Hi Rin,
A friend of mine just bought a used art car off of Kraigs list. Not a bad way to go. You're off and running w/ little or no work. And you can always make adjustments or change themes as you have time.
Jeff

Take a read through the linked album to get some history of vehicles at Burning Man and how the DMV and application process works.

Click on "next" to go from 2007 to the early years of playa transportation and learn the difference between Art Cars and Burning Man Mutant Vehicles.

tribes.tribe.net/bmmv/phot...6832e96fea

Success in applying to The Department of Mutant Vehicles largly depends on the base vehicle or golf cart being unrecognizable.

Small vehicles are expected to make a strong visual gift to the community far greater than your personal and very limited gift of motorized transportation. Please also consider that less than one percent of Black Rock City residents have a Mutant Vehicle.

Let your creative juices go wild . . .

Hi Rin! First thing to do is start reading blogs of other builds. One of the best ones is done by the Department of Spontaneous Combustion. There are lots of others tho.. There's a webring here: blert.net/acwr/ but it's been ages since I've checked there. Here are some other sites that might be useful:
www.duaneflatmo.com/latest.htm
www.monsterbuggies.net/
www.houstonartcarklub.com/links...s.html
ebeltz.net/niftylinks/ksrlinks.html
www.electricgiraffe.com/
www.lovesub.org/
www.carthedral.com/carthedr...links.htm
www.docsloft.com/docslofthome.htm

A small but visible percentage of Black Rock City’s population participates by becoming part of the Mutant Vehicle (MV) community. With over 50,000 people and 500 MVs, the motorized few are in a position to affect the experiences of many.

Mutant Vehicles for an American Dream

tribes.tribe.net/bmmv/thre...f16860dc21

New DMV hours for 2008

11 AM to 10:30 PM

tribes.tribe.net/bmmv/phot...476f136583

Rin,

Draw it on paper first, work out the general details of what you want to do. If you can not see it in your mind first, you can not make it. After you have a general idea of what you like, then go out and find something that fits your 'plan'. However, remember, that all vehicles use motive power of some sort, whether it is muscle-powered as in bicycles, electric or gasolene, these things require resources, so try to keep that in mind.

Myself, I'm lazy, so I've been looking at the so-called dune-buggies (made in China) being imported. They are fairly well made, fairly inexpensive, range in price from $1000 up $5000, got a frame, motor and drive-train, suspension, all the basic stuff for making a small MV without too much effort.

My friend DanMan, he started from scratch, making two 12 foot diameter steel wheels with 32 steel-rod spokes on a car axle, which supports a 20 foot long, 10 foot wide bed-gondola. This weekend he and I are wiring up the LED rope lights. Total cost so far is around $2000. I took some photos of it in the garage and will post them on Burning Man website tomorrow.

Its really a matter of effort, 10% inspiration and 90% sweat as the old adage goes.

Myself, this year, I've cooked up something I call a Light-Chime, its a 30 foot on a side three sided triangular electronic art structure. Next year, I'm planning a mutant vehicle, if I can figure out how to make it work??

So good luck and see ya on the Playa

Love - tron
tron camp