Everyone loves art cars and the stories behind them

Aircooled Classics caught up with three arty types a

they each came about owning or building their art c
much an account of the cars, but more of the peopl
The pictures will tell you all you need to know!
Enjoy. :-)
Paul Cave
Editor - Aircooled Classics Magazine
m.
and discovered how
cars. This is not so
le behind the cars.
IF I HAD MY CHOICE, I probably would
have never chosen a car painted like a
giant ladybug. I think, however, Francis
chose me. We were driving down a
country road in an Iowa town (USA), a
road so tiny that it doesn’t exist on

maps,
Howev
1967 B
Sale' s
camera
this ca
 I O W A , US A

and there he was. I had always had a strange longing for an air-cooled Beetle.
ver, in my dreams the Beetle I imagined was, well, more ordinary looking. Francis, a
Beetle, sat grinning at me from the empty lot by the deserted gas station with a 'For
sign attached and I was smitten. I demanded we stop and get out, and I pulled out a
a and snapped what seemed like a hundred photos. I never imagined actually owning
ar, but I was completely enamoured.
 A few weeks passed and I often would drive past just to wave and say 'hi'.
Francis seems to have sort of a strange effect on lots of people who might
otherwise be considered completely sane. One September evening, I arrived
home and found him sitting in my garage. Our lives haven’t been quite the
same since.
After getting Francis I started to do a bit of research. Francis, you see, is
no ordinary Volkswagen Beetle painted like a ladybug; Francis is a star. On the
headliner are autographs from many notable celebrities including John
Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Phyllis Diller, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and more. There is
original animation art from the movie 'A Bug's Life' on the headliner along
with the signatures. Francis was John Lasseter’s car and was used for the promotion of
the movie 'A Bug's Life'. He was made to be the character, Francis, the male ladybug
with the gruff attitude and soft heart. As attention getting as the outside paint job is,
the inside is truly the show stopper. Francis is mentioned in a December 1998 issue of
Time Magazine!
Originally a more ordinary Volkswagen Beetle, Francis transformed into his shiny
bug self at the hands of Dave and Sheila Bonbright and Chris Beatrice (Pixar studio

Pictures courtesy of Disney and Pixar, Mid America Motorworks and Patti Ireland. Special thanks to Kelly Bonbright.
artist). Once complete, John Lasseter drove Francis to promotional meetings and to the
premiere of the movie. After the movie debut, Francis was auctioned off as a fund-
raising effort for the Sonoma California school district. A few owners later, he made his
way to Iowa where he was waiting for us by the side of the road.
Francis draws a crowd wherever we end up. We get a mix of incredulous stares,
thumbs-up and crazy photo snapping from drivers who clearly should be keeping their
eyes on the road, but, I understand, it's kind of hard to do with Francis around.
As it turns out, I'm very glad that Francis chose us. We have had so much fun
showing him, explaining the history of how he became what he is and just driving. In
one word, Francis is Fahrvergnügen! AC

1. Headliner signed by Pixar filmmakers and voice talent for A Bug's Life
2. The A Bug's Life VW Bug in front of the El Capitan Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, November
1998
3. Owner Dave Bonbright in Los Angeles with the A Bug's Life VW Bug. November 1998
4. John and Nancy Lasseter arrive at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, CA for the A
Bug's Life film premiere, November 1998
5. John Lasseter with A Bug's Life voice talent Phyllis Diller (Queen), and Edie McClurg (Dr.
Flora) at the A Bug's Life film premiere, Los Angeles, CA, November 1998
6. Jonathan Harris, the voice of Manny
in A Bug's Life signs the headliner
during the A Bug's Life film premiere in
Los Angeles, CA.
WARNING!
THE FOLLOWING ART CAR
(HIGHLY POLISHED)
IT CONTAINS REFLECTIVE IM
VIEWERS ARE ADVISED TO
PARENTAL GUIDANCE IS FR
STORY/PICS BY OWNER/D
How long did it take to create?
More than 1,000 hours.

