As a general rule, I'm not a huge fan of the "glue random crap all over a generic vehicle" school of art car creation. Still, it's sad to see such a car in the junkyard.
It is possible to do this sort of art car right (though I tend to prefer projects more along the lines of the Sashimi Tabernacle Choir), provided the creator is willing to stick with some kind of theme, or at least go way overboard on the quantity of decorations. This wagon manages to succeed on both counts.
It was pretty easy to figure out the name of this '88 Taurus wagon art car, because it's painted in big letters on the rear window. Even after going through the rigors of the final ride to the wrecking yard, the GPPOP remains pretty much intact.
It wasn't difficult for me to learn more about the GPPOP's history, because there's a URL right on the side of the car. This leads to "Ian's Hippie Wife's Psychedelic Art Car Page"…
And thus we are able to view the Groovalicious Purple Princess Of Peace and her creator in all their antiwar glory, back when The Crusher wasn't looming as an immediate threat.
Why, there's even a song about the Groovalicious Purple Princess Of Peace!
Not to mention a standup comedy routine about the car. It appears that the GPPOP was pretty well-known in the Bay Area art car world; it makes appearances on this site and this Flickr set.
For whatever reason, the GPPOP's glory days are over. Some of her parts will live on in other, more quotidian Tauruses and Sables, while we wonder why she's on Death Row. Did she throw a rod? Fail to pass smog? Gather $47,000 worth of parking tickets and get towed by The Man? We're going to need to track down Ms. Hughes and get her to join a 24 Hours Of LeMons team!