Any Prius "art cars" out there?

Do you remember this one that was being raffled off?

[Broken External Image]:http://s87059328.onlinehome.us/images/car_small.jpg

Personally I'd be inclined to stick with a fun paint job and maybe some fun upholstery. Anything glued to the surface makes for difficult washing and of course can create drag and funny noises at highway speeds.

 

Ah yes, the art cars! I've always painted my cars. My Ford Escort wagon had Puget Sound on one side and Eastern Washington on the other. When I got my Prius, my friends questions fell into two categories. Group one: "You're NOT going to paint your car are you?". This group includes my sister and others who, while admiring my chutzpah for painting my cars, feel in their heart of hearts that it's mildly sacreligious to do so. Group two: "when are you going to paint your car?" This group consists of fans of my previous paint jobs, including my partner's son.
I was part of a group called Handpainted Cars of Seattle, to which the first post refers. They are an ecclectic group and the cars cover the gamut from "fine art" to total hippie immersion.
I've never spent this much money on a car, so it is with some reluctance that I think about actually painting it over. At some point, I probably will.
I did download photos of the Prius in all available colors from the Toyota webpage, and then used Photo Shop to work out some basic designs. I did this when I didn't know what color car I would end up with and was trying to make any color car more acceptable by doing some custom artwork on it...especially the silver, which seemed almost colorless to me.
My final graphic design from that exercise is a few stalks of bamboo with a setting moon/sun just above the indent along the bottom of the doors. The reflection of the moon/sun is below the indent. It looked pretty cool on the computer, but I haven't committed to doing it on the real car yet.
The Prius exudes a kind of Zen tranquility, and I wanted the art work that might go on the car to reflect both its Japanese origin and the pacifism of that culture. I love Japanese art and its simplicity. I doubt I would do a full car graphic paint job as I did on previous cars.
My partner's son thinks I should do a Hawaiian fish motif after the name HUMU, for humuhumunukunukuapu'aa, the Hawaiian triggerfish. Somehow, having fish swimming over my car doesn't send me.
I would be interested in sharing ideas with other artists out there and perhaps we could embolden ourselves to do something daring on our extraordinary cars.
Given the huge demand for these cars, I could probably strip all the paint off entirely and still get back what I paid for the car new.
And, finally, I would never glue anything to a car I seriously wanted to use and keep. It creates drag, collects dirt, and eventually comes off because glue isn't reliable, leaving a hole in the paint. I think an Art Car can be such without having things like bowling trophies and statues of the Virgin Mary glued to them. Even the paint job itself would probably create measureable drag on a Prius where it would not be measureable on an older, less aerodynamically designed car.
Thanks, bookrats, for the comment about my throw pillows. I carried the interior decorating a bit further by using my front cup holder to support a cobalt blue bottle with a silk rose. I found a blue accent light at my local supply shop and mounted it on the bottle. Nice effect. The rose is tall enough to be easily seen from the outside of the car and thin enough not to interfere with seeing the dash. The bright red rose against the beige interior and the blue exterior, looks elegant. VW Beetles shouldn't be the only cars on the block with flowers.
Little accents of color will greatly enhance the overall appearance of your car. Black lends itself to a lot of striking effects with little effort. All of this can be easily removed if you want your car to revert to normal...whatever that is.
In a few years, when Prii are more common, I think we will see lots of art work on them, just as we did on the Beetle. The car evokes the kind of affectionate response that the Beetle does; but for now, it's both too new and too expensive to do much ditzing with.
Drive lovingly,
Bob

 

Polar bear

 

I have thought about doing the green leaf "flame job" for real on my White 04. Lack of extra funds stopped that idea for now.

One idea I heard about a long time ago was to mix grass seed with watery elmers glue and paint it on your car. A few days later: chia car! Probably adds drag but I beleive you can wash it off.

 

Who does the painting?

Where do you guys go to get this stuff done? I'm in the D.C. area.

 

my '04 prius is upholstered in leather, katzkins, and accented everywhere with my own tie-dyed leather from the 60's that i've 2 trunks full of (1/2 deerskins) and have used rarely, as i don't like tie-dye that much. did the center armrest, door armrests, back seat thing that pulls down, side stuff. most people are duly impressed by the effect, doesn't do that much to me.

 

Would you post some pictures. It sounds interesting.

 

I found this while trying to find that picture of the polar bear Prius (which I still haven't found btw)


Polar Prius

 

Yeah, please do. You too, Bob!

 

well, tomorrow's daddyday, will they get me a digi camera so i can post pix of the custom leather??
i don't think so...gotta borrow a camera somewhere, maybe even buy one, i know, i'll borrow one this weekend, and send fotos.
art

 

i don't know how to post 8 pictures! but i'm trying.

 

more pics

 

interior personality

I really liked the pictures of the pillows and armrest covered with the great tropical fabric. How did you do this? I want to adorn my white #9 in a polynesian theme. My son named our car "Polly" which is easier to say than Nav lady.

I am looking for some tropical seat covers that will not interfere with the airbags. Any suggestions?

Tara

 

the "tropical fabric" is tie-dyed leather created in 1966 in Woodstock, of which i have several trunks full, and have been carrying around for nearly 40 years and using bits of it here and there, as in the prius. some day i will either have an entire living room suite made of it, sell it on Ebay, leave it to my kids or make wall hangings out it all.

 

OK - since I've been waiting since 11/07/03 - to MY mind all Priuses are art cars.... :|