Art Cars

Customization of cars is a habit as old as the cars themselves. But some people take it to extremes, and I'm not speaking of hot rods here, but just your regular utilitarian vehicle transformed into something more meaningful. But beware; if you try this at home you may be hooked forever.

Personalizing your car can be as simple as adding one sticker to covering the entire car with bumper stickers or paint. John Lennon did this to his Rolls-Royce, as did Janice Joplin to her...
more »

Customization of cars is a habit as old as the cars themselves. But some people take it to extremes, and I'm not speaking of hot rods here, but just your regular utilitarian vehicle transformed into something more meaningful. But beware; if you try this at home you may be hooked forever.

Personalizing your car can be as simple as adding one sticker to covering the entire car with bumper stickers or paint. John Lennon did this to his Rolls-Royce, as did Janice Joplin to her Porsche 911. "But why ruin a perfectly good car?" you may think.

For Rick McKinney, owner and author of "Duke", a 1976 Ford Granada covered with plastic toys, found items, and a bizarre compartment like a second story built out of old trunks rising up from the sunroof, the answer is simple: "In car art, I found a family of like-minded people who took me in and made me feel I belonged again. For me, it was a rebirth; after years of laboring alone as a novelist and poet far out on the edge of so-called normal society... I think I decorated my car to annihilate the cocoon I saw myself slowly crawling into as a writer and counter-cultural thinker. And it worked. Suddenly I had more attention than I could handle. And then came the family of car artists, and I was hooked."
« less