COSTA MESA : Souping Up a Car With Eye on Prize

At first, painting her station wagon to resemble the colors of the Campbell’s soup can was just a joke. Fellow art students were just kidding around class one day. But Meghan Noland thought it might enhance her chances at winning a nationwide art contest.

So the Estancia High School senior gave her 1976 Malibu station wagon a few new different coats of paint and now she’s at the center of attention when she gets behind the wheel. Truckers, she said, honk their horns and give her the thumbs up.

And pilots of the Costa Mesa police helicopter tell her they’ve spotted her around town on occasion--after all, it’s hard to miss the red, white and green colors.

“Everybody loves it,” says the 18-year-old Noland, who will find out in a couple of weeks whether she’ll win the $10,000 grand prize.

Heck, she’ll settle for second place at $5,000. Or for that matter, third, which nets $1,000.

Noland found out about the Campbell Soup Art contest in her advanced art class. Art instructor Constance Cassidy required all her students to give it a go.

One girl decorated a pillow with the colors of the can.

Another opted for the more traditional ceramics project.

But it was Noland who took it to the extreme. She chose the Cream of Asparagus label because she said it was the easiest to draw, though the entire project took four months.

“I can’t stand asparagus,” said Noland, who plans to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City next fall.

And what does she plan to do with the station wagon now that the contest is just about over?

“I think I’ll leave it like it is,” she said.