Help with an art car - ideas??

liltrouble222 · Post by **liltrouble222** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:54 am

Hey all so myself and boyfriend are planning to make an art car. He is transforming his old jeep cherokee but we are not sure how exactly. We do know that we will saw the top off of it and are open to about anything. It is red now, but that could be changed. I wanted to do something around the theme for this year but also keep it loose enough that we could use it again of course.

Just looking for some suggestions...
thanks..

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 1:02 pm

First of all acknowledge that bringing your Mutant Vehicle (assuming you pass muster and get approved by the DMV before coming down) to Black Rock City WILL have an impact (even if you follow all of the rules). Leaking oil, noise, moving mass, blocking lines of sight the night of the burn, etc. Only a small fraction of the 30,000 attendees will be able to participate in your vehicle directly (riding on it). Everyone else just gets to look at it. Thus, it should be really, really cool to look at. People should want to take pictures of it because they think it is too cool to imagine without a picture.

Try to figure out WHAT your vehicle will add to Black Rock City. Why should it be liscensed? Why should everyone put up with it? There are several areas that DMV suggests that vehicles could contribute (art, transportation, etc) - try to provide something for each of these areas.

Lastly, be sure to know and follow all DMV rules.

If you manage all of this, you will have created a worthy Mutant Vehicle.

The coolest vehicles I have seen are engineering works of art. The robot legs pulling the rickshaw, the one-wheeled cycle with rider in FRONT, etc. Next are the wickedly decorated works of art that obviously take years to build (not talking about a few painted sheets hanging from your vehicle).

The least cool are the ones anyone could do (take a stock vehicle, add stuff). These are a dime-a-dozen.

YMMV - Jafe

liltrouble222 · Post by **liltrouble222** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 1:11 pm

ah thanks i guess.

i have already gone through all of these items and actually have my initial idea sketched out for approval for licensing. additionally given it is a 4 seet jeep with the back open as well, there will be plenty of room for people to be caravaned. i also am sorry if i implyed that i had no clue what i was doing and just wanted it for convinience. that is by no means my intensions or the intensions of the post. i simply know that there are many creative people with all sorts of ideas and would love to have a few more ideas before we get the final blueprints done.

but alas thanks for providing the rules and your take on it.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 1:43 pm

http://www.artcars.com/

shitmouse · Post by **shitmouse** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 11:30 pm

hey now,
don't look to *us* for answers to your art statement. take this as an opportunity for *you* to let your freak flag shine baby. let's see your statement. do you want to make a propane horn? this is a cacophony event after all.
-- you don't want to be "art car guy" for art car guys sake do you?

more importantly, an art car is something that you should keep in commision while in your normal life, that's almost a better contribution to society than just for playa cruising.

have fun, make it loud, ugly, funny, political, etc.
--- let us know what you come up with.
-b

liltrouble222 · Post by **liltrouble222** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 4:59 am

awe thanks for that reply. i guess i was just trying to see if anyone had any ideas that i could incorporate into my current ideas to make it better. you know things that have worked before --> PROPANE HORN.

right now i am leaning toward a transformation into a cheshire cat but my man wants to turn it into a spiked desert creature with mohawk and such.

anyways thanks.
Lei

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 6:37 am

liltrouble222 wrote:
right now i am leaning toward a transformation into a cheshire cat but my man wants to turn it into a spiked desert creature with mohawk and such.
anyways thanks.
Lei

/
Art-cars are leaning away from monster type more toward the artie-crafty thinging. I for one am a Alice Through The Looking Glass fan. Like the man said: make it some thing U can have out in normal world.

shitmouse · Post by **shitmouse** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:58 pm

slap a fog horn on her too.

-(several good ones on ebay now and then).
i put one on my bike and blast the coffee shop at judah st. everytime i cruise by. lots of laughs from the patrons as well.

i think a cheshire cat would be great.
last year the lotus frog car had me rolling. it was sooo low key when it was rolling the playa, -(as the rest of us) you'd hear a little "ribbit, ribbit, ribitribitribit, " it was so appropriate for the march all over the playa trying to get to places. sound is good to have out there. -(and of course lighting.) -- btw i found some cool battery operated light berries last year that have an electrical eye on them so they only come on at night. if your interested let know.
cheers,

-b

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 12:49 am

Well I'm gonna vote for the more extreme end of things...
I think the best art cars, like mentioned above, are engineering works of art, and keeping them street-legal severely limits what you can do! The most interesting, fascinating playa vehicles generally are not decorated cars, but full-custom scratch-built wheeled (or legged or tracked) wonders. I say down with the "macaroni" cars! (Remember when you were in second grade and you glued macaroni and other shit all over a shoebox, painted it gold, and brought it home to your mom?)
There ARE primo examples of essentially decorated existing vehicles (Tom Kennedy & Flash's Whale, La Contessa, and Black Rock Animal Control's van come to mind), but whatever it is, people should really marvel over it.
I've never built a street-legal art car because I wanted to have a blank canvas. Of course, hauling the goddamm things to the playa is a limitation...

liltrouble222 · Post by **liltrouble222** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 7:01 am

Yeah i am not planning to make it street legal. My boyfriend has loved that Jeep for ever and this will be his project and contribution to BM. So he is looking at making it a great playa friendly thing.

I am actually finishing up the sketches now to send to get it approved. :)
thanks!

shitmouse · Post by **shitmouse** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 7:44 am

"keeping them street-legal severely limits what you can do!"

yes and no.... some of the best art cars out there are street-legal...
i don't really consider la contessa and art car. albiet yes it is a bus and arty.

take it as far as you can tho', there are too many art cars that barely make it as an art car. -(chick standing up through sun roof with beer in hand and some shoe polish design on the vehicle is not an art car. -- which i saw last year, amongst a ton of other worthless 'cars'.)

look into some fire. always a hit on the playa.
-b

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 10:26 am

Pretzel logic.

