Yes, you’re probably thinking it has been only 17 minutes since we last featured the latest/greatest from Danish toy genius, Lego.
And you’d probably be right: but then, the calibre of car-themed sets it is releasing at present is something else.
The last time we checked in with the bricktastic company, it had created a Lego Technic Bugatti Chiron hypercar, which rivalled a previous Porsche 911 GT3 for the most amount of bricks required for the build.
Now Lego has mashed up three of our favourite things into one awesome set: Lego, Aston Martin and James Bond.
Thugh this latest release might feature fewer pages in its instruction booklet, it’s certainly the most gadget-laden vehicle the company has produced.
It’s a model of the most iconic of all Bond vehicles; the Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger.
And you’ll be chuffed to note that many of the gadgets that were a feature of that car on film are rendered here in one-eighth scale.
There’s a working ejector seat, revolving number plates, a bullet proof screen that rises up behind the rear window and even the “tyre scythes” that emerge from the centre nuts of the wheels in order to shred the rubber of any baddies in hot pursuit.
Other details include opening bonnet, boot and doors, while wing-mounted machine guns, a hidden telephone and a radar screen are there. too.
(Although we’re unsure whether the latter is restricted to accurate GPS coverage of the Home Counties, like the original).
The Lego Aston Martin DB5 is available online and will set you back around $250 (plus freight) once you’ve finished playing with the price converter.
What better than watching a Bond film on TV on Christmas Day, then sitting down at the kitchen table to build this beauty?
It’s enough to make you chase the relatives out the door at the end of Christmas lunch.
VinFast: the next household name in cars
Talk about a kick start. The auto world’s latest buzz-word brand isn’t some crowd-funded SoCal EVangelist, nor the brainchild of a Euro trust-funder who has grown bored of his supercar playthings and decided to build his own hypercar. VinFast is from Vietnam — not really the epicentre of automotive design.
But then, as it turns out, VinFast has some high-powered pals. Namely Italian design icon, Pininfarina, which has designed a new sedan and SUV for the Southeast Asian automotive company; both of which will be properly unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October.
What’s more, both cars are production-ready, claims VinFast.
What do we know about the vehicles?
Not a lot, other than that the SUV is purportedly BMW X5-sized, while the sedan is said to boast similar dimensions and footprint to an Audi A6. Big, in other words. The cars will use “German technology” under the sheet metal.
What that means, precisely (and German technology supplied by whom) remains unknown for now.
There’s another foreign connection to the VinFast enterprise which might explain its speedy rise; General Motors.
VinFast is part of a Vietnamese conglomerate, Vingroup, run by former vice-president of manufacturing at GM, James DeLuca.
Your $21,000 oil change starts here
You think an oil change on a 16-cylinder, 8-litre engine is going to be straightforward? No, us neither, although the complicated reality of servicing a Bugatti Veyron is still jaw-dropping.
There’s a great YouTube clip online that takes viewers through the whole process; one that costs the owner — Las Vegas exotic vehicle rental agency Royalty Exotic Cars — a whopping US$21,000. Mind you, when your car costs well north of a mill to replace (rental banger or otherwise), the maths probably still checks out.
Royalty Exotic Cars’ Veyron was suffering a fluid leak in the active rear wing, so the agency took it into its local hyper-car specialist (as you would in any town, really) to be fixed.
While it was up on the hoist, an oil change was added to the list. Take a seat and leaf through an old magazine sir, we’ll be right with you.
The Bugatti has 16 drain plugs for a start and that fluid leak meant most of the rear bodywork needed to be removed. You can’t even put the Veyron on a hoist like any other supercar — you need to jack it up off the ground first before the lift pads can be placed.
And if you’re still shaking your head over that bill, don’t worry. Royalty charges $20,000 to hire the car for 24 hours, so the firm will probably have made the cash back by the time you read this.