Lego car hits the road in Melbourne

Forty people funded the Lego car, which was built in Romania and Australia during a 20-month period for about $18,000.

An Australian entrepreneur and a Romanian student have completed their ambitious project to create a car from 500,000 Lego pieces. The Super Awesome Micro Project, from Steve Sammartino and Raul Oaido, launched in February 2012 to fund and build a car made almost entirely out of the brightly-coloured bricks. Forty Australians stepped forward to finance the project, pledging between AUS $500 and $1000 each to make the dream come true. "I wanted to do something interesting that shows there are a myriad of possible innovations for cars. We wanted to be an example to open people's minds," Sammartino told Australian media. "It's something the car industry needs." The life-sized two-seater has a top speed of 30 km per hour (20 mph) and is powered by four orbital engines with 256 pistons - all made of Lego - that run on compressed air. The yellow and black car, designed like a hotrod, took 20 months to complete. Apart from structural gear such as the wheels, tires, gauges and load-bearing components, only Lego bricks were used.

Source: Reuters