3 TOYOTA BZ4X EVS HARK BACK TO JANIS JOPLIN’S PSYCHEDELIC PORSCHE

Even a seemingly forward-thinking company like Tesla has been offering the same six shades for the past 10 years. Recently they came out with new gray and red shades that look virtually indistinguishable from the old gray and red colors. 

Plum Crazy

Every once in blue moon, a car company dared to offer a color that broke the tradition. In 1970-71, the Chrysler Corporation offered “Plum Crazy” for its Dodge Challenger (called “In-Violet” for the Plymouth Barracuda). 

Dodge brought the Plum Crazy paint job back for the resurrected Charger and Challenger during brief moments in the 21st century. But the Plum Crazy cars went the way of the McRib, making limited appearances on the menu.

The Harlequin Volkswagens

In the early 1990s, Volkswagen offered a wild option on some of its models. The idea reportedly was inspired by a 1964 Volkswagen advertisement that showed a Beetle with a green front fender from a 1958 model, a blue hood from a 1959 model, a beige rear fender from a 1964 model, and a turquoise door from a 1962 model. The advertisement carried the tag line, “That’s why parts are so easy to get.” 

It started as a run of 20 Polos fitted with different color body panels in Tornado Red, Chagall Blue, Ginster Yellow and Pistachio Green. The result was so popular that Volkswagen produced 3,000 more Harlequin Polos. Volkswagen expanded the Harlequin option to a limited number of Golfs. In the USA, 264 Golf Harlequins were offered. Today, the 1996 Mk III Volkswagen Golf Harlequin is much-coveted collector car.  

Janice Joplin’s Psychedelic Porsche

Arguably, Janice Joplin’s 1964 Porsche 356C Cabriolet is the most famous car in rock and roll history. In September of 1968, Joplin bought it used from Estes Zipper Motors in Beverly Hills for $3,500. Before year’s end, however, Joplin commissioned Dave Richards, a former equipment manager for her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, to give the car a surrealistic paint job. Joplin reportedly paid Richards $500. 

It’s Richard’s psychedelic paint job, which he titled History of the Universe that made the car famous. Evidently, it was well known as Joplin’s daily driver, and fans would leave notes on the windshield and gather around to admire the vehicle when it was parked on the street. 

After the rock star’s untimely death in 1970, the car fell into disrepair, changed hands a couple of times, and was painted over in the car’s original Dolphin Grey paint. At some point, the surviving siblings of Joplin (who had possession of the car) realized it had more value with the psychedelic paint job. So, they commissioned artists Jana Mitchell and Amber Owen to replicate Richard’s History of the Universe mural using available photographs.

For 20 years, the car was on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2015, the car was auctioned for charity and sold to a private party for a cool $1.76 million.

Toyota’s bZ4X by Sophy Tuttle, Blaine Fontana, and Erik T. Burke

Not everyone may regard Toyota’s bZ4X electric vehicle a work of art, but its slab expanses of sheet metal and edgy creases make for a good canvas. That may have prompted the car company to seek out artists Sophy Tuttle of Boston, Blaine Fontana of Portland, and Erik T. Burke of Reno to create murals and then wrap the murals on the bZ4X body.

The results prompts me to want Toyota to offer these and other artistic wraps to car customers. Alas, Toyota says the vehicles are not for sale. They were displayed at Miami Art Week, where they served as mobile art pieces. 

“At Toyota we believe that creativity and the arts are essential for building strong communities,” said Toyota Vehicle and Marketing Communications General Manager Owen Peacock. “We’re thrilled that the bZ4X could play a part in these artists’ expression of what their hometown means to them and the role that electrified mobility plays today and tomorrow.”