"The Record" Newspaper
Monday, April 26, 2004
By THOMAS E. FRANKLIN
Plaid. When you think of plaid, do visions of bad golf pants
come to mind? Or perhaps, haute couture 1973, or maybe bagpipers on St. Patrick's Day? Now think '85 Buick Skyhawk.
An '85 Buick Skyhawk? Yup, and plaid is the color. Tim McNally of
Upper Montclair has hand-painted his car plaid. The Plaidmobile, he calls it, with rhinestone trim, fins on the rear end,
and a propeller on the front.
Plaid is typically a cloth woven with stripes of different colors
and widths, crossing at right angles to form a pattern. Worn chiefly by Scottish Highlanders, a plaid design is known by the
clan wearing it. There may be countless plaid tartans, but there's only one Plaidmobile.
"It's not an official tartan," McNally says about his car's paint
job. "I looked up McNally but couldn't find anything. But it's similar to Wallace," McNally says, without any qualms about
the lack of accuracy in relation to his family name, which may or may not be Scottish, he says.
Art cars are essentially vehicles masquerading as moving sculpture.
Often they are older cars transformed into particular themes. They often end up looking more like parade floats than automobiles.
But the Plaidmobile is a real car. On its second engine, the car has logged 175,000 miles on New Jersey roads, no small feat.
"In the art car world it's called a 'daily driver,' McNally explains. "And it's street-legal. It's inspected, has all the
requirements. The whole thing about art cars is there is no rules," McNally says. "Except the motor vehicle regulations."
McNally drives a taxi for a living, a green one, and is a part-time
student at Montclair State University. He's studying to become a graphic designer. Clearly, the Plaidmobile is a work of art.
Pop Art perhaps? "It's inspired by the Scotch tape logo, but I stretched it a little [to avoid infringement]," he says. "I
wanted something that was simple."
McNally started it in 1995. "I did it to be funny. It took about
a year." Using heavy-duty sign painter's enamel, sealed with a thick coat of two-part polyurethane, McNally gave his car such
a hard-looking finish it looks bulletproof. "It's just fun," he says. "I try to explain that to people, but they just don't
get it. In a way I'm a very shy guy. I guess it's [the car] my alter ego. It's a fashion statement. Why do we all have to
look alike?"
