We are continuing our focus on Burning Man today with a look at the wild, whacky, weird (and, I would add wonderful) mutant vehicles that roam the Playa and make their way through Black Rock City every year. Other than official vehicles and bicycles, they are the only form of transportation that is allowed besides walking. Each year brings a new crop to admire as well as old favorites to appreciate. While who knows what 2026 will bring, my goal today is to provide a perspective of what is possible based on past years. The ‘mutations’ that people come up with are prime examples of the creativity that goes into making Burning Man special. BM encourages this artistic flare with mutant vehicles by requiring that they must be extensively transformed, unrecognizable from their original form. Throwing a few baubles on your vehicle and calling it mutant so you can drive around the Playa and Black Rock City doesn’t work.
This is one that does. Valentine’s Day may have come and gone a few days ago, but this polar bear at Burning Man would be the perfect way to deliver a rose to your sweetheart, regardless of the date. I guarantee she or he would be impressed. (Photo by our friend and fellow Burner, Tom Lovering.)Beyond transformation, safety is the other requirement for mutant vehicles. Factors such as sturdy railings to keep passengers from falling off and “radical” nighttime lighting are considered as well as the usual, like good working brakes. Special requirements are added for the many vehicles that spout fire at night. A 5 MPH speed limit is required as are rules pertaining when and where you can play loud music. BM maintains careful control over both the ‘look’ of your vehicle, its safety, and the number of mutants allowed. It starts with a detailed application process. Assuming you are granted a permit, your first stop at Burning Man will be at DMV (The Department of Mutant Vehicles) where a safety check is performed. Only then are you free to roam.
Following are photos of 40 different vehicles. While that seems like a lot for a post, they are easy to scroll though, heavy on photos, light on words. Enjoy.
El Pulpo Mechanical, a giant octopus that shoots flames out of its tentacles, is a long time favorite. Here, El Pulpo is waiting for the Man to burn, along with dozens of other mutant vehicles and 50-70,000 people. Folks sitting up on his arms have prime seats.El Pulpo Mechanical on the move.El Pulpo during the day. Most of the parts that went into building the giant octopus came from a scrap yard in Arcata, California.El Pulpo isn’t the only mutant vehicle to have a connection with the ocean. This hermit crab with its colorful shell would fit right in on ocean’s edge.While this angler fish with its strange dangly designed as bait to lure smaller fish into its scary teeth would be found between 200 to 2,000 meters (650 to 6,561 feet) under the oceans surface. It appears that the angler has caught dinner. It probably offered drinks. Photo from the Monterey Bay Aquarium of an actual Angler Fish. BTW if you are ever near Monterey, be sure to include the Aquarium in your visit. It’s magnificent. As ferocious as this guy looks, it would fit in your hand. You might lose a finger, however.Here are two more angler fish that were roaming the Playa.This one is camouflaged with a desert look. Note the bait. It’s designed to spout fire at night.This rather distinctive narwhal is also a creature of the ocean. This one came with what I assume was a captain’s cabin and some pretension of being a sailboat.A closeup of narwhal. Great lips, sneaky eyes.And now we come to a ship for sailing the seas, or desert, complete with three well-rigged masts. There are lots of mutant vehicle boats plying the Playa. Once upon a time, around 15,000 years ago, the Black Rock Desert was part of the huge, glacial ,Lake Lahontan that was 500 feet deep and covered a substantial portion of northern Nevada.A yacht lit up at night. Speaking of expensive boats, several billionaires have made the pilgrimage to Black Rock City over the years including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Besos, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. In fact, for several years, there was a Silicon Valley Village at Burning Man. The yacht is an example of the radical nighttime lighting I mentioned above. When you are walking or riding your bike out on the Playa you want to be able to stay clear of large mutant vehicles.It isn’t surprising to find a mermaid at Burning Man…Or an alien. We came on this fellow with his rocket ship wearing Burning Man garb. He fit right in.ET phone home. Off “Da Hook!” was one of the most unique mutant vehicles we have seen.In addition to the polar bear featured at the top, numerous other mutant vehicle animals make their way to Burning Man. This is the cat car/mutant vehicle.A side view.The Cheshire Cat of Alice and Wonderland.A golf cart cat with blue balloons! (Photo by our friend Don Green.)Possibly a very large cat, with dreadlocks for a mane? The tongue makes a very comfy chair, but it reminded me of the angler fish. Beware!Along with the ‘dreaded’ lion, the wart hog is another African animal.As is the rhino. (Photo taken by our friend Tom Lovering.)Moving on to the domestic side of the animal kingdom, we found this large red rooster…And where there are roosters, one expects to find chickens.A friendly dog. Or is it a friendly bunny?An enormous cow. The guy walking beside the cow is required as an extra safety measure for the large mutant vehicles. This is a sparkle pony. The Burning Man definition of a sparkle pony is “a Burner who is under-prepared for basic survival but still manages to pack 2 suitcases full of fabulous outfits.”One scary looking unicorn.Giant rubber ducky…Steam punk duck. It shot fire out of its head at night. Your basic wooly mammoth. Note: Several fossil mammoths have been found in the Black Rock Desert.Even insects end up as mutant vehicles.A buggy bug eyes.A spider, I think. Check out the lips. Dragons are ‘big’ at Burning Man. We introduced this giant in our introduction to a Burning Man post.They can appear quite ferocious. Usually you will find them out on the Playa at night spouting fire.A rear view of the green dragon mutant vehicle.Peggy goes on a wild dragon ride— in her imagination. Not that she wouldn’t have tried it for real. (Photo by Tom Lovering.)Many designs were more ‘vehicle-like’ in their mutant sort of way, such as this steam engine house.Tom Lovering’s all time favorite mutant vehicle at Burning Man, the Victorian-like, Neverwas-Haul. (Tom took the photo.)Once upon a time, this would have been a school bus. As a mutant vehicle, it would have made riding to school a lot more fun. I can see the first graders screaming as they exited via the slide, and the principal turning three shades of red.Before it mutated, this giant VW bus named Walter was once a fire truck in the historic mining town of Jerome, Arizona.A steam punk mutant vehicle.A rear view of a hot rod mutant that found its way onto the Black Rock Desert one year.A high flying stage coach. Giddy up! Who needs reindeer…A smart car?Modern art.And in conclusion, the eye. It may win a prize for being the most unique mutant vehicle. We hope you’ve enjoyed our tour of mutant vehicles at Burning Man. We have featured lots, but they are a mere fraction of what you might see.Next Monday on our Burning Man focus series, we will feature some of our favorite sculptures.
Thursday’s blog-a-book memoir will feature the time I woke up with a litter of kittens born on my feet.
Smart car, so funny!! I was planning to choose a favourite, but there are too many amazing choices here. I love the dragons of course. I do not remember so many versions of an angler fish, but that makes sense and I loved each one here. I share Tom’s love of the Victorian home on wheels. The school bus is outstanding. El Pulpo is hard to resist. Yeah, sorry, I guess my favourite is all of them.
Wandering through Time and Place 
Wow!! A lot of cool cars!! You need to come to Houst
Smart car, so funny!! I was planning to choose a favourite, but there are too many amazing choices here. I love the dragons of course. I do not remember so many versions of an angler fish, but that makes sense and I loved each one here. I share Tom’s love of the Victorian home on wheels. The school bus is outstanding. El Pulpo is hard to resist. Yeah, sorry, I guess my favourite is all of them.
What crazy, creative ideas for the mutant vehicles! Several were quite neat! 😁