This is pretty nifty, these fine folk have taken apart a ford focus, and made beautiful music with it.

A more fitting use of cars I have not yet found. Go outside right now, tear your car apart and make a musical instrument out of it, do it! More here and here.

You describe taking delivery of the car with one mile on its odometer, then immediately proceeding to deconstruct it. How much pre-planning was involved to figure out how to construct the instruments? How much was sort of improvised on the spot with the car?

[None of the construction] was really improvised on the spot. The car was dismantled completely, and the parts were sorted into boxes and around the workshop (door parts with door parts, etc.). I had previous experience making the Car Music Project instruments from my old Honda Accord, so that experience was applied. But, the basic process is one of putting together a puzzle.

We had requirements for wind, brass, percussion, and string instruments that could play the music that was presented to us. We were also required — for credibility and authenticity — to make instruments from intact car parts as much as possible (as opposed to making major or defining parts out of sheet metal from the body of the car). And most important, the instruments had to A) be able to play in tune according to traditional western standards, and B) they had to be physically close enough to traditional instruments to enable professional musicians to learn them quickly because they would only have one or two rehearsals before recording the music. Finally, they had to be visually attractive; call it compelling if you like. In other words, television is mainly a visual medium and they needed to look great.

Ah a world in which people tear apart cars to make other things…such a world may be here sooner than you think. With the high cost of oil, and the high chance of a shift to simple electric cars, it is unlikely that driving around an old gas guzzler will be legal or affordable. Instead its orchestras for everyone! I welcome our new music car future.