General Carbuncle: A Ford Capri "Hazzardly" Toyed Around...

What do you get when you combine a Ford Capri coupe, more than 4,000 toy cars and artist with a fling for the Dukes of Hazzard? Answer: the “General Carbuncle”. We won’t pretend to understand the thoughts hidden behind the creation of Brit artist, James R. Ford so we’ll just lay out the facts and leave you to decide.

James Ford started this project in 2004 when he bought a used Ford Capri coupe in 2004 for a mere £99 with the sole intention of completely covering it in toy cars in the appropriate colours (mainly red and orange) to pay homage to the famous “General Lee” Charger from the Dukes of Hazzard. Ford completed the car in late 2006. Interestingly enough, many people donated toy cars to help Ford out, including one person from as far away as Australia.

-Follow the jump to see more pictures along with highlights and interesting facts from the project

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

• Buying a 2nd hand Ford Capri from eBay for £99
• Pretending to be a toy shop owner to gain entry into the toy fair trade show at Earl’s court, in order to buy around 2,000 toy cars wholesale...
• ...then having the laborious task of unboxing each individual car
• Receiving decorated toy cars from places all over the world
• Building a gazebo to protect the General from the wind and rain...
• ...the gazebo being destroyed in weather and having to repair it with wooden sticks, tape and string
• In September 2006 General Carbuncle was nominated, and eventually voted into, the Saatchi Your Gallery @ The Guardian exhibition in London, October 2006
• Auctioning the sculpture on eBay, so that the process has come full circle

INTERESTING GENERAL CARBUNCLE FACTS

• Number of cars to cover a door = 450
• Number of cars to cover the bonnet = 1,000
• Number of cars to cover the roof = 900
• Estimated total to cover the entire car = 3,500 - 4,500 (approximations)
• The most popular toy cars submitted have been T-birds and Double Decker buses.6
• The furthest away that a donation has been sent from is Sydney, Australia.
• The most unusual toy car donated has been a VW van with a pop-up "Kermit the Frog"

Via: generalcarbuncle