Texas time machine: Cruise down memory lane with these mesmerizing photos of Houston’s Art Car Parade through the years

It all began with the “Fruitmobile.”

In 1984, Carl Detering, a Houston businessman and developer whose company helped pave Houston’s roads, donated a 1967 Ford station wagon to the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, which in turn commissioned Houston artist Jackie Harris to transform the car into a mobile masterpiece that would be auctioned off at a fundraising gala later that year. With $800 worth of paint and plastic fruit, the iconic Fruitmobile was born.

When the group who purchased the fruit-covered car at the gala donated it back to the Orange Show, the vehicle became a “roving ambassador for goodwill.”

Inspired by the Fruitmobile, the Orange show held the “Road Show” in 1986, an art exhibit that featured a dozen decorated cars. The spectacle proved so popular that the Houston International Festival asked the Orange Show to organize an art car parade for its 1988 event. On April 9, 1988, the world’s first art car parade, some 40 artfully decorated vehicles and a handful of marching bands, cruised down the streets of Houston as part of the Houston International Festival. The inaugural event drew some 2,000 spectators and included gems like “101 Howdies,” a yellow VW Bug covered with 101 hand-shaped cutouts which waved around like antennas.

By the following year, the parade had doubled in size and the crowd had swelled to tens of thousands.

The annual art car parade now encompasses an entire weekend of events featuring more than 250 artful automobiles created by artists from around the country. The formidable, four-day celebration draws an audience of over 250,000 spectators.

This year, the spirited Art Car Ball will be held April 14, and the parade itself will roll out on April 15. Festivities conclude April 16, with an awards ceremony. For more information, visit thehoustonartcarparade.com.

Now, it’s time to cruise down memory lane 🚗 Click through the gallery at the top of the page or scroll below for select highlights of the Houston Art Car Parade through the years.

1988

MORE: RIP chicken fried steak: Here’s where to find this unusual tombstone and 14 other bizarre Houston-area attractions

1989

MORE: Monorail magic: Take a look at the marvel that once blazed a trail through Houston and Texas

1993

2000

MORE: Go inside the long, sometimes bizarre, history of the Houston Rodeo

2005

MORE: Elvis, bucking broncos and the Astrodome: We can’t stop watching this archived footage of the Houston Rodeo

2007

MORE: 12 Texas roadside attractions you just have to stop for

2013

MORE: A loo with a view: Would you use the weirdest toilets in Texas?

2014

MORE: Weird Texas history: The U.S. Army’s camel corps experiment at Camp Verde

2015

2016

2017

2018

MORE: Here are 100 wacky, cool and totally true things you never knew about the Houston Zoo

2019

MORE: Lions and zebras and bison, oh my! Archived footage offers glimpse of the Houston Zoo through the years

Do you have photos of the Houston Art Car Parade? 📷 We’d love to see them! Share them with us at Click2Pins.com.

Information for this article is from the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, the Houston Art Car Parade, the City of Houston, and “The Orange Show: How Jeff McKissack’s Vision Changed Houston” by Rebecca J. Jacobs-Pollez.