Village of PolyParadise BUYS a People Mover

October | November 2020....

The Village of PolyParadise People Mover; soon to be transformed into a BRC worthy Art Car is hereby dedicated to our fellow PolyCamper - the late Ray Shady who passed away November 2019.

Here is the back story....

Ray & his wife Gail were 5yr PolyCampers & each year brought a registered Disabled Vehicle Golf Cart to the Playa to assist  both Ray & Gail getting around the Playa.  Ray was an integral part of our Early Arrival Crew; a person I could count on to do the necessary work building camp - maintaining camp during the week and there during takedown; one of the last PolyCampers to leave the Playa each year.  Ray was never shy to volunteer to give fellow campers a ride to a Playa destination.

Post Burning Man 2019 as Ray was dropping off his Golf Cart Rental he noticed a 12-seat People Mover for sale and immediately knew this would be amazing for camp and started negotiations with the owner.

Two months later Ray Shady passed away and with it went any ideas of this becoming a PolyParadise Art Car.  During our Virtual Burn 2020 @ Case de Scotto fellow camper Dr. Dirt; who was close friends with Ray & Gail off-playa mentioned that he believed that Ray had actually purchased the vehicle and it was in storage in Reno. He would contact Gail and see if it was still available for sale. 

The Global Pandemic canceled BRC 2020 - Dr. Dirt contacted Gail to inquire about the People Mover - It was available for purchase @ the price Ray had purchased it for.  DR. Dirt volunteered his Maricopa, AZ property to store the vehicle.

So...We created a PayPal Pool with this text...

The Village of PolyParadise is set to purchase this 10-seat People Mover. It is located in Reno - we will have it transported to the Phx Metro Area; where we will be able to start to figure out how we will MUTANT this vehicle to be BRC and DMV worthy. Our goal is to raise $6,000 - this will cover the cost of purchase & transport to Phx (~$3,500) with some $$ left over to cover costs of material purchase as we start to figure out how we will MUTATE the vehicle so it is no longer a 10-seat people mover but a worthy BRC Art Car for the next IRL BRC in 2021 or 2022.

 
People Mover Soon to be Art Car    People Mover Soon to be Art Car 
     
We raised $6,100 via said PayPal Pool (THANK YOU TO EVERYONE that made contributions) and made the vehicle purchase and transport from Reno to Maricopa in November.

In December & January we traveled to Maricopa to make initial assessments to the vehicle and start to discuss what is and is not possible as we look to transform it into a BRC worthy Art Car.

Major THANK YOU to Dr. Dirt for the use of his Maricopa Property to store the vehicle but the 100 mile RT from Central Phx is just to far long-term to work on the vehicle.  In March with the assistance of Rich and his trailer we transported the vehicle to the Backyard of Case De Scotto/WildChild as we made the necessary room for it.