As a kid, cars play a big role in life as they are generally boys’ favorite toys. If you’ve got a father that’s as passionate about cars as you, you may end up going to a motor show and seeing them live.

Once you’re there however, things go a little bit wrong, after the ten or so supercars and a couple of off-roaders you realize it’s not really that interesting. There’s just tons of boring cars for daddy, mommy and whoever else can actually drive. Since odds are that you’re still calling the models “pretty women” there’s no appeal in that either. Car shows aren’t always as fun as you’d imagine they could be when you’re five years old. Unless you went to the LA Motor Show this year.

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I’m not a very big fan of Ford’s new Explorer SUV, but I have to say I’m impressed with the life-size LEGO model created by workers at Legoland Florida.

You’re probably thinking a Mustang or a Ford GT would have looked a lot cooler than a LEGO Explorer, and you’d be right, but you have to agree commissioning a LEGO model of a family car and displaying at a family attraction like Legoland Florida makes a lot more sense, from a marketing point of view. So the American auto-maker asked Legoland workers to make a realistic model of their new Ford Explorer exclusively out of LEGO, and really got its money’s worth. 22 people worked 2,500 hours piecing together this incredibly detailed replica. In total, they used 382, 858 bricks.

The LEGO Ford Explorer weighs an impressive 2,654 pounds, more than half of the original car’s weight (4,503 pounds). It will be exhibited at the Legoland Florida theme-park where it will hopefully boost sales of the original model.

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Three German friends set out to recreate one of the most impressive cars ever made – Mercedes 300 SLR ‘Uhlenhaut Coupe’ – out of pieces of scrap metal. It’s not drivable, but their replica is definitely easy on the eyes.

Armin Ciesielski, Peter Brakel and Walter Willer, three friends working at a German company called Giganten aus Stahl (Giants of Steel), decided to pay homage to one of the greatest cars ever made, by making a life-size model out of metal. The three sculptors sourced thousands of pieces of metal for their recycled masterpiece and spent seven months cutting and putting it together. Although Ciesielski claims he could rebuild any car out of crap metal, he admits this particular project was a rather difficult one because of all the intricate details and the work that went into making even the car’s engine identical to the original.

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A Tata Nano, which usually sells for $3,000 has been converted into one of the most expensive cars in the world, after it’s been plastered with $4.6 million worth of gold and jewelry.

The Nano was a welcome innovation designed to bring affordable transportation to Indian masses, and though it may not have all the features we’ve grown accustomed to in the western world, the tiny car achieved its goal. But there is nothing affordable about Tata’s latest publicity stunt for the Nano – they’ve teamed up with Titan Industry-owned Goldplus jewelry chain and decided to create the most expensive Tata Nano ever. After covering it with kilograms of gold, silver and jewelry, the price of the world’s cheapest car went from $3,000 to $4.6 million. Now that’s quite a makeover.

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As a child, Megan Ashton dreamed of being whisked away to her wedding in a classic Porsche 356, and since she couldn’t afford a real one, she spent six years converting an old Volkswagen Beetle into the car of her dreams.

26-year-old Megan has always been interested in cars, and growing up in her dad’s garage she learned a little something about classic cars. Her personal favorite has always been the Porsche 356 – the first model ever produced by the German car manufacturer – but getting her hands on an authentic model would have proved too expensive for the young Air Engineer Officer in the Royal Navy, so she decided to build her own, instead. The 356 was created by Ferdinand Porsche, son of Porsche’s founder, and shared many parts with the VW Beetle, to make it more affordable. So the car enthusiast paid just £200 for a 1969 Beetle, in 2004, when she was still a student and planned to convert it into the classic jewel of her dreams.

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German model maker Robert Gülpen has built the most expensive car model in the world – a 1:8 scale replica of the Lamborghini Aventador made from carbon, platinum gold and decorated with precious stones.

52-year-old Gülpen, who describes his creation as a “high-tech work of art” said he wanted to create something unique that has never been done before. A former mechanical engineer, Gülpen started making miniature car models from precious metals in the late 1990s and eventually became a renown miniature car model maker. He decided the cutting edge Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 would be the perfect choice for his greatest masterpiece.  The body of the car is made from carbon, just like the original, and features around €2 million-worth of precious metals and stones. Metal was used for the detailed rims and diamonds were inserted into the seats, steering wheel and headlights.

