I’ve shown you a few cars shot in Eugene and painted in this style. Does this style have a name? And is it really any different than what kids were doing with their cars in the 50s and 60s?
Ok, I realize that trying to bridge two such different styles may be a big stretch, and that your taste (and response to these two cars) is undoubtedly colored by your own experiences when young. But are they really that different? Both are young people giving their car some unique identity through their artistic efforts.
If you think the Ford is a lot more tasteful, what about this? Boing-g-g-g!
Let’s walk around and check it out a bit closer. West Virginia plates; now that’s rather unexpected. Maybe they didn’t find a lot of appreciation for their handiwork, and decided Eugene would be more embracing.
Interesting choice of car too, as Legacy sedans are shockingly uncommon here, in the land where Subaru is king.
This shot has soft focus. Or are my eyes getting worse?
Looks like it’s still a work in progress. Maybe they came out to Eugene to have it done here? Are there master painters here that specialize in this? I have seen several similar ones. I’ll need to dig a little further…
people forget that for every hirohata merc there were thousands of hideous hack jobs. most people’s reach exceeds their grasp when it comes to bodywork and paint!
It’s the same, in many different ways
I’m confused. What color was the car to begin with? It almost looks like the whole car was once custom painted, but an accident and subsequent repair left it with a new unadorned blue fender, hood and bumper cover? I mean, in the aftermath of a fender bender in a car such as this one, you’d pretty much be ok with ANY color panels being bolted on during the repair, as they obviously wouldn’t need to be matched to the rest anyway.
I’m pretty sure the front is the original blue, and the owner just hasn’t painted it up yet.
That would be my guess too, seeing as how it looks like the painting on the driver’s door (a tree, perhaps?) would logically be extended to the fender rather than just stopping at the cut line. I originally thought the roof was silver but it appears it may be a sky painting.
I sort of like it, but it’s a newer car (2005 to 2009) than one usually sees adorned in such a way.
The sedans are rarer but they’re out there, I see them in our flocks regularly. I agree with MTN that this looks like it was completed but then several panels were replaced. I suppose even Michelangelo had to go back and do touchups if the roof leaked and some plaster was redone… 🙂
This approach reminds me of the boyfriend’s jalopy referenced in “Cheaper by the Dozen” (The book written by the Galbraith kids, not the later movie starring Steve Martin).
In the thirties, kids would pick up the cheapest car available (typically a Model T), and having little money for cosmetic restoration personalized it by painting sayings all over the body. The phrases expressed their personality and stamped the car as their own, without requiring any body work skills.
The car in my example picture also has engine modifications, but most owners just added prose to a stock vehicle.
I’d say the Subaru is more of something somebody who doesn’t like cars would do.
There are similarities, of course, but you can’t discount the poor taste on this one. None of it compliments the car, it’s just random crap done in an amateur way. Whether or not you like the flames, at least they were done with the intent to complement the car itself. I’d equate the Subaru to more of the flower-power VWs back in the 60’s and 70’s. Completely different objective than flames or even the plaid, as ugly as that is.
Put another way, with the flames the car itself is the statement being made. With the Subaru the painting is the statement, the car is an irrelevant canvas.
I tend to agree with this statement. Not necessarily judging it to be in poor taste, as that’s highly subjective, but it does seem to be more “car as canvas” as opposed to “painting as intentional modification”.
A friend of my mother’s did a similar sort of thing in the late 60’s that I’ve seen several photographs of–she spray-painted flowers, anti-war slogans, peace signs, and words all over her car, even painting the tires. Evidently my grandfather found it quite shocking, but I suppose it wasn’t uncommon at the time. To me it seemed like somewhat senseless desecration of a ’58 Impala hardtop in fathom blue, but in 1970, I suppose that was just another old clunker.
You’re right, taste is highly subjective, and I’m not exactly an art critic, so perhaps I was a bit harsh…but this is a first and foremost a car enthusiast site so I’ll stand by what I said. 😉
That’s exactly what I was going to say, today’s flower power. 50s lead sled type stuff would be more akin to tuner culture of the 00s.
Perhaps this car met one of those sly, speedy elk in southern Idaho on its way to Eugene, necessitating the new body panels? It does look redacted in some ways, but I do admire the work that went into it.
About the Boing-g-g-d ad…am I the only one who thinks the Scotch plad advertised would have been better showcased on a Studebaker Scotsman than the Hawk (or whatever version was used) as shown?
To each their own. At least the owner isn’t pushing for tax dollars to display this on the town hall lawn.
I’d prefer to see this on a Daewoo or Dodge Aries than on the best-styled Subaru sedan, which I find very attractive unadorned.
Such painted cars will show in the hipster sections of New Orleans (Marigny, Bywater, or Mid-City) on a regular basis. Usually on its last leg, eventually neglected and abandoned on the curbside because the hipster has moved on. Eventually towed by the city and sold for scrap. Then a new hipster comes to town and the cycle starts anew. Part of our local color and ambiance????
Surprised to see a newer car painted up like this since usually it is older cars. I like the artwork since it adds variety to life and I agree that West Virginia plates are not too common around here. There are not that many art cars in Portland and this Corolla is one of the more surprising ones.
With a car that new, the way to go would be to do a white wrap and decorate the car over that.
I love the ad for the plaid decals. “Washes off easily with Aviation gasoline”
How could you go wrong?…
I can find better uses for AvGas around my house 🙂
I’d take the Subaru over that Corolla. It certainly reminds me of flower power VW’s but to me that’s a good thing.
Found some info on the Newhouse Auto Shop add above:
http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Newhouse_Automotive_Industries
There is a name for these vehicles. They’re called ‘art cars’. Google that phrase and you will get cars just like this Subaru. Most of the time it’s just paint but sometimes it objects – for instance there’s one here in Austin TX that has CDs affixed all over it. The talent does vary but I’d say they’re at least mildly entertaining. And yes I would say there probably a little hipsterism might be involved.
An art car is more like this “Mondrian Mobile”. It too uses the car as a canvas, but it has some real artistic merit.
Or like the cars at Burning Man, where the car is turned into something with a central theme or to resemble another object.
At the very least, like those cars with a bunch of things stuck to them in order to truly stand out and make some crazy statement.
Merely adding random paint swirls and stickers doesn’t really go far enough to make a true art car. It’s about as much “art” as simple graffiti tags on a white work van (and no, I don’t mean a full graffiti bomb, just random tags). Sure it’s an individual artistic expression of sorts, but there’s a minimum of talent and/or time invested.
Oh man, now I want to buy a beater and paint it like this. An older Volvo 740/760 wagon would be PERFECT…
Decorated cars have never been my thing, just speaking personally, but when seemingly 80% of the vehicles on the road are white or gray I can understand the appeal. I was at a light the other day behind six straight white cars; boring and a little creepy.
I always called these “tattoo cars”.
I am not into tattoos myself, but get the concept. and like tattoos that we put on our body to be different, sometimes it will be a particular graphic to showcase something, or what I think is called a “sleeve” which is a random series of illustrations to fill the whole area. this car has been “sleeved”.
to each their own!
Looks like something Janice Joplin or John Lennon might have done in the 60’s. Far out man.
Too right. But on a Porsche 356 for Ms Joplin…
…And a Phantom V limo for Mr Lennon, seen here parked next to George Harrison’s equally interesting Mini Cooper S.
Just GOTTA love the 60’s.
That “Car-D-Cal” advertisement reminds me a lot of the vinyl wraps that are being done today on cars. It may not be plaid or tartan, but it is essentially the same thing. These days it’s matte accents or brushed metal or the ever popular carbon fiber.