StreetSafari, organizer of the world's best banger rallies, has teamed with Art Car Central to showcase some of the countless creations of our teams over the years.
For those unfamiliar with banger rallies, here is a quick introduction: buy a car on a budget (£250 or $500), repair it, make it legal for the road, take it on a journey across Europe or the States with other like minded people. Whether the car will end up in a foreign scrap yard or be taken back home is up to the team and is usually anybody's guess.
As one might imagine, part of the challenge is simply getting the car to the finish line. For most teams, the challenge starts much earlier. What seems to happen between buying the car and getting it ready for the start line is subject to paint, imagination and -- probably -- alcohol.
We get to see everything. You name it, we've seen it. If there was ever a famous car on television or cinema, we've seen at least five examples of it on our events. General Lee, Starsky & Hutch, the A Team, Ghostbusters, all done to death. We see rally themes from Audi, Skoda, Martini, Pink Pig, and just about any other you can think of. The quality of the theme seems to vary with the quantity of what the team has drunk, as much as with their creative ability.
Sometimes a team will just paint or decorate the car to a theme they made up. That's where we get the stand out cars.
Today's fabulous art car is a 1992 Volvo 480, with possibly the most intricate design we have ever seen in all the years and events that we've done. Its nickname on the event was simply "the Rorschach car" and everyone knew which that meant. When we first saw this car we made enquiries that it was being brought back to the UK after event, as it would be a crying shame to send this car to the crusher before it had enough time to be appreciated for the masterpiece that it was.
The story behind this art car is that two friends had bought it but had no idea what to do for a theme until they bumped into a rather talented artist friend. He then proceeded to draw all over the car and took about three weeks to do it. We believe the car was then sealed in a lacquer to give it a lasting finish, and we think the car is now in Glasgow somewhere.
From a distance, the drawing appears as one giant doodle. The closer you look, however, the more diverse and detailed the images become. A real piece of car art if ever we saw one.
By Justin Clements of StreetSafari
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| Chicken Coup Art Car - After |
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| Chicken Coupe Art Car - Before |
photo by Bagel!
The AQUA MOBILE is the creation of Don Ehlen, a Seattle-based entomologist and educator. The car is a great example of a simple concept art car, basically just a great paint job, although 3-D features have begun to creep in: a fully inflated plastic blowfish atop the radio antenna, a crab creeping out over the rear license plate, and a red plastic lobster at the front. Also at this years Art Car Fest.via
Battle Wagon Art Car
Haz-Mat Hatch Art Car
Battle Wagon and Haz-Mat Hatch is another couple of those futuristic apocalypse mad-max art cars created by Todd up in there in Washington State. They might look ugly but they got it were it counts, two high-octane hi-carb Subaru wagons that hall out in a hurry when the mutants come chasing the day after. Todd said "this is the extent of my mid life crises" and "everyday is a parade in this car". Nice work Todd.
Photo by Perpetually
There are many artist who manage to glue trash on their cars and succeed in reaching "art car" nirvana. This car on the other hand, basically had a near miss with "art" and failed in every possible way to reach any kind of nirvana known and unknown. But as far as reaching "totally trashy trash" nirvana this car has arrived.
