One of the unexpected and wonderful things I’m grateful we have here at The Autopian is access to a chunk of floor space at the LA Auto Show. This little plot of carpeted real estate is carved out from the Greater Galpin Region of the Auto Show, and we get to park interesting cars here and decorate it as we please. So we did, and I want to show you what that looks like, partially because why not, and partially because each of these massive printed walls was an incredibly rushed job and I’m just relieved they turned out okay.
For logistical reasons I don’t fully comprehend, the size and locations of these panels wasn’t settled on until quite late in the game, so I had to crank out most of these things in one afternoon last weekend, reading the dimensions from a confusing spreadsheet attached to some obtuse CAD drawings. These were kind of a rush job is what I’m saying, and a big part of me was dreading coming to the show to find that I’d screwed up the huge prints in some obvious, embarrassing way, perhaps leading the authorities to be involved and me being taken in for questioning on charges of Being A Colossal Fuckup In Public.
Happily, I evaded that fate one more day! I think they turned out pretty well!
These may be my favorites:
These two are not tied to a specific car, and when I asked what we might want on them, Matt gave me the helpful advice of “I don’t know, just do some generic Autopian thing,” advice about as useful as him handing me a wet tuna sandwich and saying “see what you can do with this.”
In the end I got inspired by 1960s paperback book cover type of look for the one on the left, which is full of Autopian Things like DKW 2-stroke engines and Saab Aztec wheels and YJ Jeeps and Dodge A100 vans and Peugeot taillights and Tatras in front of pyramids, and so on.
The one on the right is sort of a Soviet Constructivist/American Jet Age mashup with a big block V8 in the background.
Oh, and yes, that is a Messerschmitt Tiger there, along with a Berkeley Sport SE328 and an Aston Martin Cygnet!
There’s car-specific ones, like this one, because we got ourselves a real-ass Herbie here, bishes!
That, of course, delights me, knowing that I’ll have at least this sentient Volkswagen to talk to after David and I get into a fight about grammar. Again.
I also made a big Batmobile banner for this original-series Batmobile (the second one built), complete with blueprints.
And, of course, we have a display for the legendary Daisy, which should be reason enough to come to our booth. This is the only one in the known universe!
Here’s a nice tour from Autopian co-founder Beau, taking over when the Roomba called in for a personal day:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzsOG9YLd0J/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
This is going to be fun, and it’s open to the public starting Friday! I’ll be there, and we’ll be doing Car Trivia and giving out T-shirts on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! Come out and say hi, dammit!
Any Autopian fun to be had this final LAAA weekend?