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Just found a great way to make an art car on the way to your next event. Get yourself a few five gallon buckets of paint and take the lids off. Get in your car and then find a way to get in car wreck and PRESTO!!!! the entire inside of the car will be covered in paint in no time. Not very efficient and cost effective in the long run but it does get the job done:)

These pictures were taken by Allan Hollister of a gnarly paint car accident on St Johns Bridge in South Africa.

via

Kang Shoe, a shoe manufacturer in China went all out and created a massive electric powered leather shoe art car that kicks some serious butt. It can carry two people up to 250 miles at speeds of up to 20mph on a single charge of the battery underneath the driver's seat. The body is made of real leather and cost about $6,500.

Once they they made it they took it out for a demo outside its headquarters in Wenzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang Province. Workers lined up for the chance to drive the shoe car which is 10ft long and more than three feet high.

The manufacturer created this shoe art car as a promotional tool with plans to make 40 for stores around the country.
Posted on Art Car Central
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In the last installment of a StreetSafari ArtCar we showed you the Citroen 1CV. We even left a cliff hanger! How's that for blogging?

The long and short of it is that Mr Ducks, owner of the Duck, knows these cars like the back of his hand. Which he should since he hand builds these things from scratch.

So whenever he goes missing on an event we don't unduly worry. He's probably in some town somewhere repairing the Duck. Doesn't matter what it is, he can repair it 9/10. No problems at all.

Even when teams tell us in the evening "it looked terminal", short of the car being on fire, we tell them that he'll make it, and most times he turns up late into the evening looking worse for wear, looking a bit grimier, but with a great story to tell (we think - as we don't know Czech).

On this particular event, he had genuinely gone missing though. But again, we weren't too concerned as he'll pop out somewhere. Which is exactly what he did. At the end in Prague, in a proper Citroen 2CV. Which was odd. He was sporting a rather large plaster on his head as well. This can only end well.

He then proceeded to show us the following pictures. He even brought a translator for the evening.

The outcome was that when a crate fell out of the back of an Italian lorry, all the cars dived left and right, including the Duck.

But with a suspension travel in excess of 12 inches, the car simply flipped over, rolled 4 times, and spilled it's contents across an Italian Autostrada. As he was off the main route, no one on the rally had actually seen what had happened.

The Italians put him in hospital overnight before flying him back to Prague the following day. The day after he drove into Prague (not far from his home) to see us, and tell us about his great adventure.

Please be careful with your Art Cars!
By Justin Clements Street Safari 
Original posted on Art Car Central

Citroen Visa Art Car By Patricia Van Lubeck

I found this really amazing looking Citroen Visa Art Car all the way from New Zealand by artist Patricia Van Lubeck . This Painted Citroen art car is based on the use of opposite colors that make it really hard to focus and in that note she succeed in giving me headache:)

About Patricia
In such a short time, Patricia Van Lubeck has quickly become a leading neo-surreal artists. Born in Amsterdam in 1965, Patricia’s life has quite recently changed dramatically. She used to be book-keeper until 2000 when she started the 21st century by becoming a full time professional artist. She moved to the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand in 2005. Since then her work has taken a new direction. Although her style is often regarded as surreal, her work does not strictly fall in that category. Her paintings are apparently simple in composition but executed amazingly detailed and visually very dynamic. Her paintings have realistic elements, but above all an alienating atmosphere. Her works in recent years show landscapes and weird plant species which she calls her psychedelic gardens. `` I consider my work an invitation to explore the ways we experience our environment. My inspiration comes from the ordinary things around me, the artist in me just sees things in an unusual perspective. Picture a baker looking at a corn field. He sees bread, cookies and pies. I see shapes, patterns and colors. I like to zoom in on an everyday object such as the pins of a hair brush and imagine a tiny landscape with rows of hairy trees.’’ Remarkably, Patricia is a self-taught and self-starting artist. She sets a high benchmark for all her works and seeks to achieve a high level of craftsmanship. It takes her up to eight hours just to prepare the surface on some canvases. Then she oils up to 10 layers to achieve rich colors and a smooth finish. ``I am always trying to achieve high contrast within an unlimited color range. I love working with geometric patterns. Before I started painting on canvas, my cars had always been willing victims to this passion. Consequently patterns, natural or artificial, form the foundation of a lot of my images.’’ Due to her time-consuming technique Patricia is only able to create about 10 paintings a year. She loves painting at night in her rural studio setting with no distractions – just the call of the ruru (a New Zealand native owl) to keep her company. Patricia thrives on the repetitiveness of her patterns. She feels the calming aura in concentrating with a small brush in her ‘psychedelic botanic garden’. Since 2002, Patricia has exhibited in The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Portugal, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

