Category Archives: Notes from Art Car World

misc thoughts and letters from those in Art Car World in Douglas, AZ

“Stumper” by Brian Visker

Stumper-art-car-by brian-visker-art-car-agency-1

We are proud to announce the arrival of “Stumper” by Brian Visker. As you will see from his web site, Visker is an amazing artist extraordinaire. In addition to Stumper he has created Oojah and Noggin Del Fuego. Hunter Mann of Art Car World recently completed the touch up painting and Stumper is ready to exhibit. We just need to finish the building which is coming along – more on that in a bit. Thank you Visker.

Good riddance to a bad, bad roof

Here are a couple of photos that Harrod took recently, to give you some idea of the magnitude of the roof replacement job that the Art Car World crew are doing on the main building. They’ve discovered that there are no fewer than 18 layers of asphalt rolled roofing up there! Evidently the previous owners over the last few decades found it easier just to keep adding new layers, rather than remove roofing material as it wore out. And of course as they added more layers, the weight caused the roof to start sagging more and more, and consequently leaking more, and requiring more layers…

So now it’s unavoidable. All of that nasty old asphalt has to be wrestled loose, little by little, while trying to keep the resulting dust out of one’s eyes and nose and mouth. And then the sagging structure has to be replaced with new trusses, etc. Here we see Kevin Ratliff and Francisco Valencia attacking the mess with pry bars. Behind them is another section waiting to be demolished, while at the bottom right is a gleaming section of new roof already completed. In all, the roof is over 11,000 square feet, so this is no small undertaking.

Kevin Ratliff on roof

Roof layers

Paint, and more paint

On March 14, Bob Castaneda and Joy Davis (of the wonderful Radio Fiyer art car) were here to volunteer their time to help paint the exterior of the building. They even donated the paint! Here’s a photo of Bob (left) and Hunter Mann hard at work. This shot shows only a fraction of the surface that they ultimately painted. And that’s just the primer coat — there are still two more coats to go. Bob and Joy are on their way here from California as I write this, to help the local crew finish the job. We’re looking forward to seeing their smiling faces.

Bob Castaneda & Hunter Mann paint Art Car World

And while we’re at it, here’s a shot of Kevin Ratliff (left) and Francisco Valencia repairing stucco on the front of the Art Car World building. Good job, guys.

Kevin Ratliff and Francisco Valencia repair stucco

Jewel Box art car arrives!

We’re thrilled to announce that the fabulous Jewel Box car has arrived at Art Car World! If it’s been a while since you’ve seen Wild Wheels, pull out your copy of the DVD and watch the segment about Jay Battenfield (or read about it in the Wild Wheels book). It’s a heartwrenching story. But the ultimate result was this beautiful and priceless art car. The late Mr. Battenfield’s estate donated it to Art Car World in 2010, and it arrived here from Amarillo, Texas, on March 31, 2011. Harrod says when he was filming the car for Wild Wheels all those years ago, he never imagined that it might someday end up under his own care. It needs some cleanup and restoration, but we look forward to having it on display eventually.

Jewel Box delivery to Art Car World

JB# 1 JewelBox

Art Car Museum, A new adventure

12-17-06 It is an exciting time to have a blooming energy towards making a home for art cars. I have noticed that it’s not just myself that is going through a period of transition – a lot of art car makers are either moving onto making other art cars or moving on to completely different things. I am looking forward to seeing what we all end up doing. I’ll keep posting updates as they come in.
-Harrod Blank