Romanian Teen Builds Full-Size, Drivable Lego Car

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Romanian Teen Builds Full-Size, Drivable Lego Car

An Australian entrepreneur and a teenage Romanian genius have come together to build a full-sized Lego hotrod, complete with air-powered Lego engine, that actually works.

It's not exactly a '69 Chevy with a 396 but this life-size Lego hotrod is every bit as awesome in its own right: a mean-looking black-and-yellow machine, air powered, low to the ground and completely drivable. It won't catch third gear rubber and it's not even clear whether it can actually be steered, but you can sit in it and it moves, to an estimated top speed of 20 to 30 km/h.

The Super Awesome Micro Project, as it's officially known, got started in February 2012 when Australian Steve Sammartino went to Twitter seeking investments of $500 to $1000 "in a project which is awesome & a world first." He said he needed about 20 people to kick in but ended up with 40, all of whom were informed by the prospectus [http://startupblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/the-super-awesome-micro-project-prospectus1.pdf] that there would be no return on the investment and that the whole thing might be a bust.

Fortunately for the good of the world, it was not. The money was used to buy a half-million Lego bricks, which were then shipped off to Romania, where builder Raul Oaida went to work. The wheels, gauges and some "load bearing elements" aren't Lego but everything else, including the air-powered, 256-piston engine, is built out of tiny plastic bricks. And it works! Once completed, the car was shipped to an undisclosed location in suburban Melbourne, where it remains.

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Oh, Lego. Is there anything you can't do?

Source: SuperAwesomeMicroProject [http://www.superawesomemicroproject.com/]


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Imperioratorex Caprae

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May 15, 2010
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Evil Smurf said:
I live in Melbourne, I'm going to find it, and drive it!
I'm calling foul... because you know there's that other tendency when one sees a LEGO creation, no matter how awesome... One must smash it. Or at least toss something hard at it to see how many pieces you knock off.
C'mon, I'm definitely not the only one who thought about it.
 

SecondPrize

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Mar 12, 2012
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This seems cool but... the cynic in me is saying that this Australian "entrepreneur" just went on kickstarter so other people could finance his lego car.
 

martyrdrebel27

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Feb 16, 2009
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And yet the world's top scientists haven't yet found a viable alternative to fossil fuels? Yeah, I'm calling bullshit.

OT, I wonder what a high-speed collision in that thing would look like...
 

WWWLUCIFERCOM

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Jan 18, 2013
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Who wouldnt want to get into a car accident with the Lego car rear end it watch 500,000+ Lego bits fly into the air all the kids in the neighborhood come rushing out to grab as many free legos as they can. The insurance company has to go out give you money for more legos
 

Roxas1359

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Aug 8, 2009
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martyrdrebel27 said:
And yet the world's top scientists haven't yet found a viable alternative to fossil fuels?
Technically they have, it's just that the cost is a tad too high for what they want really. If it were cheaper then we wouldn't have a problem.

OT: Welp, now all my Lego creations I made as a child are now completely destroyed, along with any thought that I was creative with Lego blocks in the first place. :p
 

Scarim Coral

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Oct 29, 2010
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While that is impressive and all but that must be so uncomfortable to sit on let alone being dangerous to be in during a car crash and I'm not talking about a lack of airbag (you pretty much going to slam your skull into a brick) that is of course it gather more speed than 30 km/h!
 

weirdee

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Apr 11, 2011
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Scarim Coral said:
While that is impressive and all but that must be so uncomfortable to sit on let alone being dangerous to be in during a car crash and I'm not talking about a lack of airbag (you pretty much going to slam your skull into a brick) that is of course it gather more speed than 30 km/h!
I feel like cruising that slow to let everybody gape while you roll by with an engine made out of lego blocks is part of the inherent design of the vehicle.
 

CrazyGirl17

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Sep 11, 2009
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Holy crap that is cool... I sure hope it doesn't get wrecked though, that would be a waste...
 
Sep 14, 2009
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Neronium said:
martyrdrebel27 said:
And yet the world's top scientists haven't yet found a viable alternative to fossil fuels?
Technically they have, it's just that the cost is a tad too high for what they want really. If it were cheaper then we wouldn't have a problem.
yup exactly, that combustion reaction is too damn convenient for cars these days :D if they had a cheaper alternative (or another way entirely to run a car/transportation vehicle) it would've been streamlined by now.


OT: this is pretty fucking cool, but too damn expensive D:
 

Dark Knifer

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May 12, 2009
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Evil Smurf said:
I live in Melbourne, I'm going to find it, and drive it!
Pick me up while you're at it.

I'm impressed by the whole thing but I'm completely blown away about the engine being made of lego.

I can't even fathom that.
 

Arawn

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Dec 18, 2003
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Okay that's pretty darn awesome. I wish I had one,but I'd probably be too afraid to drive it. With my luck someone would crash into me or something.
 

Guffe

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Jul 12, 2009
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This is pretty sweet.
Wouldn't mind trying it myself.
Unfortuanetly I live on the other side of the globe...
 

MrSilver

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Feb 29, 2008
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martyrdrebel27 said:
And yet the world's top scientists haven't yet found a viable alternative to fossil fuels? Yeah, I'm calling bullshit.

OT, I wonder what a high-speed collision in that thing would look like...
You do realize it just runs on compressed air? You can even see the air tank in one of the photo's. You need to compress the air first to make an engine like this work, which requires another source of power for the compressor. So no, this is not a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Basically, this is a compressed-air vehicle [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed-air_vehicle], which have been around for over a hundred years.

That said, a working vehicle build almost entirely from Lego is just awesome. Even if it isn't going to revolutionize the way our vehicles are powered.
 

michael87cn

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Jan 12, 2011
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Interesting, but of course this is only for entertainment purposes. I mean, that car doesn't actually function. I imagine the 'engine' would fall apart fairly quickly without cooling or lubrication. Also it looks to me like they gave it a push via manpower off-camera but maybe I'm wrong.

So basically they made a giant skateboard out of legos that you can sit in.