The Art Of The Car
What does it say about you and your personality when you bling yourself to the max and then hop into you Volvo to show it all off? It says that you’re not the wild and crazy person you really ought to be. But you’re stuck with a Volvo or some other dull boring car and are short on everything except ideas for your vision. So where to start? How do you bling your boring old car and make it the art car of your dreams.
Make a plan.
Maybe your car’s shape has always reminded you of something (a Great White shark, hot air balloon or Dracula’s castle), or you’ve got a theme you’d like to expand or a collection you’d like to show off. You don’t want your art car to look like it was created as an afterthought (or worse, looking like something that you up chucked).
All paints are not alike.
Just like house paints - flat, gloss and semi-gloss - car paints come in more than just spray cans and little bottles of touch-up. Be wild, be creative, be generous. But most of all don’t be afraid. You can always start over.
Understand that there are no hard and fast rules.
You can do anything and anything to your car that you want (and that you can afford). Bear in mind that creativity does not translate into value, and the several thousand dollars worth of paint and add-ons doesn’t make it a worthier car, only a more expensive one to maintain and insure (yes, you need to compare auto insurance quotes and purchase coverage for your art car, unless you plan to use it as a stationary flower pot in your yard).
Know what you’re capable of doing yourself.
If you decide you want to build-out your car, maybe put in a second floor or lengthen the body or create wings or fins, it would be wise for you to know how to do the work yourself. Yes, you can designate or hire a helper, but invariably, their ideas meld with yours and the finished product may not be the one you envisioned.
Realize that art is more than visual, it’s also tactile.
Paint is fine (just not monochromatic baby blue, please) but consider texture, as well. People will want to touch your car (”Is that fur?”) and stroke the interior (”Sandpaper seats?! Ouch!”). If you’ve got an “issue” with people responding (positively or otherwise) to your car, maybe you better stick with the Volvo.
Art can also be audible.
Install a sound system with appropriate background music playing (i.e. theme from Jaws, the Fifth Dimension’s Up Up and Away or creaky doors and rattling chains).
Consider that you may lose what you apply.
Light-fingered Larry likes your art car - a little too much. Cars with bling attract kleptomaniacs (and teenagers) like moths drawn to a flame. People may be desperate to take a souvenir from your art car; maybe they’re collectors of rare beer bottle caps, too. Even if Light-fingered Larry is in the clink when you’re showing off your art car, you can still wind up on the losing end - accidents happen, even in a parking lot. Will it kill you if something bad happens to your art car? Will your insurance coverage make you whole? And even if insurance is good, does the bling on your art car have irreplaceable sentimental value? All of these are things to consider.
Glue doesn’t last forever.
And it can take forever to set. Don’t plan on gluing objects to your art car only minutes before you’re supposed to be enroute to the art car expo. Not only will the fumes kill ya, but the stuff that’s supposed to be stuck won’t be.
Art cars can have “artistic temperaments”.
In other words, lots of breakdowns. Can you handle a mechanical issue yourself if your art car decides to pitch a fit when you’re hundreds of miles away from your everyday mechanic?
Your art car doesn’t have to be permanently altered.
There are plenty of applications that can change your car’s appearance temporarily. Consider temporary wash-off paints and magnets.