Play-Doh Version of Chevrolet Orlando Launched

Just the Facts:

• A Chevrolet Orlando created out of blue Play-Doh hit the streets in London this week in a playful publicity stunt.
• The one-of-a-kind Orlando was created to appeal to the "inner child" in potential customers.
• In the meantime, a U.S. artist is using 11 tons of Play-Doh to create high-tech automotive art.

LONDON — Barbie helped to drum up interest in the Fiat 500 and it's not unusual to see life-sized Lego cars drawing crowds in U.S. shopping malls. Chevrolet got in on the playful action this week, rolling out a Chevrolet Orlando made out of blue Play-Doh here — a calculated move to stop traffic.

Chevrolet issued a statement saying it created the Play-Doh Orlando to appeal "to the inner child in every parent." It said the hand-crafted sculpture was the work of a team of eight modelmakers over a two-week period. The sculpture marks the debut of the seven-seater in the U.K.

Chevy decided to go with the Play-Doh Orlando after conducting a survey that found the arts-and-crafts compound was the "most-loved toy from yesteryear." Lego, Barbie, Teddy bears and marbles trailed Play-Doh in the nostalgia department, according to the automaker.

It seems that Play-Doh and cars are a natural fit.

A U.S. artist is using 11 tons of Play-Doh to create high-tech automotive art. Fernando Orellana, a professor at Union College in Schenectady, New York has developed "Extruder," a sort of grown-up Fun Factory that makes hundreds of Play-Doh cars "to celebrate, criticize and emulate the automobile."

"The ultimate goal of Extruder is to make the total number of automobiles that were made in 1947 (the year Henry Ford died) by the Ford Motor Company, an estimated 429,674," according to the Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, New York, which features the work on its Web site.

The Play-Doh cars are encased in clear epoxy as part of a series of series of wall-hung wooden panels.

Play-Doh has been described as "one of the most beloved toys of the 20th century," according to Wikipedia.

Inside Line says: And when you get tired of that Play-Doh Orlando, you just smash it with a rolling pin and make a dinosaur. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent