Old biplane transformed into incredible art car creation
HOUSTON, Texas -- Thalie Waters is no stranger to the Houston Art Car Parade. Her family is known for their impressive art car entries of the past, including The Phoenix and Hippysaurus. Now, Thalie is leading her first solo entry into the parade, transforming an old plane into a colorful piece of art.
"I love the Art Car parade because as a child, it was the thing we went to every April," said Thalie. "When I was in middle school, we did our first art car. I loved creating that so much and helping with that, and now I get to do my own one. It's very exciting."
Her entry, entitled "Flying High", features a colorfully painted biplane mounted on top of an electric trolley motor and a frame. During the parade, the plane will be able to tilt and roll, as if it is actually flying.
"When we found this plane, probably the two people who were most excited about it were me and my dad," said Thalie. "We have a shared love of aviation and planes and those sorts of things."
Thalie teamed up with her dad on the project, who is helping out as a fabricator and mechanic.
"When she had the idea for this project, which is a follow on some other art cars we've done, I couldn't wait to get started on it with her," said Lou Waters, Thalie's dad.
The Waters family bought the biplane from Facebook marketplace. It was experimentally built in Kansas back in the 1970s, and has flown about 100 hours in the air.
"I'm very excited to get to sit there and drive it and realize that this is a creation I've brought to life," said Thalie. "And then to get to present that to my community, in the place that I've grown up and lived my whole life, I think that will be very special. I'm very excited."
"The Art Car Parade is awesome," said Lou. "Please come out and see it. It's so much fun. Its such great people. Houston is just an amazing city with so many things going on and this is truly one of the pinnacles of our art scene."
The Houston Art Car Parade is on Saturday, April 2, at 2pm. The event is one of the city's largest free public events, drawing more than 300,000 people each year.
