Automotive art shouldn't be hidden in your garage

There are times being a car enthusiast causes confusion.

Other people in our lives who don't share our love of maaaad nuggets will question why we love these expensive things that test and stress us out, and why we want to spend all our spare time on them. They can have opinions about car parts, or car magazines and books, being left inside the house, or why we only seem to wear clothing that represents our love of the particular style of car scene we enjoy.

But there can be a way to introduce our awesome hobby to others in your life without dousing them in hub grease or parking your fuel-smelling, oil-leaking nugget in the living room. Putting up a poster or two is a great way to represent your passion (which is why we love doing our POSTER SERIES - CLICK HERE)

Posters promoting racing events have all the great things any piece of art offers: colour, motion and drama. Grand Prix posters from the 1920s and 30s are stunning in their representation of art deco style. Finding a piece of art that non-car-enthusiasts can appreciate as a great piece of drawing/painting or photography makes it far easier to introduce cars inside the house.

For every style of race car there is a poster to suit, and there are some crackers from sports car racing (Le Mans, Sebring, Daytona 24-hour, Nurburgring 1000km), Can-Am, World Rally Championship, rallycross, Formula One, touring cars... the list is nearly endless. Classic racing events typically have a less cluttered style with fewer sponsor logos, and this gives more of a pure artistic vision.

Vintage car ads are another great source of inexpensive (and cool) automotive art. Whether it is the beautiful hand-drawn images of the 1940s-1960s, or the dramatic photography of the 70s and 80s, there is something rad for everyone.

Both Porsche and Pontiac had epic ad campaigns over the years, but in very different styles. The whimsical, luxurious art of Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman is legendary among American car fans, while the tongue-in-cheek ads from Porsche possibly inspired today's motivational posters.

There are also millions of images of cars online available in high-resolution which can be downloaded and printed out in poster-size. Alternatively, pay a professional photographer for some high-resolution shots of your own car and get it printed on high-quality A1 paper for a killer reminder of your own hard work.

One thing to consider is that art is subjective, but so are cars: one person might think drift cars are the best thing ever, but mini-trucks are goofy, and their brother could feel the polar opposite. So take into account how the art you want to hang up looks (how it is drawn or photographed, the size of the pieces, and the style of cars featured).