shot and posted by William Oliver
Somewhere at Chrysler’s headquarters, early 1983:
- You sure these minivans will sell? I don’t know… If we foul up, we’re cooked for good!
- Of course they will! Think of all the ex-hippies and their VW buses. Those kids got jobs now, and they’ll come running for these!
- Ex-hippies? On these genteel, clean-cut things? Can’t see it. Quick, send one to marketing (leave design alone, they’re too busy cutting up K-car variations!) and give me a sunflower or Deadhead version. Gotta see it!
Mid 1983:
- What’s this? You even know what a hippie van is? Looks like you just threw a bunch of Christmas decorations on this thing!
- Well, sir, what do we know? Not many counterculture types at Grosse Point, you know? Maybe someone like DeLorean could’ve…
- DeLorean is a wannabe hipster, not an actual hippie! And well, he’s kinda jailed now, isn’t he?
- So, what should we do, sir?
- Well, get it out of my sight, that’s what! And make sure Lee doesn’t see it. It isn’t his kind of thing, but one never knows with that guy. A Gaudí-esque Holiday edition? Don’t even mention it!
This very much reminds me of the “hippie van” that used to be a fixture near the beach in Santa Barbara. The owner apparently made a living by charging tourists a few bucks to photograph the interior. I don’t think he’s around anymore; the most recent reference I could find on the internet was 10 years old.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2382333/jesus-hippie-showing-tourists-van-california-art-car/
Surely their must be some kind of equipment violation around blocking the driver’s view or the concern something might fall off and injure another motorist or a pedestrian.
Needs to visit the crusher.
It is inconsiderate of you to present this masterpiece without the address so that we can visit it. Is this a motorized outhouse?
Wow, this one makes my neighborhood “Art Car-avan” positively dull.
It’s an art car. They go to Burning Man, Concours d Lemons, and those kind of places. I don’t even see if that one has a registration. If that one does drive it would need gas from a can unless they have a local truck stop because I don’t think it can fit under the gas pump canopies where I live.
Go look at a batch of Burning Man car pictures. You will see what I mean.
I like art cars like the Cactus DeVille with living succulents and the Billy Bass Volvo with synchronous fish performing. Unfortunately this looks more like an external hoard, and is likely on People of Walmart if they ever parked it at one of the stores.
Main-character syndrome
Years ago I was a professor at a US university with a branch campus in Doha, Qatar. A student project (not mine) was to develop an ‘art car’. Turned out to be a big s@#th storm because in Qatar you could not change an auto paint color without government approval.
As a VW Mechanic I’ve seen and worked on many ‘art cars’, most were poorly maintained and anything like this one is dangerous due to lack of visibility out .
In general I don’t care if this is what you want to do but be safe .
Most of the hippies were rather unwashed, I’ve lived rough and always managed to take a daily bath even if only a ‘bird bath’ in the corner sink of those long gone filling stations
-Nate
While I kind of like to see unusual stuff like this, I actually associate it with mental illness. I long worked for a county government, on buildings, not dealing with people per se, but I would often see vehicles like this at outpatient mental heath facilities. No slight to them and I’d rather see it than one more Tesla or Chevy pickup truck out there, but it does suggest certain things to me. An old painted up VW bus, no, something like this, yes. This is over the top. Not that I mind it, but it’s over the top.
Fair to say I don’t want to be behind this mess when he tries to fly under a low bridge!
Before zooming in, I thought it was a Disney magic kingdom. After all, Lido did call it the Magic Wagon at one point. This one should do a magic trick – a disappearing act.