Emerson Marcus

RGJ

Question: Whatever happened to that "black widow" (VW Beetle) sculpture that was removed from the roof of the old firehouse next to the Wells Ave. overpass? I remember that it was supposed to be re-located to the roof of a business in Sparks, but I haven't seen it since then.

Anonymous

Answer: The re-purposed Volkswagen scarab artwork that sat atop the old Reno Firehouse visible from the Wells Avenue overpass near East Fourth Street for years still sits in Scudder's Performance auto shop in Sparks — and the designer isn't too happy about it.

Clayton Scudder, the shop's owner, said he's had the piece for about six years after the city of Reno approached him with hopes he'd put it on the roof of his Volkswagen auto shop in Sparks.

But it'll cost about $3,500 to have an outside engineering firm draw up plans for safety purposes, he said.

"It's not a weight load, it's a wind load," Scudder said. "Certain things have to satisfy wind load."

David Fambrough, a Reno artist, designed the artwork after moving to Reno in the late 1970s. While sketching a scarab, he noticed its silhouette resembled a Volkswagen Beetle. After finding a Volkswagen Beetle body near a pile of irrigation piping in Double Diamond, he decided to go to work.

In the early 1980s, the Volkswagen scarab moved atop the old firehouse.

"This was a Reno landmark for many years," Fambrough said.

"To see it not being displayed like that makes me sad," he said. "I'd really like to get it back and start over and find somebody that could display it so the public can appreciate it once again."

Scudder, who's owned the Sparks shop for 30 years, considered donating it to a local park, but he said it's too rough at this point to be on the ground where children can touch it.

"People ask about it all the time," he said. "They've offered to help, but a lot has to come together for that to happen."

"I love Volkswagens," said Scudder, whose shop is filled with the cars and busses made by the German manufacturer. "That's why I got it to keep it from going to a scrap yard."

Scudder said his intentions are good and that he's tried to get it on top of his shop for years. Since he got it, Scudder said he's put plenty of his own money in it, fixing it up and cleaning the pigeon "stuff" that piled about 3 feet high after it was removed from its long-time Reno location.

"It basically was a pigeon's nest," Scudder said.

Fambrough said he called Scudder this spring about the artwork.

"He said he's waiting for permits," Fambrough said. "This wasn't the deal. If you're going to do something, do it."

For now, the artwork sits in the shop, with its leg piping removed from the body.

"It's kind of a bone of contention," Fambrough said.

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?

Emerson Marcus answers reader questions on local topics on his blog at RGJ.com and in the newspaper Wednesdays. Email your questions to emarcus@rgj.com.