Automorphisis
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00:00:00You know, frankly, it's difficult to go against the grain, especially now with the bombardment
00:00:11of the media and advertising telling us how we should live our lives, what kind of cars
00:00:18we should drive.
00:00:20It's difficult to even think for oneself anymore.
00:00:25Ever since we've been born, we've been conditioned with the imagery and the messages that we
00:00:31should live a certain way.
00:00:55What kind of car do you want when you grow up?
00:01:11Jaguar Convertible.
00:01:12Why?
00:01:13Because they're cool.
00:01:14A pickup truck.
00:01:15Why?
00:01:16Because it's rugged.
00:01:17A Mazda Miata.
00:01:18Because it's sexy.
00:01:19A Dodge Viper.
00:01:28They're really fast and everyone would be jealous.
00:02:13This is Oh My God in like 25 languages.
00:02:17Like Dios Mio is Spanish.
00:02:20And then coming around here, this is like a universal symbol, like this car can go all
00:02:24over the world.
00:02:25Did you make all of this?
00:02:27Yeah.
00:02:28The chickens?
00:02:29The chickens are kind of funny.
00:02:32I grew up with chickens actually in the forest, so that's why I have chickens on here.
00:02:37And then on the inside, if you look on the ceiling, it's all covered with little knick-knacks.
00:02:42Wow.
00:02:46I grew up in the mountains of Santa Cruz, California in the middle of a big forest and
00:02:52we didn't have any TV.
00:02:55I got into raising chickens and I spent a lot of time with them.
00:03:01And thus I grew up a little bit different than the other kids.
00:03:05And then when it was time for me to drive, I wanted to show people something about me.
00:03:14When I was in college, I became fascinated by other art car people and I made a documentary
00:03:20film on them.
00:03:23And then as I toured with the film, art cars I had never even heard about before would
00:03:28show up at the screenings.
00:03:31I couldn't believe it and their art cars were great, but it was the people behind the
00:03:36cars that really intrigued me.
00:03:39All these people were so different and that made me want to know even more, what was it
00:03:47that was motivating all of us to do this?
00:03:53I've been repairing vacuum cleaners since 1956.
00:03:57It's hard to believe, but it's a good business.
00:04:00I brought up my wife, three kids and myself repairing vacuum cleaners.
00:04:07Somebody's got to do it, so it just will be me.
00:04:10This place is sort of messy.
00:04:13In fact, all this brass, I forgot to go in my van, so it's more or less keeps on growing.
00:04:27Oh, I've been doing this roughly 20 years.
00:04:33I suppose the reason is, is why I started.
00:04:36I just happened to see three elephants.
00:04:39I used that for a hood ornament.
00:04:41And then I said, oh, maybe I ought to put a piece of brass here and a piece of brass
00:04:46there.
00:04:47After all, how do you start a hobby?
00:04:49One day you're saving buttons or cigar wrappers or whatever your hobby may be.
00:04:57You can do that for 30, 40 years without realizing it.
00:05:02A few facts about my van.
00:05:03Now, my hood here weighs 270 pounds.
00:05:08And obviously, I need help to check my oil.
00:05:1380% of this van is from one store.
00:05:18And the other, swap, meet, wherever I happen to see a piece I like.
00:05:25Before I put the brass on it, there's money on it, $15,000 in cash.
00:05:32Susan B. Anthony's, Eisenhower's Quarters, Nichols.
00:05:37These are all Susan B. Anthony's, there's 80 of them.
00:05:40And this is a fox.
00:05:41This is my trademark.
00:05:44It's amazing.
00:05:46A lot of people say, you're the guy who has a van with a belt buckle like that.
00:05:50You must own that van.
00:05:53I'm really vain.
00:05:56That's the type of guy I am.
00:05:57I want to look good.
00:05:59When I go, like, in Hawaii, my bikini I wear is only this big.
00:06:05And I walk right down Kalakaua, which is the main dragon, Waikiki.
00:06:12I want people to realize I'm the man who did something that nobody else really can, had
00:06:20the famous California fantasy van, which is irresistible.
00:07:05I
00:07:34bet a spoon man for years, there's a lot of people out there that plays the spoons.
00:07:39And I tell you something, I don't claim to be the best, but I bet you one thing, they
00:07:44don't nobody have as much fun playing the spoons as I do.
00:07:49I tell you the truth about it, to me it's very simple.
00:07:52I mean, I just take two spoons, hold one like that and slide it in right in there, and you
00:07:56got to get a little adjustment, and you get all different sounds out of them.
00:08:01Just the movement in your wrist here helps you control your spoon like this, you go.
00:08:08And you sort of move them over to one side and get another little sound like that.
00:08:20And then you can take and change up like this.
00:08:22I'm going to go up to my old head now.
00:08:24Watch this.
00:08:25See, I told you my head was hard, I didn't have no sense.
00:08:42What I do, it made I look normal to some people, but I can look around and see people doing
00:08:47things and they don't look normal to me.
00:08:50So I reckon it takes all kinds to make the world go around, so I reckon I'm just about
00:08:56as normal as anybody.
00:08:58People, they see my truck, they tell me, they say, you know, that looks good.
00:09:02Now and then I might find somebody tell me, what'd you mess up that pretty truck for?
00:09:07I say, well, it's the only thing I got my name on, and I reckon I can mess it up if
00:09:11I want to, if that's what you want to call it.
00:09:14But I don't call it messed up, I enjoy my old truck, and most people that sees it, they
00:09:19enjoy it too.
00:09:21I enjoy the attention I get doing it.
