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The Glass Quilt a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle was created By Oakland artist Ron Dolce. He spent 18 years adhering the glass mosaic to the body of his Volkswagen, and each colored piece of glass is carefully hand cut and glued onto the VW body using 100% silicone adhesive. When he got a dent in the front of the car, Ron simply re-applied the mosaic over the impression. The detail of the glass does an excellent job of disguising the dent. When I met Ron at Art Car Fest 05 in Berkeley, he said that to truly experience this car you have to put your hands on it, otherwise you cant connect with it on a deaper level. Ron thank you for your dedication and commitment to your art, a true classic VW. To book this car for your next event go to Art Car Agency.

Photo courtesy by Harrod Blank
David Crow from Seatle created this Red Stiletto using parts of a Honda motorcycle as a way to make up with his girlfriend. I met David at last years Art Car Fest 2007.

Photo courtesy by Harrod Blank

Harrod Blank created the world famous Camera Van, a 1972 Dodge van that is fitted with 2,500 cameras. The project begun in the fall of 1993 and was finished in 1995 after much trial and error designing and perfecting this creation. Most of the cameras don't work but some do and actually take pictures of people as the Harrod drives. He created the car to be able to record peoples candid reactions to his Art Car. He has taken more than 5000 photos of people around the world. The word smile on the roof is created by in Kodak Instamatic Cameras. The Camera Van is currently at Art Car World Museum - Douglas, Arizona. For bookings, exhibitions, and licensing go to Art Car Agency. Harrod also published the book Art Cars and created two other art cars called Oh My God! a 1965 Volkswagen Beetle and Pico De Gallo 1963 Volkswagen Beetle. Thank you Harrod for your passion and dedication to this art form, you have inspired many of us to follow our dreams.

Yarn Phone

This is Tim Klein and his 1967 Imperial Crown covered in Yarn. The name of the car is The Elements. He is also the keeper of the Art Car Calendar which is a list of all Art Car events taking place around the country every year. Thank you Tim!

This Weigand’s Floppy Disk Car, a 1998 Honda Civic covered with computer keys and floppy disks.
She wanted to create a whimsical art car so she used floppy disks that were both very cheap thing to acquire and would not add any significant weight to it. She found the disks at thrift stores and in peoples storage laying around taking up space. She had the car for a year before she started gluing the disks on. She also painted each disk and covered every visible surface of the car. The windows are covered with keyboard keys, covered the dash with sheets of old punch cards, adhered “esc” keys to the door locks, glued processor chips to the hubcaps and added a personalized license plate that reads “DISKDRV.”
She likes the attention she gets, but her least favorite comment is “You must have a lot of time on your hands!”

Mirror Image art car was created by Dennis Clay when he attached two VW beatles together. This car is represented by the Art Car Agency

Mirrormobile was created by Bob Corbet by attaching sheets of mirror to the outside of his Osmobile.
This car is represented by the Art Car Agency

Miss Vicky - artist Dean Pauley, St. Louis -
photographer Maurice Roberts 1997

This car is represented by the Art Car Agency
Scot "Extremo the Clown" Campbell

This car is represented by the Art Car Agency

The Love 23 Art Car was created Kathleen Pearson, a station wagon covered in a lot of toys and pez candy dispensers on the roof. Nice outfit as well.

by fciron

This car is represented by the Art Car Agency
Buick of Unconditional Love was created by Philo Northrup

This car is represented by the Art Car Agency
By Slim Sirnes

Here is a few Art Cars from last years Huston Art Car parade, enjoy

Eartha Karr created by Blake More is a beautiful 1978 Mercedes 300CD running on Bio diesel. Blake is also a dancer, writer, artist and has an amazing list of accomplishments. This picture was taken during Art Car Fest 07 last year and I am looking forward to seeing her again in 08. There are not many Mercedes Art Cars out there, hers is truly amazing.

The Radio Flyer Art Car was created Art Baker and his cousin, Bob Castaneda, in 1996 as a way to get a laugh and to "make people smile." It was It was built in 1996 from a 1923 Ford T-bucket and it is a regular at all the Art Car Fest events. I recently found a great story of the creation of the Radio Flyer written by Eilene Spear for the Davis Life Magazine called the Wagon Man, check it out.

Disappointed with the boring styling of conventional cars, Terry Axelson designed a vehicle with more personal appeal. Powered by two legs and a three-speed transmission, the Banana Bike can reach speeds up to 30 miles per hour. This Fiberglas and steel Art Car regularly cruises the streets of Sunnyville, California, where it is sometimes taunted by shouts of "Peel out!" Pictured in the Banana bike is Chuck Cirino of Weird TV, a show specializing in alternative culture.

Miss Vicky - artist Dean Pauley, St. Louis -
photographer Maurice Roberts 1997

Miss Vicky

This 1965 Dodge Dart has been shortened over 3ft and literally cut in half. It was created for 1960s pop star artist Tiny Tim who was famous for the song "Tip Toe Through The Tulips". It was hand painted with the song in mind and named "Miss Vicky" after his first wife, who he married on the Johnny Carson show on Dec 17, 1969. Tiny Tim rode in this car in 1995 in which he served as grand marshall in the Soulard Mardi Gras parade in St. Louis, MO.

