"Driving one of these art cars, such as the Redneck Limo or the Stink Bug, is almost like driving a prom float.

When the art cars hit town today, many people may not believe their eyes.

Art cars have been big draws in other parts of the country but are rarely seen in the southeast, according to Susie Brown, who is in charge of the Mount Dora Art Car Weekend.

An art car, for those who have not seen one, usually starts out as an old car, truck, RV or anything on wheels with a motor.

The artist-owner can use the vehicle as a canvas, or embellish it by gluing on objects.  Some people, thinking outside the box, change the car's entire structure.

Dave Majors of Kansas turned a 1959 BMW 6000 - think Isetta - into a cartoon-like airplane, using a tail section from an airplane, tiny wings and a bright red propeller.  "Aero" has appeared on The Tonight Show.

The 16 plus cars due in town also include the Redneck Limo by Faye Allen of Jacksonville, the Mobile Football Field by John Smith of Orlando and Stink Bug, a Volkswagen Beetle by Sanford resident Carolyn Stapleton, which is covered with cigarette butts.

Although she makes and sells "Time to Stop" clocks and cigarette butt-refrigerator magnets, Stapleton said the car is not an anti-smoking statement.

"It's a reminder to smokers to pick up after themselves," she said.

Brown, who owns NONI Home Imports on Fifth Avenue, suggested the idea of inviting art car owners to the Mount Dora Village Merchants Association.  She also walked a few doors west to the Mount Dora Center for the Arts, where the concept caught on fast.

Pat Huizing, the centers executive director, donated a 1988 Toyota MR2 that had been sideswiped.  Metz Rod and Custom in Mount Dora fixed the damage and primed the car's surface.

Lauren Graham Cunningham, an artist who is on the center's board of directors, donated much of the lightweight glass used by volunteers under the direction of mosaic artist and teacher at the center, Rich Rudden.  More than 300 hours later, Rudden and 20 volunteers finished the mosaic car, "Treasure Art".  Designed by another board member, Shawn McNalis, the car's motifs include a sea turtle, a dolphin, sandy beach and a treasure chest.

"I've been around a lot of mosaic and this car is extremely cool," said Rudden, who is currently finishing a mosaic mural at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Orlando.

Rudden said he cannot wait to drive the car, experiencing the thrill that makes all the work worthwhile to art-car owners.  On the road, art cars are met with double-takes and smiles of delight.

Stapleton, who is working on her third art car, said she has always kept a lower-profile car as well.  "Driving an art car can be like driving around in a prom float," she said.

For those who would like to experience the fun without the work, the Center for the Arts plans to sell "Treasure Art" on eBay.

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"Roger Allen and Fay Lienti-Allen will appear at Mount Dora's Art Car Weekend."

MOUNT DORA - Roger Allen and his wife, Fay Lienti-Allen, wanted a way to spread joy and humor to people such as Roger, who, in November 2002, was diagnosed with transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis, a very rare form of cancer.  He was told there was no chance for remission.

The vehicle they chose to transmit their message - that hope exists - turned out to be a traveling billboard, one that's 26 feet long and weighs 12,000 pounds.  It gets seven miles to the gallon.

The couple, who met in Atlanta in 1998 at an art festival and were married a year later, had purchased a 1979 Winnebago Chieftain to use in their business in 2001.  But after Roger's diagnosis, the RV began serving double-duty.  Fay, an artist, decided to adorn the vehicle with cartoon characters and name it the Redneck Limo.  "We use comedy as a source of healing," she said.

The Redneck Limo is one of the participants in the First Annual Mount Dora Art Car Weekend taking place today through Sunday in downtown Mount Dora.  After the Allens were married they started traveling to fairs and festivals across the nation selling Redneck T-shirts.

"I was cleaning a storage room in our house in Jacksonville Beach and found a trunk filled with 300 Redneck T-shirts left over from a business Roger had in the 1080s," Fay said.  For a while the couple traveled in a van and stayed in hotels but the decided to buy their Winnebago.

It was a blah brown with a few dents, which Roger sanded and repaired.  He had worked on it for a couple of months when he was diagnosed with cancer.  The news hit the couple hard.  Fay had been in a wheelchair for three years because of a car accident in 1996.  "When we got the news about Roger I was in tears, but I continued painting the RV," she said.  Fortunately, Roger's cancer went into remission in June 2003.

It took more than a year to transform the Winnebago into the Redneck Limo.  Fay rolled backward in her wheelchair to paint the bottom half.  The mid-section was painted by taping a paint brush onto a dowel.  "I finished the top from a scaffold Roger built for my wheelchair," Fay said.

More good news came their way this March in a roundabout fashion.  Fay was diagnosed with a 5-inch mass in her lower abdomen.  "It had been putting pressure on my spine.  After it was removed, feeling in my legs came back in two days," she said.  For the first time in about four years, she was able to walk more than short distances without experiencing serious pain.  She now gets around with just a cane.

The Redneck Limo is decorated with portraits of the Pigg family, a creation of Fay's.  One side is adorned with the mother, Earlene Sue, father Rodney Lee, Daughter, Polly Mae and son, J.R.  The other side showcases grandparents Patty Jean Dickey and Chest Earl Dickey along with Uncle Billy.  Beauregard the dog and Buford the chicken complete the clan.

