Art Car Central

6 ways to know you own an Art Car - WOW Bus case in point

2008-07-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

The WOW bus is a 1986 Ford on sale for a mear $130 million dollars. It has 25 Thousand Pieces and $640 worth of glue that added 2000 pounds and took 600 hours to complete!. If you look closely you will see a kitchen sink on there as well and has more silicone than Hollywood would know what to do with.

You might have an art car when:

1) The only thing holding the car together is the silicone

2) The junk on the car is worth more than the car

3) You can't remember what car you had when you started

4) Gluing garbage to your car is a vast improvement to car

5) Every day is parade day

6) What most people call O.C.D. you call A.R.T.

Star Wars Art Cars - Only for the hardcore!

2008-07-03T16:18:00.001-07:00

There is nothing that says "I am a die hard Star Wars fan" than making your ride look like an X-wing starfighter, Landspeeder or something else. And only in this country can we get away with it, either as street legal daily riders or Burning Man mutant vehicles. There is also a group called Road Squadron and a flickr group by the same name dedicated to all who own a Star Wars Art Cars, and a lot of the ones below came from there. I guess if you live in high traffic, high road rage areas you need a fighting machine that could vaporise the occasional jerk who cuts you off. Explain that to the cops!

Jawa Sandcrawler art car by Declan McCullagh

Landspeeder at Burning Man

JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank at Burning Man by the "Donk" is also for sale at Amazon

Millenium Falcon by Sandra Deacon

Photo from Road Squadron

Red Five X-wing by Katie Horn
Photo from Road Squadron

H-Wing Starfighter by Shawn Crosby

Another Landspeeder

Star Wars Trabant from Hungary

Photo from Road Squadron

Stormtrooper Ranchero by Sharon Bronson
Photo from Road Squadron

Darth Mall Van

Photo from Road Squadron

X-Wing Truck by Jason Volk
Photo from Road Squadron

Liberator by Shawn Crosby

Cyberbike by Shawn Crosby

Photo by steev-o

This is an actual fully functional armored car with a 320 HP v8 Engine
Photo by cryogenesys

Photo by Joel Boonstra

Shark Art Car

2008-07-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

Its summer time and that means shark season, so I decided to pay tribute to a few of the land shark art cars out there. If you see one of these in the rear view mirror, just let go by, they don't bite but will take a chunk out of your rear bumper if you decide to slam on the brakes. A "shark art car" sounds like an oxymoron to me but someone had to do it.

Ripper the Friendly Shark by Tom Kenndy at burning man

Shark Truck by Patrick Amiot made from a 1940s International Truck

Mad Max shark car

Simple yet very menacing

Really Big man eating shark vehicle at burning man

Another one from burning man

Shark Van from Berkeley by jqueen's photostream

Down for repairs, I don't want to know what.

Lucky Stiff Wins BMW Art Car

2008-07-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Brad Carlile gets the "Lucky Stiff" award of the year for winning this beautiful ‘77 BMW 320i art car. It was painted on-site by Tom Cramer at his 2005 show at the Mark Woolley Gallery as part of the DeSoto building opening, Portland’s Museum of Contemporary Craft.

Brad, welcome to world of art cars, your life will never be the same again:)

The Phone Car

2008-06-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Photo By Harrod Blank
The Phone Car is also represented by the Art Car Agency

Howard Davis is the creator of the Phone Car a modified a 1975 Volkswagen Beetle. Originally, the car was built to promote his telephone business called Datel Communications. He was featured in Harrod Blank's book Art Cars and recently decided to take time off his job to take phone car on tour to different cities to “put a smile on people’s faces”. Davis car was also recently featured on CBS news, great job and see you at Art Car fest this year.

The Button King - Art Car Covered in Buttons

2008-06-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

Photo By Harrod Blank
Button Hearse is also represented by the Art Car Agency

Dalton Stevens also known as The Button King, got his start as a result of suffering from insomnia. It got really bad in 1983 and he stayed up all night sewing buttons to his denim suit. He finished nearly three years later with 16,333 buttons that weighted 16 pounds. He then went on to glue 3,005 buttons to his guitar, 517 buttons to his shoes. He also covered a Hearse, a Chevrolet Chevette, a casket and a toilet as seen in the picture. He also wrote Insomniac Shuffle and Poppin' Buttons and recently opened The Button King museum for anyone interested in seeing his complete button covered works.
For more detailed bio and photos see link

Art Car Covered in Dentures - ChewBaru

2008-06-23T16:44:00.001-07:00

More photos link

This 1995 Subaru called "ChewBaru" is covered in approximately 70 pounds of dentures, 60 pounds of dental impressions, photos and illustrations from old dental school books, empty toothpaste tubes, and other items related to dentistry. It was created by artist and motorcycle rider Rex Rosenberg from Kansas. This car reminded me when my grandfather would pop his dentures in and out of his mouth during dinner just to gross mom out. That and all the other cool things he showed me, is what made him my favorite grandfathers. Thanks Rex for bringing back all those good times to mind:)

He is also the creator of the "BugWing" art bike, a VW shell cut in half, mounted on a 1981 Gold Wing and turned into a three wheeled vehicle.
For the complete story see link.

