I grew up in Houston before I moved here to Tel Aviv. The yearly Art Car
Parade was always a gas. There is also a small museum that is open year
round.
The cars vary from minor modifications to all-out rolling sculptures.
The 'gluing things onto an existing car' category attracts coins, dolls, toy
soldiers, astroturf, real turf, road kill, leather and longhorns, you name
it.
There are also a lot of 'kit-bashed' cars (to steal a model railroading
term). These tend to be older american cars, done up with enough junkyard
50's chrome that they look like spaceships, or at least something out of Mad
Max.
Some just defy explanation (the giant evil rabbit, mounted on a rabbit of
course).
Others even defy description.
And the Parade is followed by a big meeting of the cars in a parking lot
near downtown, with lots of booze (and other less legal substances), music,
laughs, very friendly cool odd people and their odder cars.
Here are a few URLs for those who want pictures:
http://www.artcarmuseum.com/ this is the official site of the museum in
houston
http://www.artcars.com/
http://www.well.com/user/booter/Artcars/art_car_dogcar.html
If you're ever in Houston around the time of the parade, it is not to be
missed.
It's a great reminder that as much as we value 'purity of arms' with all of
our concourse perfect MGs (snicker, snicker), that there is a creative
humorous side to this hobby as well.
And lest you think we are exempt, here is an art car based on a 1960 MGA
http://www.victorycars.com/inventory/1960_art_car2.html
(I am not responsible for this, all I did was find it on the net!)
Martin.
> Art cars. Saw plenty of them in Key West and some were cool. I
> guess it fits in with the Keys. You would look like an idiot in
> NJ with an art car. This weekend I saw a TV show about an art
> car contest that is held each year in Houston TX. They had some
> great entries. Have any of the TX lister been to this thing. It
> looked like a great party.
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