Car as Art
By Claire Martin of MSN Autos
We’ve all seen cars emblazoned with flames or the occasional VW bus polka-dotted with peace signs, but there’s a whole subculture of people taking “personalization” a step further by turning their cars into legitimate art objects. They run the gamut from dragons to torpedoes to sharks to telephones, having been transformed by owners who consider the car a canvas rather than just a simple mode of transportation. They use paint, glue, caulk, sheet metal and screws — along with elements of “artistic” flair. This year, art-car aficionado Harrod Blank, curator of the recently opened Art Car World Museum in Douglas, Ariz., and author of the genre’s definitive guide, “Art Cars,” has produced a documentary film on the movement, “Automorphosis.”
Ripper the Friendly Shark (Photography © Harrod Blank)
Pico de Gallo (Photography © Harrod Blank)
Carthedral (Photography © Harrod Blank)
Daisy Singer (Photography © Harrod Blank)
Art the Lobster (Photography © Harrod Blank)
Leopard Bernstein (Photography © Harrod Blank)
Eelvisa (Photography © Harrod Blank)
Miss Vicky (Photography © Harrod Blank)
Draka the Dragon (Photography © Harrod Blank)
Magic City Golden Transit (Photography © Harrod Blank)
I have been discussing with dealers the importance of compliance checks on their websites. Toyota and Honda have begun to issue STRIKES to dealers who have either pricing or verbiage that does not meet appropriate brand standards. Strong LLC, as an advertising agency, cautions against the dealership allowing personnel to have access to the wording and pricing on the site as it can cause a dealership to be out of compliance.
An item that is becoming more prevalent and needs to be addressed are comments that are posted to ripoffreport.com about dealerships and how customers were treated. It is a good practice for ALL internet manager and agencies to start reviewing ripoffreport.com and search for any negative press about their dealerships. While it’s difficult to avoid a few unhappy customers, use your best practices and have a system in place to monitor the comments so no potential customers are deterred from your business.
Don’t Panic – but with book values still steadily climbing, don’t get caught in the high gas trap. Keep a very close eye in the next 15 days on what you are trading for in used cars and what you are buying from auctions.
If gas approaches $3.00 again in this year, trucks and SUVs (especially domestics) could drop like rocks.
Be Smart and Cautious.
While being fed up with newspaper rates in a large Texas market, a General Manager (who will remain nameless) decided to go on craigslist and place ads for salespeople. 24 Hours after the first placement he had hired 1 very qualified person and had another interview set for the following day.
Looking for internet people?
You will never find them in the newspaper.
Look online and you will find…
The craigslist Ad cost $32.00 the newspaper wanted $2300 for a one day black and white ad. Where do you think the value is?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2009
Birmingham Automobile Dealers Association, Inc.
For information contact:
Brett D. McBrayer, CAE
President/CEO
205.980.0540
bamacars@bellsouth.net
Area Automobile Sales Increase for 3rd month in a Row
New Automobile Sales by franchised new car dealerships in the Birmingham Area have increased 8% in May over April sales, while used automobile sales by franchised new car dealers increased by 7% over the same time period. This is the 3rd consecutive month sales of automobiles increased by these dealerships.
“We are very encouraged by the continual strengthening of automobile sales in the Birmingham area, and the economy as a whole.” The Birmingham economy has remained stronger than other parts of the country, and quite frankly, if the doom and gloom message in constant media reports had never reached the Birmingham area, we would still be at historical levels.” stated Brett McBrayer, President of the Birmingham Automobile Dealers Association.
The top 10 new car brands were:
Ford
Toyota
Honda
Chevrolet
Nissan
Dodge
GMC
Mazda
Jeep
Lexus
Top 10 used car brands were:
Chevrolet
Ford
Toyota
Nissan
Honda
Dodge
Chrysler
BMW
Buick
GMC
“By all reports, there is significant pent-up demand for new and used car purchases by consumers and we expect sales to continue to grow over the coming weeks and months, and look forward to a robust summer selling season…” added McBrayer.
