Hopefully next month's challenge will be a little less hazardous to our tender reproductive bits. It'll be called Make It A Theme, all about cars, trucks, and bikes with an official LEGO theme. Whether yours be an Octan F1 racer or a Blacktron Baja racer, I literally can't figure out a way to integrate jokes that somehow involve harming nuts into a LEGO theme so I think we're safe.Give it a try, won't you? What's the worst that can happen?