This is CRAZY. I guess you could still call it a wagon...

Wow!

http://detroit.craigslist.org/wyn/clt/4250173873.html

Forties Cadillac FIRE HEARSE / MONSTER TRUCK Huge ART CAR Sculpture! - $1000 (Detroit)




Up for sale here is an Art Car that was built in the 1980's by a CCS (Center for Creative Studies) class taught by Scott Prescott, who was a visiting instructor from Texas where he was soon to be partly responsible for the eighties art car explosion and its later popularity with the industrial arts crowd. Scott Prescott went on to build many other such cars, entering vehicles into the Austin Art Car Parade. Later vehicles took on a more militaristic appearance, but this early art car is more monstrous than military.

The Flame Hearse is constructed of a late 1940's Cadillac Hearse welded atop the chassis of a ten-wheel panel truck (2 tires in front, 8 in back on double axles). This thing is truly enormous, in every dimension. The front grill and engine compartment have been cut out to create a gaping mouth with chrome bumpers cut as fangs. There is no engine, it's meant to be more of a combustible sculpture & left stationary. The entire truck is run with pipes that carry propane to slits which can be ignited to supply fire to nearly every portion of the vehicle. The truck has been modified to be ignited inside & out, with flame lines run throughout the gaping mouth but also along the front dashboard and both side windows, as well as a line across the back window. Each of these lines can be shut down with its' own valve, and work is needed on the system, but fire can be produced both inside & out when hooked up to a propane tank. I usually use a 100 pound tank and fill up at a welders supply. The flames are strongest when the tank is full, and a regulator should be installed for greater effect. The truck needs some renovation, especially a tire change as one in front caught fire - but there's a spare in back so this shouldn't be too bad. The windshield has broken from fire, but I've been told this was a regular occurrence, especially when hotter gases were used, and spares were kept on hand when it was displayed at the college it was built at. In its' present condition it requires a mild renovation to restore it to its' former glory, and would become a perfect centerpiece for any modern art gallery or Haunted House that will have it.

I acquired the Flame Hearse more than ten years ago from a storage space that CCS rented for about fifteen years. Before that it was on display at the college, but this would have been in the eighties after it was built. I have assembled some supporting materials relating to its construction. A South End article gives some background on the artist, and an early eighties comic book that supposedly was the trucks inspiration has been promised to me by an area artist who has memories of the project. Several rumors surround the Hearse, including that the Truck was originally called the "Ghettoblaster", and that the Hearse was the very one used to carry Henry Ford to his grave. I have substantiated neither of these, but the latter seems very unlikely, as the hearse is not a Ford vehicle.

Here are a few links that relate to the artist Scott Prescott :

http://www.artcars.com/artcarindex/index.html
http://www.jeromium.com/houston.html
http://www.orangeshow.org/art-car/

Take a look at the photos & feel free to email with any questions.

$1000 OR Best Offer (all offers will be considered, identical offers will favor the earliest email).
Local pickup only - Tow will require flatbed truck at purchasers expense (I last towed it for $100) - I'm located in Detroit.

• Location: Detroit
• do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers

 

I like old cars and I like most art. But somehow this just does not trip my trigger or float my boat. I've seen people, chickens, and other things made of car parts which actually look nice. Even cars and partial cars as yard art. This seems to have gone wrong when someone decided it needed flames and bulk.
A once fine old hearse has died after being tortured.

 

Was Henry Ford's last ride really in a Cadillac? No Lincoln hearses available?

 

No; the hearse in which Henry Ford was conveyed to his burial site was a Packard:



More info & discussion here:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/185976.html?1296164915

 

Up for sale here is an Art Car that was built in the 1980's by a CCS (Center for Creative Studies) class taught by Scott Prescott, who was a visiting instructor from Texas where he was soon to be partly responsible for the eighties art car explosion and its later popularity with the industrial arts crowd. Scott Prescott went on to build many other such cars, entering vehicles into the Austin Art Car Parade. Later vehicles took on a more militaristic appearance, but this early art car is more monstrous than military.


One man's "art??".... is another man's garbage

 

I like it. But I don't expect that to be any surprise.

 

hmmm I could buy that and mate it up to a 94 roadmaster frame, floor and drive line....

 

:banana:I'm surprised ! NOT !

RatMaster can drop the main body on his Roadmaster and build a RoadmasterRatRodMaster.

 

Even considering that it's been sitting for 20+ years, it still looks like pretty sketchy fabrication........

 

Keep in mind these were artists not automotive designers or builders. And most were students. I'm with Tedy on this one.
Every artist looks at his work differently.

 

What part is actually the art part??? There is more art in the original styling without the so called attempt of art for this display imho. Except for the teeth bumper, there is absolute nothing else to look at, sorry!

If it is in Detroit and it is meant to be a so called good example of car art, then take it down to American Loans and Jewellery and let Les, Seth and Ashley critique it and possibly buy it for their shop!

 

Let me correct your spelling.. You meant Autistic, correct?


.....And where are they today??.......

 

Ok... I admit that even though I like it an old panel truck would have been way better for this project. Perhaps even an old COE.

 

I like it. It has a very "Tim Burton" feel to it, I think, but taste is completely subjective.

I've been a creative director for the past 12 years and have met engineers and accounts who couldn't appreciate something unless everything lined up in nice even columns and met at right angles. Likewise I've worked with artists I'd swear were incapable of designing something with parallel lines.

Some will see this as nothing more than an abomination, and I would guess that's probably fine with the artist. The goal of art isn't to seek acceptance, but rather to create to evoke an emotional or intellectual response. To make you think, or feel, or experience. Or, they just felt the urge to create.

In the end, this isn't a car and it probably never was to the artist. It was just the canvas upon which he he was to create.

And when you think of it like that, you'll probably still hate it.

 

Paul first.................Yes I thought and I still hate it.


As for this--------------...And where are they today??.......

Probably in Washington running this Country! They really are ARTISTIC!

PS Gimme a dollar. I didn't read the stinkin sign.