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The young men of Saudi Arabia’s Abha region have a rather peculiar pastime: they like to build rock structures on which they display their cars.

Abha, a city in south-western Saudi Arabia has a moderate climate and features green landscape which make it a popular getaway for tourists from all over the country and other neighboring lands. Over 1.5 million people come to spend their weekends and vacations here, and that number is about to grow thanks to a new and intriguing attractions – the unique car displays in the countryside around Abha.

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I’m a huge Flintstones fan, but apparently not as huge as this guy who actually built a replica of Fred’s iconic vehicle from wood, fabric and steel.

I haven’t yet been able to find the source of this story, but according to InAutoNews.com, this cool replica of the Flintstones car is actually for sale, online. And the best thing about it is that under all that wooden exterior is a functional, drivable car powered by a 4-cylinder 1.6 petrol engine. Although it looks like it uses two wooden drums as wheels, if you look closely you’ll see one of the four old-fashion tires revealed, in the front. Which is a good thing, because steering would have been a problem with the original prehistoric system.

According to the above mentioned car blog, the vehicle already has 80,000 km under its belt, although it’s listed as built in 2011. The top speed of the real-life Flintstones car isn’t specified, but I’m pretty sure whatever it is, it beats pushing it with your feet. If you’re interested and manage to find the actual sales ad, this nicely done replica apparently costs just 2,200 euros. Pretty cheap for such an iconic piece of cartoon history.

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Fed-up with his dream car’s reoccurring engine problems,  a Porsche 911 owner decided to donate it to a local gun club, to be shot with 10,000 bullets.

What do you do when having to repeatedly fix an expensive car gets too frustrating? Well,we’ve seen a Lamborghini owner who had it destroyed with jackhammers,  a man who had his Range Rover pulled to the dealership by donkeys, and now a man who preferred to donate his beautiful Porsche 911 for target practice, rather than pay over $20,000 in repairs.

When the members of Comm2A, an organisation dedicated to protecting US gun rights, from Massachusetts, first heard they would get the chance of emptying their magazines in the expensive German sports car, they probably thought it was a joke, but after he took the first shot himself, they knew he was serious. 140 gun-wielding men, women and children shot more than 10,000 bullets at the poor Porsche putting its sturdy body to the ultimate test. Although it was ultimately reduced to a pierced pile of junk, members of Comm2A were surprised about how well it held up against the rain of led. There was little damage done to the passenger side of the Porsche, where bullets seemed unable to penetrate the gas tank. Only the larger, high-velocity rounds managed to pierce both sides of the car.

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The car you’re about to see started off as just a design, but seeing other cars with custom theme paint jobs, Sherod Grayer decided to make his Nintendo-mobile a reality.

The 25-year-old Nintendo fan, from Warner Robins, Georgia, played around with the idea of a Nintendo-themed car, five years ago, but inspired by other theme paint jobs, he decided to turn his virtual design into a real car. So he started working on his 1991 Chevy Caprice, turning it from an old, outdated ride, into a cool ride any Nintendo fan would be happy to own. Everything you see in the photos below, both on the inside and the outside, was designed by Sherod himself.

Seen from the outside, Sherod’s Nintendo-themed Caprice doesn’t look that impressive, since it doesn’t have any distinctive features apart from the spray-painted NES controllers, but the interior is a whole other matter. The colors alone scream Nintendo, and the custom-made seats and headrests featuring Mario, Luigi and the Nintendo logo let everyone know they’re about to set foot in a geeky shrine on wheels. I’m not to crazy about the 22-inch rims, but I guess that’s how they roll down in Georgia.

Overall great job Sherod, and thanks a lot for the photos!

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A one-of-a-kind Cadillac CTS Coupe covered with 350,000 Swarovski crystals was unveiled last weekend, during the Qingdao International Auto Show.

I don’t know what it is about Swarovski bling and cars, but tuners and designers seems to think they make a good team. Just last week, I posted about an Audi A5 covered with 450,000 Swarovski crystals, presented at a Moscow exhibition, by Russian tuner Shampar, and now the Chinese show off their own blinged-out ride. Their Swarovski-studded Cadillac is 100,000 crystals short of the Russian A5, but it doesn’t look at all less glamorous.