00:09:25I really do.
00:09:27It's really hard to describe a great feeling.
00:09:31It's hard to describe the great feeling that you get for being the character that you are.
00:09:49It's you along the way.
00:09:51I'm from Juneberry, South Carolina.
00:09:53It's got me a little warm and I'm glad I found it.
00:09:55A lot of people think I'm insane, but I'm not and you're the king.
00:10:03Now you know what's made me this tough, this is called your school address.
00:10:08I played them high and I played them low, I played a little country, rock and roll.
00:10:20I played them fast and I played them slow.
00:10:22I played a little jazz and a little soul.
00:10:24I played them bad and I played them good.
00:10:26I played a little pop and a little blue.
00:10:28I played them funny and I played them strange.
00:10:30I played bluegrass and western swing.
00:10:32I played them cool and I played them neat.
00:10:34I can play them best when I got something to eat.
00:10:36I'm the spoon man.
00:10:38This is James Dean's spoon, which was found in the glove compartment of his Porsche when he died.
00:10:40John Lennon wrote this.
00:10:42He wrote it.
00:10:44He wrote it.
00:10:46He wrote it.
00:10:48He wrote it.
00:10:50He wrote it.
00:10:52He wrote it.
00:10:54He wrote it.
00:10:56He wrote it.
00:10:58He wrote it.
00:11:01He wrote it.
00:11:03John Lennon gave me this spoon.
00:11:05Elvis Presley gave me this spoon.
00:11:07This crystal globe was given to me by Salvador Dali after I bent a fork for him.
00:11:09Now you can imagine, he's been painting bent objects for most of his life and suddenly I come along and bend one in reality rather than surrealistically.
00:11:11It freaked him out.
00:11:14Well, as you know, I became famous for bending spoons with the power of my mind.
00:11:16I'm talking to the spoon.
00:11:18Come on, melt.
00:11:20Melt.
00:11:22Yeah, it's very, very hot.
00:11:24Melt.
00:11:26Melt.
00:11:28Melt.
00:11:30Melt.
00:11:32Melt.
00:11:34Melt.
00:11:36Melt.
00:11:38Melt.
00:11:40Melt.
00:11:42Yeah, it's very, very soft now.
00:11:44Look, I'll now go like this.
00:11:46There.
00:11:48And I can touch it.
00:11:50It's dead cold.
00:11:52And if I try to put it together,
00:11:54it just doesn't fit.
00:11:56It's almost like a piece disappears.
00:12:02If you look at my car,
00:12:04yes, my personality
00:12:06reflects in its creation.
00:12:08And I'm so glad
00:12:11that I created it
00:12:13because now I've got something
00:12:15that I can ship around the world
00:12:17and make people have fun
00:12:19just pointing out
00:12:21important and famous spoons
00:12:23and observing this car
00:12:25as a piece of art.
00:12:41I put on my trousers,
00:12:43my striped trousers,
00:12:45and follow through
00:12:47with my red sock
00:12:49and blue sock,
00:12:51which I always wear.
00:12:53Never leave home without it.
00:12:55It's something I like to do.
00:12:57I always go with red, white,
00:12:59and blue, and this is
00:13:01what makes it interesting.
00:13:03I was inducted into service
00:13:05March of 43
00:13:07and served for 33 months.
00:13:09We made the invasion of France.
00:13:11Fortunately enough,
00:13:13I was able to come back home safe.
00:13:15I always liked the saying
00:13:17of God bless America,
00:13:19and when I was a little boy,
00:13:21I always followed Kate Smith's singing
00:13:23on the radio.
00:13:25She made the song popular,
00:13:27I decided to make the saying popular,
00:13:29and I always wore it on my derby.
00:13:31And my dream is to be
00:13:33well-known like Kate Smith,
00:13:35known nationwide
00:13:38for what I'm doing, being patriotic.
00:13:40I always admire
00:13:42people who spread their patriotism
00:13:44by wearing red, white, and blue
00:13:46sweaters or jackets or hats.
00:13:48It doesn't have to be
00:13:50any certain day of the year
00:13:52to celebrate.
00:13:54Every day should be celebrated
00:13:56with patriotism.
00:14:28A hamburger
00:14:30for me is an icon
00:14:32of the United States.
00:14:34What is more American
00:14:36than the hamburger?
00:14:38It's an American invention
00:14:40and it's well-known
00:14:42all over the world.
00:14:46I was born in Germany.
00:14:48The reason I came to the United States
00:14:50is because
00:14:52I like the sunshine,
00:14:54the ocean, and everything
00:14:57Americana.
00:14:59I export
00:15:01gift items, memorabilia,
00:15:03and novelties
00:15:05related to American cars
00:15:07and motorcycles like
00:15:09belt buckles, license plates,
00:15:11bumper stickers, keychains.
00:15:13I always say
00:15:15I sell everything
00:15:17what you really don't need.
00:15:19With my business
00:15:21I make enough money
00:15:23to support my family
00:15:25but actually the hamburger
00:15:27ate all my money
00:15:29that I had.
00:15:31There's nothing left.
00:15:39I discussed it with my wife
00:15:41and I was halfway done
00:15:43with the hamburger
00:15:45and I spent about $60,000
00:15:47and I almost gave up
00:15:49and I said it's too much
00:15:51it's getting out of control
00:15:54and she said no, don't stop it
00:15:56it's your dream, finish it
00:15:58no matter how much it costs
00:16:00let's work a little harder
00:16:02but let's do it, let's go for it.
