The following three Porsches:
– 1978 Porsche 928 Euro spec, first production year
– 1972 Porsche 911T one year only with the oil fill door
– 1974 Porsche 914 LE (Limited Edition, 500 black yellow, 500 white orange)
Are the basis for my rolling art sculptures. They were picked, admittedly with some luck, because they are slightly unique over other models respectively which helped craft the tale.
The vision is not through me being an artist/painter who designed a look for the car, although that is certainly part of it. But rather finding something within the car and marque itself that wants to be known. It becomes our story to tell. I know, these are inanimate objects and the cars aren’t talking to me… yet. But maybe if they could, they would say the following.
The first challenge in 2011, was to bring an inventive design to my favorite marque without compromising the value of an original paint car, which this was not. Keeping it close to stock for a factory experience was also important. Through years of thinking and planning the inspiration would come from something that isn’t as obvious as painting the car a la the BMW art cars which I love. It would instead come from the influence of thousands of car magazines I’ve read since I was a teenager growing up outside Detroit.
By using the car’s 40+ year heritage and launch press articles to propel this concept, I gave the 928 the ability to “speak,” rather brag about itself. The gesture to come look at me is rewarded by photo copies of seven magazine articles from ’77 and ’78 bought on eBay, scanned, retouched into B&W, printed on bumper sticker material then hand laid over the entire car. The press loved this new Porsche but that was lost over the years. I felt the car needed to tell the story of why Porsche’s success and their product line diversity demanded they devote an unheard of $200 million out of their $600 Deutschmark annual sales budget in 1974 to the development of the 928.
See forum feedback and more development details and photos at my automotive website Groosh’s Garage.
When you live in cold climates, salt is the seasoning used to melt snow and ice on roads. Pardon, to lower the freezing temperature of water so it’s not ice but you knew what I was going for, yes? The inevitability of rusted cars came to follow. And while modern cars are galvanized or made from non corroding materials to deflect decay, most enthusiasts with steel bodied sleds from yesteryear are missing the snow. When we try to hold onto beloved daily drivers or take on an old classic, the joy ride ends when the salt flies. It even hurts me to think of driving favored autos during the winter.
But what about the environment, do we still have the energy to absorb more concerns?
This too far gone, rusted out 911 will be a rolling chassis sculpture as found, no drive train, no interior, no deck lid, an indictment of an estimated 20 million metric tons of Sodium Chloride (NaCl), salt, spread on US roads each year. Not only does it pose risks to water and soil quality. Excessive salt use can harm aquatic life, damage vegetation, and contaminate drinking water. But let’s remember why we are here. It rots out cars. Rust depletes time and money when it comes to restoration. Nothing can be more frustrating than underestimating rot. And when it ruins daily drivers, before modern electronics or poor quality fails us, it requires tons of new resources like metal, glass, plastics, rubber and energy to replace it, if you can afford one.
This sculpture is not finished. What you see are pre-purchase photos before moving it to my gallery/shop where work has tipped past the 75% complete mark.
The third Porsche art car in this trio will be a 1974 Porsche 914 LE. The concept revolves around the names we give cars beyond their make/model and their relevance past, present and beyond. For example, “poor man’s Porsche”. But the execution is still under my hood. I haven’t crafted the execution because the car is in storage and not at my work shop. But it’ll get there and I’m pumped to work on it next.
For a look at past project cars, see my blog website this page.
For a look at part restoration that to me are little works of art themselves, again see my blog website this page.