Art Cars by definition are street legal. What's the challenge if this isn't one of the first principles? Otherwise, it's just a pile of crap on a trailer.

Dork · Post by **Dork** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 10:33 am

I'm planning to keep my car street legal, but with bigger and brighter pieces that bolt on. That way, I can legally park it on the street and drive it to events but not be limited to keeping the overall dimensions the same.

That's certainly not to say the modifications won't be permanent and significant, just that I won't be welding anything on that would seriously obstruct the drivers view, that would extend the car outward, and any running lights that are removed are replaced in some form.

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 5:38 pm

Art cars are not by definition street-legal, at least not as defined by the BRC DMV. If you want to see what's the challenge, I'll show you some of the engineering that is in mine from last year (it'll be back) or some of the radical engineering that's going into the new one (an open-cockpit biplane that you can barrel-roll as you drive/"fly". Sure it's a pile of crap on a trailer, but put in the environment it was designed for (not redecorated for) and it will do more to enrich the landscape than a lesser effort would. Read the DMV info. I've built some art cars that were based on riding lawn mower running gear that were never intended to be on a public roadway.
A street-legal, yet really playa-bitchin' car certainly can be done, and I have had a hand in a few of them myself.
Sir Fix-A-Lot and I build our stuff from scratch, they were never stock cars in the first place (there's the challenge!) and I guess you could leave the word "car" out of the name... we hate the term "art car" anyway, conjures up too many images of "macaroni" Toyotas.

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 9:25 pm

And now a word from my partner-in-grime, Sir Fix-A-Lot...
HI
Hey, just because everybody tells you to build a radical art car, does not mean you are ready for it this year. Start at the level you can finish in time for this year. I can tell you that you will ALWAYS think you could do better next time, no matter what you did this time. Leave yourself some room for improvement. Just make sure you put in some actual hours working on it. The point my buddy makes about macaroni cars is basically about how little skill or time goes into one. What you put into it is exactly what you will get out. Some careful lighting work will probably get you the most bang for the buck. Stuff that looks fantastic at night is probably worth more ( at burning man ) than daytime stuff.Remember to add more power capacity for your lights, we run about 500 watts on average, and up to 900 peak ( with the margarita blender going!). Also, consider completing your car AT burning man, as in the final body panel assembly, paint ( poster?), just pre-fit at home. The Whale, and la Contessa are good examples. Art is: form, color, light, sound, verse, taste, smell, texture, and performance ( posing, dancing....)let your imagination fight it out with your pocketbook. A simple rule for me is: if it makes me chuckle, it is worth doing, and i wiil be motivated enough to see it through.

PurpleKoosh · Post by **PurpleKoosh** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 1:02 am

Captain Goddammit wrote:Art cars are not by definition street-legal, at least not as defined by the BRC DMV.

Of course, the DMV aren't defining "art cars." We're defining "mutant vehicles." There are a LOT of vehicles that meet the definition of Art Car that would be completely out of place in BRC, which is why we've changed all the references in our paperwork and web pages to say Mutant Vehicle. (I have a friend with a car that won awards at the Houston Art Car Weekend, but The Cat would probably have had a hard time passing muster on the playa. Whimsical, yes. But you couldn't tell that about The Cat until you were within 20 feet of it, and I can just picture the number of false-alarm radio calls we would've gotten about the big black Taurus that "shouldn't be driving.")

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 11:09 am

You don't have to drive at Burning Man, even if you roll up with an Art Car.

The Art Car parade was a one-shot deal once upon a time, not an all-week bar-car pissing match.

Whatever you bring, just remember to take it home, and not leave it at the ranch (ahem).

VerbenaMaya · Post by **VerbenaMaya** » Thu May 13, 2004 10:55 am

This will hopefully be my first year, but from what I have read here,
thought i might offer some ideas, not that I'm qualified or anything.

I would suggest trying to be as original as possible. Thus I would skip the chesire cat, since someone did it before.
http://images.burningman.com/index.cgi?image=4712

Think about what you can do for the community, what is it that people need and would be most appreciative for, and that someone else isn't already doing, how interactive can you make it , perhaps combining several things. Maybe it could have a different function at night than during the day. Surely you can make it look cool whatever you decide to do with it.

I know there's the heat and sun during the day and everyone needing precious shade and such. Could the vehicle safely & securely deploy huge canopy bug/reptile wings which could provide such. Could it also be
equipped to safely transport alot of passengers. Can it be equipped in some way to help people find their camps? Maybe providing them with something useful or entertaining along the way. Not sure how one would do such, but a vehicle to help recycle various things like grey water, perhaps or solve some other common problems or thing people have a hard time dealing with. A not too messy, enviro-friendly Body wash vehicle? Great big foam Buddhist prayers wheels made like giant lint rollers or covered in sheets of something like baby wipes you can roll through to get a bit of ick off. A wolly mammoth that could suck up donated water and make ice and churn it out of its ass?
Super compactor that could take people's pile of trash, pound the crap out of and compact into a very small package for them to haul out?
Ever watch Monster Garage, anything is possible.....

Goodluck

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Thu May 13, 2004 7:01 pm

You know, the trash compactor idea has merit...

VerbenaMaya · Post by **VerbenaMaya** » Fri May 14, 2004 11:21 am

mmmm... massage seats

Help with an art car - ideas??

Help with an art car - ideas??

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Ideas

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