2010 grantee of the Pollock-Krasner foundation in New York
finalist 2010 NZ Adam portraiture awards, 2007 NZ Painting and Printmaking Award and 2006 James Wallace Art Awards
2nd place Tivoli Audio PAL Case design contest

Citroen Visa Art Car By Patricia Van Lubeck

Citroen Visa Art Car By Patricia Van Lubeck

My boxy little Panda was just the right car for an intricate tartan pattern. It took some careful planning and a couple of days of concentrated painting but in the end all my efforts payed off..... the car looked like a shopping bag on wheels! We crossed many borders all over Europe with the Tartan Panda without being stopped by customs once. This is the ideal design for smuggling purposes!

Fiat Panda Tartan Art Car By Patricia Van Lubeck

Fiat Panda Tartan Art Car By Patricia Van Lubeck

Dazzle Painted Cars
'Dazzle painting' was a camouflage technique used by allied forces during World war I. Ships were painted in large geometrical patterns and contrasting colors in an attempt to confuse the German navy. Most important function of this camouflage was to disguise the front of the ship and its sailing direction to enemy submarines. Although visually very effective, sadly this kind of painting did not prove to be a major advantage in battle. There's a good article about art & camouflage (featuring this car) on the Tate Museum site. An excellent source of info is the book 'Dazzle painting' by Albert Roskam (ISBN 90 71893 02 2). It's written in Dutch but it has lots of images. I gave my cars this urban camouflage to maximize my chances of survival in the inner city traffic.

Opel Kadett Dazzle Art Car By Patricia Van Lubeck

Opel Kadett Dazzle Art Car By Patricia Van Lubeck

Opel Kadett Dazzle Art Car By Patricia Van Lubeck

Fiat Ritmo Dazzle Art Car By Patricia Van Lubeck

Fiat Ritmo Dazzle Art Car By Patricia Van Lubeck

copy and photos via
Posted on Art Car Central

One of StreetSafari's events is called CzechWrecks. We take our colorful cars to France, rag them down to Switzerland and over the Swiss Alps, into Austria, and then up into Prague in the Czech Republic. (Not Czechoslovakia, as after they got independence the Czechs and Slovaks decided that they really didn't like each other, and went their separate ways, hence Czech Republic and Slovakia today.)

This vehicle is from our first ever CzechWrecks, entered by a slightly mad Czech guy called Jaryn.

Now, we've never actually had a full and proper conversation with Jaryn as he doesn't speak a word of English, and we don't speak whatever he speaks. So we talk via translators when/if they are around. Jaryn can be best described as an artist, and a very talented one at that. We think he makes stained glass windows for churches, and he does more or less come from Bohemia which is quite fitting.

One day, (we're not sure when) Jaryn took delivery of a Citroen 2CV that had had a head on into a tree. It was a in a bad way; he did what any perfectly normal person would do, and cut it down the middle, and welded it all back together to create a Citroen 1CV. You were thinking that right?

So what we have here is possibly a one off creation, although we think he may have made a few before this 1CV, although he definitely made a few afterwards as we'll show you next week.

If you know the 2CV you will know that it has very wallowy suspension in the first place. Imagine what it's like when it's half the width! On a hairpin the suspension has over a foot of travel! Even a Ford F150 Raptor doesn't have a foot of suspension travel. As Jaryn takes a hairpin corner, he can put his hand out of the window, and literally drag his hand on the tarmac road surface! See what angle your car has to be to do the same thing!

