Fund Raising for STEAMBUG's new engine

Dear Lovers of STEAMBUG,

If we want it so see another year of STEAMBUG goodness at local burns, I need your help. Our best bet for a new engine is now, as the Winter Volksfest, the biggest VW show and swap in the South East, is happening this weekend in Greensboro. I would love to go there. I would love to walk off with a new engine. I just need the cash to do it.

Last year I had the pleasure of creating my first Art Car, the STEAMBUG ( www.STEAMBUG.com ). I brought together a dedicated team of misfits, zealots and the generally underemployed, and we made some magic happen. It had wings! They sometimes even flapped! It had a strippers pole sturdily mounted on an airship deck! Not to mention purpleheart wood bumpers, a hand made wooden gear system to drive the wings and a trailer hitch for the not quite completed DJ-on-a-trailer. And all of this was built on the very first car I ever owned, a purple 1969 Volkswagen Beetle.

The STEAMBUG made a debut appearance at Transformus where it was a big hit. Then we took it to Alchemy, where, even with a few technical difficulties, it delighted many. Leaving Alchemy, the breaks went out right before a stoplight. Luckily for STEAMBUG (and myself), the oncoming traffic honked... and let me pass. After renting a tow dolly to drag it home behind my friend's Range Rover, we put a box of books from our free library in the front seat. The books knocked the gearshift into gear. After getting on the highway, the Range Rover tore STEAMBUG's engine to shreds. A new engine runs $1000 - $1200, with $200 - $300 of installation fees. Used engines, in various degrees of working can be found for less, especially if we can get lucky. At a place like the Winter Volksfest we might be able to get lucky with as little as $200.

If you want STEAMBUG to see another year of burns, it will need a new engine. And with the missus getting laid off last fall, I have no extra cash to spare. The creation of this project cost $1200 in Art Car conversion expenses and $800 in vehicle maintenance. With only $700 in Art Grants I footed the rest of the bill. But that cannot happen again. So, dear lovers of the STEAMBUG, if we want it so see another year I need your help. If can, please donate via link below!

Keeping it Lit,
PyroCelt