Damien Hirst's modified Audi A1 -- and other car art disasters

The Audi A1 isn't even available to buy yet, but it appears some ignorant scally has vandalised one. What's that? It's a piece of art created by Damien Hirst? Ah -- that explains everything

Rory Reid

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Rory Reid

July 28, 2010 6:15 a.m. PT

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The Audi A1 isn't even available to buy yet, but it appears some ignorant scally has vandalised one. What's that you say? It's a piece of art by Damien Hirst? Ah -- that explains everything.

This A1 may be an assault on the senses, but it's pretty tame compared to some of Hirst's other creations, including dead sheep, severed cow heads and embalmed shark corpses. We should, therefore, count ourselves lucky he hasn't festooned this A1's coachwork with the faces of a thousand deceased marmosets.

The car was put up for auction at Sir Elton John's recent White Tie and Tiara Ball, an annual fund-raising event for the musician's AIDS Foundation. It fetched a quite staggering £350,000. Clearly the party was chock-full of art lovers who weren't in the slightest bit drunk.

Click through our photo gallery to see how Hirst's creation stacks up against those of his rivals, and then have a read of our Audi A1 technology preview to see the car as nature intended. When you're done, head over to our chums at Art Car Central to have a butcher's at some other fascinating pieces of automotive art.

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The owner of this 1995 Subaru Legacy decided one morning, that he'd cover it from bonnet to tailgate in dentures. No, that's not a typo. It's art, apparently.

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On a related note, this love bug is caked entirely in chocolate. Beneath the sweet exterior is an actual Volkswagen New Beetle, which seven employee of a Chinese supermarket wrapped in plastic and painted in 200Kg of melted chocolate.

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On a less savoury note, here's a giant pink toe truck. This oddity was originally a Volkswagen bus until Ed and Connie Lincoln, forner owners of Lincoln Towing, slapped giant toes reaching 11.5 feet into the sky on the roof of its cab. A second right-footed truck was also created. The pair now live in a museum in Seattle.

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New Zealand artist Jeff Thomson turned what was a perfectly good (ok, mediocre) 91 HQ Holden station wagon into this corrugated iron masterpiece. And no, it's not rusty -- it's art.

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Richard Moriarty decided to hang his 1974 Lamborghini on a wall in his home because he'd grown weary of it stalling all the time. Richard -- this is both awesome and wasteful. We salute you, sir.

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Some people say Lego is just for kids, but not us. It's also for grown men with far too much time on their hands.

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This is what happens when a biro-obsessed joker covers an unsuspecting Mercedes-Benz (Mercedes-Pens) E-Class in 7,000 pens of all kinds. It would be funny if it wasn't so tragic.

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This Mercedes-Benz stuck on a tree stump was photographed by John Geek while driving from Rotorua to Auckland.

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This is what happened when a Russian artist commissioned some gun 'enthusiasts' to take pot shots at a BMW 3-series. If you look closely, you'll see the marksmen missed some of the artist's guide marks, but it's a clever, well "executed" idea.