Very few things are as personal to most Americans as their vehicles. We spend weeks shopping, hemming and hawing, picking colors, choosing options, and making sure the tail fins are big enough. We wash, wax, vacuum and touch up our "babies" whenever the shopping carts get a little too close.

For some, however, the obsession with vehicles takes a more creative turn. They turn their cars, trucks and other vehicles into rolling works of art. Using paint and more three-dimensional materials, run-of-the-mill vehicles are transformed into something greater than what rolled off the assembly line.

Lest you think I don't know of what I speak, meet Rocky (at left). Rocky was a 1975 GMC Sierra longbed pickup truck. In his original incarnation, he had a much-prized black and gold paint job package known as the "Gentleman Jim."

Rocky and I made our acquaintance in 1989. A year before that, he had been used as an art project by a local high school's senior class. Class members brought in all the leftover cans of paint from their garages, tool sheds and attics, mixed it with pigment, and went nuts. There was writing in various languages, bizarre geometric figures, and what could best be described as "automotive cave paintings" from stem to stern, including the roof, bumpers, and wheel rims.

In 1995, when the Houston Rockets were on the verge of their second NBA championship in a row, I was managing a Pizza Hut. On the night of the fourth and final game (we SWEPT the Magic), before tipoff, I gathered my employees and presented them with several sacks of Krylon spray paint in the Rockets' colors. I told them to go nuts. They did. The results are visible at right.

Alas, Rocky and I parted company back in 1999. His engine had given out, the body was falling apart despite the many layers of paint holding it together, and I could no longer get him inspected thanks to new emission testing regulations.

An Artful Massage

Michelle Kaiser has managed to turn her ArtCar into a business asset. She calls herself the Gypsy Mermaid, and the Mermaid Mobile is her offering to the world of wild wheels.

Michelle is a masseuse, and provides a very popular mobile massage service to offices, job sites, movie sets and other gatherings in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area. Her ArtCar, and now a step van, which she calls a work in progress, are like mobile billboards, instantly recognizable and eyecatching.

After some time spent traveling to ArtCar gatherings in Houston, San Francisco and Seattle, she decided that there were enough kindred spirits in and around Vancouver for her to start her very own Funky ArtCar Festival. The first year was quite a success, and it's only gotten bigger. This year will be the third, and it looks to draw cars and more bizarre vehicles from all over the continent.

I asked Michelle what, if she had her wish, she'd make an ArtCar out of next. She just got the step van she'd been hoping for, and now is shooting higher ... for a double-decker bus.

The BattleBots Connection

Mark Bradford, known to the ArtCar circles as Scrap Daddy, has transcended merely decorating vehicles. What Mark creates can be best described as mobile sculptures, like his famous Carmadillo. Using salvaged metal and his trusty welding torch, Mark creates amazing and gravity-defying contraptions that appear in various ArtCar parades around the country.

Not content with delighting ArtCar crowds, Mark has branched out. He appeared on Fox TV's "Guinness World Records" show, attempting to set a record for the heaviest weight ever tossed by a trebuchet, a counterweighted medieval catapult-like contraption. He decided to use old refrigerators as his "ammunition."

He's not confined to paved roads either, having drawn attention for his rocket sled construction abilities ... although the sleds have a nasty habit of disintegrating en route.

Mark has come to the attention of TV audiences, specifically Comedy Central's "BattleBots" fans, for his "Scrap Daddy Surplus" and other 'bots, such as "Flipskanker" at left.

While his 'bots generally don't last too long in competition, he's developed a cadre of fans and his introductions always draw towering cheers.

Your Turn!

Now it's your turn. Do you have an ArtCar lurking around the back yard? Hiding in the garage? Send me a picture! If I get enough response, you'll see your work in an upcoming column. Please note that pictures will NOT be returned, so do NOT send me anything irreplaceable!

Send them to: J. Scott Wilson c/o Internet Broadcasting Systems, 1333 Northland, Mendota Heights, MN 55120.

As ever, I look forward to your messages, screeds, alien invasion alerts, etc. Drop me a line!