Fuel-efficient vehicles, hybrid cars and electric ZEVs all claim to be green but few actually are.. at least, not literally. Not so these dozen grass-covered conveyances; they’re as green as a fresh-mowed lawn. Whether slapped together from sheets of Astroturf or lovingly layered with living sod, all these cars, trucks, vans & buses ask is that you keep your pedal to the metal and keep off the grass!
Gene Pool’s Carpool
Brooklyn-based artist Gene Pool (formerly Bill Harding) had a pair of late-1960s Buick LeSabres that were a tad too maintenance-free for his liking, so he did what anyone in his situation would do: cover them in sod and water them daily! He got a helping hand with the watering can from car artist Lucy Harvey, who was also nice enough to fashion leftover sod into “soiled” outfits for the both of them.
Eager to build a buzz about the new grass field at Busch Stadium, the owners of the St. Louis Cardinals called upon Gene Pool, who arrived to the rescue with a truckload of fescue. Pool and Lucy Harvey worked their tried and tested mulch magic on a larger than average scale, turning a plain-Jane public transit vehicle into the Greenest. Redbird Express bus. Ever.
Transporter Fore
Taking a tip, perhaps, from Cheech & Chong’s unique drug-smuggling scheme, one enterprising driver covered most of their Volkswagen Transporter van in lush, leafy greenery. Here’s a couple of other tips: (1) When you get a car wash, ask the operator to hold the soap, and (2) Should the van ever catch on fire, don’t get caught standing around inhaling when the po-lice arrive.
Cheech & Chong’s Fiberweed Van
Speaking of which, here’s the “fiberweed” van itself, straight outta 1978’s cult classic film Up In Smoke. And here you thought making a run for the border had something to do with Taco Bell… well it might, once the munchies kick in. Cheech & Chong themselves weren’t so lucky, however, thanks to an overly hot exhaust system which led to their psychedelic and organic ride going… up in smoke.
Rolls Royce Green Ghost
You know you’re on a roll when you’re IN a Rolls… Rolls Royce, that is. Conspicuous consumption ain’t what it used to be, however, and here’s one case where the 1% is giving a bit back. This rugged 1974 Roller has it made in the shade, as it were, in Dubai.
The ostentatious vehicle, part of the Al Zarooni Car Collection, was customized to promote eco-friendly initiatives. We’re not sure how green this particular initiative really is, other than by using artificial turf the owner doesn’t squander precious water keeping his exterior alive.
Call Me Lorna…
April Fool’s Day in February? The mysterious Honda Civic Lorna (“Lawn-a”… get it?) popped up almost 10 years ago, got its picture taken, and then dropped out of site never to be seen again. While the practical application of apparently real sod certainly looks lush and inviting, the fact that the mowable modification “makes use of photosynthesis to liberate free oxygen from airborne carbon dioxide and thus negate tailpipe CO2 emissions” leaves one wondering if Honda’s pulling the rug from under us. So where’s Lorna today? Nobody knows – perhaps she’s suffered the fate of other Hondas (see above) left to the wiles of an alien life force.
Green Square
You can take a Lada Niva out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of a Lada Niva… not this one, anyway. Cruising the clean, mean streets of Rue St. Laurent, Quebec has done little to tame the Tolyatti-built old world beauty – then again, maybe it just wasn’t red enough to pass muster in Putin’s Post-Soviet Russia.
The owner maintains the car by keeping its environmentally friendly covering clipped as close as a golf green… and it has “fore” wheel drive. That’s fine for summertime but French-Canadian winters can rival the white hells that made both Napoleon’s and Hitler’s retreats from Moscow that much more miserable. Maybe the owner sprays his Niva with water, turning it into a rolling hockey rink.
