Bricks and Wheels: Building A Life-Sized LEGO Volvo

If you´ve spent some time on the great interweb in the last couple of years and have an interest in awesome LEGO creations, there is a pretty good chance you might have stumbled across a large car being built out of LEGO bricks—a white Volvo V70, to be specific. And you may have wondered, “What in the world is going on here, who is building this thing, and why?“ Well, wonder no more as I chatted with the man behind the build, fellow Swede and LEGO Masters Season 1 winner David Gustafsson. So let’s put the interview car into gear because here we go!

Andreas Lenander: First off, thank you very much for taking the time to chat with us here at BrickNerd! So who is David Gustafsson? Tell us a bit about yourself.

David Gustafsson: Hi! I am 24 years old, living outside Jönköping in Sweden with my dog Alexi and my girlfriend Jasmine. As my largest hobby (LEGO) became my full-time job, I really don´t have any other true hobbies, even though I probably should. Although I try to get some time off during the weekends to meet friends and do non-LEGO stuff, I often find myself stuck at work building some project or my 1:1 car. It’s not always because I have to, but because I enjoy it too much to do anything else! When I do get around to doing something non-LEGO, it´s usually playing video games, eating out, fixing my car, or taking walks with the dog.

david with a comissioned build he made for a famous author, the build was a gift from another author who wanted something unique and fun (i would say david delivered on that!)

Andreas: Awesome, thanks! Now, tell us, how on earth did you come up with the idea for a huge car? Was this always the plan after you won LEGO Masters in Sweden?

David: Actually this idea was born during the recording of episode seven of our LEGOMasters Sweden season. Mauri, the presenter, went around and asked the teams what we would do with all the LEGO if we won it all, and I said I would build my own car in life-size, mainly as a joke, to be honest, but as Rickard and I happened to win it all, I had to swallow my joke and finish the task. As soon as we won, this car build was my only idea for what to do with the LEGO I won.

[As context for BrickNerd readers, the winners of LEGO Masters Sweden receive an insane amount of LEGO pieces. Basically, you get a total amount that you can spend on ordering pieces directly from LEGO. The prices for each piece are super-secret, even to the winners, but they generally correlate in scale with the market value on BrickLink but are much cheaper. So in essence, if you spend all your winnings on exotic animals, you end up with significantly fewer total pieces. If you spend it on “cheaper“ pieces, like basic 2x4 bricks, you get a LOT more in terms of number of elements… hopefully that makes sense. Anyways, back to David.]

Andreas: How did your storage solution look when the pallets arrived? Did you realise how much brick it was before it arrived? I know I got a slight sense of panic when my two pallets arrived after I won my season. I know you had a bit more volume to take care of…

David: At the time of the delivery, I had a small basement workshop of 15 square meters, and given the fact I received six full-size pallets of bricks, I soon realized I was in a bit of trouble. So I found a garage to rent rather quickly, which was fortunate and meant I could start building the car just a few months into 2021.

Andreas: How did you go about designing it? I mean, it´s a car. Like, a real car…

David: The design part gradually took shape as I built the car. For the most part, I used a tape measure to set reference points and make simple molds out of cardboard to transfer from the real car´s shape to the LEGO model, and basically built according to the mold. I have tried generating a 3D brick model with some software but haven’t had much luck with that, to be honest, mainly due to the size and the fact that the computer doesn’t take into consideration that I want steerable wheels, and thus clearance for that and openable doors and so on. Another limit, at least the softwares I’ve tried, is the maximum size model of 1x1 meters, which obviously isn’t enough for a car. So, in the end, I’m using mostly old-school techniques.

Everything that is not the bodywork is easier and much more fun to design. With these details, I usually build smaller models by hand and with real bricks going with the old “trial and error” approach.

Andreas: Wow, that is impressive. And fun to hear that the old school ways still have a solid place in a build of this magnitude. How many bricks would you estimate you’ve used - and how many did you have to order on BrickLink?

David: At the moment, I’ve used approximately 320,000 pieces. And given that I only picked mostly white bricks in the victory on the show, I’ve had to buy lots of parts like 2,000 small windshields, for example, and a sheer amount of other coloured pieces and special elements. Maybe an additional 20-30,000 pieces?

[Another fun sidenote: to be able to transport the LEGO car, David had to get a big trailer. Because of the weight of the trailer, David had to get a new license to drive it. I laughed so hard when I heard that! Anyways, back to the interview!]

Andreas: That is crazy, but it is a car after all! Have you gotten Volvo (the company) on board in any way?

David: I know that Volvo knows what I’m doing, but at the moment, that’s all I know regarding Volvo.

Andreas: For a question that I´m guessing is on everyone’s mind, what are you going to do with it after you finish the car? I mean, when I finish a build, I usually photograph it and then put it on the shelf. And if I´m feeling really ambitious, I take it apart and sort the pieces. I´m guessing that´s not really applicable in this case…

David: Oh, I have plans! Here’s my to-do list once the car is finished:

Gather some friends and go to a McDonald’s drive-through to get some cheeseburgers.

