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(CNN) - What began as a simple game between father and son became a lifelong Christmas surprise for Italian supercar manufacturer Lamborghini for a family in Erie, Colorado.
Sterling Backus, 54, and his son Xander, 12, were playing the racing simulation game "Forza Horizon 3" one day when Xander asked his father if they could build his favorite car: a Lamborghini Aventador.
Backus, who is a physicist at Thorlabs, told CNN that "he has always been a Lamborghini boy" and that he did not hesitate when his son asked him.
The two began planning their ambitious project in February 2018, and resulted in a surprise call two months ago from Katia Bassi, who is the marketing director of Automobili Lamborghini.
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"My legs were shaking because it was like receiving a call from the pope saying he is coming to dinner," Backus told CNN. "Of course, it's a metaphor, but only to give you the idea of how important it was to me personally."
Bassi told Backus that the company wanted to film a Christmas commercial with his family. In addition, they were going to lend them a true Lamborghini Aventador S for two weeks.
Last year, 649 Lamborghini Aventador units were sold, according to the automaker. The Aventador S Roadster lent to the Backus family is priced at approximately US $ 460,247.
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Backus said he drove the Aventador every day and that "his incredible generosity will never be forgotten."
Sterling and Xander Backus have been working on this project for almost two years.
While Lamborghini is against counterfeiting its cars, the Backus project is a tribute car for a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) project that is not marked as Lamborghini and is not sold as such, so Sterling believes That the company agreed with his project.
Backus used a toy model that he expanded in 3D Solidworks design software to help 3D print many of the parts used in his project car.
Using desktop 3D printers such as QIDI X Pro, they were able to 3D print many of the parts used in the car. But Sterling said that almost every part of this project has been a challenge for the father and son team.
A real Lamborghini Aventador costs almost $ 500,000.
To date, Backus has spent approximately 23,000 on this project, and they aim to have it completed in August for a large local car show.
"The experience showed me how many good people there are, and I was full of Christmas spirit," Backus said. “We will never forget the gifts they gave us, and the majority was friendship!”
3D printing Lamborghini
