Entire Car & Car Parts Art

[Adultoys]

I had an idea go thru my little head (not my big one ) .. Has anyone seen.. Of know where, Or have any ideas, etc (Hotfoot? lol) about what could be done with an Entire car...? I have a fiberglass boat I'm giving away for free & going to keep the trailer, & a couple other vehicles that I'm not going to have the time to restore.. Ever seen an entire car made into a work of art? Just curious if I could do something with it that would be of value maybe...

One of them is a 83 mustang full race car, 351 Winsor, everything in great shape with only a few runs at the track on it.. I myself have no use for a race car & I wanted to get an old car body & make it into a street rod, using the motor & ? ... I've never built a street rod style vehicle though & wouldn’t know where to start.. Anyone have any ideas, anyone know anything else that could be done with it? Art? abstract? weird? etc? Rat Rod maybe ?

also have an old 85 Riviera that’s solid & in great shape.. started a restoration on it but got bored with it & don’t want to finish.. I'd be willing to chop it & use it for sculptures of some sort.. Think it would be worth my time? I'd like to do something with it, make something with it that I would be able to sell.. Don’t really want to tear a car apart, weld it into junk, then just have it sit around looking worse than it did in the first place... ha... Is there a market for this maybe, Would stuff of the sort sell on eBay maybe? I'd like to make motorcycles, cars, or pretty much anything with wheels ..

Ideas welcome - Something that makes me want to go out there right now & start chopping? ..

Also have Jet Boat parts, Engine Parts, Etc.. now that I think about it.. I have a lot of vintage car parts/etc in crates that’s been sitting in the back shed for YEARS...

Obviously in the end I’ll do what I think fits once I get the torch & pieces in my hands, but even though I’ve looked thru pictures of everyone’s work, I'd like to hear what everyone has to say.. & maybe give some guidance

Oh, Also.. When Doing this with rusted parts.. is it recommended to strip the entire piece of rust, grind just where you’re going to weld then leave it, Spot grind rust off – weld – then strip the entire piece?

Also, what finishes are there for items? Where can you direct me that would show different metal finishes using different techniques, or feel free to explain here.. Thanks Thanks Thanks .. Ha..

Thanks a ton -

Adultoys

[toolaholic]

What I've seen

One have of the body up about 10 ft. on an exterior brick wall. Ithink this was a s.f. restaurant Eye Catcher. Hey, how about I/2 of the car on a wide country driveway gate ?

[Hotfoot]

Cruise Google or You Tube for the Houston Art Car Parade...lots of imagination run amuck there!! Austin holds one as well. I've thought about doing one, but there's the issue of storing it all year...kinda like owning a parade float!!

One thing I've though about doing is removing all the exterior body panels on a car, leaving the inner doors, inner hood, fenders, etc., then just welding up enough connectors, etc. to keep it road worthy. It would look like a real "BladeRunner" vehicle...plus be a bit lighter...would be a B----to wash and wax...kinda an "Inside-Out" vehicle.

[Adultoys]

speaking of "Inside out" .. One thought that crossed my mind last year was to get a trailer/modular home with some sort of style to it.. Chop it to pieces then put it together inside out as a room inside a pole barn.. you'd have a work stall that the ceiling was the roof of the modular home & walls would be the exterior walls/etc... doors opening opposite ways, windows on the walls with exterior windows being the inside now.. Then the outside could just be covered with plywood style & painted or whatever...

It may be a little white trash tacky.. but without being able to see the finished product it also may look pretty cool..

that guy here who has a "bunker" .. well this could be used as the same type of deal...

Only problem would be is the walls would be extremely hard to move being so heavy & large so when i was thinking of doing it, i would just cut them in pieces all equal sizes, neat like, & piece it together..

[metalmeltr]

ever seen the scupture long term parking, about 100 cars in a block of concrete.

[AnotherDano]

Rent a copy of Animal House for inspriation.
Make a 'Parade Car'.

[Hotfoot]

Rent a copy of Animal House for inspriation.
Make a 'Parade Car'.

[Adultoys]

lol there are many movies that do that sorta thing with cars.. esp the old classics, ya know, back before they had special effects.. they actually had to do physical work to make the effects in the movies... Which actually.. I would LOVE to even have a picture collection of all movie cars that were altered.. there has to be something somewhere... But yea, Im sure i have the movie animal house, its only one of the best classics ever.. tho the blues brothers will always be one of the all time greatest.. Pretty much anything with those styles & actors..