Is it legal?
Depends on what it's doing!
I can’t drive it to work, but I can drive in parades and spin it on stag

Is it heavy?
I estimate that it weighs the equivalent of 2 passengers more than a

Did you cut yourself?

Yes, heaps!

Would you ever sell it?

No, but I do rent it out for special events.

How many years bad luck have you got from all those breakag
None! I changed the rules so that I got good luck instead and I’ve ha
R IS RATED HP

MAGES
O WEAR SHADES
ROWNED UPON
DRIVER: MICHAEL QUAYLE

ge.

average.

ges?
ad years of it!
THIS 1964 SOFT TOP VW BEETLE has been in my family
for 30 years. My mother and her sister used to sell it back
and forth to each other over the years. The engine was
held on with fencing wire and the passenger door used to
fly open without notice. I have owned it for the last 15 or
so years. I used to drive it every day, until finally it broke
down completely. It wasn’t worth getting fixed as it was
pretty far gone and I’d let the registration lapse. But I
couldn’t part with it. I started looking for something else to
do with it.
I entertained the idea of making it into a couch for a
while. At one stage I was going to chop it up and weld the
pieces into a sculpture of a cow! But in the late '90s I was
at a party and they had an ordinary plastic bucket that had
mirrors stuck to it, hanging in the middle of the room,
spinning, with lights on it and it looked awesome. The
patterns it made on the wall were cool. It was at that
moment that I knew what I was going to do.
When I started telling my friends what I wanted to do, I
got a great reaction and everyone wanted to be in on it. So
I got a lot of help sticking mirrors on it and grouting (for
real! - ed). It was created in a warehouse art studio called
Fortzone, in Footscray, Melbourne. Around 10 friends
helped me create it and we worked solidly for 8 hours a day
over one month to get it finished.
It originally had a soft top that you could wind back as a
sunroof, but it got ripped and rusted and it was a write-off.
So a friend cut the roof from a burnt out wrecked Beetle
and I stuck it on the Mirrorbug and covered it with mirrors!
When it was fully covered in mirrors I got it going again
and it's never run better.
The response has been amazing. Everywhere I go with
it there are crowds of people taking photos. All types of
people are attracted to it. It is a great device for pulling
crowds! I had a garage sale once and I parked it out the
front. I got so many people in the door purely because of
the Mirrorbug.
It has been used as décor at some really big parties in
the late '90s, some of them with more than 5,000 people
attending. It has featured at a number of different locations
in Melbourne, including on stage at Festival Hall spinning on
a turntable with lasers shining on it. It has also appeared at
the Victorian Arts Centre, the Forum Theatre, the World
M E L B O UR N E , A US T R A L I A
Check out the video link to this amazing vehicle:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrKingquayle#p/a/u/0/D5br1CeIvzA
Trade Centre and lots of
parades and festivals
here in Australia.
I have driven it down
Flinders Street in the
city and it was amazing!
It was a sunny day and
the light reflected on all
the buildings as we
drove past. It stood out
like a diamond in the
sun. The police smiled
and waved! Sometimes
when there was a big
parade somewhere, I
would just drive to it
and join in. They always
just assumed that it was
part of the parade and
let me in. We would
wave at the people and
drive home after!
It has such a
dramatic effect on your
soul when you drive it
around, and it always
makes me feel good. It
feels a bit magic!
It still gets the same
reaction as it did when it
was created more than
10 years ago. One of the
greatest joys I get is
putting smiles on the
faces of so many people.
It is so easy to do if you
have a Mirrorbug – just
go for a drive! AC
H A W A I I , US A
THERE WAS A TIME when many a VW received a new lick of
paint from its owner. The sixties and seventies have much to
answer for – some of it good and some of it bad, we all recognise
that. The alternative lifestyle sought by many during the double
decade lent itself to grabbing as much alternative material as it
could lay its hands on. Beyond the spiritualism and the drugs
was the need to be recognised in a loving and more caring way
and the humble Volkswagen was part of that highly sought
alternative. Cheap to buy, cheap on gas and decidedly different
with its engine in the wrong place. The VW was a definite rebel,
lacking fins and about a ton of unnecessary weight to its
contemporary chromed cousins. The little car, in Beetle or Kombi
form, was a gem. It lacked so much, yet gave so much more.
Perhaps its only handicap was that there was no room for the
guitar with four seated adults unless you opted for the station
wagon micro bus.
I doubt VW ever saw it coming. It was a love affair shown by
those whose inclination toward a more peaceful existence (and
music festivals - hence the guitar) extended to something as
solid and dependable as the VW Bus. So solid in fact that it has
become the focus of generations since; the VW Bus has outlasted
so many of those chrome cruisers.
Now we're in the '10s. Sounds odd, doesn't it? Forty or fifty years
down the track. Has anything changed?
Meet Hopper from Hawaii. She's one of the new generation of VW
Bus followers. Someone who struggled with the modern way of
life and wanted to find a way to opt out; to get away from the rat
race and enjoy a company of friends, not foes. From what I
gather she's had her fair share of worries, and has made the
move to a more peaceful existence in a less touristy part of the
Big Island. She once ran a bed and breakfast business with her
husband, Harley, up high in the desert areas overlooking Los
Angeles, an area popular with biker dudes and biker gangs.
Weekends were busy looking after the B&B. Weekdays were busy
looking after the weekend takings, the liquor and the possible
police presence due to altercations between different biker gangs
and the police. Paradise it certainly wasn't.
There had to be an alternative.
In 2002, Harley bought Hopper a 1971 VW Bus. Hopper, you see, was an
artist and she liked to paint big. Here then was a canvas to express herself
and she set about creating a collage of her favourite things from the sixties,
seventies and eighties. It took eighteen months to complete, and only when it
was finished did she put it on display. During the paint marathon Harley had
mentioned moving away from LA to Hawaii. It seemed like a great idea. The
B&B was put up for sale and Dubie the VW Bus was placed just outside to
attract customers and potential buyers to the business, and on the very first
day someone threw paint-stripping brake fluid over him. Not just a little. So
much that most of the eighteen months of work was lost forever.

