Cars of Tomorrow Today

I recently visited Steve Heller's Fabulous Furniture on Route 28 not far from my place in Phoenicia, NY. For years I'd driven by marveling at the truly fabulous productions I glimpsed as I sped by. Little did I know what I'd been missing. Steve's a singular talent living in what a mutual friend has dubbed "Steve's World." Outside the store crammed with beautifully shaped wooden tables and such there's a sculpture garden with works made from car parts he lovingly dismantles from the bodies of old wrecks, mostly from the '50s. Big-finned cars that used to look like rockets are transformed into the vision that originally inspired them. Artifacts of an imaginary space age, they stand ready for takeoff if only someone could figure out how to get them to fly.

Then just the other day one of Steve's creations was nominated for the New York Times 2008 Collectible Car of the Year Contest. True to his outsider art aesthetic, Steve didn't restore an old car to its pristine beauty. Instead, he fashioned a 1998 Mercury Marquis into a new vehicle with parts from 11 different cars of the 1950s. The result is a whatchumyoucallit -- OK, a Marquis DeSoto -- that gets 24 mpg at 80 mph. Steve tells you a little bit about himself and his creation:

As a custom car fanatic since childhood, I've always wanted to "do" a new car. My dream come true started as a 40,000 mile always garaged 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis from Florida. After stripping the bumpers, lights, and other extraneous parts, I started welding on the parts from eleven different 1950's cars: 1-1957 De Soto fins, taillights, rear bumper, and decklid. 2-1958 Lincoln front fender tops and headlights. 3-1953 Pontiac roof panels to fabricate the wheel openings 4-1957 Buick side trim 5-1955 Cadillac front bumper 6-1957 Corvette grille (actually, 2 grilles with 11 extra teeth) 7-1959 Cadillac turn signals 8-1948 Dodge cornering lights 9-1965 Buick trunk lid turned backwards as front edge of hood 10-1958 Cadillac hood upside down for front roll pan 11-1994 Ford pick-up gas door I then painted the car the greatest '50's color combo, turquoise and white.All this work was done outside in my driveway by myself and my able assistant, Mike Karpf. The car is a total pleasure to drive, has all the modern amenities and airbags, and gets 24M.P.G. at 80 M.P.H.

Vote here.