25 ways to spot a fake General Lee

2008-06-20T16:26:00.000-07:00

I grew up watching "The Dukes of Hazzard" and the famous General Lee, a 1969 Dodge Charger muscle car driven by Bo and Luke, that somehow evaded damage after every jump. I happened to see an article about a fake General Lee and decided to expound on the subject. The question is: how do you spot a fake general lee? To answer the question, I selected 25 signs in determining the authenticity of the "Real" General Lee.

Things to look for in a fake:

1) Rear spoiler

2) No rims, and other stuff

3) Too long

4) The 01 is not the right font
5) The wrong shade of orange

6) Steering on the wrong side of the car

7) It's in for repairs

8) Wrong name on the car

9) No roll bar

10) Wrong era

11) Guy wearing a helmet

12) Wrong age group
13) Too many zeros

13) Bo and Luke always used a compound bow

14) Not fast enough to clear jumps

15) Flag was on the roof of the car

16) Doors open and close

17) Pink outfit

18) Too high to jump in through the window

19) Too corporate

20) Way too short

21) Checkered flag on top

22) Has a roof rack

24) Way to many modifications

25) Totally unsafe at high speeds

This is the only way to spot the real deal.

Top 10 Uses for a Frozen Art Car

2008-06-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

Now with global warming these frozen art cars will be hot ticket item, no, a cool ticket item. Trees will be exploding all around you from the heat but you'll be all nice and cool with the ac on the "frozen" setting. It could be a melted wasteland out there and still get to work on time. You will literally survive all kinds of man made and natural disasters out there, not to mention other benefits such as:

1) The car floats in case of a flash flood
2) Truly the coldest beer in town
3) You wont feel a thing during a firestorm
4) Tornadoes just slip around you
5) Bullet proof car in a fire fight
6) Ice scream wont melt on the way home... ever
7) Icicles can be broken off and used for self defense
8) You can keep transplant body parts, fresh for weeks on end
9) Can't car jack the car if you can't open the frozen door handle
10) Lawn sculpture

This guy decided that he would quit using his car just like the credit card in the block of ice trick. I want to know what happens when the ice melts in the spring. No, its not an "all terrain" car

Lamborghini Wall Art Car

2008-06-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

Richard Moriarty decided to hang his 1974 Lamborghini on a wall in his home when he had enough of having it towed "because the engine kept stalling". Its one way to turn you car into art and the best part is the great gas millage, no more expensive car repairs and he will never loose his car in the parking lot.

HILLCAR! Art Car for Hillary Clinton

2008-06-10T22:47:00.001-07:00

The Hillcar is brought to you by artist Gretchen Baer who painted her car in support for now ex presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton. She also has a blog called Hillary Clinton Army which speaks for itself. The question is now what? do you keep the car as is even thought it seems Hillary will not be the next U.S. president? If she throws her support behind Barak Obama, do you then become Barak Hussein Obamas Army? The questions are many, so Gretchen, let us know how your amazing journey turns out. All the best.

Tulsa Artcars at The Blue Dome Arts Festival 2008

2008-05-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

On May 17, 2008 the Blue Dome Arts Festival was held in Tulsa and some great artcars were there as well. This video was taken by Dave from Kansas city owner of the Aerocar. Some of the cars shown in this video were the: The Yellow Submarine, The Shuttle-Van Art Car, The Cow Goddess, car covered in false teeth and toothpaste tubes, The Yarn Car, The Phone Car, and the famous Radio Flyer Car.

Crazy Vehicles at Maker Faire 08 - Video

2008-05-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

Maker Faire 2008 - Vehicles! - The funniest videos are a click away
Here is a great video taken from Maker Faire 08 of all the vehicles that were there this year. Including the Electric Cup Cakes, the Mercedes Pens, fossil fool bikes, the human powered bus, and a very special steam powered bike.

Giant Lego Ball

2008-05-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

I totally digress from art cars but this video about a giant Lego ball made from 5million pieces is worth it. If nothing else it involves a down hill road, a chase, and a car getting crunched along the way and it was filmed in San Francisco. Its a performance art piece.

