Maria Del Camino: an art-car that's part tank, part El Camino

Wired Design has a great short video documentary on my friend Bruce Tomb, who has built an amazing art-car called Maria Del Camino that's part tank, part 59 El Camino, part flying car. I camp with Bruce and his wife Mary and our friends at Burning Man, along with Maria, at the Liminal Labs camp every summer. Maria is such a wonderful addition to our Burn!

The outcome might not be what you’d expect. With the help of some friends, Tomb created “Maria del Camino.” She’s an excavator topped with a 1959 El Camino, mounted on a hydraulic array that lifts it high off the ground. Her body is adorned with thousands of drilled-out holes, and her hood sports a portrait of the robot woman from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, which shines when the light hits it. In simple terms, it’s nothing but sheer magnificence.
Maria is currently being worked on at the DIY space Nimby in Oakland California. We stopped by to ask Tomb how — and why — he built his “flying” car, and he took us for a beer run, stopping traffic along the way.
As for future modifications, Tomb has a big one in mind. “Been working on removing the manual controls,” he says. “I’ve heard driverless cars are all the rage!”

This Homemade ‘Flying Car’ Can’t Exactly Fly, But It Still Turns Heads [Annaliza Savage/Wired]

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: art • automotive • burning man • Gadgets • happy mutants • makers • videos

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E T

http://boingboing.net/2012/09/16/maria-del-camino-a-mutant-exc.html
- HammerheadFistpunch
  
  And I was just thinking about that older story last week, while complaining that I can’t find a solid 59 El Camino that isn’t full of holes (whether caused by rust, bullets, or other)
dalewynn

The video is great. I love the ending with the car disappearing into the darkness of the garage.
nixiebunny

Saw this at Burning Man a couple times, but it was never parked in such a way as to show off the portrait of Maria in the hood. Now I finally understand what all the holes are for!
http://twitter.com/JaysonElliot Jayson Elliot

What’s the status of its road legality? It it licensed as a tractor or a car, to operate on public roads?
DewiMorgan

Driverless? I for one welcome…
http://twitter.com/smknghrtdesigns SmokingHeartDesigns

My dad had the station wagon version of that year. He told me that when he went to the dragstrip to watch races he’d hide beer inside one of the panels. They charge exorbitantly for alcohol at drag races.