Author: WayWard

Wow! It has been a while since we had something to say…

2020 was going to be a big year for Decotoro. We were on track to make appearances at Figment Dallas, Houston Art Car Parade, and Burning Man. Then 2020 happened. These were big cancellations. The Houston Art Car Parade has been going annually since 1989, Burning Man since 1986.

Late 2019, early 2020 we were almost done reconditioning Decotoro and making a few improvements. Then like the rest of the world, we shut down. This month we have been back to finishing reconditioning  and assembling Decotoro.

Save the date! We are planning on doing a broadcast on Saturday, July 11. Details to follow.

Update, July 6, 2020: We are postponing the Decotoro broadcast event indefinitely. The Decotoro teams feels it would require too many people to pull off the event responsibly and safely at this time.

What a beautiful beast we made.

Sunrise ride with Dirty Goat Roadhouse.

We added hardwood floors to the upper and rear decks. In a herringbone  pattern. Because, of course we did.

Dekotora trucks have fairly lavish interiors. This is part of our take on that.

We are mostly working off a punch list these days. We’ve nearly finished lighting and audio, an amazing nose ring, and so many other details. It is nearly time to disassemble and load up Decotoro for the first event.

Here are some recent developments in pictures:
 

Our bull needs a nose ring.

As we close in on finishing our initial build of Decotoro, I have been too busy to post. We have been finishing fabrication, paint, building light boxes, and wiring the vehicle for light and sound. Until Saturday, at no time had any of us seen the vehicle with the head, horns, rear, and at least one complete side on at the same time. On Saturday we had an open house and did a complete assembly (to this point) in front of a small audience. As the day went on, we moved Decotoro out of the warehouse to play.

As day moved into night, we ran the horn flame effects.

We would like to thank all of those who came out to see our work over the last 13 months.

We are finishing painting all of the wood for the vehicle. Each piece requires two to four colors plus primer and multiple coats. It is a slow process but we have been working at most everyday it for a few weeks now. The end is in sight!

We are getting into the last pieces to be fabricated. Carpentry details have been added to the head.

And the bridge/tail is made.

Our lighting design includes a number of light boxes. Some of the pieces that were started a while back are now getting cut open to put light boxes in them.

Looking forward to seeing them fully lit.

We have fabricated all of the flyers. They are made in one inch round tube and covered in perforated metal. Fabrication involved many long, thin jigs, lots of cut wheel work, and a large amount of TIG welding.

The finished flyers are then carefully painted in chrome.