Crazy Triple Decker Bike

2008-05-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have to break with tradition and build that crazy triple decker bike that will take you places, fast and tall.

Mercedes Pens Art Car at Maker Faire 08

2008-05-12T16:12:00.000-07:00

Pen Guy with pen covered hard hat and reflective safety jacket photo by thaths

I figured now would be a good time to include my very own Mercedes Pens Art Car covered inside and out in close to 7,000 pens of all kinds. Since I just went to Maker Faire 08 in San Mateo, I found a fresh batch of really nice photos of the pen car and my self The Pen Guy on Flick.

Below is a nice shot of the inside of the car with dashboard covered in pens using velcro so I can take them off and rearrange them. As you can see no car is complete with out a pair of fuzzy dice from the rear view mirror and a ton of lanyard pens that now completely block my view in certain spots.

Inside the Mercedes Pens photo by ralichte

Crowd with Pen Car photo by Pargon

4x4 Mercedes

2008-04-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

Photo from Dark Roasted Blend World's Strangest Vehicles

The only reason this Wacky 4x4 Mercedes car is on here is because It's so darn funny, and because its my blog and I have always thought it would be crazy to do that to a Mercedes. So here it is.

Tesla Coil - Art Car Theft Protection

2008-04-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

The truth is that art car folks deal with vandalism and theft all the time, because there is nothing that says "take me" than a car covered in God knows what. So the folks over at Tesla Downunder have come up with an ingenious idea that is both artistic and practical that will keep those grubby hands off our art cars. The world will be a better place when every art car is installed with this amazing and very effective anti art car theft devise. As you will see in the video there marketing strategy is very effective and will produce many sales.

Fur Art Cars

2008-04-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

I know its probably past the season for fur as we are in the middle of spring on to summer but I found a bunch of art cars covered in what appears to "fake" fur.

This photo looks like a police chase filmed from a helicopter. "Just robbed a pet store and seen driving down HWY...."

"...it was a just a big misunderstanding officer we were just running away from the "Fur is Dead" folks."

Here is the black fur creature tagged with the number 58, an endangered species.

Leopard on the night prowl looking for nightclubs, San Fansisco Ca

And fur as it is found in its natural color, Bright Pink.

Corrugated Iron Art Car

2008-04-17T17:00:00.001-07:00

This Corrugated Art Car is a 91 HQ Holden Station wagon, created by artist Jeff Thomson from New Zealand. Apparently he works a lot in corrugated Iron so it was a matter of time before he did a car as well. In a land where it probably rains plenty, a car like this is both artistic and functional at the same time.

Crazy Car stuck in Reverse

2008-04-16T17:06:00.001-07:00

When I found this video I had to post it, watching this crazy car zip through traffic is a real heart stopper. It's real close to being an "art car" but who cares, Enjoy:)

Party Bar Von Tiki Art Car

2008-04-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

The Von Tiki is made from an 1987 Toyota Van by Jake Goldstein, Captain and John Merlie, Co captain. I met these two for the first time at Art Car Fest 05 and since then they have continued to add and improve on this amazing bar on wheels which is also available for party rentals. The Von Tiki features:

Dual walk-up bars: one mahogany, one teak
Walnut floor
Thatched roof
Real bamboo exterior
Tequila shots from the windshield wipers
Custom sea-shell and sand spinners
Flower-lined ceiling
AstroTurf in the cab
Hand-carved tiki mask taillights

additional photos can be seen in the Von Tiki scapbook

Poor Man's Sequin Art Car

2008-04-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

I know not everyone wants to drive around in a "real" art car and maybe its not in you budget to maintain it. But the folks over at evil mad scientist came up with the poor man's mini art car for the masses. Its a great way to explore ideas for the real deal or collect more than one. You don't spend all that time and money gluing thousands of pieces of "what ever" to the exterior of your one an only car. What if you don't like your idea, or it makes life just too complicated answering all those questions. Thanks you solving one of lives riddles, the world is a better place.

Chocolate Covered Beetle Art Car

2008-03-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

A chocolate-coated car was placed in front of a supermarket in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, on Valentine's Day. This eye catching car was the work of seven employees from a local car company. The car was wrapped in a plastic wrap before being painted with melted chocolate. A total of 200 kg of chocolate was used in its making.

Article from Spluch

Car Flipping Art Cars

2008-03-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

April in UK means that the British Rollover Championships is going on full "tilt". This video is hilarious and when I saw it I knew it would make the art car central "hall of hillarity" (and I am not talking about any presidential candidate in particular) The cars are painted somewhat artistically therefore I think they be included here.