Park the car on the city streets and not pay, just to find out if you can get a parking fine with a LEGO car. I might want to hide in a nearby bush to watch the whole scene.

Take Mauri and Magnus (the judges from LEGO Masters Sweden) for a ride in the car.

Travel around Sweden and perhaps Europe on some tour to showcase the finished car.

Book a car inspection slot for a real car and come by with the LEGO car. And I’m sure I’ll figure out more things to do with it later.

Andreas: That is beyond hilarious! If you do any (hopefully all) of these things, you have to get it on camera, especially the idea of the car inspection, because that would be amazing. By the way, how much time have you spent on this LEGO Volvo so far? Has it been fun or has it felt more like a task?

David: At the moment, I’ve put down about 2,400 hours on the build—almost three years. It´s been fun, of course, for the most part. But as the project has gained some media attention over the years, I have suffered from periods of the project not being fun at all and just being a pain because of psychological reasons—I feel like I have to deliver updates on how it´s going and so on. That sadly takes away a portion of the fun from the project, but overall, it is very fun. And I am so happy for all the people watching and following the process of building the car.

Andreas: Well, that´s definitely understandable, given the scale of this project. I have to admit, I´m still amazed you´ve carried on with this whole endeavor given the time it´s taken. And doing it “in the public eye“ as well is impressive. Getting a bit more nerdy, what has been the greatest challenge in terms of problem-solving?

David: By far, the greatest issue with this build is durability. As I’m making it fully functional and driveable, it needs to be much more durable than if it would just sit in one spot for its whole life. So yes, there is a steel bottom plate and some supports for the roof and doors to make it work. And yes, some parts are glued to make it withstand movement and transport. I do try to keep the glue to a minimum, though, as I may have to adjust my design after realizing some mistakes since I’m designing the car as I´m building it.

Andreas: I'm always happy to hear about glue being kept to a minimum! I know you like to work with Technic functions—is there anything in the car that moves?

David: Yes, I enjoy making things move and work with LEGO technic, and this car is no exception. Basically everything that works on the real car works on the LEGO car, too. For example, doors that open with LEGO handles and latches, an openable fuel lid, moving AC vents, curvature lights that follow the steering motion of the front wheels, moving pedals and working gear selector, openable glove box and storage compartments, working windshield wipers, and some more things. These functional parts are really what makes the car fun to build for me—if it weren’t fun, I wouldn’t want to build it at all.

Andreas: Well, that is just insane, but I´d expect nothing less from you. I still remember one of the first times I met you. Another fellow Swebrick member, Peter Ilmrud, and I had designed a mascot for a company. We then met at a dinner hosted by that company and showed off the build (a robot about 30 cm high that stood on one wheel with a monitor as a head). All of a sudden, I saw an upscaled version (about two or three times as big) rolling into the dining area. It was a motorized version of our build that went around and greeted everyone. My mind was blown—Peter just said, “Oh yeah, that´s just David doing David things.“

It´s been a few years since then, and now you have a company that focuses on making LEGO builds, Brickscale. Can you tell us a bit about that?

David: That is correct. Brickscale is a company I started as a school project back in 2017, which later became my full-time profession (since the start of 2021). At the moment, we are five people who work in different areas for the company. For example digital design, IRL building, marketing, event planning, as well as staff for events. The two main branches are commissioned builds for companies and organizations and different-sized events with LEGO activities and discoveries.

Me (in the yellow shirt) and David (far left), as well as a few other contestants from different Lego masters sweden seasons, at one of his events last year

Andreas: That´s quite a business you’ve got going there—congratulations on your success! Now you´ve obviously done more projects besides the car. Is there anything else specific that you´re especially happy with or proud of?

David: During this time, we have, among other things, built The Beatles and Henrik Fexeus as 1:1 human sculptures, mini-scale horses representing the Swedish Olympic team, as well as a fully working ABB robot (that was fun).

Andreas: I remember seeing a few of those builds last year, and I especially loved the horses! Had it always been your dream/plan to do something like this, or how did that happen?

David: It wasn´t the plan until 2018 when I realised that there might be a market for this odd yet very fun profession, as there is value in the communication achieved by LEGO models and the joy and fun from events that center around the LEGO brick. And after LEGO Masters, the market completely opened up in a new way I had not seen before. Winning resulted in a lot of media attention for sure, which was not bad for me at all.

But more importantly, the market and world seemed to realise that LEGO is more than a toy. It´s not strange anymore for an adult to sit down and build some LEGO for the sake of fun and relaxation. It is now a lot more understandable to people how LEGO can be used as a playful and powerful communication tool and eye-catcher, which makes my job possible.

Andreas: That is very true. Thanks again for letting me pick your brain a bit and get some more insights into not only the car but also you as a builder. All the best!

David: Thanks!

I hope you liked this article, and make sure to check out David´s Instagram to follow along for more updates on the car and whatever else he´s got cooking over there. I can assure you, it won´t disappoint!

What other life-size car would you like to see built out of LEGO? Let us know in the comments below.

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