Creator 1967 Ford Mustang GT
The World’s Favorite Building-Brick Brand Takes on a Muscle-Car Icon
No, this model is not diecast. It’s not even all that scale-accurate. Do you care? Me neither! I’ve been a LEGO enthusiast since I was a kid. My fascination with these plastic bricks took root at the same time my fascination with cars did, and they reinforced one another. I built LEGO car kits of increasing complexity as the company expanded its offerings, and created literally hundreds of my own custom builds—working out functioning suspensions, drivetrains, and engines from conventional pieces long before series like the Technics kits introduced specialized parts to do those jobs. Those advanced series kits introduced functioning crankshaft/piston motions, differentials and shock absorbers, even a shiftable 5-speed gearbox at one point.
to customize their Mustang according to their personal tastes. The baseline build replicates a stock Mustang GT, right down to the GT stripes on the rockers and twin racing stripes over the hood, roof, and trunk. The finish is, well, LEGO. But the brick color matches Ford’s Acapulco Blue pretty closely, and LEGO incorporated Mustang-specific styling elements, like the side coves and driving lights bracketing the grille emblem. Inside is a beige interior with a passable imitation of the Mustang’s twin-brow dashboard and bucket seats with rolling pleats. Primary gauges—a tach and a speedo—are present. There’s even a Hurst-style T-handle shifter.
Hoist the hood to reveal a pretty fair rendition of the newfor-’67 390 V-8, complete with proper blue color and a decal on the air cleaner, declaring “390 High Performance.”
The valve covers have scripts reading “Power by Ford,” and there’s even a galloping stallion on the breather cap. There are radiator hoses and an accessory drive with belts and pulleys. If the stock 335hp isn’t exciting enough for you, you can remove the hood scoop to make room for an optional Roots-style supercharger, and there are provisions in the opening trunk to add a nitrous bottle. (I told you the LEGO designers were car guys.) Exterior options include zoomie-style side pipes, a chin spoiler, and a matching Shelby-style ducktail for the rear deck. The rear suspension is adjustable, so you can raise 1967 Ford Mustang GT
LEGO
Classic muscle car 1:14 (approximate) $150
The Mustang is an American institution. An American In the spring of 1964, Ford invented an entirely new genre of performance automobile: the pony car. In the years since, the Mustang has carried numerous prestigious nameplates—Shelby, Cobra Jet, Mach I—but none more steeped in performance history than the mighty Boss. 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Boss, and to commemorate the occasion, Motorbooks has published Author Donald Farr is the longtime editor of
magazine, so he certainly knows his Boss history, and his insights make each of the book’s 176 pages a deep dive into the origins of and details about the various Boss incarnations.
The tale starts with the Mustang’s Trans Am racing effort and the ill-fated ’68 Tunnel-Port 302 that led Ford engineers to adapt the 351 Cleveland heads to the 302 Windsor block, creating the Boss 302. That car’s two years of success on and off the track is extensively chronicled, culminating in Ford recapturing the series title in 1970 and capturing the hearts of enthusiasts on the street. The book also documents the simultaneous development of a completely separate big-block Boss for NASCAR and drag racing, and the major surgery it required to squeeze the famed Boss 429’s mammoth cylinder heads between the Mustang’s front fenders. Even the lesserknown Bosses—the one-year-only Boss
351, a ’90s concept car Boss 429, and the
2010 Boss 302R showroom stock racer—are covered, sharing background info and excellent photography on each. The book finishes off with the official return of the production Boss 302 in 2012, this time powered by the 444hp “Coyote” DOHC 5.0L V-8, and its even-morespecialized Boss 302 Laguna Seca extreme track package, a fitting heir to the Boss 302 legacy and the final Boss…for now.
The book is loaded with history, technical info, and more than 200 photos, plus commentary by many of the Mustang VIPs instrumental with Boss development through the years.
The large-format hardcover uses thick, glossy paper stock to ensure faithful reproduction of the hundreds of archival images spanning the half-century of Boss history. There are also appendices with detailed technical breakdowns of the original 302, 429, and modern DOHC Boss motors. Altogether, it represents one of the most focused and comprehensive looks at Mustang’s most iconic model—a must for any Ford fanatic.
Think of the Nissan Skyline GT-R as Japan’s cultural equivalent of the Corvette—not in technology (the GT-R is more advanced) but in terms of national pride and performance reputation. The range-topping supercar soars above other Nissan sporting models much as the rowdiest ’Vettes outmatch lesser Chevys. But unlike the Corvette—or virtually every other exotic car, short of a
Ferrari Enzo or a McLaren F1—even relatively late-model GT-Rs have inspired a cultcollector following that has caused values to skyrocket. It has also inspired startling numbers of enthusiasts to pay astronomical sums to restore their cars, so many in fact that Nissan’s in-house motorsport and performance tuning division—Nismo—has gone into the restoration business, with its own workshop called “Omori Factory.” Owners can now have Nismo literally rebuild their GT-Rs from the ground up to be better than new. These ultra-refurbished cars are treated to a host of factory upgrades, and the work can cost well into the six figures— double what the car cost new. Omori Factory has built a series of demo models to showcase its work. One such demo car was crafted to represent the ultimate Grand Touring street GT-R using a fourth-generation BNR33 (1995– 98) model as a starting point, and OttOmobile has created a precision replica of it in 1:18 resin.
Visually the car looks like a slightly sleeker, slightly tougher R33, painted in dark metallic silver, which OttOmobile refers to as “Omori Factory Grey.” The car has a few extra pieces of carbon trim, but the biggest changes from bone stock are the carbonfiber rear wing and the Nismo bumper with larger side vents and relocated fog lamps, which is augmented by a Nismo lower lip spoiler and a carbon air guide around the intercooler opening, all of which the model captures with impressive accuracy. It sits a little lower than a stock R33 thanks to a revised and two-way adjustable coil-over suspension—and again OttOmobile gets that right, although the baseplate of the resin model doesn’t show much by way of the suspension hardware. The same is true for the engine upgrades since the body is sealed. For posterity, the Omori R33 gets a factory-rebuilt RB26DETT treated to Nismo’s S2 package: bigger turbos, special cams, and all-new highflow turbo and intake plumbing, which beefs up the 2.6L inline-6 to 400hp. The car also gets the giant Brembo brakes off the current R35 GT-R, which required bigger wheels—custom Nismo LM GT4 18-inch forged rims made by RAYS, with “Nismo” engraved on one of the five spokes. The rear is capped off by the large outlet for the special titanium exhaust system, ringed by a carbon heat shield in the bumper cutout. The interior gets tasteful augmentation from an updated steering wheel and two-tone leather wraps for the Nismo seats, simulated by paint on the model.
I’m impressed with the faithfulness with which OttOmobile captures the subtle upgrades on the Omori Factory GT-R. The crew definitely did their homework! The changes are so subtle that they could be overlooked by those not well versed in GT-R lore, but for those in the know, this is an outstanding tribute to a machine that takes factory restoration to a new level. OttOmobile is taking preorders now on this 2,000-piece limited run.