Starting from making toys for his children, Mr. Truong Van Dao built more than 30 wooden supercars, 85% of the original.
At the end of August, Mr. Dao in Tu Son ward shared the process of making a wooden pickup truck model through a 5-minute video. The video summarizes the stages from coming up with ideas, creating drawings, making frames, cutting wood to complete assembly. For a 5-20 minute video posted online, the actual time it takes a 35-year-old father to complete a car lasts 3-4 months.
Graduating in Business Administration from the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology in 2015, Mr. Dao returned to his hometown to take over his family's handcrafted wood carving workshop. At the end of 2019, seeing his son liked electric cars at the amusement park, he came up with the idea of making his own wooden car.
Having no mechanical expertise, he searched for technical specifications and design drawings online. In early 2020, the Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta made from rosewood was completed after 3 months. The car can carry two children, has a wooden shell, and moves in a straight line thanks to thrust.
The video recording the process of making the first car reached 30 million views, becoming the motivation for him to enter the path of professional model making. "I want to use my family's carpentry profession to make cars for my children," Mr. Dao said.
In the beginning, the work cost a lot of money but did not generate revenue. High material costs and long completion times caused the factory's production of fine arts to be interrupted. There was a time when he was tired of financial pressure, but he overcame it thanks to the companionship and support of his family.
The turning point came when the personal YouTube channel was eligible to make money. Revenue from the social networking platform helps him cover raw material costs, maintain his passion, and pay workers.
In order for the models to operate in reality, Mr. Dao studied mechanical engineering. The manufacturing process starts from selecting samples, collecting parameters, designing the chassis and transmission system.
The 35-year-old man was responsible for making the steel chassis, installing the axle, steering system, disc brakes and electric motor. The artistic shaping is done by building a wooden frame and a curved shell according to the actual vehicle profile. The main materials are ebony and rosewood, sawed and dried 15 days in advance. The final step is technical inspection and test running.
The manufacturing process requires high precision. For example, the Lamborghini Revuelto model consumes a million pieces of wood and reprocessed old pistons. The metal frame must be carefully calculated to have enough load to carry the body. Old auto parts such as tires, turn signals, and engines are purchased according to standards; Other electronic details are homemade or ordered online.
From 2025, Mr. Dao will expand the production of car models suggested by artificial intelligence (AI), typically the ICar and gear cars. According to the manufacturer, cars designed with AI face many obstacles in completion due to the lack of a realistic original, requiring a continuous testing team to keep the car close to the drawings and operate smoothly.
After 6 years, his collection reached more than 30 works including cars, motorcycles, trains, armored vehicles, and tanks. Prominent models include 6-wheeled Rolls Royce, Apple Car, Mercedes G63, Audi Skysphere. Each product is 4-4.3 m long, weighs 1-2 tons, and costs about 400 million VND to manufacture. All car models are for display only, not for sale.
Aimed at a global audience, Mr. Dao's videos have no dialogue, just fast-forwarding the production process. He maintains the pace of releasing a video every three months. To date, his channel has more than 3.5 million subscribers and a total of 50 billion views across platforms, attracting the attention of international media.
In December 2023, after completing the Audi Skysphere Concept model, Audi invited Mr. Dao to its headquarters in Germany. He had the opportunity to meet the designer of the original version and directly test drive the real car.
"The trip to Germany helped me gain more skills and motivation to create better quality products for my children," Mr. Dao said.
He also accepted invitations to participate in international exhibitions and export vehicles in a non-commercial manner, aiming to promote the skills of Vietnamese carpenters.
The increase in the number of cars makes the family workshop area become cramped, and the experience space for model enthusiasts is limited. Many times, Mr. Dao had to refuse people to visit because there was no way to get into the garage.
Mr. Dao is planning to build a private display area for viewers to admire and experience test driving the car models. In the long term, he plans to apply for a license to establish a carpentry experience tourist area in Huong Mac craft village. Visitors will be able to admire the car museum and practice carpentry in a dust-free space, thereby learning about local culture and creating more livelihoods for people.
"My goal is not to stop at making many car models but to introduce and promote wood crafts to the community," Mr. Dao said.
