Power Tech Builders- RoboGames
Power Tech Builders- RoboGames
Here is a nice video about RoboGames that features the Giant Iron Snail Car the Golden Mean.
We set up our bar and snail for the VIP party the night before the games opened.
Turkey Shoot it’s over!
West Oakie Turkey Shoot 2009
I saw big kids and small alike shooten for their bird! Man was fresh deep-fried turkey good!
I really want to thank everyone who worked, played, danced, sang, burned, talked, drank, and saw me smile. It was quite the night as these pictures show.
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Whiskey, gun, and a red neck…thanks Che!
Ahhhh the Porch! it transform the parking lot into another place that was not West Oakland. Here it is with the The Easy Leaves making our feet tap!
Jodi lighting a cigarette to the sounds of JD’s banjo.
I watched and enjoyed EL RADIO FANTASTIQUE, Mykee Ramen and the Boiler Bar performers and was sorry I didn’t have my camera to capture what wonderful things were happening on our very little Boiler Bar stage.
And to top it all off CHP finally made it to the party a few hours after sunrise to take a turn at shooting the fire.
Steampunk Wedding
Judy & Brian’s Steampunk wedding.
Kyrsten and I had the pleasure of giving the bride and groom a Giant Iron present for the day that included the Snail car, the fire spewing Boiler Bar and fire gardens.
The kiss
My pictures of the wedding
Flower girls
Bride and Groom In the Snail Car to receive the guests.
Judy Lighting up her wedding and warming up not only Brian’s heart but his whole body!
The Volcano wedding cake. This was the best wedding cake I have ever seen. Yes the chocolate erupted from the top along with puffs of powdered sugar!
Guest arriving from the lower parking lot via the Giant Iron Snail Car the Golden Mean
The Wedding and the Snail
What a wonderful wedding these two had! I felt so privileged to drive them around for the afternoon. Music, a bucket of champagne, the wind in their hair and fire! Justin commented on how surreal it all was.
Justin and Jordana’s wedding pictures
Contact me for Wedding rentals and other event planning.
jon@formandreform.com
HandCar Regatta Fun!
What a wonderful day we had in the hot summer sun playing with our favorite friends on the Front Porch. Plenty of Maple syrup and home made ginger beer with cookies right from the oven…Yum! And All the while great bands were keeping our toes tapping.
These girls played dress up with the Electrobite!
Steve and his gun
Christopher and Tansy in the summer sun watching March 4th play on the bridge
Kyrsten (Denzel) works her magic dancing on Glass
Burning Man 2009
Burning Man
Kyrsten on her new Electrobite car. This was a huge hit.
What a rocket! the inside was just as nice and the fireworks we saw were over the top Zack!
Day before opening and they are still putting on the finishing touches. Zolie noticed the Monkey’s head didn’t work and impressed most people who didn’t even notice the monkey in the mans tummy.
The porch! We rolled with them most of the week and put on the 1st Steam punk rave Friday night after the rocket.
Pictures of the Steampunk Rave
Electrobite, Snail and the porch
Kids-ville with fresh cookies from the porch
Perez and Sarriugarte Family outing
Houston we have a problem!
DPW parade with a live band on top! We got 19 people in the snail at the end!
Quite the show. I really liked the scale of the Man this year. I hope it keeps getting smaller.
Camp Mates jump for Joy!
Snail Crew stops to enjoy the moon.
Oilpunk Rave with the Hobo Goblins, the Porch and us. John hooked us up with a wireless mic and the snail became the PA for the porch most the week. Thats our spot light as well.
Snail Car runs again!
She is back up and running! 
Ta Da
Look at all the shinny chrome!
Zolie and daddy easing her in
Big thanks goes out to Alan and especially Lauren for spearheading a major overhaul of the hot rod side of our snail car the Golden Mean. We took it out for a spin late last night and boy does it haul now.
We now have a new clutch, 85amp alternator and heat! These only a few of the amazing new things on the car for this year, more to come in the next few weeks.
More pictures of the install and build here
Art Car progression
Electrobite
Mid body is done and hoops for the frame are done. Now it’s time to fill in the sheet metal head and tackle the ribs on the rear potion of the body. After staring at pictures of millions of years of these things I finally found a set of rules to follow to make it look real. This thing is going to look like a fossil in the dust on the playa at BM.
Amy Jenkins came by to discuss the leather seat she’s going to make for us. The leather Kyrsten picked out matches the steel perfect. Amy is going to match the ribs we made in steel with leather. hopefully it won’t even look like a vehicle.
Underside of the shell
The Golden Mean
Lauren and Alan have finished the engine rebuild. Rebuild carb, valve adjustment, new 85amp alternator, ignition, gaskets, main seal, clutch, throw out bearing, heater hoses for heat in the snail, oil pan, oil change, and a fair amount of new chrome and paint! Should run like new. Tansy got quite a bit done on the new dash, and Christopher and I almost finished the Carney Wagon hitch and wiring. Still have a long list and 2 weeks to go.
Snailworks
Well we are back in the shop repairing the snail and adding all the things we wanted to do last year. On our short list of items to do:
- Change the clutch. She started slipping in the spring and has gotten worse. Parades, lots of people and a heavy shell have taken a toll on the tiny little motor and clutch.
- New dash board. We will now have a speedo, gas gauge, oil pressure and engine temp. Now I can finally answer the question of how fast do I go.
- Heater. Yes we will have heat at our feet and wind in our face. Going to install a 12v plug for my MC vest too!
- New lighting. More LED’s to replace some of the juice sucking lights we have now and better night lighting for the playa.
- 85 amp Alternator. The old generator was just not keeping up at low speeds with all of our sound gear running.
Lauren checking her notes to make sure we order the right parts.
Christopher taking a beer break after a long night in the guts of a snail.
The new dash! Thanks to John Bock for the vintage dash plate.
Motorama at Pixar
Once a year Pixar has a car show called Motorama and invites the friends and family of Pixar to show off their cars. My wife Kyrsten Mate has done the sound design for several of the Pixar Movies including The Incredibles, and Ratatui and we got invited to show our Snail Art Car the Golden Mean last week. Great campus and plenty of wonderful cars.
Pictures of our day at Pixar’s Motorama
Beautifully restored engine
Tatra v8
What a parking spot! we had to do a bit of 4 wheeling to get there! the kids loved shooting the fire.
Fire!
Zolie screaming with delight “Nemo!”
Thanks to Jay and Gary and all of Pixar for a wonderful day!
