The Soul of an Old Machine: Harrod Blank, The Beetle, and the Popularization of the Art Car

More on the topic from the last post!

From Library of Congress Photograph Collection, 

Accompanied by a Mariachi band, on July 10 the last Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line.   It was a German at birth, later “improved,”  and assembled exclusively in Mexico, and for most of its life adopted by Americans. Exported to 119 countries, the Käfer,  Vochito, or Beetle -- whatever it was called – seamlessly assimilated into the culture it found itself. It is no accident that in my undergraduate history course “The Automobile and American Life,” the first image of an automobile that students see is not a Ford Model T, but rather a Beetle art car featured in film maker Harrod Blank’s “Wild Wheels.”  And while art cars are based on many different makes and models, the genre owes much to both the entrepreneurial efforts of Harrod Blank and the egg-shaped Beetle. Art cars, like the plain Beetle itself, express emotive impulses and reflect the tensions inherent to post-WWII American culture and society. Art that is based on the “People’s Car” then, can tell us much about American car culture and what it means to be human.

 To be sure, at purchase most owners were content with keeping the Beetle’s egg-like shape and rather anemic performance. The car was a statement that countered prevailing post-WWII American values of status, speed, power, planned obsolescence, and personal bling. During the 1950s and 60s the Bug was almost everything the vehicles of the Detroit Three were not. It was economical, reliable, well-made, round rather than angular, and to many "cute." It was said to be so tight that one had to crack a window to close a door and it could float when driven into a lake. By 1960, the notion that it was originally thought of as "Hitler's car" was increasingly overlooked.  

But there were also many Americans who were not content with the Beetle as it came out of the showroom. In a 1968 Road & Track survey, while a majority of owners were quite satisfied with the car and indeed would buy another, a number of drivers complained that the cars -- especially those built before 1965 -- were underpowered, slow, and just too plain. Inevitably, hotrodders would add horsepower and handling, with the goal of making the car a “sleeper” at the stoplight and drag strip.   And for some, while the engine and chassis layout were acceptable, others took what was a sublime appearance and use it as a setting to create personal artistic statements.  The car that no American manufacturer wanted in 1946 eventually became a cult car. And from an individualistic emotive impulse the art car came to be a part of American car culture beginning in the 1990s.

While it can be argued that art cars have been around since the model T, in order to understand the movement, we need to look at Harrod Blank’s personality and career, and his first bug art car, “Oh My God!” When, during the late 1980s, Blank found himself owning a battered VW Beetle, he came to the realization that he could use it as a blank canvas to do something different. His work began by painting a rooster on the driver’s side door, but the product kept growing and changing. With a globe added as a front ornament, television mounted to the roof, a bumper made of plastic chickens and fruit, and a sticker on the back exclaiming “Question Authority,” the car evolved into what became “Oh My God,” a reference to Blank’s eventual realization that his vehicle was not the only art car in America. The car was a catalyst to what followed: a book of photos; several films including “Wild Wheels” (1992) and “Automorphia” (2009); and exposition on art cars (2002). Along with others, Blank has promoted of numerous art car events, particularly in the San Francisco Bay area and Houston. Blank followed “Oh My God” with another creation based on a Beetle, “Pico De Gallo,” (Spicy Salsa). It was a fully interactive piece of or art, encouraging the public to interact by playing two electric guitars, drums, keyboards and an accordion. Both vehicles reflected central themes of the art car movement – to engage the public with movement, joy, and wonder. The end game was to foster an art that had the power to change one’s thoughts about an ever-increasing homogeneous world.

Of course, there are other examples of Beetle art cars, featuring wrought iron, lights, and marbles, among other things. And to be clear there are many makes and models are a part of the art car world besides the Beetle. While the biggest art car event is held in Houston in April, you can these unique vehicles at car shows and cars & coffee events around America. There you will find viewers with astonished looks and smiling faces, and happy owners knowing they have shared their joy with a public that rarely makes it to an art gallery.