A you can imagine, the so-called ‘Diamond Cadillac‘ stole the show in Qingdao, attracting the eyes of everyone attending and giving new meaning to the phrase ‘diamond finish’. According to brand representatives, this unique CTS Coupe took nine workers a whole week to finish, with each Swarovski crystal mounted to the body of the car with a special fixer. To whom it may concern, they added that the stones “are guaranteed to stay on even in a car wash”.

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Jon Ryder, a Ferrari fan from Sheffield, England, has converted his garage into part of the living room, just so he could look at his yellow Ferrari F355 as he relaxes on the sofa.

The passion Ferrari owners have for their exotic cars has no limit, and 28-year-old Jon Ryder is the perfect example. He bought his yellow road-beast three years ago, but says he’s still thrilled every time he looks at it. It was built in 1996, but the young steel worker says it’s his “favorite piece of Italian art” and that’s precisely why he wanted to find a place to put it on display right in his house.

When Jon and his wife Catherine decided to move to a new house last year, he immediately saw the potential of the garage, and began converting it into a lounge where he could just chill and stare at his Italian beauty. The conversion took him a whole month, working in his spare time, and he had to sacrifice the top half of his living room to make enough room for his garage/lounge, but says he has no regrets. The garage door is masked by a stylish curtain. He tried to keep expenses to a minimum, especially since his wife kept telling him it was just a garage, so he managed to spend just $1,450.

Word of Jon’s efforts reached Ferarri headquarters, and a spokesperson praised his passion for his Ferarri F355.

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Russian tuner Shampa stole the show at a tuning exhibition in Moscow, when they rolled out a white Audi A5 covered with 450,000 Swarovski crystals.

Now I’ve seen some pimped out rides in my days, including a gold-plated Mercedes, but I have to say Swarovski crystals are the best choice if you want your car to really shine. I was sold when I saw that SL600 covered in 300,000 Swarovski crystals, in Tokyo, and Shampa’s latest creation just made it that much more obvious. Apparently they ordered the crystals directly from Austria, it took 1,440 man hours to cover this baby in bling and cost the Russian tuner 6 million rubles, which is around $215,000. It’s the only one of its kind.

So what do you think, exceptional tuning or tasteless exhibitionism?

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53-year-old Momir Bojic, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, has recently showed-off his unique Volkswagen Beetle, made almost entirely from wood.

Momir built his wooden Beetle six years ago, as a hobby, and says it took him an entire year to complete the job. At first glance, it looks like a 1:1 scale replica of Volkswagen iconic buggy, but this is a real drivable vehicle. It has a full wooden body, wooden steering wheel, hub caps, dashboard and has become somewhat of an attraction on wheels in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, near Momir Bojic’s hometown of Celinac. During the recent auto meeting held in Banja Luka, out of the over 100 models of vintage cars on show, the wooden Beetle got the most attention from visitors and passers-by.

Momir says he has driven his wooden car all through his home country as well as through some of the neighboring states, and people just couldn’t take their eyes off the amazing vehicle covered with around 20,000 oak slats.

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A Chinese car enthusiast from Kunming has spent around $13,800 to turn his old Nissan A31 into the sports car of his dreams, a Lamborghini Reventon.

What’s a car lover to do when he likes a luxury car so much, but can’t afford to buy it? Build one of his own, of course, and that’s just what Asan, the owner of a hair salon in Kunming, China, decided to do after he fell in love with the Lamborghini Reventon. he has always been a fan of the Italian car manufacturer and dreamed of owning one of the petrol-powered road beasts one day, but when he saw the new Reventon costs around $2,3 million, he decided to take a different approach to realizing his dream.

The first thing he did was buy a Lamborghini he could actually afford – a miniature model of the Reventon, which served as inspiration for the three welders he hired to turn his 1995 Nissan A31 into one of the most exclusive cars on Earth. All the parts used were replicas or self-made, except for a genuine Lamborghini RB25 engine. His team of workers only needed 12 days to complete the body of this home-made Lamborghini Reventon, and Asan estimates the whole deal will only cost him around 90,000 yuan ($13,800). Not too bad, considering the price of the original alternative.

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