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If you’ve been hunting down Saab info on the web for event just a little while, there’s a chance you’ll know which car I’m referring to when I say “that Saab art car”. I’m referring, of course, to the Saab 9-3 living somewhere in North America (Boston, as it turns out) with a whole heap of toy figures, paint and other paraphernalia glued all over it.

Photo: Boston Globe, whose budget for cameras limits it to an old Kodak Box Brownie

I can’t find where, but I’ve featured this car here on TS before and probably more than once. At that time it was just passing curiosity that we could look at. The Boston Globe has managed to track down the owner, however, and have written an article on the car.

Rebecca Perlo’s toy collection is simply overwhelming: Nemo, Simba, Fantastic Man, and “Evil” Homer Simpson action figures; Barney, Bugs Bunny, and Princess Leia Pez dispensers; Playskool people, Lego people, Rock’Em Sock’Em Robots, and Mr. Potato Head.

Throw in some yo-yos, a miniature slot machine and a rubber ducky or two, and lots of other stuff, and the number of toys in Perlo’s menagerie hits 1,000, maybe even 1,500. Where does she keep them all? Glued to the hood, roof, doors and fenders of her 1999 Saab…..Actually, the craziest thing about Perlo’s car might be that it’s completely street-legal. According to state law, you can glue pretty much whatever you want to your ride – toys, pots and pans, living grass – and still pass inspection.

And in case you were wondering about the legality of the whole exercise….

“As long as she doesn’t obstruct the lighting and her visibility, there’s no violation,” said Lieutenant Jack Albert, head of the Cambridge Police Department’s traffic division, who’s seen Perlo driving around town.

The article goes on to talk about art cars in general before getting back to the surprising story of how this car came to be.

They did this to their Saab 9-3 when it was brand new!!

A few years later, she and her husband moved to Arlington and bought a new 1999 Saab. They sanded off the clear coat, splattered it with a rainbow of paint, recoated it, and, when it had dried, went insane with the silicone gun, gluing on hundreds of tiny toys and magnets.

“I deliberately got this kind of car because I thought that if I’m going to spend this much time and energy on it, I want it to last,” Rebecca says. “Some people have the opposite view – I wouldn’t do that to a car until it’s on death’s door. I’m like, why bother then?”

I can’t fathom that line of thinking, but whatever makes them happy makes me happy, I guess. It seems to run in the family, too….

Friends, neighbors, and the Perlos’ sons, Noah and Zach, have all added to the mix. “My kids are like, ‘Mommy, I’m done with this toy. Can I glue it to the car now?” Perlo says.

Which is a good thing, because the ornaments don’t last forever. Some, like an old Mickey Mouse, are weathered gray. Though they say nothing’s fallen off on the highway yet, vandalism is a constant problem – a recent nighttime trip to Central Square saw the demise of a giant Charlie Brown Pez dispenser, as well as Doug Perlo’s favorite decoration, a 1920s French radiator cap shaped like a silver goddess.

I’d just like to say, as a big fan of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry put the Pez dispenser on Elaine’s leg in the theatre, that anyone who violates a Pez dispenser has committed a low, low act. Not to mention the violation of one very unique Saab.

To the Perlos: As a Saab fan, I don’t get it, but as a person reading a story about a family that loves their Saab and is proud of it…….congratulations. More power to ya.

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Here are a few more pictures I found after a quickle Google image search.

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