VW Beetle Spider

Carson City, Nevada

In the absence of a better explanation, we suspect a tiny, uncataloged insect crawls into the ears of certain metalworking artists and whispers: "Turn your car into a spider."

That advice may have resulted in at least four giant VW bug sculptures south of Reno -- old style Volkswagen Beetle car bodies welded atop eight pipe legs. Artist David Fambrough made them starting in 1979. Fambrough's spider sculptures have since been dispersed. The impressive black one in Mound House survives as a Highway 50 photo op. It's a little weathered, and doesn't seem to promote any particular business, though strings of Christmas lights were wrapped around it when we stopped by. A pair of mandibles stick out from below the headlights, framing "MOUNDHOUSE NV" in reflective letters.The artist's name is etched onto one of the front legs.

Another of Fambrough's spiders vanished in 2009, but reappeared in Sparks in 2015.