Art cars and mutant vehicles

When we first read about the late Tom Kennedy and his "art cars and mutant vehicles," we said "This guy really followed his own weird!" He called himself an Adventurer. Tom's slogan: "Have more fun then the bad guys." He certainly did!

You'll love this 7 min. YouTube video of Tom driving Ripper the Friendly Shark.



Tom Kennedy died in April 2009, body-surfing off San Francisco's Ocean Beach. Perhaps best known for The Whale, the 80-foot vehicle he built for the Burning Man Festival (spouts fire!), and Ripper the Friendly Shark, his amazing and whimsical cars must be seen to be believed. You can see some pix and descriptions on his website.

And don't miss all the tributes, photos, and videos, including the kayak, here.

Just who was this guy?

Andy Parker's column in The Oregonian fills us in from Kennedy's memorial just outside Portland (one of many around the country):

Nearby, those who knew Kennedy sat around tables and talked about the man who for years pursued a white-collar career in newspaper circulation sales in Houston and Portland. Then a sculpture class and an art-car parade yanked him from the corporate world deep into a life of using his artistic and welding talents to sculpt cars into rolling visions of cinematic whimsy.

"He was all about making people smile," said a guy, who identified himself only as Mike, who helped Kennedy build the whale around an old school bus.

"You have to imagine," said Mike, "you're sitting out in the desert at night, and here comes this 80-foot whale with fire spouting up from the blowhole. It was hard to forget."

The same can be said for its creator, who person after person said had inspired them to slow down and live a life they believed in, not one they simply believed they should.

"He really stopped, got out of corporate life, made a big U-turn and learned to live life one day at a time, to make his life about everyone around him, one person at a time," said his mother, Pat Kennedy.

His goal was to persuade people to drop their guard and forget their fears. Which is exactly what persuaded Marci Macfarlane, owner of the Trophy Wife, to decapitate it.

"I bought the car, and Tom said we should cut the top off. And I said, 'This is Oregon, we can't do that.'

"And he said, 'No, it'll be fine.'

And it was.