Junkyard Find: 1987 Chevrolet S-10, Cassette Tape Cladding Edition
When you know you're a vehicle's final owner, why not glue stuff all over it? During my extensive international junkyard travels, I've documented plenty of examples of this type of art car. Here's an early Chevy S-10, found in a Denver car graveyard with a generous coating of cassette tapes and bottle caps.
All you need to make a Cassettemobile are a fully depreciated vehicle, a hot-glue gun, and a bunch of thrift-store cassette tapes.
The discarded "glue stuff all over it" art cars I've found over the years include a 1985 Toyota Van, a relatively well-known 1969 Ford Mustang, the Groovalicious Purple Princess of Peace Ford Taurus wagon, a 1992 Toyota Corolla, a Volvo 740 Turbo and an apocalyptic Chevy Tahoe.
The first generation of the Chevrolet S-10 small pickup was built for the 1982 through 1993 model years, replacing the Isuzu-made Chevrolet LUV. These trucks have become very rare, especially the early-to-mid-1980s ones.
This is a fairly ordinary rear-wheel-drive/long-wheelbase S-10, though it does have the optional EFI-equipped 2.8-liter V6 engine.
There's a musty, dusty camper shell out back.
The cab was well-gutted by the time I arrived.
The cassettes are heavily weathered, with many missing (scrapbooking-grade hot-glue isn't rated for highway use).
I wanted to take this Stray Cats tape home, but once I pried it off it became clear that its innards were toast.
Following behind this truck on the highway probably involved cassettes bouncing off your windshield.
The dirt surrounding the truck was littered with cassettes.
The official name for this type of tape is Compact Cassette, and it made its debut all the way back in 1963.
I own some mixtape cassettes that I recorded before this truck was built and they still play well enough. An important part of preserving your cassettes is storing them out of the elements.
Any theories about what this bracket on the hood was used for?
Early S-10 body parts are so hard to find in junkyards that someone bought a cassette-coated fender.
Having seen a Celica with a Texas flag made of Shiner Brewery bottle caps completely covering its hood, I'm not terribly impressed by this use of bottle caps as truck decoration.
Life with a new S-10 was exactly as depicted in this commercial.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
1987 Chevrolet S-10 art car in Denver wrecking yard.
[Images: The Author]
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Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
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I had many 90's hits on those clear blanks with the yellow reels.
WHEN YOU SEE A DVD TAPED TO THE HOOD OF MY SLATE TRUCK YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM SAVING UP FOR A FACTORY WRAP.