This car also has a party trick - stick the steering on full lock, put it in gear, and jump out of the car. The result is an impressive car that drives itself in circles. Trouble is that the circle moves and its not before long that you will see a very slightly mad Czechman running after his car before it piles into something solid.

Enjoy the pictures!
By Justin Clements Street Safari 

Bottle Cap Van front Photo by Damgaard

On a driery rainy day and the end of long and painful week for those affected by the tsunami in japan this van covered in colorful plastic bottle caps is a welcome relief. This art van has got to be one the happiest looking van I have seen in a very long time. May the emense joy that this art van gives out, come back to the owner 1000 times over:):):) Totally inspiring and joyful. Thank you!!!

Bottle Cap Van Photo by mhuffman

Bottle Cap Van Photo by mhuffman

Bottle Cap Van Photo by mhuffman

Bottle Cap Van Photo by hksmith02

Bottle Cap Van Photo by tracymadaj

Happy Face Bottle Cap Van Photo by Wolfram Burner

An here is a rare you tube video that capture this amazing happy bottle cap covered van.

This balloon tank was created by German artist Idee Inges who takes symbols of childhood parties and transforms them into a war tank: The quintessential weapon of destruction. Celebration and destruction? Or perhaps the celebration of destruction? I don't know what that means really I just found this on The Dirt Floor and it seemed just right to add it to my ever expanding collection of art tanks. Its very interesting to see two diametrically opposed objects brought together in a form of a tank made up of balloons, not so good for war but very good for birthday parties.

Kids 1 - Tank 0

Diesel Rod Photo via Welderup

This incredible diesel rod is a 1928 Dodge 4door sedan that was chopped 4 inches and channeled 3 inches. It was created by Steve Darnell, a welder by trade, via a site called Welderup. The power comes from a Cummins diesel motor out of a 1998 Dodge pick-up. The motor sports a twin turbo set-up and Fass Fuel System. The engine produces 1200 lb/ft torque and runs the quarter mile in the mid 12 second range. The frame is completely hand built to accommodate the amount of stress coming from the diesel motor. A four-link and air ride suspension keeps the rear tires in check, while the front end is a mostly stock 1929 Ford 1-ton axle. It basically smokes.

Diesel Rod Photo via Welderup

Diesel Rod Photo via Welderup

Diesel Rod Video of a basic walk through of the entire car


Deasel Rod video burning rubber on a 1/4 mile track


Deasel Rod video making some pretty smoking donuts

Are you living in Arizona, have no money and want to adopt and art car? Joe O'Connel from creative machines is looking for a loving home for Iron Tarpon, a Cadillac art car covered in aluminum fish scales:

We (the car and I) are in Tucson, AZ. The car is drivable of course.

I am offering the "Iron Tarpon," a 1974 Cadillac covered with aluminum fish scales if it can be used in a permanent public art project. The car runs well, is a blast to drive and has been mine for almost 20 years. I want to see it go to a good home where people will appreciate it. I don't need any money for it, just the assurance it will always be appreciated.

Joe O'Connell
(520) 294-0939

Just got this in today, a Mini Carmonica or Harmonicar covered in 330 Harmonicas Ah I dunno, but it literally screams around town and quickly goes from 0 to G-Sharp in roughly 5.8 seconds. The harmonicas were all the key of G, but apparently the ones with insects stuck inside were G-Sharp. The harmonicas were affixed with double-sided adhesive, which believe it or not can withstand a 300-degree heat. Which is handy if the turbo gets too hot, or for when the car jumps it through flaming rings of fire.

Team operation created this fully functional Operation BMW Art Car for their race at 24 Lemons.
All the parts are located inside the hood of this 1991 318i and held in place with heavy duty Velcro. All this to prevent bottles and other objects from flying through the air at 90 mph, but does make the removal of parts more challenging, though by no means impossible.






Via MurileeMartin