The KCAM Art Car Initiative

A car arrives. A year later, it leaves as something else.

On October 17, 2026, a trailer pulls up to Manual Career & Technical Center and a 1993 Chevrolet Corvette C4 rolls out onto the lot. It is not finished, and it is not meant to be. Over the school year that follows, students will take it from where it sits that morning to something Kansas City has not seen before.

That is the Kansas City Automotive Museum Art Car program: students, educators, designers, fabricators and automotive professionals in one shop, turning a real vehicle into work that leaves the building.

Manual Tech students carry the Corvette the entire distance. Research, creative direction, concept development, refinement, and the physical build. They sit inside the decisions that shape the car. How an idea gets researched. How it gets argued for. How it survives a budget and a calendar. How it finally becomes something you can walk around and touch.

What it becomes has not been decided yet. The students decide that, and you can watch them do it.

Manual Tech’s technical education supplies the skill.
Working professionals supply the standard.

Art Car before image; 1993 Corvette C4

Who is in the shop?

As an executive board member of the Kansas City Automotive Museum, Pendulum founder Jonathan O’Neil Cole has been appointed by the board to lead this education initiative in partnership with Kansas City Public Schools, providing creative direction, design mentorship, project identity, communications and coordination for this year’s Art Car.

Manual Tech’s faculty and students work alongside KCAM and a wider network of automotive mentors, fabricators, sponsors and community partners, who come into the shop as the build calls for their expertise.

The Year Ahead

October 17, 2026. The Corvette arrives at Manual with donated parts. It is the last time the public sees it in original condition. The build begins.

Every month after that. We publish the build. Progress from the shop, the decisions behind it, and the students making them, so anyone can follow the car from bare start to finished piece.

Through the school year. Design development, fabrication, performance upgrades, exterior and interior work, detailing, and final refinement, with the students making the calls at every stage.

April 2027. The finished Art Car is unveiled at a second car show, and the promo tour begins. From there the car travels to automotive events, exhibitions and appearances across the community.

Then it sells. The tour ends at auction, and the proceeds go to the Kansas City Automotive Museum’s Art Car programming. This year’s car pays for next year’s students.

What the students leave with:

The Corvette is only half of it. They leave having built a public project as a team, having worked beside professionals in their field, and having followed something they helped decide the whole distance from an idea to a finished object other people travel to see.

The car gets a reveal. The students get a track record.

COME SEE THE CAR

On a Saturday morning in October, a trailer opens on East Truman Road and a 1993 Chevrolet Corvette C4 rolls out onto the pavement. Thirty three years old. Honest miles. Nothing hidden.

This is the only day the public sees it this way.

At noon the morning ends, the Corvette drives into the automotive shop at Manual Career & Technical Center, and the students get to work. The next time most people see that car, it will be April 2027 and it will not look anything like it does now.

Saturday, October 17, 2026
10 AM to 12 PM
Manual Career & Technical Center

1215 E Truman Rd, Kansas City, MO 64106. Get directions or add it to your calendar.

Coming to look? Nothing to register and nothing to buy. The event is free and open to everyone, and this is the only chance to see the Corvette as it stands now, before six months of student work change it for good. The turnout is what tells these students the city is behind them, so bring people. Kid friendly, restrooms on site, refreshments provided, and we go rain or shine.

Want your car in the show? That part is by registration, and after a second pass at the map we have room for everyone. Details below.

BRING A CAR

We took a second pass at the map and found a lot more space. The field is now 100 numbered bays, so we will accept anyone who wants to show. If you want to bring a car, we still want you to register, because the show is judged and registration is how your car gets a spot on the field.

You will be asked for your year, make and model and at least one clear photo of the car. The photo is how we build the lineup and the jury sheet, so send a good one. Attaching it needs a Google account. If that gives you trouble, or your files are too big, email the photo to mara.howes@pendulumkc.com instead. Registering is not required to attend, only to show.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE

The public picks the winner. Every car on the field gets a small pail set in front of it, and every person who comes through the gate gets one poker chip. You put your chip in the pail of the car you like best. The car with the most chips wins.

No panel, no categories, no scoring sheet. One chip, one vote, decided by the people who showed up. We are still working out the prize and will announce it before the 17th.

The field is now open to 100 cars. We still want you to register, because that is how we sort the field by genre, but if you have a cool car you can pull up on the day.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

New details as they are confirmed, most recent first.

October 9: The field is now 100 cars

The field of 36 is set. Let us keep it going. Today was the cut off for the first 36 cars, and the response and the demand changed our minds, so we are expanding the field to 100. If you have a cool car, pull up.

Here is how it is laid out. Show cars come in the west curb cut off Truman Rd at Forest Ave, stop at check in just inside the gate, and get placed in one of 100 numbered bays. The sponsor and tent row runs along the west end of the lot. Public parking is on the same lot at the east end, so nobody crosses Truman Rd. We still want you to register, because that is how we sort the field by genre, but registration is no longer a gate.

