List of art cars

This is a list of art cars which have been exhibited in a notable gallery or museums, or become well known by their appearance in the media.

Some art cars

The Worthington Bottle Car

One of the earliest examples are the Bottle Cars built in the 1920s to advertise Worthington Beer in England. The five cars were fitted out with boiler plate bodies to resemble the shape of a bottle laid on its side - each one weighed about 2.3 tons.^[1]

The Nevada Car

Built on an International Harvester pickup truck as a community project during Reno, Nevada's Reno Days event under the direction of David Best. Features a "supercharger" on the hood which is actually the motor head unit from a Kirby Sani-Tronic vacuum cleaner. Owned and (formerly) driven by Patrick Dailey of Novato, California, who states: " Wherever we go people are always trying to give us more junk to put on it." and "...we hardly ever have to buy our own gas." As of summer 2005 the Nevada Car is stored in Boulder City, Nevada, in need of engine repairs.

Buddha Buggy

Buddha Buggy

A 1987 Honda CRX, the Buddha Buggy features a 1.6 m high detachable Nepalese Buddhist stupa on the roof, with strings of prayer flags running up to the golden pinnacle of the stupa. In back, a 300 mm golden Buddha, holding a miniature pagoda, is flanked by intent Laptop Buddhas. These are but a few of the 50 golden statuettes, mostly on Buddhist or Asian spiritual themes, that adorn the car and stupa. Adding to the effect are twirling yin-yang hubcaps, psychedelic-era stickers, and the vanity license plates, TOOCOOL. Not visible are the image is a 330 mm high porcelain Amitabha Buddha in its niche in the stupa, and paintings of the Buddha], comic dragons, a cartoon portrait of the owner, comets, a flying saucer with 2 green aliens, and toothy, two-legged fishes. The car's interior includes a velvet altarcloth-draped dashboard with brass Tibetan incense burners, statues, and gold tassels; a painted explosion of cosmic love inside the doors; and a temporary installation of spiritual beings meditating in a circle in the back cargo area. The Buddha Buggy is the work of its Seattle, Washington owner, Larry Neilson, and his many collaborators. It has appeared at Art Car events all over the western U.S. and Canada, including the Tacoma Art Museum and San Jose (CA) Museum of Art.

Camera Van

A van entirely covered with photographic and videocameras and featuring a video display, built by filmmaker and art car guru Harrod Blank. This vehicle has the distinction of being one of the few works of art that actually looks back at the viewer, as it photographs and videotapes them using some of the cameras mounted upon it, and has the ability to play the video back on the external screen, allowing you to watch it - watching you as you are watching it watch you. (Seen in Oakland, California.) More at

Flying Saucer

This is an otherwise conventional VW Beetle but with aluminum arching skirts all around that make the platform completely circular. In place of the sun roof is somewhat hemispherical transparent plastic dome. (Seen in a Berkeley, California parade.)

Oh my God!

A 1965 Volkswagen Beetle with the California license plate OMYGAWD, which features exotic plastic fruits and vegetables, a world globe and the phrase "Oh my God" painted in dozens of languages. A creation of Harrod Blank, this Beetle was featured in the 1992 documentary Wild Wheels (the documentary featured a scene in a courtroom where Blank was seen contesting a parking citation to the point that art cars and their respective artists were usually subjected to police harassment).

Phone Car

Created by Howard Davis to promote his phone company. It has been featured in various magazines including Motor Trend and Weekly World News, and was also in the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles for its exhibit on art cars.

The Phone Car is built on a 1975 Volkswagen Beetle frame and has a tinted glass windshield which allows the driver to see clearly out of it. It also has a telephone ringer as its horn, so instead of a honk, it rings!

Rocket Car

A car that looks like a Buck Rogers style art deco rocket ship, complete with a gauge-filled cockpit interior which appears to be suitable for a jet aircraft.

Further

The day-glo painted school bus Further is a 'remake' of the original bus known as "Further" (the original) which is the actual real-life Merry Pranksters' hippie bus whose destination sign read simply "Further" and which "tootled the multitudes" in 1964 in 'real life' and in Tom Wolfe's book The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test The bus is also prominently mentioned in the Grateful Dead's song "(That's it for) The Other One", as "the bus to never-ever land" with "...Cowboy Neal (Neal Cassady) at the wheel...".

H-Wing Carfighter

A "next generation" art car is the H-Wing Carfighter, a science fiction-themed 1995 Honda Civic del Sol SI two-seater. Designed after a Rebel Alliance A-Wing fighter from Star Wars, it features external laser cannons, lighting effects and an automated R2-D2 "Astromech droid". The interior features computers and other gadgetry. Many modifications are made from "found" parts including sports equipment, plumbing fixtures, and toys. The overall design blends elements of real war machines through the ages, such as World War Two fighter planes, with the fictional. H-Wing is a member of Road Squadron, a collection of science fiction-related art cars, and generated a great deal of web traffic when featured on Fark.com and Slashdot (see Slashdot effect).

References

1. Hale, James (2006). The Wonderful Wacky World of Marketingmobiles. Veloce Publishing. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-84584-003-7. Retrieved 30 May 2009.