The star of the show at Porsche’s South by Southwest presence was undoubtedly the Nebula 928, but Stuttgart has another art car. Where the 928 is a serious study in Y2K-era design, the 911 swan car is pure whimsical fun. There’s nothing obscure about the name, either. It’s quite literally Porsche turned into a giant white Cygnus. The Swan car is based on the 996-generation “cracked egg” 911. Artist Chris LeBroy then went on to de-wheel the car and remove the interior before inserting an 8-foot inflatable waterfowl from the carcass. Its sleek neck extends out from what would be the windshield while the inflated body acts as a base, jutting out from both sides like puffy tank treads. Porsche is a frequent subject of LeBroy’s work and the artist has previously collaborated with the company. In 2020 his Dream Big at the Pérez Art Museum Miami featured a life-size 911 Carrera 4S next to a sculpture of a racing helmeted figure. It looked like the figure was playing with the car like a Hot Wheels toy. He often places his subjects in strange environments, such as 911 Turbo nose-first in a swimming pool, with its whale tail poking out of the water. Looking at his works you can find him on top of houses, on trees, in water and even on other Porsches. Transforming cars into giant floaty toys is LeBroy’s favorite, like when he transformed an early duck-tailed 911 into a pink flamingo or, better yet, a rubber ducky. If waterfowl aren’t your thing, there’s also an inflatable camel. Porsche isn’t his only subject. Maybe you prefer the Supra as the bull, the BMW 3.0 CSL as the elephant or the Nissan GT-R as Godzilla. We featured LeBroy’s artwork in 2013 of him pulling cars into interlocking pretzels. If you’re worried about any of these cars, don’t be. All of LeBroy’s works until Big Dreams are digital creations, and the Hans 996 is the first real car he modified for art. It looks like a GT3; Hopefully it’s a normal 996 with GT3 parts. It may be the least loved generation of the 911, but it looks surprisingly good in LeBroy’s sculpt. Maybe the ugly duckling can grow up to be a swan.
Related video
