Spies Like Us

If you have lived in Athens for any significant period of time between 1998 and today, chances are you’ve seen at least one of the transmogrified yellow, blue and red vehicles roving the city streets. These curious creations are the products of the Imagineering and welding acumen of long-time Athens musician, sculptor, cult hero and bartender Brian Smith.

Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Smith at Las Conchitas to talk more about the history of the “Spy Car” phenomenon in Athens. Like any good spy, he only told me what I needed to know. Here is what I uncovered:

A Subversive Beginning

Spy cars are the natural extension of one of Smith’s previous ventures, the “art car.” In 1991, Brian decided to “beautify” a dilapidated Buick station wagon. He painted the entire car black, including the windows, and added signs that read “radiation” and “pirate vehicle.” According to Smith, “there was nothing legal about this car.” Smith would later amplify his disregard for traffic laws in the form of a Volvo he converted into a “police vehicle.” Surprisingly, the vehicle, complete with working siren and fake dome light, never landed Smith in jail.

Enter the Yellow Submarine

Years after creating the police vehicle, while watching the famous Beatles movie Yellow Submarine, Brian was struck by a vision. The bright, primary colors featured throughout the movie provided the inspiration for a new type of alternative vehicle—one that would inspire and offend, challenge the status quo and, in some social circles, become it. In 1998, the spy car was born.

“I had wanted a Volkswagen bus since I was 13,” recalls Smith. “On Christmas Day when I was 17, my dad told me that my wish had come true—that there was a Volkswagen bus waiting for me in the driveway. I ran outside, more excited than I had ever been, but didn’t see anything in the driveway. I looked more closely and realized that my dad had in fact bought me the bus. The downside was that it was made by Hot Wheels.”

After several years of mourning, Brian recovered from his father’s prank and purchased a full-sized “goat puke green” Volkswagen bus from a mechanic friend for $600. The bus would become Smith’s canvas for the first ever “spy car.” He painted the vehicle bright red, blue and yellow and attached “weapons” like a “rocket launcher” on the roof of the bus (this addition would prove handy when the desire for shooting bottle rockets from a moving vehicle struck). At the time, Smith had no idea that his project would spark a mini-revolution in Athens.

A New Subculture Emerges

“Make mine like yours.” Hearing those words from friend Greg Baker, Brian realized that he had created something special. It was the first request for a spy car and Smith was happy to oblige. He added floor tiles to the roof of Baker’s old Toyota and welded the requisite fake weaponry to the vehicle. Now there were two spies in town. Over the next few years, Smith would build 30 spy cars in total—transforming everything from a large truck to a BMW 2002, which was totaled only one month after being converted.

The spy car phenomenon caught fire in Athens’ art community and reached critical mass in 2001 in the form of an official, police-escorted Spy Car Parade through downtown Athens. The parade marked one of the few occasions that the law was on Brian’s side. There were other, slightly less official (read: completely illegal) parades, such as the one that invaded the University of Georgia campus and made the front page of the Athens Banner-Herald.

In 2002, an Athens resident donated a vehicle to the Lyndon House Arts Center to be decorated by Athens guidance. A longtime supporter of the youth of America, Smith described the conversion project as “so awkward.” “Building spy cars is a very solitary, meditative act,” said Smith. “If you have to involve other people, it is best to do it ‘Juicy Fruit commercial style’—with a few close friends who are all your own age.”

The spy car conversion process was always a labor of love for Smith. The most he was ever paid for a conversion was $100 to cover supplies. “I did it for the kicks,” said Smith. Spy car owners were thankful to have their old beaters transformed into weird pieces of art, and Smith took pride in contributing to the landscape of Athens with his strange and wonderful creations.

While spy cars had become an everyday part of Athens’ scenery, not every Georgia town was so welcoming. Smith recalls a friend telling him about an incident at a McDonald’s in Madison, where a nervous patron called the police after seeing a spy car in the parking lot. The woman reported that the car had “dynamite all over it” and that there was a German Shepherd trapped inside. There was a German Shepherd inside the car, but he was just waiting patiently for his owner to return from a Chicken McNugget lunch. Nonetheless, the police arrived on the scene, bomb squad and robot claw in tow.

Vehicles with roof hatches and fake missile launchers naturally lend themselves to a certain amount of criminal mischief. One spy car was used in the kidnapping of 8-Track Gorilla, the local Athens karaoke cover song artist. The kidnappers coordinated the stunt with the 40 Watt Club’s management and drove a converted Volkswagen Jetta into the venue during an 8-Track Gorilla performance. They captured the gorilla, drove out of the club and onto the sidewalk on Washington St. Passing by the 40 Watt Club entrance, one can still see the spot where the car removed a chunk of the wall during the heist.

In another incident that went unreported, a spy car owner once drove his vehicle into an ex-girlfriend’s mailbox…on purpose. While Brian doesn’t blame the spy car for its owner’s destructive behavior, he admits that “the car probably gave him that extra fantasy element he needed in that moment.”

The Culture Submerged

Spy car owners weren’t the only ones causing trouble. The cars “were the victims of rampant vandalism,” said Smith. Spy car owners were frequently heckled by passersby who didn’t appreciate the vehicles as art. Smith attributes such hostility to an unconscious negative reaction triggered by the “subversion of a nationally historic symbol—the automobile.” Another possibility is that many people simply weren’t ready for such odd inventions. Brian recalls one befuddled onlooker genuinely posing the question “Is that one of them ‘Accu-Weather’ cars?”

While the exact reasoning behind the taunting is unclear, it became such a large issue that several owners actually “re-converted” their spy cars into regular, street legal vehicles. Other spy cars were destroyed in accidents, acquired by local governments or simply broke down over the years, but not before dispersing across the United States. From New England to Portland, Ore., one can find the remnants of a more innocent, charmingly inspired time in Athens’ history.

Athens’ Army of Spy Cars may have disbanded, but Brian Smith has not stopped creating. In addition to recording and playing in nearly every Athens band formed since 1995, Brian continues undertaking new welding projects and is always on the lookout for potential beauty in the unbeautiful. Smith’s most recent work is a collection of giant alien bug sculptures composed of scrap metal and other jetsam. While the bugs may not invade the town in the same way that the spy cars once did or allow angry ex-boyfriends to destroy ex-girlfriends’ mailboxes, they are quite a sight to see—and yet another oddity that makes Athens the unique, quirky community that it is.

For more information on Brian Smith or to contact him about purchasing an oversized alien lawn bug, visit his MySpace page.