Engineers Construct Lego Ford Explorer

Marshall Honorof

New member
Feb 16, 2011
2,200
0
0
Engineers Construct Lego Ford Explorer


Why build a car out of steel and glass when you can use a few hundred thousand plastic bricks instead?

Legoland Florida is opening on October 15th, and Ford doesn't want you to forget it. The Michigan-based automotive company built a very special car as a token of goodwill towards the new amusement park: a Ford Explorer made entirely of Lego bricks. A team of Ford engineers worked tirelessly to put 380,000 Legos together into a reasonable facsimile of the popular SUV, aided by computerized design documents. While purists may scoff and insist that a car made of Danish building blocks is inferior to the real deal, keep in mind that this car probably took more man-hours to produce than a real Ford Explorer.

Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant designed and constructed the toy car, which struggles to maintain the "toy" modifier with a straight face. As one of the park's sponsors, the Ford Motor Company provided the car as part of "long-term alliance between Ford and Legoland Florida theme park," according to Erik, a YouTube user who calls himself "yaytez" and covers content for Behind the Thrills [http://behindthethrills.com/]. More specifically, the Lego Explorer promotes the park's Ford Driving School, where children learn to simulate a "real-life" driving experience while presumably linking Ford, fun, and safety in a family's collective consciousness.

The video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDmCjw3otCE&feature=youtu.be] takes only 90 seconds to watch, but the actual product took over 2,500 hours to complete. The Lego Explorer will be an exhibit at the park once it opens, but one has to wonder whether it will be there as a piece of art or as a challenge. Can Lego enthusiasts put together something bigger and badder than a full-size, 380,000-piece car? If you're tiny yellow man enough, you're more than welcome to try.

Source: YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDmCjw3otCE&feature=youtu.be]

Permalink
 

weirdee

Swamp Weather Balloon Gas
Apr 11, 2011
2,634
0
0
"CAUTION: Objects in mirror are actually just static images rendered in plastic toy bricks."
 

emeraldrafael

New member
Jul 17, 2010
8,589
0
0
Marshall Honorof said:
... Can Lego enthusiasts put together something bigger and badder than a full-size, 380,000-piece car? If you're tiny yellow man enough, you're more than welcome to try....
mmm... If I was only drunk enough, i'd go for a 1:1 scale Saturn V.
 

JenSeven

Crazy person! Avoid!
Oct 19, 2010
695
0
0
Now they need to 1-up this and make a life size Optimus Prime pick up truck.
 
Sep 14, 2009
9,073
0
0
JenSeven said:
Now they need to 1-up this and make a life size Optimus Prime pick up truck.
if they made it so it could transform i would add that to the bucket list of things to steal.


OT: this is quite amazing, not necessarily the design of it all just the massive amount of man hours that was probably required for this.
 

Scarim Coral

Jumped the ship
Legacy
Oct 29, 2010
18,157
2
3
Country
UK
I know for one thing, I do not want to get hit by that car since that's pretty much a boulder in lego car form.
Anyway, that is quite impressive since I intially thought they had build the exterior only (hallow inside) until I watch the video.
 

StANDY1338

New member
Sep 25, 2006
333
0
0
That is very cool. Although all I have been talking about in uni is lego for a couple of weeks so its getting a little boring.
 

Athol

New member
Sep 15, 2010
2,563
0
0
Lets see a 1:1 scale Nimitz class carrier...thats alot of grey blocks.
 

Formica Archonis

Anonymous Source
Nov 13, 2009
2,312
0
0
Marshall Honorof said:
Why build a car out of steel and glass when you can use a few hundred thousand plastic bricks instead?
Judging by the cars I've seen recently, the manufacturers had the same idea.
 

JaceArveduin

New member
Mar 14, 2011
1,952
0
0
Athol said:
Lets see a 1:1 scale Nimitz class carrier...thats alot of grey blocks.
Meh, let's just make a large scale model of a Star Destroyer, primarily out of red bricks.
 

Alfador_VII

New member
Nov 2, 2009
1,326
0
0
JaceArveduin said:
Athol said:
Lets see a 1:1 scale Nimitz class carrier...thats alot of grey blocks.
Meh, let's just make a large scale model of a Star Destroyer, primarily out of red bricks.
You guys are thinking too small. I have one thing to say

"That's no moon"...
 

Rooster Cogburn

New member
May 24, 2008
1,637
0
0
I grew up in Winter Haven, the new home of Legoland Florida. It's a famously boring place with nothing to do. Not any more! Lego cars, Lego houses (castles?) and unlimited beer from now on!
Alfador_VII said:
JaceArveduin said:
Athol said:
Lets see a 1:1 scale Nimitz class carrier...thats alot of grey blocks.
Meh, let's just make a large scale model of a Star Destroyer, primarily out of red bricks.
You guys are thinking too small. I have one thing to say

"That's no moon"...
We already have an enormous Orange Dome, and we painted it like a baseball when the Braves were in town. No reason we couldn't have a giant Death Star rising from the center of town. It could fit the Lego theme, actually.

The old park there was Cypress Gardens, but it's been failing for years. It's immortalized in our street names and such. Cypress Gardens Road, Cypress Gardens Boulevard, etc. I'll miss it quite a bit. You could tether your boat on a floating dock and watch the babes perform a long-outdated water ski show for free. And there was a very fun alligator tour through a real cypress swamp.
 

Steve Lovell

New member
Apr 25, 2011
85
0
0
emeraldrafael said:
Marshall Honorof said:
... Can Lego enthusiasts put together something bigger and badder than a full-size, 380,000-piece car? If you're tiny yellow man enough, you're more than welcome to try....
mmm... If I was only drunk enough, i'd go for a 1:1 scale Saturn V.
James may did build a full scale lego house http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1214729/James-May-size-Lego-house-wants.html
Edit: damn ninjad