Hot Painted Ferrari Art Car by Ton Pret

Dutch modern painter and fashion artist Ton Pret reveals Ferrari Art-Car on Open Art Fair

The Ton Pret Ferrari project is an unique art-car project where Dutch modern artist Ton Pret transformed a high-powered Ferrari 355 into 'The Fastest Artwork of Holland'. The project was executed in the summer of 2010.

Ton Pret Artist

Ton Pret started as a painter in 2005. His success emerged fast and work was exposed in the Amsterdam “Beurs van Berlage, the Fortezza da Basso in Florence, in Ascona Italy and the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. Not only his paintings and sculptures are popular amongst art-lovers and collectors, also his shoes, jeans and watches are in growing demand worldwide. His colorful high-heeled shoes caused a stir in the latest Paris fashion shows.

Ton Pret Ferrari

With this art-car project Ton transformed a high-powered Ferrari 355 into 'The Fastest Artwork of Holland'. Ton comments: ‘’This project was done in assignment of a lover of Dutch modern art, whom I met in the end of 2009. When he proposed to paint his Ferrari in my style I immediately said yes. I never had second thoughts.” The combination of this well-designed car, the speed and the joy of colors can be characterized as explosive. The Ton Pret Ferrari is already causing lots of controversies, especially amongst car lovers. The Ton Pret Ferrari is not meant to be sold but will be on display at selected events.

The Project

The planning for this project started in January 2010. In the beginning of May the car was prepared by Ferrari bodywork specialists. The actual painting of the car took Ton seven weeks. The complete car was hand painted, using a small size brush. To reach the desired depth of the colors all painting had to be done at least three times over. Because of these high working standards, the project demanded far more time than initially planned.

The work was also physically demanding. Because the car is painted top-to-bottom, Ton had to perform most of his creative work from difficult angles. To protect the delicate technology of the car the entire project was executed under the expert supervision of the Ferrari Bodyshop in 's-Graveland, The Netherlands.

Art-car tradition

Ton is not the first Dutch artist creating an exclusive hand painted art-car. With this project Ton follows the footsteps of Cobra artist Karel Appel and rock star and painter Herman Brood. Internationally the BMW-art-car series are well-known, featuring Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and recently Jeff Koons.

Recently more and more cars are being decorated with a special car foil. This process is cost-effective and quick, the foil can be applied within a day. Because the original artwork is copied on foil the result can be easily reproduced. This technique was not an option for this project. The goal of Ton and the owner of the Ferrari was to create a real object of art that is and will always remain a unique piece.

The Ferrari

The Ferrari 355 GTS Competizione is in perfect condition. The car runs over 185 miles per hour. It has a 8 cylinder / 3.5 liter engine and weighs 1350 kilo. The original color was Giallo Modena (Ferrari yellow).

article via open art fair

The Sauna - Riding the Alps in Style

The Sauna was built from a Volvo 240 and taken on CzechWrecks 2009, a 1500 mile 4 day journey starting from Calais, France through Swiss and Italian Alps all the way to Prague, Czech Republic.

What we have here is about 1/3rd of a ton of wood paneling being applied to the Volvo.

If you are wondering whether this wood had any impact on performance, I am assured it did. What performance they had to start with, remember that Volvo 240 are agricultural at best, that performance was soon zeroed.

Chris and Tom and their team built this car to raise money for charity and an opportunity to travel in their bath towels riding the sauna over some of the highest passes in Europe.

Crochet Doily Art Car

Its been a while but this Crochet Doily Art Car was found Prague and its an old Skoda Octavia Combi was well worth the wait.
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Porsche 356 Art Car painted with M.C Escher Reptiles

This Porsche 356 was painted by Author and Graphic Designer Jasper Fforde with M.C Escher's famous reptiles. This art car was based on a car driven by a character in one of his books.

Hot Turbo VW Radio Flyer Art Car Built by Toby Hall

Hot Turbo VW Radio Flyer Art Car Built by Toby Hall
Toby Hall is one of those people who will forever remain a kid at heart, just by looking at his latest creation. He recently built a full size Radio Flyer on a VW bug chassis, with a 1641cc flat-four and a Renault 5 turbo that will turn heads and burn rubber. Toby got the idea by watching Tool Time on TV during an episode when Tim the Toolman brought home a motorized Radio Flyer as a Christmas gift. He knew instantly that he had to build one and then went out and got busy. Toby spent a lot of time building his new toy with a tubed frame, bomber style seats, exposed engine and a great paint job. One the coolest features is the tow that can be pulled both by car and by hand when the handle is tilted down. Toby's Radio Flyer was just featured in this months volksworld magazine out of the UK and its my prediction that his art car will go viral. So glad we could have another hot Radio Flyer along with the one Bob Castaneda built in the US back in 1996.

