Inside the world of Caresto AB: the brains behind the Gumball Batmobile

Whatever you think of the Gumball 3000 rally, there’s one thing you can’t deny – it’s packed with some of the most amazing cars in the world. But even in that rarified atmosphere, there are some cars that stand out above all others. This year it was the Arkham Knight Batman car, last year the fabulously over the top DTM-inspired RS6 estate, and the year before that, the Rebellion racer that looked like it had taken a wrong turning at the local race track.

All three share a sense of humour and a committed technical execution, but that’s not all they have in common. What most people don’t know until now is that all three were also painstakingly hand-built by one man and a few key suppliers in a tiny shed in Sweden. That man is Leif Tufvesson and his microfactory in a little village called Angelholm, two hours south of Volvo central in Gothenburg is called Caresto AB.

So where did it all start?

If you are having a slight sense of déjà vu about Leif’s name and where he lives, that wouldn’t be completely strange. Christian von Koenigsegg poached him from Volvo in 1998 to help him start what has now become Koenigsegg Automotive AB, the producer of the utterly mad Swedish supercars. So there’s that same crazy DNA at Caresto.

What was Leif doing at Volvo?

Building concept cars and parts for concept cars. He had been a hobby custom car builder for years before that – and has many high-profile awards to prove it. So when the job at Volvo came up, rendering artists’ impressions in solid materials, he was the right guy to hire. He only worked there a year before Christian spotted him and persuaded him to join him at Koenigsegg.

How did Christian find him?

Leif, who started out fitting car stereos, was a prolific and skilled car restorer. He started Caresto – the name is simply a shortened version of Car Restoration – in 1996 and immediately became known in Sweden and beyond for his high-quality work. With that and his ability to conjure concept cars out of thin air, he was a natural pick. Plus he is from Angelholm – at the other end of the runway from Koenigsegg – so Christian didn’t have to look very far.

What Koenigseggs did he work on?

Leif started with Christian on the very first Koenigsegg, the CC/V8S, which debuted in 2001. Then the CCR. But after that he decided to leave and do his own thing. "At Koenigsegg, it was Christian’s dream I was building, not mine," he says. "So after I got the Hot Rod of the Year award, I though it was the right time to go full-time here [Caresto]."

Has he ever done any Volvo custom cars?

Yep, several. The three most famous ones being his Volvo T6 Roadster, which won the Hot Rod of the Year in the US and was star at the 2004 SEMA show, the baby blue V8 Speedster powered by the Yamaha-sourced Volvo V8, and the hot rod recreation of Jakob, the 1927 original Volvo built to celebrate that car’s 80th anniversary.

And what about doing his own supercar?

He’s done one of those already, the Caresto K2 (pictured). It was a commission by a client who originally wanted to build an F1 replica car, but then, having found a real F1 car to buy, changed his mind. Leif, then suggested building a supersports car and the K2 project was born. The finished car – complete with full carbon fibre chassis and bodywork powered by a 550bhp-supercharged V8 – now lives in the owner’s garage. It’s not road registered, just a super cool track day car.

That’s a bit of a waste, isn’t it?

It sounds like it, but it’s not. Because it was the K2 that got Leif started on the cars for the Gumball. Red Bull-sponsored Swedish free skiing ace Jon Olsson, a connoisseur of fast Audis and Lamborghinis, got wind of the K2 and thought Leif could help him with an R8 rebuild he’d got stalled on. But then one thing led to another and the Rebellion R2K was born.

So what is it?

Essentially it’s what happens when you mate an Ultima GTR chassis and running gear with a Lamborghini drivetrain, then create an outrageous all-new body to clothe it. Jon drove it in the 2013 Gumball from Copenhagen to Monaco, via most of the eastern bloc, without a hitch. The only damage was to the millions of onlooker’s necks as they snapped to get a glance of the permanently fast-moving racer for the road.

What happened next?

As hard as that car was to follow up, Leif’s next creation for Jon – the DTM-inspired Audi RS6 estate – became so popular it owned huge chunks of the Internet for weeks after it was unveiled. Leif waves this one away as being ‘just a bit of bodywork moulding’ plus a bit of engine tuning, but it was still one of THE cars of the 2015 Gumball. And probably one of the most heavily ticketed, too.

So, this Batmobile then...

This one was not Jon’s idea, but some other Gumball alumni’s, known collectively as Team Galag. They had painfully tried to drive a Batman Tumbler recreation through the same rally as Jon in 2013, and were envious of Jon’s car’s clockwork-like reliability compared with their vehicle’s poor road performance. So they commissioned Leif to do their new Batmobile, the Arkham Knight version, which stole the show on this year’s Dublin to Bucharest event.

What’s the story with this one?

As unbelievable as it might seem. Leif and his merry band of suppliers, using nothing more than a model toy of the car and a bit of film from the game, designed, fabricated and built the entire car from scratch in under a year. It’s Lamborghini Gallardo powered, like the Rebellion, and used big chunks of that car’s sub-assemblies, like the engine compartment and fuel tank, to save time and cash. But otherwise it’s all Leif and his team’s work.

What’s he going to do for a follow up next year?

Leif isn’t sure what the Galag team is going to do, but it looks like they are going to run this car again, with a few repairs and mods, in the 2017 Riga to Mykonos Gumball rally.

What’s he going to do instead of build a new Gumball car?

Leif has plenty of other projects to keep him and his crew busy. Apart from the six-wheeled Volvo XC60 car transporter he was working on when we stopped by, he is also building a tandem-seated electric vehicle for a Venezuelan company. And he is building his Caresto Sportsrods.

What is a Sportsrod?

It’s a collaboration between Leif and a local car body manufacturer. It’s an ultra lightweight, tube chassis’ed ’32 Ford lookalike powered by your choice of car, motorcycle or electric engine. Leif describes it as hot rod that can also be used for track days. So it has all the old car looks but all the modern car capability to be a good steer, too. His beautifully built and finished demo car is powered by a Honda Gold Wing flat six, but there’s space in the engine bay for pretty much anything within reason. Check it out on his website at www.caresto.se.

What’s next for Caresto?

Leif has thought about expanding, but not by too much. He doesn’t want to spoil his small but perfectly formed set-up. "I just want to do the things I like the most," he says. Which sounds fair enough, if you can do it, doesn’t it?