Saturday, February 20, 2010

Gator Bike covered in Alligator skin to the rescue

Gator Bike covered in Alligator skin to the rescue

Jim Jablon didn't want his alligator skin to go to waste so he covered his motorcycle and making it the fastest road kill on record. It was given away in a charity fundraiser for an animal rehab center that has rescued dozens of exotic pets, including this albino Burmese python named Arctic.

The skin is detachable but the head is fixed perm-anently into the handlebars and has the speedometer implanted into the back of the skull.

Hand-carved skateboards by Doug McKee

Octopus Skateboard
Octopus Skateboard
Stingray Skateboard
Stingray Skateboard
Crocodile Skateboard
Crocodile Skateboard
Raven Skateboard
Raven Skateboard

I just found these amazing skateboards by artist Doug McKee of Bellingham, WA who carves skateboards that look like birds, insects, and sea creatures. here is what he had to say:

The process of carving a skateboard takes a bit of time. The piece is carved out of green wood. Which is to say wet, freshly cut wood. Ideally the wood spits its water at you as you carve. I use western red cedar because it is ideal in so many ways. Its light, strong and becomes harder as it ages. It splits easily facilitating carving--but also renders the piece fragile. First it is carved green and carefully hollowed out, then put away to dry. It shrinks radially along the growth rings as it dries. Some material must be left to "true up" or eliminate the distortions caused during drying. When it is dry enough it is finish carved. via Makezine

Friday, February 12, 2010

Oliver von Feistmantl on Art Cars

Le Baron Convetible Art Car
Oliver von Feistmantl 1993 Chrysler Le Baron Convertible Art Car Front
Oliver von Feistmantl 1993 Chrysler Le Baron Convertible Art Car Close up
Racebus Art Car
Oliver von Feistmantl Race Bus Art Car

Oliver von Feistmantl is a comic PoP artist from Vienna Austria that paints on pretty much everything, like houses, ships, snowboards, skateboards and even cars.
He started out as a graffiti artist in the 90´s but got arrested, so he decided to concentrate on legal ways to exhibit throughout Europe, Asia, the Caribbeans and NYC.

He makes acrylic paintings and sculptures in all sizes and in 2008 started to paint on a fishing boat in Thailand and in 2009 started to paint on cars.

The 1974 VW-Bus is called the racebus, because he got an engine from a Porsche 911 and was finished in October 2009. The 93 Chrysler Le Baron convertible was finished in 2010 and is the one he currently drives.

He hopes one day to come across a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow because its his personal dream to one day paint that car as well.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

New Car + Vintage Parts + Genius + Steve Heller = Heller on Wheels

I wrote about Steven Heller some time ago when I featured his 1960 Cadillac Fin Attaché Case. He has spent many years building furniture out of vintage cars parts and now his journey heads off in a new direction. Most people who restore old cars stick with old cars, but Steve modifies new cars and adds vintage car parts like fins, grills and other accessories from cars made in the 50's and 60's. Steven has been busy building and receiving awards for his work and is working towards his TV show, Heller on Wheels. His has an amazing passion for what he does and says in his video that he was put on earth to build custom cars and rocket ships. I am looking forward to seing his new creation the Cro-Magnum.


Comming soon - The Cro-Magnum by Steve Heller
Cro-Magnum by Steve Heller
via
Take a 2006 Dodge Magnum and add 25 1950's car parts to it and what do you get? The "Cro-Magnum!" It was started in March of 2009 and will be finished in the spring of 2010. It is really cool and will be entered into several of the most important auto shows. This car is featured in the promo and the build will be featured in the season 1 series.

The Marquis Desoto by Steve Heller
The Marquis Desoto by Steve Heller
Winner of the 2009 New York Times Award for Collectible Car of the Year. This started out as a 2004 Mercury Marquis. Steve customized it using 22 1950's car parts and it was later purchased by a collector who lives in California. The car will be in the Grand National Roadster Show this January, 2010 in Pomona, California and will also be at the Sacramento Auto-Rama in February, 2010. It will be featured in season 1 of the show.


HELLer ON WHEELS DOC SERIES PROMO from aaron weisblatt on Vimeo.