Friday, July 13, 2007 – Working Waterfall

You see all sorts of things at the beach.  This was in the huge public parking lot right on the sand in Ocean Park, just south of the Santa Monica Pier. The nice young man from North Hollywood – that's out in the San Fernando Valley – said to go to www.myspace.com and look up Studio Art Cars.  Okay, but he didn't mention turning down the sound. And that site explains that this customized Ford Thunderbird (he said it was a 2003) is "Working Waterfall, Live Grass," and can be yours for sixty-five grand.

Yes, there is a working waterfall on the roof, and car's body is covered with growing things – succulents and grasses mostly.  He says it drives fine. The waterfall and plants (and potting soil) make it a little heavy, but what looks like barnacles caking the hull of a sunken eighteenth century ship just brought to the surface is really Styrofoam, and quite light.  On the other hand, if you imagine the aerodynamics of this machine – laminar flow and boundary layer effects and that sort of thing – you understand you might not want to drive this custom job too fast.  You'd leave a trail of very odd debris.

The fellow lists his occupation as "Custom Art Car Designer, Movie Props" and perhaps you may one day see this in a film, or not.

If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the 'fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back this site.

Technical Note:

Most of these photographs were shot with a Nikon D70 - using lens (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto, or after 5 June 2006, (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor, 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. They were modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  Earlier photography was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik