Shop Talk Ep. 4

This is the fourth in a series of posts taking a behind-the-art look at the cars and mashups in my Driven series. Starting with this episode, I'm introducing new formats for both the post titling (now episodic) and the content. I'll lead with a "Featured Mashup" with deeper background, followed by two or three additional pieces. All will include a short description about the title — titles are new too, added to hopefully give each work a bit more narrative weight.

Future posts will feature new additions to the series, but for this episode only one new one is included. The focus is on pieces, old and new, that will be shown at a local arts festival taking place next month. Each will be printed on aluminum using a dye-sublimation process.

Featured Work

The Ford Galaxie was sold in North America from the 1959 to 1974 model years. Deriving its nameplate from a marketing tie-in with the excitement surrounding the Space Race, the Galaxie was offered as a sedan within the full-size Ford range throughout its production run, competing against the Chevy Impala and Plymouth Fury. For 1966, a new model was introduced; the Galaxie 500 7 Litre, fitted with a new engine, the 345 hp Thunderbird V8. The Galaxie 500 LTD that was introduced the previous year became the Ford LTD, with the Galaxie becoming the mid-level full-size series (above the Ford Custom/Custom 500). The '66 model also introduced a slight "Coke Bottle" design and new horizontally split grille, among other small changes.

The base image for this mashup was taken at Lyons Vintage Junkyard near Loretto, KY in May 2025, the same location as the car featured in the previous episode.

The title of this mashup ties into the Galaxie — named after a galaxy full of stars — now glowing incandescent orange and red in the junkyard. In astronomy, a red giant is what a sun-like star becomes in its final life stage: it expands dramatically, burning larger and brighter than ever before its collapse. “Blaze of Glory” captures that final spectacular display — the car burning hotter and more vivid at the end than it ever did on the road.

And for your viewing pleasure...

“Forward Look” was Chrysler’s official design philosophy under stylist Virgil Exner in the late 1950s — their cars were branded as futuristic, streamlined, and forward-looking. The 1960 Chrysler in this image, now consumed by decay and overgrown with organic, branching forms, makes the title deeply ironic. The car that once promised the future is now reclaimed by nature — entropy moving through it like root systems through concrete.

This title draws upon Led Zeppelin’s song and its associations with disorientation and slow, foggy decline. The car connects to the human entropy theme: the confusion of late life, the body slowly failing while something still flickers. A red taillight glows against all the rust and decay — a light still on inside a wasting body, refusing to go out.

The new one of the bunch, with the source image being taken during a recent trip to Arizona. This VW van has clearly lost the war with time, rust claiming everything. But the image doesn’t mourn it. There’s a warmth and dignity to the wreckage. Defeated, yes — but not forgotten.

Sources
Wikipedia.com - Ford Galaxie page