This Chevrolet model was my entry for the 1st International System Creativity Contest initiated by the webmaster of 1000steine. Despite a very hard competition with a lot of really great entries, in the end I proudly made the overall 2nd place and the 1st place in the "best constructed entry" rating. Here are the original pages of my entry.

As with most of my models, I started out by building a prototype of the front to see if the project is worth continuing. For me a critical part was the look of the headlights. But when I had the idea to use the #4266 technic rim (I got the red ones from 6615) as housing for the lights, I was absolutely sure that the project would succeed.

At first the headlights were build like the ones of the Mercedes 300 SL, using the light gray wedge belt wheels. But then to my surprise I found a "clear" version of those wheels at a yard sale. Before that I didn't even know that they exist in this "color". But now that I know, these parts make excellent headlights for all cars.

Here's the front of the Chevy in all it's glory. First I tried round 1x1 black plates on top of the two "torpedo"-bumpers, but then I decide-ded that the rubber should only be represented by the "holes" of the newer cones.

Of course my model was inspired by the cover of the "The Ultimate LEGO Book". As with this Chevy model, my convertible should have a "real" windshield, too. I used two windshields from the 5571/5563 set. Mounting these at a specific angle and integrating them with the rest of the hood and dashboard was VERY tricky.

I used the light gray "Flex System" tube from the 8457 set to attach the sun visors and the rear view mirror. The "fuzzy dice" were obli-gatory, although they are not that furry in this case, being out of Lego and all ...

Just like the Excalibur, the Chevy uses the 4261 steering arms and an "upside down" mounting of the gear rack to leave as much space as possible for the engine above. The steering wheel is held in position using 2 of the "newer" #6629 technic liftarms. I removed the dice in the above shot, so you can see the radio unit.

As you can see, I wanted to be very precise (although I used white instead of silver/gray) recreating the interior of the car, including the round knobs on the seats (represented by 1x1 round plates). Notice that instead of 2 single ones, the car has a continuous seat in the front also, although their backs can be adjusted separately.

I didn't want to use any kind of stickers on the model but also wanted to keep the overall color scheme of the original car including the small chrome parts (represented by light gray). This proved to be very tricky when I started building the rear fins, which required a lot of "SNOT'ing" (and so did the rest of the car).

The "round" shape of the case for the spare tire is achieved by using 24 of the 33 degree slope bricks, which makes it totally symmetric. The case can be tilted backward to be able to open and load the trunk.

Click the above image to see one of four random pictures.

Model dimensions:
length: 54,5 cm
width: 21.5 cm (w/o mirrors) height: 15 cm

Here is a "work in progress" picture of the Chevy, almost finished though, only a few engine details are still missing. I use these tablets to keep the "recently used" parts, so I have them ready when I continue building.

This scene depicts the opening for my ISCC story. It wasn't as easy as it might seem to intentionally "create" junk, but I kept trying until it looked all messy.

To make the restoration process believable, I had to "build" some damage, including rust (represented by brown and dark gray parts) and dents. Notice that even the glass of one of the headlights has fallen out of it's housing (Now you can see the clear 1x1 round plates I used to fill the holes of the wedge belt wheels)

A common problem of large scale LEGO cars seems to be that they sometimes look all "blocky". To prevent this, I constructed the sides of the car by placing plates sideways. This posed to be a little problem when building the front wheel arches, because the car is narrowing towards the bottom.

To keep the shape of the arch and also archive a smooth transition between regular faced bricks and the plates on the sides, I had to mount a triple slope brick (#3048) upside down within the arch (as seen above).

I had to build a second hood, which should look like someone is working very hard on it with a power sander, filler and rust-proofing paint. Thanks to lighter gray parts from the 3443 mosaic set, I had an additional color at hand to create finer transitions between the different materials like filler and bare metal.

As you can see on these pictures, the radiator grille consists of numerous 1x2 grille tiles. 46 in total, two rows with 2 plates space between them to mount the corner lights and bumpers. In Addition to the characteristically red V8 engine block, my Chevy also features air filter, generator, brake booster, battery and fuse box.

For the "engine repair" picture, the flat head had to be removed, so you can see the pistons. Thanks to LEGO's "flex system", the engine even has an oil dipstick (I "borrowed" this idea from one of Dennis Bosman's truck engines). Let's hope none of the tools is left in the engine compartment after repairs are finished.

I had to come up with something for the final picture of my ISCC story. A murder out of jealousy would fit to my "Christine" story, and the only "victim" at hand which roughly matched the scale of my model was a figure of the well known Lara Croft. I removed the engine and tried a few shots until I ended up with the one on the right.