Turf Bug
(images via: As Good As Grass, Dream Turf and Rob’s World)
Got a 1974 Super Beetle in need of some souping up? Rick Griffiths did, and he also happens to own Dream Turf. Put two and two together (with the aid of 900-odd screws and about 120 hours of labor) and you get a Turf Bug! Griffiths used Tri-Color synthetic grass to make his Bug bloom; now it doubles as both basic transportation and as a rolling advertisement for his biz.
Turf Bug Too
(images via: Solar Power Perth)
Crikey! Looking like an outsized, mobile Chia Pet, the Green Beetle from Green Gateway is one of the oddest things you’ll see in Australia… and that’s really saying something. This is one green vehicle for which environmental friendliness is more than skin deep, and it can be rented to help spread the message of energy conservation at your event provided it takes place in or around Western Australia, “The Golden State”.
To Eco-Friendly Greece or Bus!
(images via: Green Diary)
Greece may be in the throes of a nasty economic crisis right now but things were a whole lot rosier back in 2010 when the Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce and Industry held the 1st Innovation Festival. One of the highlights was a bus covered in real grass – not exactly rosy but living plants nonetheless. Instead of taking on paying passengers and running a pre-set route, the bus was parked in a different urban location each day of the event in order to raise awareness of the environment.
Hyundai’s 2010 World Cup Promotional Cars
(images via: Future Car Trends and Geekosystem)
When you talk Big Green, it doesn’t get much greener than the FIFA World Cup when advertisers compete as fiercely as the players to get their products into the limelight. South Korean carmaker Hyundai gave it a kick with the GOOOOOOOOAL of letting the world know they make fuel-efficient cars like the tiny i10, two of which were turfed out – maybe “turfed up” is a better phrase – in full-on football mods both inside and out.
(images via: Future Car Trends)
One of Hyundai’s two i10 2010 World Cup promotional cars managed to hold the public’s interest even after its turn on the show circuit ended. Car Dealer Magazine put a customized i10 up for auction on eBay with the sale proceeds benefiting “BEN”, a UK-based auto industry charity supporting current and former automotive industry workers and their dependents.
Watch The Birdie!
(images via: Nicola Ryan)
Nicola Ryan snapped the above image of what seems to be either a completely grass-covered, non-drivable car or one of the most ingenuous car covers ever made. Regardless, the Berlin scene is remarkable for the one component that’s definitely living: the sparrow who paused momentarily to become the car’s very complementary hood ornament.
EasiBugs by EasiGrass
(images via: NewsQuest and Groundcare)
Not everyone can drive a grass-covered car – it takes time, skill and often parental approval to conduct the necessary mods. Then again, you could work for Easigrass™, the UK’s leading distributor and installer of Artificial Grass products. Easigrass operates a unique fleet of so-called Easibugs used to establish a public presence and spread the word by word of mouth and by way of road.
(image via: Alan in Belfast)
Each Easibug is unique with colorful “faces” up front, often designed by children from local schools. They’ve certainly made a lasting impression! “People come over and say: ‘It’s fantastic, can we take a picture?'”, according to Tracey Purcell, director of Easigrass Yorkshire. “It makes people laugh really. It has really got the feel-good factor.” Easibugs add a dash of colorful, whimsical mirth to life in the concrete jungle and as any business-person knows, a smile is the first step towards a purchase.
(images via: Alpinfun, Buffet O’ Blog, Ecoble) and Hayes Valley Voice)
For some folks, of course, there’s nothing like a grass-covered car covered in real, live, growing grass even though the results don’t always approach the perfectly trimmed awesomeness of an Easibug or Rick Griffiths’ Turf Bug – see above. Those contemplating this type of conversion should be well aware of the drawbacks… to quote Neil Young, “rust never sleeps”, even when it’s seemingly under cover.

