'WILD WHEELS' ON EXHIBIT AT THE PETERSEN.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Art-car creators and their wildly adorned vehicles have long been the cool, kooky cousins of the automotive family, relegated to the fringe and ignored by traditional automobile hobbyists.

Now, aficionados of the ornate automobile are moving into the mainstream with an exhibition that opens today at the Petersen Automotive Museum. ``Wild Wheels: Art for the Road'' puts a giant telephone car and whimsical teal boat-car next to more traditional hot rods and million-dollar collector's cars.

``This is the pinnacle of our whole career,'' said Harrod Blank, guest curator of the exhibit and artiste behind the Camera Van and two reincarnated Volkswagen Beetles.

``We used to be outcasts. Now we're being embraced by the automotive world.''

The dozen-or-so playful, jaw-dropping works show what can happen when an inventive mind meets a hunk of metal. But these are not mere sculptures to be admired. All are functioning cars, most are street legal and some are driven daily.

``I go camping out of it; I take it to Ralphs; I take it to the movies,'' said Charles E. Hunt, of Van Nuys, whose 1964 Mercury Comet - covered in animal skulls, prosthetic limbs and dead animals - is fashioned to look like it crawled out of the ocean and was driven around for 200 years.

Mouths drop when he pulls into a parking lot. Heads pop out of open windows when he breezes down the street. Police officers occasionally pull him over, most wanting just to get a better look and, perhaps, snap a photo.

But it's a new experience to have his vehicle tucked away in a museum for six months.

``This is the most awesome thing my car has ever done,'' said Hunt, a compulsive collector who painstakingly affixes the objects he finds or is given. ``It's worth the 15 years of caring for it and decorating it.''

The reactions of passers-by are certainly factors driving car artists, but there's nothing like taking an automobile - a functional requirement in most areas of the country - and turning it into a canvas for personal expression.

Such was the case with art-car chronicler Blank. His was a very unconventional childhood, growing up in the forest near Santa Cruz with two hippie parents.

So when it came time to drive, he just didn't feel right climbing behind the wheel of a plain white VW Beetle. It was too dull, too common.

Thus was born the vehicle he has named ``Oh My God!,'' painted like a beach ball, with a bumper of plastic fruit.

``I thought I was the only one, a freak of nature,'' he said.

Then he discovered an underground movement of fellow artists, decorators and collectors who thrilled in painting, gluing or screwing their personalities right onto the chassis of their cars.

Blank's masterpiece is the Camera Van, 1972 Dodge Van covered in 1,705 Polaroid, antique and 35mm cameras. There are even video cameras to catch lookyloos in the act and project their images onto monitors.

Blank spent two years collecting cameras, and more two years bolting them on the van and amassed $30,000 in bills to bring his dream to life.

No doubt, it takes a special kind of person to invest that kind of time and money.

Boat-car creator Fred Kanter was 50 when he discovered art cars at a parade and soon became a devotee.

``It completely opened my eyes. It's not sanding a fender or restoring a car to exactly the same way condition it came in. You can take a rusted-out car and build that,'' Kanter said, pointing to a tiny, primary-colored MondrianMobile - a mock homage to abstract Dutch painter Piet Mondrian.

``People who buy clothes at The Gap do not build these cars,'' said Kanter, himself clad in a tropical shirt and three self-designed watches that do not keep time.

The boat-car - a wedding gift for his wife, Stacy - began with a rusty 1984 Chevrolet Cavalier with 147,000 miles on it that he bought for $45. He and some friends lopped off the top and fitted a $200 speedboat - complete with windshield and motor - over the car body.

The New Jersey couple like to cruise the convertible into New York City, afloat among the taxi cabs and bike messengers.

``People walk out of the shops; they don't believe what they're seeing and they do a double take, you know, the whiplash look,'' Stacy Kanter said, laughing.

``If you're ever in a bad mood, you get in that car and you just spread all this joy and cheer. It's the joy carrier.''

IF YOU GO: ``Wild Wheels: Art for the Road'' will be open today through May 26 at the Petersen Automotive Museum, 6060 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. For more information, call [phone] (CARS); or visit www.petersen.org

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

(1 -- color) Harrod Blank stands next to one of his art cars that will be on display as part of its ``Wild Wheels'' exhibit.

(2 -- 3 -- color) The Mad Cad, above, is part of the exhibit, as is this rocket car, right, by Baron Margo.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

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IF YOU GO (see text)