Launched in March 2008 The National Motor Museum's latest exhibition The Art Of Custom sponsored by Autoglym takes cars and bikes on a creative journey from the ordinary to the extraordinary, to produce unique one-off concept designs. This striking and innovative display features vehicles from humble beginnings that you'll not easily recognise once transformed into these works of art.
Featured exhibits:
1968 Volks Rod
This example was built by Mark Dryden at Flatlands Engineering Ltd, and used elements from several donor VW Beetles. The cars roof has been 'chopped' by five inches and also has been fitted with keyless-entry suicide doors. Other parts include a 1964 windscreen and engine lid, 1955 rear oval window, and a 1961 bonnet.
1961 Rainbow Chaser
Rainbow Chaser was one of the first 1950s-style 'sleds' to be built in England. Andy Saunders took a standard Volvo 121 Amazon, 'chopped' the windscreen height and lowered the suspension. The car's interior upholstery featured over 400 hours of hand-stitched embroidery. The headlights were 'Frenched' -a term referring to recessing the lamps into the bodywork, in this case the extended wings and Cadillac rear lights were fitted. Parts from an Austin Allegro, Morris 1000 and a Sunbeam Rapier are also used.
Picasso's Citroën
Based on a 1983 Citroën 2CV, this car was inspired by Pablo Picasso's paintings of his lover Dora Maar, including 'Weeping Woman'. It took Andy Saunders of Poole, Dorset, five months to build and in the spirit of the paintings, the car was constructed asymmetrically with six inches added to the driver's side. The bonnet, which is ten inches off centre, was made from twelve individual pieces and meant the wing on the passenger side required widening by twelve inches.
1958 Morris Minor
Bought in 1994 by Jersey based artist, Steph Newington, it was stripped down to all single components, which in turn were sandblasted and treated with rust preventatives. Using the van as a canvas, Steph proceeded to airbrush each individual part, (including each nut, bolt and washer). The vehicle was then rebuilt extremely carefully in order to avoid any damage to the paintwork. The enormous amount of work involved in this restoration took six painstaking years of Steph's spare time to complete.
Mentley Insanne
Mentley Insanne is a much-modified 1983 Bentley Mulsanne. Using various parts from Audi, Ford, Mazda, and Volvo, the car was completed in 2003 by Andy Saunders of Poole, Dorset. Sitting on twenty-inch chrome wheels, it featured newly-fabricated bumpers whilst the front and rear lights and side louvers were all sourced from a Range Rover. Three inches were removed from all pillars which were then reshaped to match up to the roof line.
1937 Ford Roadster
This car is based on a 1937 Ford Roadster design and, incredibly, was built at home in a single garage almost entirely from new parts. The car now boasts a reconditioned engine sourced from a crashed Corvette. Other features include digital dashboard instrumentation illuminated in blue, electrically operated doors, boot and windows, and unique homemade rear lights. Finished in Ferrari Rosso Corsa Red, the results are astonishing and it is no surprise that when debuted at the 2005 Billing Fun Run, it returned home having scooped the top trophy.
1980 Alvin's Acorn
This car was built for Alvin the Chipmunk, a cartoon character! Its purpose was to impress the importance of road awareness and its dangers to young potential drivers. The car featured a number of safety innovations such as a 4,735cc Ford engine hinged to tilt during crash impact thus absorbing any shock, a rear facing camera on the roll bar, with dashboard-mounted TV monitor eliminated the need for mirrors, an emergency braking parachute, hydraulic bumpers and a collapsible steering wheel. Alvin's Acorn was constructed in the Hollywood workshops of George & Sam Barris, probably the most famous custom and film car designers in America.
2008 Evasion
Evasion is the latest piece to come out of Battistinis’ Bournemouth workshops. It is a one-off fabrication from front to rear and once again raises the bar for the custom bike industry. The bike was gradually built over nine months. At the front are a pair of inverted chrome forks manufactured in America by Arlen Ness, probably the world’s foremost motorcycle customiser. The rear end features Legend air suspension, offering comfortable cruising for the fainthearted, or at the touch of a button, a slammed position with the mudguard riding close to the monster 330 x 17 inch tyre.
2002 Techno Bobber
This motorcycle was built around a 996cc Ducati Monster S4R L-twin engine and apart from the engine, forks, brake calipers, tyres and Harley-Davidson shock absorbers, everything was home made by Roger Allmond in his Oxfordshire workshop. That included the trellis frame, wheels, swing-arm, tank, and most of the nuts and bolts!
2008 DG20 Pro-Street
This 2008 machine took eight months to build before going to Pro-Street Engineering for finishing. It has a 1,689cc Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle engine set in a Rolling Thunder frame manufactured in Canada. When complete, the bike was taken to Twisted Vision in Gosport for painting.