00:16:05I have about
00:16:07more than 500 hamburgers
00:16:09which are in the shape
00:16:11of an actual hamburger
00:16:13and every hamburger
00:16:15is categorized
00:16:17and it's in the computer
00:16:19and I have to
00:16:21make sure
00:16:23that every hamburger
00:16:25is categorized
00:16:27and I have to make sure
00:16:29that every hamburger
00:16:31is categorized
00:16:33and it's in the computer
00:16:35what's the diameter
00:16:37what material is it out
00:16:39is it a bacon cheeseburger
00:16:41or just a plain hamburger
00:16:43or a cheeseburger
00:16:45I call this one
00:16:47the Rolls Royce hamburger
00:16:49because it's looking so realistic
00:16:51and I saw it first
00:16:53I wanted to take a bite out of it
00:16:55and then I said my goodness
00:16:57this is well done
00:16:59and this is
00:17:02the cheeseburger waterbed
00:17:06my family, my friends
00:17:08actually everybody asks me
00:17:10why, why are you collecting
00:17:12all these things
00:17:14and why hamburgers
00:17:16why, why, why, why
00:17:18a lot of things I do in my life
00:17:20have no meaning, no sense
00:17:22I like the cheeseburger with fries
00:17:24that's what I like
00:17:26to confuse people
00:17:28it keeps me alive
00:17:30and do unusual things
00:17:40in the beginning
00:17:42my mission was to get as much attention
00:17:44as possible
00:17:46so I put things on my car
00:17:48that would look ridiculous
00:17:50on a car
00:17:52things like the globe
00:17:54and the spinning flowers
00:17:56and the TV set
00:17:59I added the rooster noises
00:18:01and the sound effects
00:18:21then when I realized
00:18:23how much attention I was getting
00:18:25that's when I started saying things on the car
00:18:27like stop apartheid
00:18:29safe sex
00:18:31things that I believed in
00:18:57the purpose of the litterbug
00:18:59is a vehicle for change
00:19:01a vehicle for thought
00:19:03a conceptual art piece
00:19:05that gets a statement
00:19:07from one person to another
00:19:09it's a way
00:19:11of communicating
00:19:13without words
00:19:15it's a way
00:19:17of communicating
00:19:19without words
00:19:21it's a way
00:19:23of communicating
00:19:26without words
00:19:28I love nature
00:19:30and I saw that people
00:19:32are becoming more separate
00:19:34from nature
00:19:36and where we get our sustenance
00:19:38we consume things
00:19:40and just throw them out
00:19:42without thinking about
00:19:44where they came from
00:19:46or where they're going
00:19:48litter is buried
00:19:50you get a lot of different
00:19:52textures and colors
00:19:55by what they throw away
00:19:57it's a less offensive
00:19:59way of making a point
00:20:01I think if you put yourself out
00:20:03on a limb a little bit
00:20:05and don't mind looking like the fool
00:20:07then people are more receptive
00:20:09to what you have to say
00:20:11you never know exactly how people
00:20:13are going to react
00:20:15most people are very inquisitive
00:20:17and supportive
00:20:19but some people it arouses anger
00:20:21and disgust and fear
00:20:23you have no anonymity
00:20:25it's like driving around on a prom float
00:20:27all the time
00:20:29you can't just make a statement with the car
00:20:31you're with the car
00:20:33yes!
00:20:35yes!
00:20:43I'm driving my cars
00:20:45towards the dream
00:20:47of making it in show business
00:20:49and my cars
00:20:52and I'm not sure how I'm going to get there
00:20:54everybody told me I needed a
00:20:56two thousand dollar portfolio
00:20:58the best I could get
00:21:00so when I came to Hollywood
00:21:02I could show them these great pictures
00:21:04and I could just blast on the scene
00:21:06and I got here and nobody wanted
00:21:08to look at my portfolio
00:21:10and I went around to every agency on the list
00:21:12almost two hundred
00:21:14and I got so mad one day
00:21:16that I put all my head shots
00:21:18on the outside of my car
00:21:20I'll decorate my car like a moving billboard
00:21:22and then it became like an art form
00:21:24because I kept adding more stuff to it
00:21:26and then I thought
00:21:28well I have one, why don't I get two
00:21:30you know two would be twice as good to have
00:21:32and then I got seven
00:21:34I thought well this is great
00:21:36I can drive one every day of the week
00:21:38because in Hollywood obsessive is good
00:21:40and the more toys you have
00:21:42the more people like you
00:21:44it looks like somebody
00:21:46who hasn't washed their car
00:21:49and it's rather garish
00:21:51and vulgar
00:21:53and has no symmetry to it
00:21:55I mean if you're going to do something
00:21:57have symmetry to it
00:21:59have everything evenly measured
00:22:01you know what I mean
00:22:03you can't blow your own horn so overtly
00:22:05I mean you know really
00:22:13I have more acoustical energy
00:22:15than any other moving
00:22:17or stationary item on the planet
00:22:19this particular whistle was made
00:22:21as a special whistle
00:22:23to announce that there was a fire
00:22:25and it makes a very different sound
00:22:31and then I have four ship's horns
00:22:33including the world's largest air horn
00:22:35it's guaranteed at full pressure
00:22:37to be heard 12 miles on land
00:22:39or 25 miles on water
00:22:41it has a 17 inch diaphragm
00:22:43and the trumpet part out there
00:22:46is 36 inches in diameter
00:22:48by far the largest horn
00:22:50I love to get up behind somebody
00:22:52that has a bumper sticker
00:22:54that says honk
00:22:56if you love Willie Nelson
00:23:04I was racing late model sports stock cars
00:23:06on half mile NASCAR tracks
00:23:08and I just got in a real
00:23:10odd situation
00:23:12in that I had a blowout
00:23:14and another two cars coming down
00:23:16the track behind me
00:23:18got into a bumping match
00:23:20so to speak
00:23:22and one of them got knocked off the track
00:23:24into me doing about 120 miles an hour
00:23:26and the good news is
00:23:28I was knocked out
00:23:30so I went comatose