Its like i've said before, if they had the technology back then that we do now, some of the old directors/writers/etc would really be unbeatable.. For instance, imagine if Alfred Hitch**** had the technology we have now back then... Think of what he could have done with his movies.. Thats a true artist...

- Adultoys

[Adultoys]

The Movie type car like that Is a good idea.. but not something that cheesy lol.. It was funny & perfect for the movie... But it would only be worth doing if one had the same exact make/model to do it with..

What is that anyways, a mid-60's Lincoln? .. ha, if i had one of those i'd build a mirror platform for it ha... (not really but It would be cool)

I just got rid of a barn find/estate sale 73 Lincoln last year, all original, 70,000 miles & was cherry ... Traded it straight up for my Durango cuz i needed an SUV more so than the car.. I took a train to Illinois just south of Indy & drove it home straight outa storage from sitting for 20yrs.. needless to say it took me 3-4 days to get home. Had to keep stopping to spend another night so that i could get to a shop or parts store the next morning.. Had new tires on it, a rebuilt carb, couple new fuel lines that were swollen, tune up & fluids changed.. (drove it straight to auto zone to do the tune up & fluids as soon as i got it.. It was less than a mile up the rd & i didnt even think i'd make it that far lol)

Once i got it home (after changing the fuel filter litteraly about 20 times) i took about a half gallon of mud/dirt like rust outa the tank.. treated it with phos acid, patched a pin hole & sprayed it with rustoleum... Drove it on a daily basis as a daily driver for atleast 6-8 months straight... Fun daily driver but wasnt fun filling the tank every other day, litteraly...

- Adultoys

[arcdawg]

I believe that "long term parking" was in Hamden Connecticut. there was a parking lot that the people didnt move their cars and the property owner actually paved over them. Its gone now.

There was also Car henge and the Cadillacs half burried too. You should look up John Chamberlan. He did some crazy stuff.

I do like the idea of cutting the car in half and making some kind of gate out of it.

I would also say to sell everything off on Craigslist and put the money into some new tools.

[arcdawg]

Ghost Parking Lot - Gone

Hamden, Connecticut


In 1978 the folks at the Hamden Plaza shopping center made a rash decision, and perhaps they've been kicking themselves for it ever since. In that year they commissioned those iconoclastic nuts at SITE ("world famous for its innovative designs," a plaque proclaims) to build The Ghost Parking Lot Project, a blend of consumer totems and double-take public art that has only grown more disturbing with the passage of time.

The Project consists of twenty 1960s and early '70s junker cars, including a Beetle, a couple of station wagons, and an open convertible, buried under asphalt at various depths in a cul-de-sac in the Plaza parking lot, far from the stores but right up against Rte 10. The plaque explains that the purpose of the Project was to take "two typical ingredients of a suburban shopping center, automobiles and asphalt, and transforms them into another frame of reference."


While this Pompeii parade may have been a telling Statement in 1978, it has since decayed into a crusty eyesore -- exactly the kind of Sci Fi End Times effect we appreciate. The asphalt on top of the cars is crumbling -- torn up by skateboarders and the elements? -- and exposing rusting sheet metal beneath. Weeds grow wherever the rot is most pronounced; abandoned shopping carts litter the area.

Another plaque explains the work was "Conceived to generate dialogue in the community based upon an iconography of equivocation and ambiguity." It is probably interesting to hear how that dialogue has evolved as both the asphalt and America's sense of irony has deteriorated.


For the duration of our rainy weekday visit, we have the ghost cars to ourselves. Like other parking lot projects (Cars on a Spike, or the Parking Lot Shipwreck), the locals have long since filtered out the strangeness from conscious thought, except perhaps as a useful landmark for giving directions.

Soothing Parking lot drive-by video (1.4k Quicktime movie - no audio)
We suspect current Plaza tenants such as Dress Barn, PetCo, and Blockbuster Video aren't thrilled to have these creepy, crumbling bulges up against their access road. It's as if the Plaza paved over Indian burial mounds or something. And while The Ghost Parking Lot might be the first place the plows pile the Plaza snow in winter, during the holiday shopping crush these parking spaces are sorely missed by aboveground vehicles filled with living consumers.

