Making furniture (and such) out of car parts…

Sadly, Gadora’s Wonder Wagon was in a fender-bender last week. See my sad face? This week I was able to drive “The Paiger” to a few repair shops to see about getting her fixed back up. They’ll reload her with a new bumper and a refurbished trunk. Got Gadora to thinking, what might happen with my used and broken car parts?

Thanks DailyCandy for the e-introduction to Joel Hester, of Dallas-based The Weld House. L-O-V-E his work! He faithfully scrounges salvage yards turning mangled steel into coffee tables, consoles, beds and such. Hard to say he’d find this kind of inspiration from my Mazda wagon as he’s more an old school kind-of-guy… but he just might.

BEFORE: A beater with a personality begs for transformation…

AFTER: As Joel says, “the hit the car took buckled the hood but the skin separated from the underside of the hood and the sheet metal was not kinked or bent. Once I cut the sheet metal skin from the hood’s underside, it was back to its flat condition. Lucky on many levels.” We’ll say.

Gadora loves a good lamp. Not far from Woodstock, NY, Artist Steve Heller creates custom-made wood furniture AND re-purposes old car parts. His car of choice? A classic Cadillac. This head lamp light is so incredibly simple, and equally ingenious.

Here’s how Zürich-based Route66 re-appropriated the tail end of 56 Chevy Bel Air into a little kitsch spot to sit, and they do something similar with other American classics —a 1957 Plymouth Savoy and a 59 Ford Galaxy. The working tail lights are perhaps a flight of fancy, but undeniably loaded with personality.

This Atomic-inspired table by Nine Stories Furniture utilized 70% reclaimed automotive sheet metal for this simple design. “The tables tend to be quite labor intensive, but the hard work pays off with beautifully constructed tables that are sure to weather the test of time.”

While it’s not furniture, this Panhandle bandshell makes fine use of old car hoods. Check out the photos of its underbelly. Gives new meaning to driving someone up a wall, no?

Artist Steven Shaver, “sifts through bins of discarded auto parts at engine shops to find distinctive metal bearing shells that once weathered the harsh elements inside engines…” His wearable art maintains the specs, logos and years that identify the car they derived from.

Recycling old car parts into fancy new items is one sure-fire way to milk additional mileage out of them.

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Desicolours ~ Not entirely Gadora’s thing but totally worth mentioning, “amazing furniture from old car parts…”Nine Stories Furniture ~ “We believe that the way a thing is made should inform the final outcome, as well as ‘teach’ us about making.”

Nine Stories Furniture ~ Now in Brooklyn’s famed Navy Yard, the company believes the way a thing is be made should inform the final outcome, as well as ‘teach’ us about making. “In order to create better products we must learn from the process of making.”

The Weld House ~ THE Dallas, Texas-based company specializing in the custom fabrication of steel furniture and architectural elements. Mmmm, good.