Driving a Mobile Canvas
Shailesh Saigal has owned his red hybrid Honda Insight since 2000, but it’s only been within the past year that he’s turned the car into a mobile canvas.
“I wanted to put stuff out there that makes me me,” says Saigal, who lives in northwest Ann Arbor.
Shailesh Saigal's stickerized Honda insight.
The mix of stickers couldn’t be more eclectic: Vintage political bumper stickers for Kennedy and Nixon, images of Spock, Rodney Dangerfield, Stewie from “Family Guy,” icons from the world’s religions – Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Gaia, Christianity – sports decals (heavy on the Chicago Cubs)….you get the idea.
The quirkiness extends beyond stickers – a rubber chicken, plastic bat and blue fuzzy dice hang from the rearview mirror, and the back antenna is adorned with a cowboy hat-wearing cactus (tragically, the hat fell off somewhere along the way). Even his license plate reflects his tastes: KRFTWRK, for the German band Kraftwerk.
And yes, people stop and stare, Saigal says. Especially kids. Often as they’re crossing the street in front of him – which is ok, until the light turns green.
Mr. Cactus, on the back antenna, lost his cowboy hat.