The Strange Story of the Vanny Van Art Car

The internet is a strange place and sometimes interesting people email me with interesting art car submissions. The Vanny Van is one of those art cars that was submitted to me covered in hand written notes and stickers put on by all kinds of people along the way.

The Story of Vanny Van
Year one
I was born in some kind of car baby making factory called Dodge. It was 1999 and I was a BIG baby. They named me Ram, which was good because at my first Dealership School I was scared. The ride there was great! We didn’t even have to walk at all. A big, long, huge truck carried me and a few others to our new school. We were all excited. I got to ride on the top which was AWESOME!! So many different cars and people would drive past us. I smiled and waved at all of them.
When we got there I met so many kinds of cars, new and old. The old ones would teach us about patience and how you can tell what families are good families and the bad ones that won’t take good care of you. The Rusty Ones, as we kids called them, would tell us of their great adventures around the United States. How some have had many different families and how they have waited a long time at Dealership School to have new ones. They passed their time with their teachings. As the days would go by, me and my friends would meet new and learn about all kinds of people. Many of my friends would get new families and be off in their new lives. My first year I waited.

StreetSafari Rally Art Cars from the UK Now a Regular Feature!!!

StreetSafari, organizer of the world's best banger rallies, has teamed with Art Car Central to showcase some of the countless creations of our teams over the years.

For those unfamiliar with banger rallies, here is a quick introduction: buy a car on a budget (£250 or $500), repair it, make it legal for the road, take it on a journey across Europe or the States with other like minded people. Whether the car will end up in a foreign scrap yard or be taken back home is up to the team and is usually anybody's guess.

As one might imagine, part of the challenge is simply getting the car to the finish line. For most teams, the challenge starts much earlier. What seems to happen between buying the car and getting it ready for the start line is subject to paint, imagination and -- probably -- alcohol.

We get to see everything. You name it, we've seen it. If there was ever a famous car on television or cinema, we've seen at least five examples of it on our events. General Lee, Starsky & Hutch, the A Team, Ghostbusters, all done to death. We see rally themes from Audi, Skoda, Martini, Pink Pig, and just about any other you can think of. The quality of the theme seems to vary with the quantity of what the team has drunk, as much as with their creative ability.

Sometimes a team will just paint or decorate the car to a theme they made up. That's where we get the stand out cars.

Today's fabulous art car is a 1992 Volvo 480, with possibly the most intricate design we have ever seen in all the years and events that we've done. Its nickname on the event was simply "the Rorschach car" and everyone knew which that meant. When we first saw this car we made enquiries that it was being brought back to the UK after event, as it would be a crying shame to send this car to the crusher before it had enough time to be appreciated for the masterpiece that it was.

The story behind this art car is that two friends had bought it but had no idea what to do for a theme until they bumped into a rather talented artist friend. He then proceeded to draw all over the car and took about three weeks to do it. We believe the car was then sealed in a lacquer to give it a lasting finish, and we think the car is now in Glasgow somewhere.

From a distance, the drawing appears as one giant doodle. The closer you look, however, the more diverse and detailed the images become. A real piece of car art if ever we saw one.

By Justin Clements of StreetSafari
 

The Man in a Van Project by - Art Car Covered in Recession stories

The Man in a Van Project - Needing a new water pump

Participant writing her recession story on the art van

Heartbreaking Recession Story

photos by maninavan's photostream

Aaron Heideman is an artist competing at art prize in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the largest art prize competition in the world. His art car piece is called The Man in a Van Project, and is traveling the country collecting stories from people whose lives have been affected by the recession. Most stories are written by participants on a large roll of Tyvek paper, and the best will written on the art van itself. He is currently on the road planning to visit 37 cities in 20 states, and finish in Grand Rapids on September 15, 2009. There is a section on his web site for support help Aaron complete his project and bring the stories to light. Good luck.

BMW Sharpie Art Car - 2001 BMW 330ci work of Art

Travis Todd at work with a Sharpie on his BMW

BMW Sharpie Art Car Hood by Travis Todd

This BMW Sharpie art car was created by South Louisiana artist named Travis Todd. He used a 2001 BMW 330 as his canvas and drew for 12 hours straight to complete his work of art with a sharpie. Unfortunately his car was vandalised some time later. There are more pictures and a complete story about his car via.