00:23:32so I didn't breathe any of the fire
00:23:34but I'm very lucky to be alive
00:23:36I was burned 45% third degree
00:23:38when I was getting out of the hospital
00:23:40my doctor who genuinely cared about me
00:23:43and that scared me
00:23:45so I was my own best therapist
00:23:47and so anything I was scared to do
00:23:49as a result of being burned
00:23:51I just made myself do it
00:23:53after racing I didn't find anything
00:23:55that I had a passion for
00:23:57until I got into collecting
00:23:59these old whistles and horns
00:24:02and the one impact that being burned
00:24:04had on me was that I realized
00:24:06that I better enjoy every day
00:24:08because I'm lucky to be here today
00:24:10some people hear about a parade
00:24:12some people watch a parade
00:24:14some people are in the parade
00:24:16most people are spectators
00:24:18and I like being in the parade
00:24:31this telephone is one of 30 handmade telephones
00:24:33I made when I was around 10 years old
00:24:35all of the components are exposed
00:24:37and in fact it is a working telephone
00:24:39hello
00:24:41hello
00:24:43hello
00:24:45hello
00:24:47hello
00:24:49hello
00:24:51hello
00:24:53hello
00:24:55hello
00:24:57hello
00:24:59hello
00:25:01yes
00:25:03well I guess I started
00:25:05just with a curiosity of telephones
00:25:07I wanted to know how they worked
00:25:09what made them tick
00:25:11being able to do different things with telephones
00:25:13being able to design them differently
00:25:15being able to make art out of telephones
00:25:17finally at 17 or 18 years old
00:25:19I got the bug that I wanted to fix telephones
00:25:21for the rest of my life
00:25:23to be a telephone repairman
00:25:25not too long after that I started my own company
00:25:27I started when I was about 8 years old
00:25:29or so collecting
00:25:31and one phone led to the other
00:25:33and I just can't seem to stop
00:25:35how much is the phone?
00:25:37two bucks
00:25:39when I come across an old telephone that I don't have
00:25:41I can feel the adrenaline pumping
00:25:43I know that I just have to find a way to get it
00:25:45music
00:25:47music
00:25:49music
00:25:51music
00:25:53music
00:25:55music
00:25:57music
00:25:59music
00:26:01music
00:26:03music
00:26:05music
00:26:07music
00:26:09music
00:26:11music
00:26:13music
00:26:15music
00:26:17music
00:26:19music
00:26:21music
00:26:23I would say I'm probably an exhibitionist type the looks I get are incredible the
00:26:28stairs I get and that makes it a little dangerous on the road actually when
00:26:31people are staring at you they tend to be a little less careful driving and I
00:26:35hear the screeching of brakes it's almost a safety thing that I don't take
00:26:38it out too often oh my god this is unbelievable is that great five on the
00:26:46floor yep yeah love it and it only cost nine cents a minute to drive my
00:26:55competitors all know me for my phone car a lot of the customers are aware that I
00:26:59have this in fact when I go to national meetings I'm known nationwide as the guy
00:27:02with a big red phone car it's actually pretty good to be known like that
00:27:16you
00:27:47my nickname is a rat girl and I got that name actually because of this car I had
00:27:53a big rubber rat on the hood and a couple little rats and friend of mine
00:27:57started calling me rat girl in a way my car is kind of obnoxious and I happen to
00:28:03get a kick out of chopped up limbs and gore and blood and guts and guns and the
00:28:09shock value that that has on other people most people like it most people
00:28:14think it's funny most of people get that it's just a joke only a couple
00:28:20times had people think I was really serious that I was seriously some kind
00:28:23of creepy like Satan worshippers or something actually had one lady called
00:28:29the cops because my car was parked across the street in front of her house
00:28:33her husband told me it made her cry so asked me if I could move it like where
00:28:38she couldn't see it and I told him next time come talk to me first I'm a civil
00:28:43person I can make compromises it's fine but don't call the cops you know that's
00:28:48not the way to deal with people I personally feel more connected with poor
00:28:54people I feel more connected to people that have been pushed out people that
00:29:00have been given the shaft I don't feel connected with these people that are
00:29:05just running around getting more and more and stomping on other people to get
00:29:09there when I carved I hate humans in my leg was only about eight years ago and
00:29:15I was really going through a miserable time in my life I was confused and
00:29:20really depressed and basically hated the world and hated all the greed in the
00:29:24world and hated the knowledge of so many other people that are suffering at the
00:29:29time that's just how I dealt with my depression I don't do that stuff anymore
00:29:33and it helped when I didn't have anybody to talk to I like driving it around and
00:29:40other people seeing it and asking you know if I did it and if I did it myself
00:29:45the car has helped me break out of my shell a little and learn to not care as
00:29:50much about what other people think about me
00:30:03I never thought it would be a popular at all
00:30:33and but I just got carried away with window putty and the more I used it the
00:30:38easier it was I first had putting the flowers on the truck and then I found it
00:30:45was easy to make the birds so I started putting birds on the truck it was fun to
00:30:52make them with a window putty maybe that's a secret of the whole thing just
00:30:56doing what's easy and fun I feel as if it was happening without me thinking
00:31:03about it or knowing about it I never seemed to have a plan about anything I
00:31:07just want to plow into something and do something different I've been working
00:31:1613 to 14 years on the mountain I never really kept a record on it because I was
00:31:22only gonna stay a week or so and make a little eight-foot one anyway people
00:31:28donate paint in groceries and people donate a lot of love at me and I'm
00:31:33making out real good I would say there's about 18 coats of paint on the old thing
00:31:41on average quarter of an inch at least a solid paint I work on it as a mood hits
00:31:49me I might work on one section way up high and two hours later I'll be way
00:31:54down low maybe it was gradual people just took a liking to it because it was
00:32:01different and I'll be honest the more people like it the more I want to work
00:32:05on it it's kind of hard to estimate but a lot of people are coming in to look at
00:32:10it they come in 30 to 50 a day yeah I'd like to give them to you
00:32:24good maybe I better give you a couple more no no I think this will be fine
00:32:28this will be fine thank you I think that everybody in the whole world is made
00:32:35different I'm different than you are and my happiness is different than your
00:32:39happiness but I'm happy not working for somebody else right now a lot of people
00:32:46feel kind of sorry for me for being out here in the desert and living like this
00:32:51but I'm here because I want to be here I don't want to be in any other place in
00:32:55the whole world I'm just happy right here doing what I'm doing
00:33:09when we first met I thought you were swell my heart was singing like a
00:33:13ringing bell I thought you were the sweetest thing I'd ever seen something's
00:33:20changed there's no magic now you run around acting like an old bow wow so I
00:33:25guess you better get up leave this way I'm walking away my blues cuz it feels
00:33:32so doggone sad I'm walking away my blues don't you know I'm feeling bad my baby
00:33:40kicked me out this morning now I got no place called home walking away my blues
00:33:50this is my toilet seat containing 1976 Lincoln Memorial pennies every day of my
00:34:08life for the past 20 years I've used this toilet seat and I have no
00:34:14arthritis I've always wanted attention I thought I could get it with golf I
00:34:22started when I was about one year old my father gave me a little teeny golf club
00:34:27then when I was 10 we joined a golf course in Syracuse New York called
00:34:31Bellevue Country Club I played golf there from age 10 to age 18 I was on the
00:34:39golf team and won three golf tournaments and I was on my way to tell
00:34:44you the truth I had a million dollar career going and my shoulder went out my
00:34:51left shoulder and after that my golf just disintegrated I had heard that
00:34:58copper was great for arthritis so I started wearing copper pennies in the
00:35:03form of bracelets and rings within two weeks it was gone no pain no arthritis
00:35:12the van took a year and a half to do the first time then I redid it and it took
00:35:18about nine months to do the second time because the glue doesn't last forever
00:35:23and there's 90,000 526 pennies on this plus tax the pink ones are the new ones
00:35:31they have a copper coating on I will not put a 72 next to 73 or an 84 next to
00:35:38an 82 I try to spread them out so there's a variation here before the
00:35:45pennies ever went on hundreds and thousands of people touched those
00:35:49pennies and since they've been on the van thousands more so I have it figured
00:35:54out that approximately 80 million people have touched the van and all of the
00:35:59pennies and when you touch something that someone else has touched you're
00:36:04touching that person and there's this relationship you can try it on if you
00:36:13want it's a jumpsuit I made it's an Elvis Presley penny suit see you can
00:36:23hold it a little bit it's it's about 32 pounds they let me wear this in the
00:36:29casinos
00:36:53basically whatever's on a car it can be done on a bicycle we ride around
00:37:17Brooklyn New York or anywhere else around the world don't make a difference
00:37:22we're gonna keep riding I have a portrait in the front with my face on it
00:37:27I represent me here ladies and gentlemen we have foxtails nice and long beautiful
00:37:35as you can see on the right side I have a Yankee symbol and also I have the car
00:37:41alarm which I could just press it anybody come near it to try to touch it
00:37:51it just keeps me going as it inspires me to keep going even more when I look at
00:37:56these flags portraits of Martin Luther King Malcolm X mother Teresa princess
00:38:02died the Indian all right we got a little music there
00:38:11Oh
00:38:21Oh
00:38:41Well, this is a car that you look at from a long distance away.
00:38:47It's definitely a fantasy to drive down the road, and you see a shadow that looks like
00:38:52a yacht going by you, and when you lay down and sleep at night out camping somewhere,
00:38:57you look up, and it's like looking at the bulkheads inside of a real boat.
00:39:01It's even better when some bad weather comes along and starts shaking and rattling, and
00:39:06the bell starts ringing up on the mast.
00:39:09It's pretty much like being on a real boat.
00:39:13I've been working on it for four years now.
00:39:17That might seem like a lot of time to people, but actually, that's a lot of beers that didn't
00:39:21get drank, a lot of stupid television shows that didn't get watched.
00:39:26I've added little things like the life ring and the horns, I've added dock bumpers and
00:39:33just all the little accessory items that you have on a regular boat.
00:39:39I built the boat by starting out with some drawings and then marking things out on a
00:39:44vehicle and cutting parts of the body out, and then building a structure on the car.
00:39:52I guess to be the ultimate bachelor's car, I mean, you go out somewhere, you get a little
00:39:58too much to drink, you can sleep right here on the couch.
00:40:02If you get lucky, you don't have to drive anywhere, you just pull the curtains.
00:40:07I even got my safe sex equipment here.