Come see it Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

October 9: Aldan American is donating the full coilover conversion

Aldan American is donating a complete front and rear coilover conversion for the 1993 Corvette C4. This is the upgrade that decides how the car sits and how it behaves once it is moving, and it is the one that makes the wheels and tires the other sponsors donated actually work.

The C4 factory transverse composite leaf springs come out and double adjustable coilovers go in at all four corners, 66 valving settings, running 500 pound springs front and rear, with ride height adjustable from stock down to two inches lower at either end. No cutting and no welding, which matters when the people installing it are students learning on the car. Aldan American has been building suspension in California since 1981, and they built one of the first billet aluminum coilovers for street rods. Every coilover, shock and spring they sell is made in the USA and carries a lifetime warranty.

Come see it Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

October 9: McCownGordon Construction is the named sponsor of the Art Car

McCownGordon Construction is the named sponsor of the Kansas City Automotive Museum Art Car, which means they are underwriting a year of work by students at Manual Career & Technical Center. It is a natural fit, and not only because they build things. McCownGordon is one hundred percent employee owned. The founders, Pat McCown and Brett Gordon, started the company in 1999 and then sold it to the people who work there, completing the transfer in 2017. The company is owned by its builders.

They are also already in these schools. McCownGordon is delivering Kansas City Public Schools bond work, including the Hale Cook Elementary project, part of the $474 million bond district voters passed in 2025 by 85 percent, the first KCPS bond in more than fifty years. And they have a track record of putting high school students on live jobsites to learn safety, process and career paths rather than hearing about them in a classroom. Backing a group of students taking a 1993 Corvette apart and putting it back together is the same instinct applied to a different trade.

Come see it Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

October 8: The public picks the winner

The show is judged, and you are the judge. Every car on the field gets a small pail in front of it, and every person who walks through the gate gets one poker chip. You put your chip in the pail of the car you like best, and the car with the most chips wins.

No panel, no categories, no scoring sheet. One chip, one vote, decided by the people who showed up. We are still working out the prize and will announce it before the 17th.

Come see it Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

October 8: The Grid Production House is shooting the Art Car

The Grid Production House in Independence is donating the photography, the drone work and the rigging for this build. That matters more than it sounds. A year long build that nobody sees properly is just a car in a shop.

The work has already started. On October 2 the Corvette went into their studio and came out photographed the way a manufacturer shoots a press car. The Grid runs 3,000 square feet with an L-shaped cyc wall measuring thirty five feet by thirty five feet and standing twelve feet high, and street level drive in access, which is the part that counts here. Most studios cannot take a car. This one is built so you drive straight onto the set.

Kam Lakey walked us through what a room like that actually buys you: change the background to any color, shoot a strobe, light the car so every line on it reads. Add drone coverage over the show field on the 17th and rigging for the day itself, and the students get their work documented to a standard most professional builds never receive.

Come see it Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

October 5: Tire Pig is the official Art Car tire provider

Tire Pig is supplying the rubber for the 1993 Corvette C4, and it is not the same at both ends. The car runs 245/40R18 up front and 285/30R19 at the rear, a staggered setup that widens the back of the car and gives it its stance. Those mount on the 18 by 8.5 and 19 by 10 wheels that Vintage Fabrication and KC Trends donated, so three sponsors are building the same four corners of this car.

Tire Pig sells tires online and handles the install, either at your house or at a partner shop, and their tire matching runs off the data they collected across a decade of mobile tire service. The company comes from brothers Anoop and Komal Choong, who were raised in Kansas City and who got into this the way a lot of the Manual students are getting into it now, by flipping car parts and then whole cars. Ten years later they are handing tires to the next group doing exactly that. Their branded van will be on site on the day, so you can see the operation as well as the rubber.

Come see it Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

October 4: HushMat and ZyCoat are donating the materials, inside and out

Tim McCarthy is donating the materials package for the 1993 Corvette C4, and he is in a position to do it: he is the founder and chief executive of both HushMat and ZyCoat. HushMat is sending 58 square feet of sound deadening and thermal insulation for the interior, with more to come for the trunk and the roof if those areas get done. It is a butyl rubber mat with a foil face, a little under an eighth of an inch thick, that presses onto the floor pan, the transmission tunnel, the firewall and the door shells. HushMat rates it at better than a 50 percent cut in noise and vibration and better than 40 percent in heat, and it goes on with hand pressure alone, no heat gun, which matters when the people doing the work are students.

That work earns more on a C4 than it would on most cars. The exhaust runs down a central tunnel directly beneath the cabin, and a fiberglass body over a steel birdcage does very little on its own to stop either noise or heat. ZyCoat is handling the outside. The ZyClear Wheel Clear Coat Kit is a wipe on clear coat for the wheels that brake dust will not penetrate, rated at 9.0 on the pencil hardness scale and tested past 3,500 consecutive hours of salt spray without corroding. It air cures in ninety minutes, so the students can shoot it and see the result inside one session.

