By Greg Kachadurian
There are plenty of images of Sharpied cars on the internet, including a Lamborghini Gallardo, but none of them have a back story that’s quite as awesome as this one. Rather than hiring a professional artist to do some art work in Sharpie, the owner of this Vanagon decided to let the community do it instead, tipped off only by a plywood sign in a driveway.
People who came in were given a Sharpie, possibly a beer or two or three, and the freedom to draw anything they wanted on some guy’s van without having a nice police man trying to arrest them. Fortunately, the van doesn’t resemble a bus stop bench or a high school student’s desk after all the work was done. Thanks to the work of total strangers, the van looks fantastic and we’re fortunate enough to have been given an album to admire the results of this awesome idea.
Click past the jump for more shots of the Sharpiewagen.
The owner started out with a beige-ish 1986 Volkswagen Vanagon and added a new coat of white paint to create the perfect canvas. They provided the Sharpies while the community provided the art over the course of a three-day weekend.
The Jägermeister logo is a nice touch
Our hats go off to both the owner for coming up with this neat idea and the talent that showed up to this stranger’s garage, because this is spectacular. What better way to discover hidden talents of a community by giving people the chance to doodle freely on a Vanagon (legally)?
[Source: Reddit | Image source: Imgur]
Jeff Glucker
I have the wrong neighbours.
Apparently most of us do. Those are some skilled random strangers.
Seriously. If I let my friends do this, it would be covered in dicks…
In fairness, some of them would be really detailed.
Yeah…I'm not buying it. Here is what my '56 VW looked like when I turned my neighbors loose on it with sharpies…
<img src="http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/160358.jpg" width="800">
That's because one of your neighbors is a 6-year-old named Abigail.
My LeMons car looks similar under the 4 additional layers of paint it has.
You painted your LeMons car? Cheater!
Hey, LeMons HQ gave us carte blanche when it comes to our theme, so we're running with it.
Your LeMons car runs? Cheater!
Small window, sun-roofed bug?
Please tell me this was an interim step on the way to restoration…
Yes, I took it from a dead shell to that picture, then it eventually went to Taiwan and was restored.
Someone's a Portlandia fan.
<img src="http://hooniverse.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/sharpiewagen4.jpg">
[youtube yYey8ntlK_E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYey8ntlK_E youtube]
As an artcar creator and pilot for the last 20 odd years, I can offer a bit of unsolicited advice.
Sharpies are excellent for laying out your design, but I can tell you from experience that Sharpie ink will -never- last out in the wild. Assuming that this van sees daylight on a regular basis, the artwork will fade very quickly into a streaky gray mess. Even clear coating it will not save it.
What to do? Paint directly over the design with One Shot enamel, the artcar artist's favorite! In this case, I'd go with a can of 199-L lettering black.
One Shot is excellent stuff, the Cadillac of paint. Lays down and flows beautifully, covers most anything in one coat (hence its name) and holds up well over time. Worth every dime and then some. You can get a pint for around $20 or so in a rainbow assortment of colors. I've painted full size cars with less than a quart.
One Shot! Accept no substitute!
BS! There is no way this was random people or neighbors. This was artists' work..maybe not paid, but definitely solicited beforehand. Not that the artwork isn't cool but no way this was random. Not buyin' it.
I'd believe it if they were in Austin… but Mississippi? Must be close to an art school or head shop.