00:40:12Well, women will come up to me on the street and they're interested in the vehicle.
00:40:18They look it over, and then I ask them if they want to get in and go for a ride, and
00:40:23it's like, well, I don't know.
00:40:26You know, it's a little weird for me.
00:40:30So I don't know that it's such a good way to pick up women, although people seem to
00:40:34think it would be, but most people kind of want somebody normal, somebody that they know
00:40:40what they're thinking about, somebody they can predict.
00:40:45I'm going to go to other continents if I have to.
00:40:47I'm going to go all over the world with the land yacht in search of that woman that's
00:40:52different, that likes somebody that's different, until I find her.
00:41:23Life's sweetest reward.
00:41:27Let it flow.
00:41:30It floats back to you.
00:41:35The love boat.
00:41:38Soon we'll be making another ride.
00:41:43The love boat.
00:41:47Promise is something for everyone.
00:41:53Can you name even one famous artist working today?
00:41:59Who is your favorite artist living today?
00:42:02Whoa, that's a difficult one.
00:42:05Name your favorite artist living today.
00:42:08I don't really have one.
00:42:11There aren't any that are living.
00:42:13I'm not a connoisseur of contemporary art, no, I'm sorry.
00:42:17Picasso did?
00:42:26My cars are never done, but mine I like to do over and over.
00:42:31I just can't stop ripping things off and gluing things back again.
00:42:37Usually I start my vehicles with a layer of synthetic fur.
00:42:42I find it is great to cover all the body damage, and it makes the body look perfect.
00:42:49And then I give it a nice coat of paint, and then I add various pieces on the vehicle,
00:42:55whatever the theme is for that particular vehicle.
00:42:59I believe performance art is part of the art world, and art cars are just like street performance art.
00:43:42¶¶
00:44:05Usually the painting process is a healing thing.
00:44:08It takes whatever problems you've had or euphorias or whatever,
00:44:12and it kind of lets you say what it's like to be you that day, you know?
00:44:16And you get to record it, and then the nice thing is, years later,
00:44:20you can look at that piece or whatever you did,
00:44:22and you can have that feeling you had that day all over again.
00:44:27I think my art car was really what got me fired.
00:44:31My union filed a wrongful discharge suit against that company,
00:44:34and about two and a half years later, we won the case.
00:44:37They owed me a bunch of money, and I took that.
00:44:40They're happy to get rid of me, and I'm happy I'm gone.
00:44:45Freedom is the ability to do whatever your heart says.
00:44:49Some people, that freedom's a very limited thing.
00:44:52Some people, it's a great big thing.
00:44:55To me, the greatest patriots are the ones that use their freedoms the most.
00:45:01When I got canned from my airline job,
00:45:04my partner Paul and I were sharing the studio here already.
00:45:07Both of us chipped in $1,500 apiece and opened it up.
00:45:14We started out as a coffeehouse because that was the cheapest way to go.
00:45:17Then we got a liquor license, and the rest is all history.
00:45:21We decorated the place with our own artwork.
00:45:24We saw it off the wall and put up something new.
00:45:28The biggest rush there is, is when you've been working on your car,
00:45:32nobody's seen it yet, paint's all dry, it's ready to go,
00:45:35and you roll it out of the garage and go out and fill it up full of gas.
00:45:39And there's all this hubbub, and people are, you can tell they're reacting,
00:45:43and to me that's the exciting part, all of a sudden bringing a fresh one out.
00:45:47It's like having an art opening, only you didn't tell anybody.
00:45:51laughs
00:45:54& cheers
00:46:02Go nuts!
00:46:04& cheers
00:46:14Yeah!
00:46:18& cheers
00:46:23I just became so fascinated with the R-Car parade here in Houston that I wanted to
00:46:52join this group of people in this way of expressing yourself. The reason why we
00:46:58picked a shark was that we thought that we could do a good shark. It was that
00:47:03simple. That's the key. That's the killer thing about all of this is that we
00:47:05started off with just the simplest of ideas and then adding to what Ripper's
00:47:11all about and building a character and creating a voice.
00:47:15You hear about kids having this innocence and playfulness that you lose
00:47:33when you're an adult and I haven't got married and raised a family and I've
00:47:39allowed myself to stay in touch with that sense of child and have play be an
00:47:45important part of life as well as work. I first started working on the loading dock
00:47:50and then got to be a supervisor and then a manager at a large newspaper and had a
00:47:5614-year career with them. It took me until I was almost 30 before I started
00:48:02going for what I really wanted to do rather than what I was supposed to do
00:48:06what made sense. When you work on art cars you obsess on it, you sand it, you work it,
00:48:17you pour into it this love in the forge where it comes alive as a creature and
00:48:27part of what I've been thinking about with Ripper when he opens his mouth is
00:48:33he's trying to make friends. There's a smile gap, we're not smiling enough and I
00:48:40didn't know that we were going to help like fill this void and you really don't
00:48:44know how much is needed until you're a part of creating that aura of smiles
00:48:49around you and hearing people's reactions. It's a simple thing but to me
00:48:55it's important work.
00:49:25Touch the car, all right, I want you to touch the car, put your hand on the
00:49:55car and you can see the car better if you touch the car. You can't see the car
00:50:00without touching it. It's a very tactile work of experience here. All right, I'm
00:50:06gonna break it down for you now. For one buck you get your jumbo postcard, right?
