Glastonbury 2023 - Car Henge + Other Car Art

[cjhillman]

Just back from Glastonbury festival and I thought I'd share some of the Car art on site. Some of these I've seen before like the Capri's and Minis but Car Henge was something else. I have some many questions and all ears if anyone know the origins of these Cars as to me the Yank cars seemed quite rare?? I found these quite late on the Sunday while running between stages so I didnt spend too long there but non of the Cars seemed to have engines and had a lot of strengthening welded inside them to keep them upright. I was pretty impressed but as a car enthusiast was surprised they handnt used modern cars as they must have cost a bit. Maybe they've been around for years.
Hope you enjoy, anyone else go to Glastonbury this year? I decided not to go in a Classic myself this year in case I had to queue on the way in. Last time I went in my Escort it was a test of endurance for the Fan!





Never seen a Ford Edsel before! was shocked to see one stuck in the ground at Glasto haha











A lot of british stuff on the back wall



Surprised to see this old Merc. Even in this condition it must be rare?



Loved this! Modelled by yours truly!  


Does this mean it used to drive around North Yorkshire??






A favourite of mine. The reoccurring Capris. Last time I saw them they were plane white but this time they have a Royal theme. Any one know anything about these? I guessed they are old MOT failures but someone on a forum mentioned that they stripped a rotten 3.0 for someone who wanted a festival Art car. Maybe ones of these was it. 








The minis with the freaky babies were back again too! 

[cjhillman]

A little link on the artist. Wasnt aware it was a recreation of a 1987 version which looks way ropier.


www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jun/23/carhenge-returns-to-glastonbury-joe-rush-photo-essay

[braaap]

So that is NOT a permanent installation? Only during that, erm I mean THAT festival?

[akku]

OK these people have a ton of money to blow on this sort of "art" - multiply your ticket price by the number of attendees and then think about that.

That Mercury Convertible was in a museum and was up for sale as an "over stock" for £12000. I enquired after it but the seller was snotty and I wasn't up for haggling with him.

I understand (and am happy to be corrected) that they used good, straight, fairly non-rusty cars for this as they didn't want risk of anyone getting caught on rusty edges of things. You've seen them up close, I haven't. Engines and so on will have been removed because they contain "contaminants"

is it "art", well, its not new or innovative, people have been doing this for years.

Why use classics? Well, because they are cool, right? And they don't care about cars, they care about having a talking point for the festival. IMHO a waste of decent classic cars.

I suspect they'll all end up crushed? Or is it a permenant fixture now?

[cjhillman]

Hey akku I did some reading up and it looks like the guy is a massive American car guy, looks like he buys these too facilitates his love for them. On the flip side though I cant imagine they can be put back to road worthiness after being stuck in the ground. Not without major work anyway. The Silver shadow looked terrible up close but theres a million of them . The jags still had their axles just missing engines for the reasons you mention I guess and the weight. Looks like last year they did a field of these old cars as a drive in cinema which I can get on board with a lot more. The convertible I sat in (is that the Mercury?) wasn't in good nick at all inside and the Edsel had holes all down the cills. I've never seen an Edsel before so was surprised the most about that. The Capris made me feel a lot better about mine haha. I don't think they'll be crushed but you are right about the money/ticket prices.

[ratchart]

I look at this in a similar way to banger racing. The artist paid for the cars so they're theirs to do whatever they want. At least this is a more creative use of cars than banger racing who's participants often seem take a pleasure in p***ing people off when they wreck a classic car, the rarer the better.

No it's not original. The Cadillac Ranch in Texas would probably be the first famous car art installation (created in 1974).

Those cars were all bought from scrapyards back in the day and probably weren't worth a great deal anyway at that time. Does the fact that car henge isn't original really matter? If all art had to be base on an original idea that would exclude 99% of everything in the world's galleries (Sorry Leonardo, we've already got a painting of Jesus, have you tried sticking a cow's head down a toilet or something?). 

Somebody who I follow on instagram tried to buy the remains of the 2CV but they (somebody on the Glasto staff) said it was too knackered to restored. My guess is the whole lot will end up in Elton John's back garden.

[braaap]

Well, in the end everybody can do with his money what he wants to do. E.g. buy a car to enjoy or to destroy.

That way some nice cars can end up either in carhenge or in Top Gear and will not end up any good.

The story here reminds me of a german car dealer and artist, Michael Froehlich.

He lives near Düsseldorf and for his 50th birthday he bought 50 classics, some freshly restored american rarity among them, and he put them on his grand wood like estate with open roofs or windows, set out against the elements.

[ratchart]

That's one I find harder to understand (and not just because I can't read German) or the collectors (usually American or middle eastern) who buy up a bunch of rare classics and lock them away in a climate controlled storage never to be driven.

[akku]

Jun 28, 2023 12:56:37 GMT ratchart said:

No it's not original. The Cadillac Ranch in Texas would probably be the first famous car art installation (created in 1974).

Those cars were all bought from scrapyards back in the day and probably weren't worth a great deal anyway at that time.

I'll spare the debate on the originality of art for another time

I read an interview with the Cadillac Ranch guys years ago. The cars were not bought from scrap yards, at least not all. They were making some kind of socio-political point or something. As I understand most of the cars were driven there and driven into place. You are correct they were not worth much back then. As I recall one of the cars was bought from the original owner. According to the interview - one of the cars they bought off a guy who had just spent ages restoring it. As the front end was going into the ground anyway and because he was so proud of the work he had done on it they attacked it with hammers and axes in front of him right after paying for it, and thought it was so funny he was upset.

I kinda lost respect for them after that.

[braaap]

Jun 28, 2023 14:35:35 GMT akku said:

According to the interview - one of the cars they bought off a guy who had just spent ages restoring it. As the front end was going into the ground anyway and because he was so proud of the work he had done on it they attacked it with hammers and axes in front of him right after paying for it, and thought it was so funny he was upset.

This reminds me of a story I read in a german classic car magazine back in the 80s I guess.

Two guys had restored a vintage Aero car. But one day they destroyed it in a public place, with hammers and axes, too. It was going to be a statement about the car as a fetish or something like that. Maybe they became Über-religious, joined a cult or whatever.

They carried the remains of that car away in buckets after that.