Maker Faire at Kansas City's Union Station opened up your right brain

From near to far, from here to there, creative people are everywhere.

Car shows are great, and we go to them all the time to see what there is to see. But sometimes, it’s easy to forget that there are other places where fun and interesting automotive-related activity may be happening.

Take the other day. I was sitting around working on my sunburn at a car show, while the 2012 Maker Faire was taking place at Kansas City’s Union Station. I never would have even considered going to that, but luckily my wife Maria and BHo were on the case.

The Maker Faire, put on by the staff of MAKE Magazine, is a place where creative people come together to show off their ingenious backyard workshop inventions. Everything from arts and crafts to science experiments and rocket ships are fair at the Faire. Kids really enjoy watching the robot competitions and quirky artwork.

And of course, there were cars. Not the typical rows of ’65 Mustangs and ’69 Camaros, but a collection of what the promoters termed “art cars.”

Some of them were lowriders, including a ’46 Chevy Fleetline, a ’67 Buick Riviera, and a ’70 Chevy Suburban. The Riviera was a particular standout, with elaborate custom paint, murals, and pinstripes that just wouldn’t quit.

Local bodyman Joe Pace had a couple of his creations on the premises, including his very faithful Back to the Future Delorean and his wild metallic magenta “Insana T” hot rod. The T is a show rod from way back, and the Delorean is well-known in movie car circles. Pace did a little work to my old pickup one time, and I thought it was fun to park it in the garage next to the Back to the Future car.

One of the crowd favorites was an old Mercury Sable that was decorated up to look like a peacock. OK, so it doesn’t do it for me like a ’67 Corvette with a 427 under the stinger, but you can tell that the person who built it was utilizing the right side of their brain (you know, where creativity comes from). I’m sure that if I had that baby in high school, I would have had a lot more dates.

My wife was actually nice enough to provide all the pictures for this story, which I really appreciate. You can tell that she’s been hanging around me too long, because you can see where she was squatting down to take artsy shots and honing in on the details. The only problem is, she does a better job than I do! I wonder if I can get her to take over for me at the Goodguys show this year …

Check out the slideshow below, or click this link for a little nicer version.