‘Father of the year’ builds a stunning Rolls-Royce Boat Tail replica out of wood for his son to drive




And the father of the year award goes to…

While buying a HIGHLY limited edition $28 million dollar luxury car isn’t in everyone’s realm of capabilities, a Vietnamese dad decided to just take matters into his own hands and build a miniature working replica of the Rolls-Royce Boat Tail from scratch. Meet Trương Văn Đạo, father and sole proprietor of ND Woodworking Art, a wood workshop and YouTube channel that captures Văn Đạo in action as he builds out miniature replicas of the world’s most sought-after automobiles. Last year, Văn Đạo built out a mini-sized Lamborghini Sian out of wood, complete with butterfly doors and an electric power train. This time around, he decided to step things up a notch and build what’s touted as quite literally the most expensive street-legal car on the market today. Văn Đạo’s replica of the Boat Tail doesn’t just scale the grand tourer down… it comes with opening doors, functional headlights/taillights, and actual driving capabilities (no, it doesn’t come with a V12 like the original)… but the cherry on the cake? Well, the rear butterfly trunk which opens to reveal a set of glasses, some juice-boxes, and a place to dock an umbrella as you sip on orange juice while seated behind the luxury car!

The video at the top documents the second half of the two-part video series covering Văn Đạo’s build process. It’s remarkable how he builds the entire car from scratch, not even relying on any sort of existing toy car chassis or even any material other than wood. Văn Đạo starts by putting together large wooden pieces together that make up the overall mass of the car before carving away at it with a chainsaw to get it to somewhat resemble the original. It’s fair to assume that the process takes months, especially given that Văn Đạo also has a day job at Google.

In the process, Văn Đạo also assembles the car’s powertrain, which fits in the rear of the car, right below the drink-holding trunk. Unlike the Boat Tail, this tiny replica uses a battery-powered motor instead of a V12 – the result is a car that gracefully drives through streets instead of setting speed records. To finish off, he uses various tools from sanding machines to hole-saw bits to make all the details from the holes for the headlights to the slots for the windshield, doors, and other details to fit in. The car uses different grades of wood, from a lighter wood for the body and interiors to darker woods for details like the grilles, parts of the dashboard, and even the Spirit of Ecstasy statuette that sits on the hood of the car! The entire vehicle gets a layer of lacquer once it’s ready to show the world.

Once meticulously assembled, the video ends with the father taking his son for a spin in the newly fabricated vehicle, and even stopping in a corner to bust out the drink caddy fitted into the back of the car. The father and son then share a glass of orange juice together, making memories that will undoubtedly be more valuable than a $28 million car can ever be!

Designer: ND Woodworking Art

The post ‘Father of the year’ builds a stunning Rolls-Royce Boat Tail replica out of wood for his son to drive first appeared on Yanko Design.

Rolls-Royce takes inspiration from luxury yachts to create this bespoke handmade coupé!

Luxury can mean a lot of things–spending the summer floating by on a yacht in the Mediterranean, it could mean strolling around town in a bespoke Rolls-Royce, or it might mean reviving the Rolls-Royce coachbuilding team to design cars that make you feel like you’re on a yacht. Comparable to luxury shipbuilding yards like Feadship in the Netherlands, the reestablished coachbuilding team at Rolls Royce designs motorcars using the vision of the patrons who commission them. Finding laps of luxury and inspiration on the sea, the coachbuilding team’s commissioned debuts, designed and built-in confidentiality, are three built-to-order Rolls-Royce motorcars called Boat Tails inspired by the build and structural anatomy of yachts.

The Boat Tail, a coupé born from the patrons’ enduring love for the sea and taste for nautical design, was designed specifically to celebrate the hand-craftsmanship and relative history of yacht building. Three coupés inspired by nautical shipbuilding design have been built under the modern coachbuilding department at Rolls-Royce. Merging today’s advanced technology with the trusted bespoke coachwork of yesteryear, the Boat Tail’s hand-formed chassis cradles a 19-foot bonnet that covers the car’s 6.75-liter V-12 engine. The stone azure coat of the Boat Tail slopes to a wisped finish around the rear and borders the motorcar’s painted pantheon grille.

Inside, the Boat Tail comes equipped with technologies and comforts that have never before graced the luxury-ridden Rolls-Royce interior. Among other hors d’oeuvres and apéritifs to bedeck the Boat Tail’s rear butterfly trunk, revealed through twin side-hinged compartments, champagne is stored in ice, and caviar is kept cool in trunk refrigerators and ice-boxes. Blooming from the same trunk cabin, a high-tensile fabric parasol provides shade and locks in place on stainless steel poles and aluminum connectors, stretching over carbon-fiber frame stays to remain in place even in the windiest of conditions.

Rolls-Royce carries a rich coachbuilding history that dates back to the 20th century. Progressing past their 2017 bespoke car building platform, Rolls-Royce built the one-off Boat Tail for an unnamed client, firmly establishing their specialized coachbuilding department for the 21st century. The many Rolls-Royce coachbuilders of the past would begin with the chassis, dedicating their expertise to the frame, motor, and suspension, before handing it off to different coach makers who would design the rest of the car’s body and interior according to the patron’s specifications. Today, Rolls-Royce announced a permanent coachbuilding department made up of skilled engineers and designers to roll out built-to-order motorcars that surpass the coachbuilding endeavors from the past, planting it distinctly in a motorcade fleet of its own.

Designer: Rolls-Royce

A rear-side parasol opens up from the Boat Tail’s twin butterfly trunk compartments for additional shade and weather protection.

The two-door coupé slopes to a gradient finish in stone azure blue.

Luxe additions like caviar and cooled champagne grace the inside of the Boat Tail’s trunk.

Gleaming aluminum panels line the Boat Tail’s sides and top.

Equipped even with coordinated watches for the bespoke model’s owners, Rolls-Royce made it happen with the Boat Tail.

Creators behind the Boat Tail call it the trip and the destination, equipped with all the amenities one might need for a highway rendezvous that culminates with a cliffside picnic.

A high-tensile fabric parasol provides shade and protection whenever rain comes.