How to Make a Lego Car

An original Lego car design.

You don't need an instruction book to build Lego cars. All you need is creativity, ingenuity and a large cache of Legos. These instructions come from my 12-year-old Lego-expert son. He used white, medium blue and light blue pieces to create his own design for a professional-looking Lego car. You can use any colors you like for this project. Feel free to use your own imagination to come up with additional ideas for making your Lego car innovative and original.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. The wheel bases for the Lego car.

   Start with two small sets of wheels, one with larger wheels and one with smaller wheels. It's best to use the wheels with better traction. Attach transparent colored hubcaps to the ends of the back wheels. Attach a piece to the underside of the back wheels to mimic a tailpipe.

2. The Lego car with the base added.

   Attach two or more long strips to the two wheel bases. The strips should be two studs wide and up to nine studs long. Alternate colors for decorative effect.

3. The Lego car with the headlights attached.

   Continue to build up the main chassis of the car using differently colored Lego strips. At the front of the car, attach one small, solid black piece that is two studs wide by one stud long. On top of each stud, place a round, transparent Lego. Place one transparent strip over the top of these two pieces. This mimics the headlights of the car.

4. The chassis build-up of the Lego car progresses.

   Locate a larger strip that is four studs wide at the back, and which tapers down slightly at the front. It should be approximately the same length as the rest of your car. Turn it over and attach two small Lego pieces on the underside of this piece. These pieces will be used to attach the wings. Continue building up the chassis, using smaller pieces of several different colors.

5. The Lego car with rounded pieces at the rear and wings attached.

   Try to find pieces with a rounded edge to give your Lego car more interest. Attach two wings to the pieces that you attached to the underside of the large, long, tapered Lego. Place two striated Legos on top to decorate your Lego car.

6. The finished Lego car.

   Attach an engine block on the front of your car. Attach some slender pieces to act as doors. Place a spoiler on the back and a transparent windshield on top, and place two triangular, sloped pieces at the very front.

7. Use care when playing with your Lego car to ensure that it doesn't fall apart during play. The car should roll across the floor just like any other toy car. If it doesn't, look underneath the wheels and remove any obstructions that may be preventing the wheels from turning.

Tips & Warnings

• Color-code your Legos to make assembly simpler and easier. Also, try organizing your Legos by shape, size and type.

• Keep a table and chair in your bedroom, or set up a workstation somewhere else in the house.

• Save the buckets that come with Lego Creator sets. They are very handy for storage and organization of Legos. When you purchase more Lego Creator kits, try to buy different kits that come in the same type of bucket. You can stack the buckets more easily if they're all the same shape and size.

• Keep small Legos out of the reach of children under the age of three.