Best Art Cars from Burning Man 2014

Starting on a beach in San Francisco, naturally, in 1986, the Burning Man festival has grown to become a cultural icon attracting tens of thousands of attendees to the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. The idea is to create a temporary community focused on radical self-expression. Essentially, it’s about making art and the weirder, the better. This goal includes art cars, referred to as mutant vehicles by the event’s creators. The basic rule for judging these mobile mutations is that the base vehicle they’re built on should no longer recognizable. Using this guideline, here’s a few outstanding transmogrifications.

Getting Stung

Real scorpions don’t shoot fire from their tails. Of course, they’re also not 55 feet long with half a dozen people riding on their back. This monster by Kirk Jellum relies on computer controls to operate its tail, claws, and legs. Despite appearances, it’s never starred in a 1950s science fiction movie.

Shrooms

These mushrooms don’t have to be eaten for a psychedelic trip. They are the psychedelic trip. A past participant, the Mushroom Patch made it back in 2014 with financing from a Kickstarter campaign. In exchange, investors got to ride the mutant vehicle around Burning Man for three hours. Of course, this reward doesn’t include the admission price to the event, a mere $380.

Fish Out Of Water

Created by Dr. Harry Adelson of Park City, Utah, the Pilot Fish either drove or swam to the event. The fish has a movable spring-powered jaw that should fool anybody into thinking it’s real. Dr. Adelson works as a naturopath who injects stem cells into patients to stimulate tissue growth. This might explain the origins of the fish. 

Car Stereo

The sound system is suppose to go inside the car, not the other way around. The Rockbox was created by Derek Wunder three years ago and was sold to a new owner for this year’s festival. Along with a lot of decibels, this vehicle packs a lot of horsepower to carry up to 50 music-loving passengers.

Creepy Crawler

With only eight legs, spiders everywhere are jealous of the Walking Pod with its twelve legs. This latest edition to the time-honored mobile home category by Scott Parenteau actually can move using only battery-powered leg motion at a blistering 0.7 miles per hour. Without a single wheel beneath it, this return visitor ought to get the grand prize.