Ford Kuga Art Car Painting by Ian Cook - Painted with RC Cars and Tires

On Saturday 4th September - Artist Ian Cook aka Popbang Colour painted the Ford Kuga live on the Internet using radio controlled cars. The Ford Kuga team was there to capture all the action. Check out the video of how he did and for more photos go to flickr.

Cop and Robber VW Art Car Sculpture by LInda Bakke

This Cop and Robber VW Art Car Sculpture was created and sent in by artist Linda Bakke from Norway. Two vw bugs welded together and painted, one as a cop and the other a robber, so I guess the cop got his perp.

Burberry Gets a Black Eye by Chavs in the UK.

Some time ago I posted my first Burberry Art Car, but last night I discovered that this was just the tip of the British iceberg. In the UK Chavs is a phenomenon, youths of ill-repute, often football hooligans, who dress in designer brands, and Burberry being the particular brand of choice. According to a BBC article, the Burberry brand became a victim of its own success when Chavs co-opted the brand and now is associated with people who do bad stuff and many even think that Burberry is be worn by the person who mugged them. Fortunately sales of Burberry outside the UK did very well in spite of the "Chav" stigma.

So for your Art Car pleasure I present the most complete line up of Burberry art cars and other Berberry gear associated with the "chav" lifestyle now in full swing in the UK.

Motorized Beer Scooter

This dude is riding a motorized beer cooler way too fast, I hope he's not drinking.

Rocking Mercedes Art Car from Ikaria Greece

I found this Rocking Mercedes Art Car in a granite wall made on the Island of Ikaria in Greece on the facebook page about the island. Its a retaining wall made from granite and the Mercedes is built in the wall using various colored stone. This photo is especially fantastic to me, first because I spend my childhood summers there and second because the Mercedes Pens is my favorite art car ride. I can believe I found photo, I never imagined finding and art car in Ikaria but I am not surprised so see such artistry manifest in this way.

36ft Multicolored British Limo Monstrosity

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The UK had their own version of the Cash for Clunkers called the "Scrappage Scheme". The government scheme is coming to a close but the car manufactures are picking up the plan so Nissan decided to mark the occasion by building a multicolored 36 ft scrap car limo monstrosity constructed by renowned sculptor Graham Wardale, who works for a specialist movie props company.

The vehicle took a team of four more than 500 hours to create, and is made up of more than 2000 parts – including a set of fluffy dice. Unfortunately it has no engine so it wont be gracing  the streets of London. Darn it! I wonder how many prom couples you could fit in it?

Monster Big Bike Could Crush Hot Weels

Here is the ultimate in Monster pennyfarthing bicycle riding madness. Its not the easiest bicycle ride to handle to come out of the Netherlands, but its slow and steady. The only thing it will crush is hot wheels cars lined up on the side walk. The video is a must see.

Mercedes Truck Painted with Russel Crow - Finland Truck Show 2010

These art trucks were seen at the Finald Truck show recently which sorta reminds of the Japanese Decotora Trucks I wrote about some time ago. I love this first one, a Mercedes tanker truck covered with the face of Russel Crow actor of my favorite movie Gladiator. These truck drivers go all out with leather seat, LED lights, lots of chrome and of course all out airbrushed works of art that completely cover their trucks.

Russel Crow Truck

Worm Harvesting Using a Car

In my opinion there are much better ways to harvest worms and growing them on a car is not one of them. This is what happens when you leave your car unattended under a tree for some time. Worms, Worms and MORE Worms, maybe he is harvesting worms for fish baitvia

CarPuchino - Car Powered by Coffee Grinds

For those of us who plan their trips from coffee shop to coffee shop finally a better solution. A car that is powered entirely by roasted coffee grinds is now a reality, I can feel my hear raising as I write this.

The car is called the Car-Puchino and was created using a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco that sorta looks like a time traveling DeLorean from back to the future. It was created by a team from BBC1 science program Bang Goes The Theory and driven 210 miles between Manchester and London.

It does about 60mph and uses about 2.2 lbs of coffee for every three miles or 56 espressos per mile (56epm). Its going to take 154 lbs so price depends on the type of coffee you use:

1. Premium = Kona Coffee = $30/lb = $4,620
2. Plus = Starbucks Breakfast Blend = $10/lb = $1,154
3. Regular = Folgers = $5/lb = $770

A trip like this is a bit of grind since you have to stop every 40 miles to add coffee grinds, every 60 to clean out the coffee filters. Even with a top speed of maybe 60 mph a relatively short trip could take all day to complete. On the plus side, there will be plenty of coffee and bathroom breaks.

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