Wirth Motor Company builds paintings of vehicles. All makes & models. New or Old. Fast or Slow. Polished or Demolished. Good or Bad.
Take a look around at our “used lot” of cars, trucks, motorbikes, and more. If you like what you see, submit your own vehicle today!
Visit us here too: Uncommon Goods
Each WMC ORIGINAL ($395) measures 17”x17”x2”, hand built from birch panel and pine, and is framed in 1 ¾” white pine that’s sanded down smooth like an instrument. Strong enough to survive a tumble down the stairs and safe enough for the dog to lick (though we don’t recommend either.)
On top of the frame, we hand paint the vehicle’s year & model name (or we’ll paint your vehicle’s nickname if you prefer!) The painting arrives to you ready to unwrap and hang immediately.
Each PRINT ($99) is a professionally framed archival print that’s available to you anytime after you own a WMC Original (for friends, family, yourself, etc.) The frame is 100% solid wood and measures 15”x 15x 1 ¼ ”. You have the choice between Cherry or Coffee color. The mat is 100% virgin alpha-cellulose, lignin and acid-free, fade and bleed resistant. The printing paper used is heavy, acid-free, velvet smooth, archival paper professionally mounted behind acid-free acrylic (Plexi-glass). It arrives ready to hang.
For price quotes on custom projects and multiple orders, feel free to contact us.
Shipping is free.
I wanted to paint things for people. Automobiles represent a combination of freedom and control that interest me. We’re a lot like cars and trucks ourselves. We can be clumsy and graceful. Careless or cautious. We stop, we go, we explore, we bump in to stuff. Some of us speed toward things, and others idle quietly.
Henry Ford once said, “people can have the Model T in any color – so long as it’s black.” Wirth Motor Company shares that stubborn spirit. However, if something like a big grain truck or limousine is submitted, we’ll build a rectangle. The Motor Company is pragmatic too.
It’s the best way to distinguish the car, kind of like a mugshot. It’s really the most basic and rudimentary way to depict something. I like that.
I just paint the car, which is as primitive as it sounds. In the end, the criteria is really based on the object as a whole rather than just the depiction – so the excitement really happens when a client receives their painting, handles it, and investigates the front & back, the frame, etc.
They’re real objects. If you watch a man paint a fence, you’ll see him spill on the grass and rocks below. He may spill on his boots and curse. He may paint over some hinges. His hands will get dirty. We value that primitive nature of work and the misery & joy of trying to force a raw material like paint to resemble something. So the paintings aren’t “perfect”, they’re something much better. They’re real objects.
Time always varies. Some vehicles come along quickly and then others are a struggle. There’s no golden rule.
Tim Wirth grew up on a farm in rural Iowa with two older brothers, a younger sister, and a dog named “Boots” who survived rat poison and dodged many speeding trucks on gravel roads.
Wirth began studying art at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa and then continued at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia where he received his MFA in painting. His studio and workshop are currently located in the flat lands of northern Iowa.