Sure we all love to build with LEGO but, chances are, you may have dipped your toes into other toys and hobbies as well. Before rediscovering LEGO, I was an avid model car builder and collector of Hot Wheels cars (and still am!). Hot-rodding legend Tom Daniel holds a special place in my heart as his outlandish show rod models and Hot Wheels casts such as the Beer Wagon, and Red Baron is still popular and sought-after toys today. You may recall that LEGO legend Andrea Lattanzio built Tom Daniel’s Paddy Wagon a couple years back. To be clear, Andrea’s Beer Wagon (pictured below) dates back a few years as well but it was never featured here at the time. Recently he sat down with Tom Daniel for an interview and if you ask me, that’s pretty thrilling!

Some highlights of note from the interview; the Beer wagon was Tom’s first design for Monogram models, then came the Red Baron and his career pretty much skyrocketed from there. Overnight Daniel dreamed up the Munster Koach for George Barris, although the credit for the design by Daniel often gets misstated. He also designed the Bat Cycle for the 1960s Batman television series. Tom Daniel also flew for the U.S. Navy during the Cuban Missile Crisis and worked as a Design Engineer for the APOLLO MOON Project. Of course you may read the entire interview here.

We’re rather proud of Andrea’s achievements. He was voted The Brothers Brick Builder of the Year in 2019. He’s still quite the prolific builder nowadays. We raise our glasses high in salute to him. Check out why we think Andrea Lattanzio is a pint of premium brew.