New Mexico artist gives a 1953 Chevy Bel Air a second life as a jackrabbit

It started with a chase. Two days before the city of Gallup asked Robert Wilson to make a sculpture for Route 66, he was running after jackrabbits on the trails of Albuquerque’s West Mesa. So, when the opportunity came, jackrabbits were the first thing that came to mind.Jackrabbits are quick, built for desert crossings and muscular; they seemed like a fitting symbol for the historic highway. In those respects, they were also similar to the old cars that once ruled the highway.

At that moment, he knew he had to combine the jackrabbit and the car. That idea became Run, a giant jackrabbit sculpture made from salvaged parts of a 1953 Chevy Bel Air.Sculpture from a salvaged carWilson chose a 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air as his raw material. He cut the car into pieces with a plasma torch, a tool he had never used before. Taking a car apart was new to him, too.

Then he began the slow work of welding the pieces into a new shape.The car’s lines made the job easier. The curves already looked like an animal to him.