Owned by:
Dean Pauly, St. Louis, MO

Joe Gomez of San Antonio, Texas, relates that "One day when I was in bed, I dreamt that I was building a wrought iron car. I woke up, ran to the kitchen and got some paper, and started sketching. My wife thought I was crazy . . . . Everything on this car is handmade, nothing is factory. It took me a little bit better than nine months. The reason I chose the Volkswagen is because the motor's in back -- otherwise I'd have all the fumes in front." The car brought more customers to Gomez's wrought-iron company than he could handle, and he soon retired. He later found out that two other people have made wrought-iron Volkswagens!

The Stink Bug
Carolyn Stapleton
Orlando, Florida

What do you get when you mix; a classic VW Beetle, thousands of used cigarette butts, dozens of tubes of silicon caulk, gallons of clear sealant with a desire to "make a difference"? The "Stink-Bug" that's what! This funky 2000 lb. Mosaic of art, aversion therapy and tribute employs the most insidious form of "litter" around-- cigarette butts. Stretching the definitions of "Art" and "Artist Materials" Carolyn Stapleton has resurrected her previous artcar "Litter Bug" into a rolling, stinking, coughing memoriam to Smokers and non-Smokers alike. Yes, it really coughs! You can read the Stinkbug's whole story at www.thestinkbug.com

Hamburger Harley
by Harry Sperl
Daytona Beach, Florida

This is Harry's hamburger motorcycle. It is complete with mustard and ketchup bottle shock covers, fries, shake, and steam coming off the stack of meat and cheese. Originally from Germany, Harry feels the hamburger is Americana and an icon of the United States. He also loves to eat hamburgers one of his favorite meals. You can get better acquainted with Harry at his website at www.burgerweb.com

Harrod Blank's 1965 VW bug is called O My Gawd after people's reaction to it. (courtesy of Harrod Blank)

Larry Fuente of California converted his 1960 Cadillac into a Mad Cad car by gluing jewels, beads, female mannequins and plastic ducks on it. (courtesy of Harrod Blank)

I found this beauty at Top Speed, a Lamborghini Art Car. First of all its probably the fastest art car out there and second it has the most incredible art work done to it. A bold car made more so with fantastic tribal looking art, almost primitive and savage, in a good way. The only problem is that it's too fast for most parades, most art cars out there have an average top speed of 55mph and a 0-60 in about 15 minutes with all the stuff glued on and sticking off the roof rack, the rest off us would be left in the dust as you took off.Overall a very nice and sweet ride!!!!

All I can say to say to this is "Darn It!!!". I had this idea about six years ago when I was contemplating creating an art car. Cover the entire car in reflectors of all kinds and then some, but I didn't have the reflectors to begin with. Actually there was this guy who had covered his entire front yard and fence with reflectors but the neighbors asked him to take it all down. So I figured at first that he would let me have them to put on my car, but he did not, so I moved on. This car is definitely a night job.
Photo found at Fightin' Mad Mary's blog.

Yvonne Millner of Hopkins decided one day to give everyone a smile by creating a happy face on her 1996 Mitsubishi Mirage using nail polish. She has painted designs and slogans all over the car, including an American flag, a palm tree, and the phrase 'hang loose'. Milner has so far used about 112 bottles of nail polish to make her creation. That's a great way to use up all those nail polish bottles laying around, I know because my wife has a whole box of them she hardly uses. Yvonne I would like to welcome you into the Art Car World, you definitely have made a good first impression, and we hope to see you driving in the 2008 Art Car Parade season. If you'd like to help with her art car email Millner to donate your extra nail polish bottles.

This just in, Andy Hazell, from Knighton, England has turned his Vauxhall Corsa into an 18ft scale model of a sea bass. He build this Giant Bass with a hydraulic system so the fish can move its tail, raise its fins and open and close its mouth. He also installed 320 fluorescent lights along the fish's streamlined aluminium body and 12-volt motors operate the moving parts. At a whopping 18ft Andy finds it hard to find a parking spot. Andy come on over to America were the roads are big and the parking is always good, in certain parts of the country.

Car serves as Stamp album- first ever Art Car?
E. Had-ley, of Casper, Wyo., might have created the first ever art car, by assembling 10,000 stamps onto his vehicle. He had five girls working on his car for six weeks to plaster it with the worlds largest stamp collection on a car. The stamps are covered with a protective coat of varnish to shield them from the weather and hardships of the road. I wonder how they are holding up to this day, and how many stamps it took to actually mail this car across country.

Photo Credit Modern Mechanix

I also found this Trabant 601 stamp car that was produced at the former East German VEB Sachsenring Autowerke Zwickau, covered with thousands of stamps from all over the world and parked in a Berlin street August 11, 2007. Stamp dealer Scharam Farahbakhsh decorated his car with a friend with more than 3,000 stamps attached to it using a special car paint. Another hybrid car using gas and postage to get across town, just don't use the US postal service, it takes too long.


Photo Credit spluch

I found this beauty at Top Speed, a Lamborghini Art Car. First of all its probably the fastest art car out there and second triple wow on the incredible art work on it. That is a bold move, a really nice car with bold tribal looking art, almost primitive and savage, in a good way. The only problem is that its too fast for most art car parades, most art cars out there have an average top speed of 55mph and a 0-60 in about 15 minutes with all the stuff glued on and sticking off the roof rack. Overall a very nice and sweet ride!!!!