There’s a holiday lights display in Baltimore called the Miracle on 34th Street. Residents of the 700 block of 34th Street decorate their rowhouses with outrageous lights and installations. It’s been a holiday tradition since 1947.
Local eccentric Jim Pollock has been putting up a hubcap Christmas Tree for years; an 8′ tall collection of discarded hubcaps, all wired together in a pine-tree shape. Complete with Christmas lights and topped with a plastic dinosaur instead of a star. Gosh, it’s ugly.
At Demaras Racing, we consider ourselves connoisseurs of Auto-Art. Maybe we’re missing Pollock’s point about re-using discarded items, turning into something special. But we’re just not sure about this thing. It might not be art; it might just be a pile of junk. And that’s hard for gearheads like us to admit.
Last year, the Demaras Family visited Radiator Springs at Christmastime and we were blown away by the creativity. The whole town was decked out in whitewall tire wreaths and car-part Christmas décor. This included a 20′ tall tree decorated with lights, ornaments and (you guessed it) hubcaps. And it worked! It was beautiful.
We’re not generally negative…but unless you’re a sentient car living in Pixar’s universe, maybe just leave the hubcaps on the wheels.