May 24, 2009LEGO My, Er, GTO!
Girls didn’t really play with LEGOs when I was a kid. No matter for me. I had inherited a big cookie tin of the little building blocks from the son of a family friend. While I was never very good at making things from them, I was always fascinated by the LEGO creations that I would behold at the LEGO Shop at FAO Schwarz. Hours spent toiling to create comparable creations that amounted to no more than a single edifice on a flat green LEGO surface pointed me at one conclusion: I was not meant to 1) go into construction, 2) be an engineer, and 3) waste any more time trying to create LEGO sculptures!
Fast forward to now. With the internet at my fingertips, I have made a pretty cool discovery: LEGO art. Did you know that there are actual dedicated LEGO artists? Sean Keeney is one such artist and his stuff is outrageously cool (Yankee Stadium, Shoe/Ant, Columbus Circle)! Nathan Sawaya is another of these artists; check out his totally awesome sculptures: Yellow, Mask, Cello, and Neiman.
There are some pretty ridiculous reproductions of classic automobiles that have been done in LEGOs as well. There’s a sick LEGO Camaro that I spotted along my internet travels and a cool 1961 Jaguar E-Type made from LEGOs. I also found an incredible mock-up of a BMW 635 CSi (pictured at bottom).
But, by far, the most impressive LEGO vehicles that I have come upon have come from LEGO Technic. LEGO Technic is a division of LEGO that is dedicated to more complex design that allows for moveable parts. Many LEGO Technic creations include gears and pulleys and, in some cases, even motors. The Technic division of LEGO has its own blog and even its own school.
From the LEGO Technic tradition, a mind-bogglingly amazing wonder has emerged: a Ferrari 250 GTO made completely from LEGO parts. I cannot even imagine what ingenuity and craftsmanship it took to create this thing. How do you re-create one of the most beautiful cars ever manufactured? Check out the pictures below and hit this link for more details on this dazzling work-of-art.
photos by Ming Thein via gizmowatch.com
The BMW 635CSi (photo via streetfire.net)
