WILD WHEELS

DISCOVERY:
I was in Miami Beach, at a cafe across from the Alliance Theater, when a multi-colored Volkswagen drove by: An old beetle with Rastafarian colors in the front, a TV set strapped to the roof flanked by yellow plastic pin-wheel flowers, a globe mounted on the hood and play money varnished in a rainbow on one corner panel, and more. I want to gawk at it and ignore it in the same instant. While the child in me is drawn to it, the adult in me is repulsed; it looks like an advertisement. It is an advertisement, yet it is not promoting a brand. What this car re-presents is a motion picture made by a man with vision. Vision about people with vision.

PLOT:
Since this is a documentary, plot does not apply. But there is a rich story behind this film. Harrod Blank had the idea of decorating his car. In so doing he discovered that it transformed a simple trip to the food store into an ordeal. People plagued him with superficial questions. It had another effect as well, a magnet for information about others who had a similar inspiration. He unwittingly devised a lure that would weave a network. He succeeded in drawing them out by traveling the nation's blue highways, These are the roads that William Least Heat Moon writes about in his tour of the US. The old highways as designated in blue on road maps. The precursors of the interstate system. It took Harrod six trips spanning this nation from coast to coast with his camera & crew to capture the 37 eccentrics and 46 cars represented in his film, Wild Wheels.

 The wild wheels we encounter in his film are not "funny cars"—the custom cars displayed at car shows created by expert mechanics and auto body craftsmen. The wild wheels we see are created by persons who were driven by an urge, an inner voice to mutilate, or mutate their motor vehicles. Most of the creators of these way-out cars are not fine artists, but working professionals. There are a few commercial artists among them: Larry Fuente, and Eric Staller, to name two.

The film is about folk artists and their art. It is a celebration of our freedom to decorate our cars in this country, and the price we pay for this freedom. In a society that is becoming increasingly uniform, Wild Wheels is an inspiration.

Harrod Blank does not mislead us into believing that driving your own personalized vehicle is pure bliss. On the contrary, he shows us the down side of   expressing yourself through modifying the factory-made machine we use as transportation: Police harassment, unsympathetic judges, vandals, insurance agents, and morons who wait for you to return from shopping in order to accost you with such pithy queries as "Why did you do that to your car?" are all covered in the film.

FLAWS
Unfortunately, Mr. Blank does not explore these aspects thoroughly enough in the film. Not that I wish to dwell on the negative aspects, but I am curious how each owner deals with police arrests, vandals, etc. I can see how registering such vehicles at the DMV could be an ordeal. But this was not covered. Also, some of the owners were apparently camera-shy, and Mr.Blank failed to draw them out for an interview, so we are cheated of a few eccentric owners.

The film is only 64 minutes, which passes quickly since the film never dwells too long on any one duo of car and driver. This film could have been 90 minutes long, and not boring. I am not a car fanatic, or a wild-wheeler. Nor do I know anyone who owns a set of wild wheels.

FINALE:
Harrod Blank sews-up this panache of 46 art-car creations with 37 of the creators admirably. He opens the film with his own creation and the misfortune it has brought, and closes with an air of optimism, a man bettered by his odyssey.

I received a sense of renewed hope from this feature-length documentary. I laud those who have the courage for their convictions, and bear the slings and arrows of those in contempt.

The concept of this film is a provocative one; since the collecting of these treasures on film is haphazard, one can only wonder how many more crazy cars there are out there in the world. There will  be a Wild Wheels II.

Joe Gonzales' Art Car of Wrought Iron

credits: 64:00 min.   1992    USA     English    Color

Directed by: Harrod Blank

Stars: Various art car celebrities, nation- wide

Harrod Blank and his "Oh My God"

Visit director Harrod Blank's Homepage !

For rental: TARA Releasing 124  Belvedere, #5, San Rafael, CA 94901 (Formerly Psychotronic Video)

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