Art Cars

Ranging from the subtle to the gaudy, art cars seem to have evolved out of the hippie era of the 1960’s when John Lennon drove a paisley Rolls Royce and the Merry Pranksters painted a school bus in day glo colors.

These days, some art cars sport unique paint jobs, while others go much further, pushing the boundaries of what can be considered an automobile by altering the body through welding or by soldering and gluing items to the exterior of the cars.

Usually each car has a theme, and often the interior is altered appropriately to match. Sometimes the owner will even dress to match for special occasions and car shows.

The “cartists” who create and care for these giant rolling art projects convene in the Bay Area every September for informal caravan parades, and story swapping. Generally the cars are admired while parked as almost all of the modifications add significant weight to the cars and they often get terrible gas mileage.