1989 Fiat 126 Flat Out by Andy Saunders

(from AndySaundersCustoms.co.uk)  World renowned car designer, Andy Saunders has chopped his way back into the record books with his latest crazy creation, Flat Out. A radical sports car standing just under 22 inches tall .. and built by Saunders and his two man team in just THREE days!

Saunders, the Turner Prize nominated artist (Car-tist?) from Poole built the car as part of this weeks celebrations for the 40 th Annual Autojumble at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire.

With his long suffering sidekicks and fellow hot-rodders, Jim Chalmers and Doug Brown, Saunders worked tirelessly through 18-hour days to create the record breaker. Even finding time to create a superb hand stitched leather interior paying homage to classic Italian supercars of the 70s. With Doug being part of Aston Martins interior design team, this part of the project proved relatively easy!

The Worlds Lowest Car genre was actually started by Saunders with the creation of his super-low Mini, Claustrophobia back in 1985. Since then the record has passed to the squashed Hillman Imp Impressed of Danny Curtis and then the vertically challenged Lowlife built by Perry Watkins. The outgoing record holder stood at a mere 23.6 inches tall but took rather longer to build, at some 18 months.

So why did he do it? Andy himself picks up the tale. Well, I hadnt had the record for a while and thought it would be fun to get it back. Turning the whole build into a bit of automotive theatre seemed like a great idea. With everybody loving the raft of auto-makeover shows like Pimp My Ride and American Chopper we felt that the team should do it live to an audience over a weekend. With some 33,000-odd people coming to have a look at the build.. I guess that was the right decision!

Ever modest throughout, and with great acclaim for his fellow spanner-wielding superstars, whats next for Saunders and his team? Who knows?! he asks I wake up every morning with a new idea for a car and some of them just prove too exciting to ignore.

With a back catalogue that includes a road-legal speedboat (yes, you did read that right!) and several stunning prototype cars, whichever dream Saunders chooses to turn into road-taxed reality, it will doubtless be a show stopper.

(from RM Auctions Press Release)  RM Auctions, in association with Sothebys, will shine a spotlight on a host of creative custom cars by leading UK designer, Andy Saunders when the curtain rises on their second annual Automobiles of London event at Battersea Park, London UK on October 29th, 2008.

Regarded as the UKs top custom car builder, Saunders has been at the forefront of wild car creations for almost 30 years, having built over 40 individual customs and restored a number of classics. It is, however, his unique, off the wall designs and drivable car sculptures that have earned him the most critical acclaim and attracted global media attention. One journalist described Saunders as an automotive alchemist for he turned base cars into gold. In addition to participation in various European Concours dElegance events and recently completing a pair of special commissions for Hyundai, most recently, Saunders claimed his third Guinness Book of World Records title, this time for the worlds lowest camper van. Created onstage in just three days and before an audience of over 34,000 car enthusiasts, the diminutive 1980 VW Camper stands at just 3.3 feet tall.

This October as Saunders looks to share his designs with other automotive enthusiasts and make room in his garages for new creations, eleven of his cars will cross the block as part of RM Auctions Automobiles of London event.

The Andy Saunders Collection is best described as rolling works of modern art, says Max Girardo, Managing Director of RM Auctions European Division.

Each piece effortlessly melds Saunders remarkable passion for cars with his artistic talents, wild imagination and creative vision. It is drivable art in the truest sense, he added.

The Andy Saunders Collection will join a host of luxury classic, sports and racing cars at RMs London event.

Each car is certainly a one-of-a-kind collectors piece, says Girardo. Unique and fun, they are certain to capture the attention of both automotive and art enthusiasts and will add another element of fun to the event, he adds.

RM Auctions, in association with Sothebys, will present their Automobiles of London event at Battersea Evolution, Battersea Park, London UK on October 29th, 2008. A full day preview will be held on October 28th from 11:00am to 5:30pm. Doors open on October 29th at 10:00am, with all the auction action getting underway from 4:00pm. Admission to the event is by catalogue only, which is available for 50 and admits two.

Further information for this auction is available here