The Allens have participated in other art car shows and festivals.  Their first appearance was an Independence Day parade in St. Mary's, Ga., in 2003.  Their favorite so far was the Gator Bowl Parade last New Year's Eve in Jacksonville, at which they won the Comcast Communications Spirit Award for the "most entertaining" unit.  "There were more than 250 units in the parade and 5 million television viewers," Roger said.  Their vehicle played bluegrass music as it rolled along.  "People were dancing in the street around it and yelling redneck jokes," Fay said.

Fay is a geometrical abstractionist who also creates minimalist-type paintings using acrylic paint combined with sand, fibers, beads and other textures.  She has painted murals for a church in Italy, but the Redneck Limo is her first cartooning job.

The couple's philosophy mirrors that of writer and comedian Jeff Foxworthy, perhaps the foremost authority on redneck lore.  "He says the word redneck means a glorious absence of sophistication.  We absolutely agree," Fay said.

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MOUNT DORA - A football field, an ocean scene and may more works of art will be driven through downtown Mount Dora today.

The vehicles are part of the first ever Mount Dora Art Car weekend that commenced Friday night with a private reception.

Susie Brown, summer events committee member for the Mount Dora Village Merchants Association said a parade through downtown Mount Dora would kick off the weekend at 11 a.m. today.  She said 16 vehicles from around the country had entered the parade, including on by the Mount Dora Center for the Arts.

"Art cars are any form of transportation, such as a car or an RV, that is drivable and has been turned into a piece of art," Brown said.

She said when she heard about art cars, she started to do some research and found it was quite popular in other parts of the country.

Brown said some vehicles are painted and some have more intricate designs created on or around them.

"This type of event appeals to everyone, it makes everybody smile," she said.

The parade is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. today from the Lakeside Inn and is expected to travel through a number of downtown streets in Mount Dora.  From noon until 5 p.m. members of the public can walk around and view each vehicle.

Visitors are encouraged to place a $1 vote for their favorite art car into collection boxes by each vehicle.  Any money raised throughout the day will be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central and North Florida, according to Brown.

A children's art car workshop will be held at Donnelly Park today between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., where children can create their own art cars to take home.

Brown said Sunday visitors could have their photo taken by the artistic vehicles and find out which entry won the People's Choice award at the Lakeside Inn at 11 a.m.

Some of the vehicles on display will include:  Major's "Aero-car" from Benton, Kan.; Fay Lienti-Allen's "Redneck Limo" from Jacksonville; John Smith's "mobile football field" from Winter Park; and Harry Sperl's "Hamburger Harley" from Daytona Beach.

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MOUNT DORA - Hamburger Harry's Harley gave a new meaning to fast food as he drove down the streets of Mount Dora Saturday.

Harry Sperl was one of 16 people who entered Lake County's first ever Art Car weekend, which kicked off with a parade in downtown Mount Dora on Saturday morning.

Crowds gathered to view the vehicles, which ranged from a "Redneck Limo" recreational vehicle to cars decorated as tulip gardens, stink bugs, ocean scenes, football fields - with a game in play - and more.

Following the parade, visitors were able to view each entry and by donating $1 could vote for their favorite car.

All money raised will be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central and North Florida.

Sperl, originally from Germany but now a Daytona Beach resident, said he could not explain why he chose to decorate is Harley Davidson as a hamburger, complete with ketchup bottles for the front fork of the bike.

"Someone had to do it," Sperl said.  "I'm just into hamburger collecting, not even eating them, although I do enjoy a good hamburger."

The wheels of Sperl's motorcycle displayed purple onions, pickles or tomatoes.  The speedometer and tachometer were disguised as drink cups sitting on a tray at the front of the bike, complemented by a burger and fries.  The rear-view mirrors were smaller hamburgers.

Sperl claimed to have the largest hamburger collection in the world.  "I collect Americana and hamburgers," he said, adding he thought of hamburgers as an American icon.  Combining his love of American-made Harley Davidson's and hamburgers was an obvious choice for Sperl, who said he spent "zillions" of hours between 1993 and 1995 designing the hamburger for the bike out of plastic and fiberglass.

He said the clutch of his bike burned out Saturday, so he would not be able to drive his Harley today unless someone helped him push the 1,360-lb bike.

"It's a pushburger now.  It weighs more than a quarter pounder," Sperl said.

In another part of the downtown area, Jett Lazarus, 9, of Mount Dora admired the artwork on the Redneck Limo RV.

"I don't understand," Lazarus said. "It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

Joseph Swanwick, 4, of Mount Dora thought a car with a large lobster on top was the funniest entry.

Dennis Esselman of Orlando drove to Mount Dora just to see the artistic vehicles.  He said he would like to see more entries next year and was considering joining the event himself.

"The car that was chopped in half and made shorter was the best.  He put a lot of work into it, there wasn't just stuff glued to the hood," Esselman said.

Carla Ronca of Mount Dora added that she thought the vehicles were "pretty creative."

Visitors are invited to have their photograph taken with the vehicles, and to attend the drawing of the people's choice award, scheduled to be announced today at 11 a.m. at the Lakeside Inn in Mount Dora.

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