Build Journal: Entry 01 · Ongoing, May 2026 · Los Angeles
Photographs and notes from the Burning Man art car build. Taylor Dunn chassis, Moroccan palanquin, LiFePO4. Updated as it comes together.
I'm building an art car for Burning Man.
The technical version: a Taylor Dunn 1248B chassis, lengthened, with a full LiFePO4 battery system, 24V drive, and a Moroccan-palanquin canopy structure built from plywood, brass fittings, and laser-cut acrylic panels.
The simpler version: a slow vehicle covered in rugs, lanterns, and cushions, that drives across the playa at dusk and looks like something out of an old story.
I've never built anything this ambitious in my off-hours. Most weekends I'm in the shop welding, sanding, soldering, fitting, measuring, cursing, measuring again. The build is pulling on every skill I've ever cared about: fabrication, electrical, structural, lighting design, textile work, and a lot of just figuring it out as I go.
This page is the build journal. I'll post updates as the work progresses, in roughly chronological order. Photos. Diagrams. Failures. The parts list grows. The deadline (the burn) doesn't move.
Chassis: extended and welded, ready for paint. Battery system: cells acquired, BMS spec'd, harness in progress. Canopy frame: dry-fit complete, brass fittings on order. Textiles: rug sourcing happening between Etsy and several dusty rooms in a friend's import shop. LED roof program: in design, not yet wired. Sound system: deferred until the power budget is locked. Estimated completion: "before August," which is what every Burner says.
Welding is more meditative than I expected, and I'm worse at it than I hoped.
LiFePO4 is the right chemistry for art cars. The safety margin matters when the vehicle lives outside in 110°F heat for a week.
Designing a slow-moving object that has to look magical at all angles is a different design problem than anything I've shipped at work. The aesthetics are doing physics. The canopy has to look right while moving, while still, while lit from below, while seen from a quarter mile away across the dust.
More entries to come. If you're at the burn and you see a slow palanquin with a glowing roof, come say hi.