The entombed cars, by the standards of today, are small: imagine the towering lumps resulting if what was buried were Expeditions and Humvees. There are still a few available parking spaces...


Ghost Parking Lot - Gone

[Hotfoot]

I believe that "long term parking" was in Hamden Connecticut. there was a parking lot that the people didnt move their cars and the property owner actually paved over them. Its gone now.

There was also Car henge and the Cadillacs half burried too. You should look up John Chamberlan. He did some crazy stuff.

I do like the idea of cutting the car in half and making some kind of gate out of it.

I would also say to sell everything off on Craigslist and put the money into some new tools.

"Carhenge" Was really great! I stumbled upon it while cutting up through NW Nebraska on my Harley, heading to the Sturgis Rally. North of Alliance, if my memory is correct). I believe the story that was posted was some guys (drinking beer) got the idea at a Family Reunion picnic. It was totally free, and out in the middle of nowhere...which is no big surprise for anything found in Nebraska, I guess!


Around Stonehenge are special rocks and boulders , located in arcs around the main 'structures'...in Carhenge, they placed old transmissions, engine blocks, etc. in the same positions.!! I loved it!

[SpyGuy]

You could always get a copy of the new Death Race or some old Mad Max DVD's, and try copying some of the cars they have.

If you have some old steel rims laying around, you can lay one down flat, stand the next one up inside that and weld it there, then set the next rim flat across the top. Put a padded seat on it, and voila, you have a cool shop stool.

As for ideas on wht to do with the entire car, these guys have got some pretty good ones:

Carhenge: Alliance, Nebraska (and someone already posted a picture).

http://www.carhenge.com/

Cadillac Ranch: Amarillo, Texas - several old Cadillacs buried front-end down with the tails pointing up in the air. The cars range from the '40s to the mid-'60's.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220

"The Ghost Parking Lot": 1977, Hamden, Connecticut - several old cars buried under asphalt in a parking lot, but still retaining their unique shapes.

http://weburbanist.com/2009/01/22/creative-innovative-and-hilarious-parking-solutions/

“Long-Term Parking,” Jouy-en-Josas, Paris - a 50-foot-high column of concrete that encases dozens of cars.

http://www.arman.com/arman-biography-1-eng.html

"Pinto Pelt" : Cermak Plaza, Berwyn, Illinois - Dustin Shuler removed the entire exterior skin of a Pinto removed from the car, flattened out, and hung on a wall. The Plaza was also home to The Spindle before it was toppled to make way for a Walgreens, although there are rumors of rebuilding the famous art piece.

http://users.rcn.com/jdeubel/plaza/pintopel.html

(Also by the same artist: "Spider Pelt", a skinned red Fiat Spider http://www.sfartscommission.org/puba...0%9D-restored/)

"The Spindle" (aka "The Spike"): Cermak Plaza, Berwyn, Illinois - eight old vehicles impaled upon a giant spike in the middle of a parking lot, including a VW Bug, a BMW, a Ford, and a Chrysler. The Spindle was toppled in May 2, 2008, after a no-sale auction on ebay. it was featured in the movie "Wayne's World."

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/6557

"Death Of An Era", an artwork done by dropping a gigantic nail through the roof of a '59 Cadillac.
Story: http://www.people.com/people/archive...077894,00.html
Picture: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...C_enUS307US307

"Carthedral" - Oakland, California - a 1971 Cadillac hearse with a Volkswagon mounted on top, complete with gothic spires and gargoyles. This was also a Burning Man car.

http://www.carthedral.com/carthedral/index.htm

World's Largest Saxophone, Houston, Texas - Originally on the roof of a restaurant, the World's Largest Saxophone is located at "Billy Blues", a night club, in the 6000-6100 block of Richmond, West of Fountainview rd (SW area of city). The keys for the 50-foot saxophone were Volkswagon hoods, and the bottom curve of the instrument was an entire Volkswagon turned upside down.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1270

A few links:

http://www.artcars.com/roadside/index.html

http://www.burningman.com

http://www.artcars.com/artcarindex/index.html

http://hubpages.com/hub/Roadside_Oddities_Car_Art