00:50:11Back of the jumbo postcard we have all your FAQs answered. It took 18 years to
00:50:16do it. Now $1 for 18 years of a man's life, is that a deal or what? Is that a
00:50:22deal? Thank you sir. The physicality of my surroundings tell me it needs
00:50:28something in it or to elaborate what's already there. To do anything for me as
00:50:35an artist it's a very tactile physical thing. I really have a desire to work
00:50:41with cement and glass and inlay. I have the need to touch the stuff. I like to
00:50:47touch it.
00:51:17Gotta love it and it's impervious to the elements, ladies and gentlemen. The sun,
00:51:33the water, nothing will hurt my glass. Nothing. Be there for a thousand years.
00:51:40You see this right here, kids? It took all day for that. That's how small it is.
00:51:47That's eight hours. That was easy because it was a flat surface. Very easy. This
00:51:53took longer because it's a curved surface. So it was a flat piece of stained
00:51:58glass and then I had to score the stained glass and then snap the flat
00:52:04piece to go over the round fender. That's why it took all those years to do this
00:52:09piece.
00:52:16In the icon of Virgin Mary there's different colors such as the red piping
00:52:40along the edge of the robe, white veil, the blue cape and I use the natural
00:52:45color of the license plate to make it. These license plates compose her
00:52:51clothing. The clothing is a protective item that we have and this protective
00:52:56item protects her the way she protects us if you believe in what she stands for.
00:53:02Even though I'm an art car artist, it's not all who I am. I do bronze sculpting.
00:53:09I'm a mechanic. I'm an engineer. I'm a father. I'm more than any one label that's
00:53:16given to me. If I limit myself to just being a Chicano artist, which I embrace,
00:53:21I'm limiting myself to the type of art I can do. It also limits what I offer as an
00:53:28artist. It's something that you offer the world, a gift that's been given to you.
00:53:33That's who I am. Enjoy what I make.
00:54:03By the time I was in my 30s, my friends and my parents were really wondering
00:54:29when I was going to grow up. They just didn't understand how this could keep me
00:54:34going and I wanted to show them what it was that I was seeing on a daily basis.
00:54:40So I tried to take pictures of people reacting to the car but all I got were
00:54:45people reacting to the camera. Then I had this dream. I covered the car with
00:54:55cameras and I drove around and took pictures of people reacting to it and
00:55:00they didn't know the cameras worked. And then the next day I woke up and I
00:55:06thought, I'm gonna make a camera van. When I first started making the van, I had no
00:55:15idea how to actually do it. So I kind of stumbled my way through with trial and
00:55:22error in putting this thing together. A friend told me that I should not just
00:55:29throw up a bunch of cameras on the van, that I should actually paint with the
00:55:34cameras. And so for two years I put the cameras on there in a very meticulous
00:55:39order. This entire side is a gigantic Kodak Instamatic blown up. For example,
00:55:49this is the lens made up of lenses and then the viewfinder is over here, this
00:55:54big window here. My first art car was personal. It had my soul in it. Whereas
00:56:03the camera van started out with an idea and then I set forth to complete it. The
00:56:12camera van was really a stepping stone for me in my development in becoming an
00:56:20artist.
00:56:22After years of driving the litter bug, it was time for something new, time for
00:56:45something different. It's the same car but I've taken everything off and now
00:56:51it's covered with used cigarette butts. The litter bug was really kind of a
00:56:55haphazard arrangement of articles. The stink bug is cohesive, it's like a puzzle,
00:57:01it's like magic. And to me it was almost kind of like the AIDS quilt, that each
00:57:08butt represents a given number of people that have been affected by smoking or
00:57:13tobacco products and how they in turn have affected other people.
00:57:21I bought this 1975 Mercedes-Benz. Not only transformed my life, it gave me a new life.
00:57:28I was a boy, say 47. I'd been married for 28 years. I was heavy in my addictions
00:57:36around tobacco. I was drinking heavily. I wasn't centered. I was very afraid and it
00:57:44kind of looted me into a darkness called cancer that allowed me to go
00:57:51inside on deeper levels and emerge as an artist. It's because of this car because
00:57:59my experience fit and it developed as I developed. And every time I would get in
00:58:06a dark place and want to give up, she would show up and call me back. And she
00:58:13began to say to me, unchain my love. Unchain it in your own life. Unchain it in your work.
00:58:20Be free. Let go. Be who you are.
00:58:27Now the long and short of it is that devastating dark thing called cancer
00:58:33that says you're gonna die, ultimately ends up being the very thing that
00:58:39sustains you, especially when you have a beat-up old car to take care of and you
00:58:47know that brought me through 16 surgeries. You know, people wanting to see
00:58:52it and people taking pleasure in it. It was the hope. The hope for living.
00:59:00This car is driving me. This is not a possession. This is direction. You can get
00:59:10through this one, cancer. You can do it. You can fight it.
00:59:15I got great news today. I had a brain scan done a couple weeks ago and a chest CT scan done for my
00:59:24tumor in my lung and my brain scans clear and the tumor is shrunk so this
00:59:31good news is beyond my comprehension but I know the journey's not over.
00:59:54I'm about, I'm in, I'm in the air.
01:00:20I'm in, I'm in, I'm in the air.
01:00:29It's gonna be sad. You know, I don't want to get rid of it but it's gonna cost me too much to fix it.
01:00:36It needs a Cadillac converter, one possibly two axles, brakes, needs a
01:00:42windshield. So I'm gonna crush my car during the Art Car Fest and I'm going to
01:00:50strip down all the personal things off of it that I want to keep and possibly
01:00:55use on my next car and I think it'll be a pretty decent burial.
01:01:12My eyes, I fall on the floor. It's a fall on my face. I fall on the floor. It's a fall on the floor.