Most would have thrown in the towel. Not Hopper. She believes everything
happens for a reason and, with the help of Harley and friends, Dubie was
sanded back on the affected parts and new primer sprayed on for the task to
begin all over again. Well, the business sold and Harley, Hopper, their two
daughters, Dubie and the cat made their way over to Hawaii. They'd found
their little piece of paradise, away from the tourist masses, and work
commenced on the Magic Bus. 'This time it really represents me,' says
Hopper, 'and it does what I intended it to do – bring smiles to those who see
it.'
'Living on the island is a magical experience. Natural beauty is everywhere you look. Ar
mainland. Time moves more slowly here. People have a much more easy going atti
community is large, welcoming and filled with a wide variety of unique and sometim
confidence to experiment with my own designs, allowing me an added freedom in my cr
to be.'
In the early days they got by by doing odd jobs. Money wasn't too much of an issue be
slippers, a couple of t-shirts and you're good to go. You can live off the land and plant alm
Dubie is very loved on the island. He's become the transport too for her art business
ladders, signs, surfboards (for art work purposes in this case) and four people! I'm sur
and murals too for buildings. She's also been part of the educational program for the you
A more peaceful life I couldn't imagine. Who says you can't mix business with pleasure? A
You've got to love that! AC
rt and music are all around you. There is an element here that I have not found on the
itude and are much more receptive to creative and different forms of art. The artist
mes very different souls. This wonderful environment has given me the freedom and
reations. In other words, it has allowed me to be the little hippie chick I always wanted

ecause you didn't need a lot. 'You live outside here, and a few pairs of shorts, a pair of
most anything you want or need to get by.'
s: Hoppers Hippie Art - www.hoppershippieart.com - and is ideal for carrying long
re there's room for a guitar in there too. Hopper's now into recycled art, t-shirt designs
ungsters on the island.
And in paradise too?