Bend City Auto Garage

We’d like to share our build process, since we feel that the time and dedication to detail is what sets this project apart.

Design Inspiration:

Our original inspiration was a 1935 Auburn Boattail, but after struggling with the curves we opted for the more squared body types of the Duesenberg and Packard. We kept these references on hand through all the modifications. As, for the building itself, everytime we drove past a piece of cool, old architecture we would get new ideas to try out on the shop. In the end we went for a very close replica of an old pharmacy in our town. It was part nostalgic, but also it was just a great building that could be well-translated in to Lego.

We custom-designed our artwork and stickers. All the details were important to us, from the custom dash to the Grand Brix posters to the car magazines in the waiting area. We did spend a lot of time on these items, but it is, in part, what makes this build unique.

Finding Parts:

One significant challenge with building by hand is locating parts. We had to first guess which parts may work, find someone globally that sold them, then wait for them to arrive. At that point, many parts failed to achieve the look or fit that we wanted and we would start the process again. Our initial hot rod was a multi-colored mess, where we tested parts and ideas. One additional constraint that we ran into was that not every part we wanted to use came in the color we wanted. We either had to change the design, paint a part or find someone to custom color the part. This was frustrating at times, but added to fun twist to the challenge. Our parts ended up coming from Australia, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Canada and the United States.

Reason for Hand-building:

While this may seem slow and avoidable if we would just render it, the end result is a quality build. This is what Lego is about; using your hands and your brain to endlessly create with bricks. The complexity of moving parts, such as reclining seats, opening doors and the garage lift, necessitated a long process of trial and error. The slight sticking points that were detected with various bricks would never have been discovered if we had not built it by hand. We wouldn’t trade the experience of hand-building this project for a quicker solution. The time and energy that came with building Bend City Auto Garage has been highly satisfying.

We hope you enjoyed seeing how and why we built Bend City Auto Garage!