01:01:24It's a fall on my face. I fall on the floor. It's a fall on my face. I fall on the floor.
01:01:39Anymore. No more. My eyes. No more. My eyes. My eyes.
01:01:54For me, thinking about death helps put everything in my life into perspective.
01:02:11When I found out I was infertile, it was devastating. My whole future went black.
01:02:24Everything that I'd thought I wanted in my life and everything that seemed to make sense didn't make sense anymore.
01:02:35I didn't know what I was going to do. I slipped into this really dark depression.
01:02:44At that time when I was going through the emotional pain, I started this tattoo.
01:02:50It was just a way of channeling the pain into something physical, something I could deal with.
01:02:56But in retrospect, I realized that the tattoo was symbolic of channeling that female creative
01:03:03energy from my womb through my arm and out my hand.
01:03:13The Carthedral is a 1971 Cadillac hearse with a super beetle on top.
01:03:19The main features are the Gothic architectural elements.
01:03:24There's flying buttresses. There's a clear story. Gargoyles.
01:03:30I also have a catacombs, and that's made up of dental molds.
01:03:36To the back of the car, I have the west facade and Gothic windows with stained glass.
01:03:44To the top of the car, I have the bell tower, which is also called the cupola,
01:03:49and also the oculus that is the eye of God, which is the sunroof of the VW Bug.
01:03:58Artists are kind of narcissistic in a way. We go into ourselves to find material.
01:04:04We create things that are filtered through our eyes, our minds, and through our hands.
01:04:11I believe that everything an artist does is a self-portrait.
01:04:15I definitely feel that I am a moody person, and I identify more with the term melancholic
01:04:23than I do a depressed person.
01:04:26Something that is just me, and something that isn't to be suppressed with drugs or altered with therapy.
01:04:34It's a way of living.
01:04:36It is so beautiful. Wow.
01:04:42It's a Carthedral.
01:04:44It's incredible. It's quite beautiful.
01:04:50It's got a little mailbox on the side.
01:04:54I love it. It's fabulous.
01:05:00When I'm driving and people are waving at me and acknowledging me, it somehow validates that I exist.
01:05:09Being separated from everything else sort of confirms this alienation that I feel.
01:05:18It isolates me, but at the same time, it makes me feel different and alive.
01:05:26What I'm looking for is a raw reaction of surprise.
01:05:53I just love seeing their jaws just dropping.
01:05:57To me, it's beautiful to see their bewilderment.
01:06:19It's such a surreal reality.
01:06:22It's like I'm on a spaceship, and everywhere I go, people are staring at me.
01:06:28And I'm staring at them.
01:06:31I'm having the time of my life driving around, taking pictures of their expressions.
01:06:43I think the most profound thing in life is to see something for the very first time, to discover something.
01:07:13You're not going to believe what's happened.
01:07:23I had a trailer built to haul Big Horn, and on my very first trip, the trailer broke loose, the air brakes locked up,
01:07:30it went sliding across the interstate, and it flipped over and crashed into an embankment.
01:07:36It just totally destroyed the Big Horn chassis.
01:07:39It's just a wreck.
01:07:41I cried like I hadn't cried since I was a baby.
01:07:45I couldn't believe it.
01:07:46All I was trying to do was go out and touch people's lives, and this thing had gotten destroyed.
01:07:51And then I began to realize that God had given me a blank piece of canvas,
01:07:55and that I could create something truly magical, that I could create something really astounding.
01:08:01♪♪
01:08:30♪♪
01:08:49Finishing Big Horn is not the fulfillment of the dream.
01:08:53Finishing Big Horn gets me ready to go out and live my dream of inspiring people.
01:08:59I can just tell you two things today.
01:09:01One is hang on to your dream.
01:09:03I don't care how long you have to hang on to it.
01:09:05Second is talk about your dreams.
01:09:08I can tell you that when you first have your dream, you will not know how to make it come true.
01:09:14But if you'll talk to other people about your dream, they will help you figure out the how.
01:09:21If I make this thing do what I want it to do, Big Horn will end up being a brand
01:09:30that is known for being a story about making dreams come true.
01:09:36And part of the deal, see, is I use the wreck as an example because that's what happens in life,
01:09:42is you're on some trajectory to get something done,
01:09:46and you end up having wrecks, having problems, being disappointed.
01:09:52But that doesn't mean you let go of the dream.
01:09:55♪♪
01:10:04I had spent a lot of my life making art cars and documenting art cars,
01:10:09but the one thing I hadn't done was find a home for art cars.
01:10:14So I bought a property in Douglas, Arizona,
01:10:17and I'm going to build a museum and call it Art Car World.
01:10:25The fact is, cars in general that are gasoline-powered are dying.
01:10:34And all that gets left behind are these empty, plain shells.
01:10:41But when it comes to art cars, what gets left behind is a piece of that person's soul.
01:10:51I think as long as there's cars, and I do think they're going to evolve,
01:10:57there's going to be art cars.
01:10:59There's going to be people who want to put their stamp on the car and make it their own.
01:11:09♪♪
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01:15:28I want a car that is a cat
01:15:32and it has a tail in the back.
01:15:35A huge basketball with the hoop on the top
01:15:38and I look out this window
01:15:41that's shaped like a trapezoid.
01:15:44And there would be white stripes
01:15:46with the wheels would be like humongous skateboard wheels.
01:15:50It looks like a submarine.
01:15:52With a swimming pool in the back.
01:15:54And it could fly somehow.
01:15:57And it looks kind of oval.
01:16:00That's it.