Will the TREKKA have its own LEGO set? Vote!

An enthusiast from New Zealand has designed a LEGO set for the legendary TREKKA SUV. If it gets enough votes, LEGO might actually start making the kit. Check it out and vote!

27. 9. 2021 Classic cars

The Trekka recently appeared on the LEGO Ideas website, where fans of the legendary building blocks can share their ideas for new models. The author is Gareth Davies, who goes by the name Expanse.

Gareth is from New Zealand, where the TREKKA was produced between 1966 and 1973 using mechanical components from the ŠKODA OCTAVIA and local parts, mainly for the body (it was the first and, to date, pretty much the only passenger car designed and made in New Zealand). “I wanted to build something with a strong link to New Zealand, something that kids of all ages could play with and could be put on display as an interesting model. The TREKKA seemed like a great choice,” Gareth writes in the introduction to his set on the LEGO Ideas website.

Comparison of the original SUV TREKKA and visualization of its LEGO model by Gareth Davies

Gareth described to ŠKODA Storyboard how the model was created in the first place. “The TREKKA has quite a distinctive design, and I tried to focus on its key elements: the curves on the front corners, the wedge shape of the bonnet, the flat sides, the angle of the rear wheels, and the overall shape of the roof and rear door,” says Gareth. He says he tried to stick to the proportions of the original as closely as possible.

The model’s light blue colour, known as Medium Azure in the toy company’s parlance, is defined by the rounded bricks that Gareth used for the front corners of the car. “This only comes in four colours, white, reddish brown, and two shades of blue/green. I knew I’d probably have to use white for the roof, so I chose from the other three colours and ended up going for the azure so it would go well with the rest,” he says.

Four weeks of work

Figuring out how to build the bodywork only took Gareth a few days, but the various moving parts were the tricky bit. “To get all the doors to open required a number of changes to the door frame and front window,” says Gareth, adding that this was a departure from the car’s original clean design, but the other alternative was non-opening doors. And he wasn’t going to settle for that. The hardest part, he says, was getting the functional steering and bonnet-opening system right. With the bonnet extending as far as the base of the front window frame, Gareth couldn’t use standard hinges. “In the end, I came up with a mechanism that’s connected to the car’s chassis and allows the bonnet to be lifted and moved forward at the same time,” he says, adding that this solution had to fit under the bonnet along with the steering column, in addition to the engine.

The resulting LEGO brick TREKKA is really detailed. The car has functional steering, openable doors and roof, an openable bonnet and a folding rear bench seat which, when folded away, reveals a hidden storage compartment. The designer even created two variations of the car’s rear design to match the variations that were available in New Zealand in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The set will consist of 1,825 parts and the weight of the assembled model will be over 1.5 kilograms. The dimensions of the model are 34.6 x 18.5 x 19.6 centimetres. It took him a total of four weeks to build the model in the virtual environment of BrickLink Studio. “Now I’m going to do my best and try to actually build the model. But it will probably take a few months before I can buy the necessary parts worldwide,” laughs Gareth.

10,000 votes to make it happen

The model seems to have caught the attention of LEGO and ŠKODA fans alike. Just a few days after its publication, it had already fulfilled the first condition for creating a real set. The idea has to receive at least 100 votes within 60 days, and then it will have another 365 days to collect a total of 1,000 votes. If the idea achieves this, it has another 6 months to reach the 5,000 supporters mark. Then there is another six months to reach the 10,000 vote mark.

So if the LEGO kit TREKKA gets the necessary 10,000 votes on the LEGO Ideas website, it will get on a shortlist and the Danish company might produce the kit one day. ŠKODA Storyboard is of course hugely in favour of this idea, and so we invite fans to vote for the kit. Remember that you need to have an account on the LEGO Ideas website to confirm your vote, so it’s not enough to simply click to cast your vote.

The TREKKA, the first automobile designed and made in New Zealand, was a joint project by ŠKODA, the Czech brand’s importer in New Zealand and local specialised firms.

What is your relationship with ŠKODA cars? Why did you choose the TREKKA model?
My interest in the ŠKODA TREKKA stems from its association with New Zealand. My grandfather loved cars, and when I build things with LEGO bricks I often think of him. So when I was looking for inspiration on what to create, I thought a car would be great. At the same time, I wanted something that would relate to New Zealand, and after some research I came across the trekka.co.nz website. Todd Niall, who runs the website, advised me where to find reference photos.

And how big is your passion for LEGO?
I’ve been playing with it since I was six years old, and used Technics kits a lot as a teenager. When I was in my twenties and thirties, I worked in different places in Europe and always had access to new LEGO kits. It’s been my longest lasting hobby. Plus I’ve been coming back to it more and more in recent years: I have daughters aged 7 and 3 and it’s great to watch them create new things from scratch.

When did the idea for your own kit come about?
I’ve been coming up with my own builds for a while, but only recently discovered the BrickLink Studio app, which gives the user access to all the bricks in all their colours in a virtual environment. I’m currently working on about a dozen different models, but the TREKKA was the first one I completed and uploaded to the LEGO Ideas site. I’m sure there will be more to come, though.