There is a very strong swell of opinion that says the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi is the greatest architect the world ever saw. Certainly his works adorn the beautiful city of Barcelona and make it one of the most popular tourist destinations in all of Europe. His unfinished masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia, is seen by many as the most beautiful building in the world, even if the work being done to finish it marks some very clear distinctions between Gaudi’s work and that of the people finishing it. Nonetheless, as a great innovator and individualist, Gaudi would surely smile at the Art Car he inspired Rebecca Caldwell to build – Carthedral.

Like all of the best art cars, it has a pun for a name – some might say an entirely awful pun, but then all the best puns are awful. It is very similar in shape to La Sagrada Familia, and is incredibly, irrevocably gothic. Caldwell herself has said that she feels “very wrong” taking the admiration of the Art Car community, as Carthedral is heavily polluting and a gas-guzzler. This is quite out of keeping, then, with a community that tends to pride itself on being environmentally aware. Then again, looking at the piece itself, it is highly appropriate that it should have a dark side.

Carthedral is not polluting anymore anyway, so even the more environmentally interested members of the Art Car community can (literally) breathe a huge sigh of relief. In 2006 it was indefinitely retired to Harrod Blank’s Art Car World in Arizona. Now it is simply a work of art.