Representatives from HushMat and ZyCoat will be on the show field on October 17 to walk the students through what each product does and how it goes on. Come see it Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

September 30: Casio McCombs is the official DJ for the drop off

Casio McCombs is the official DJ for the Art Car drop off. He will be on the show field for the full two hours, running sound while the cars roll in and the Corvette comes off the trailer.

Casio is a creative with a deep love for sound, space and storytelling. Since landing in the Midwest in 2014 he has been carving out his place in Kansas City’s music scene with sets that are always shifting and always surprising. He is the co-founder of More Than Friends, a community driven platform built around music, connection and shared experience, and he pulls from obscure music, offbeat films, design and architecture so his sets land as experiences rather than playlists. He calls it audible architecture.

Come hear him Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

September 30: New Ice KC is bringing a 1992 Acura NSX

Chad Newman is bringing his 1992 Acura NSX to the sponsor area. The car has a custom leather interior, Rays Volk GT-7 wheels, headers and a Pride V2 exhaust, carbon fiber accents, downforce side skirts, and a Wings West front lip with rear spats. Everything else is factory original.

Chad runs New Ice KC, the premier dry ice engine bay and undercarriage cleaning service in the region and a sponsor of the Art Car project. Be sure to find Chad at the show to see the NSX and his work up close.

Come see it Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

September 29: Pendulum Studio is bringing a 1986 Porsche 911 Targa

Pendulum Studio is bringing a 1986 Porsche 911 Targa to the sponsor area. The car runs a euro drop with front and rear wheel spacers and a custom sound system, and it still wears its original paint over its original motor. The interior is a custom build by Bobby Schumacher of Vintage Fabrication.

Pendulum Studio is an award winning Kansas City based sports architecture firm. The Targa is owned by Jonathan O’Neil Cole, who serves on the Kansas City Automotive Museum executive board and chairs the museum’s 2026/2027 Art Car Project. It will be on display in the sponsor area alongside the Art Car itself.

Come see it Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

September 29: Wrap Effects is bringing a wrapped 2022 Ferrari 812 GTS

Wrap Effects is bringing the heat to the sponsor area with a 2022 Ferrari 812 GTS finished in Inozetek Dynamic paint protection film in Satin Pearl White, wrapped all the way through the door jambs and door shells, with a Competizione stripe added to complete the look. It sits on Avant Garde L91 wheels over Novitec lowering springs, with an SSR race exhaust and an ECU tune behind it.

Wrap Effects is a sponsor of the Art Car project and a Kansas City shop known for premium vehicle wraps, paint protection film and custom upgrades. Be sure to stop by the Wrap Effects tent to see their work up close.

Come see it Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

September 28: The first Bobby's Pick is a 1932 Ford 5 Window Coupe

Jason Slover of Pete & Jake's Hot Rod Parts is bringing a 1932 Ford 5 Window Coupe, the first car confirmed for Bobby's Picks. Big block Chevy, four speed, quick change rear end, black with a full set of flames.

Pete & Jake's is a sponsor of the Art Car project and a long standing name in hot rod chassis and suspension. The coupe parks with the rest of Bobby's Picks beside show car check in.

Come see it Saturday, October 17, 10 AM to 12 PM at the Manual Career & Technical Center, 1215 E Truman Rd.

September 28: Bobby's Picks, a five car section on the show field

Bobby's Picks is a special section of the show field: five cars chosen by Bobby Schumacher, a mix of sponsor cars and personal invitations, parked together at the west end of the lot beside show car check-in. It is marked on the event map.

Bobby owns Vintage Fabrication in Independence, Missouri, and has spent more than thirty years building hot rods, customs and muscle cars. His shop built Bill Paul's 1934 Ford pickup, the California Kid Express, which Goodguys named its 2024 Classic Instruments Street Rod of the Year, one of the top national honors in street rodding. His work is featured regularly in the national hot rod press, and he is known as much for his eye as for his metalwork.

Bobby is also an executive board member of the Kansas City Automotive Museum, the board's designated co lead on the Art Car build, and a sponsor of the project. Vintage Fabrication's 40 ft show tent sits at the west end of the lot on October 17.

September 26: Blackhouse Coffee is pouring at the drop off

Blackhouse Coffee is the official cold brew provider for the drop off. They are bringing Art Car Grind, a cold brew with tasting notes of chocolate, cacao and pomegranate, served free on the lot while supplies last. Find them at @blackhouse_casanegra.

Next Steps

Follow the build. New progress from the shop every month, all the way to the reveal. If you have ever wondered how a car like this actually gets made, this is where you watch it.

Sponsor the build. Parts, materials, services or funding. Sponsors are credited on social media, at the April reveal, on the promo tour, and at the auction that closes it out.

Mentor in the shop. Design, fabrication, performance, upholstery, photography, media. A few hours in front of these students is worth more than you think.

Back the reveal. April 2027 is when this car meets the city. Lead sponsorship is open now. Reach out to join the team.

Cover the story. Press and media can download the media kit or reach Mara Howes at mara.howes@pendulumkc.com.