Born twice.
Burned both times.
A 2016 fire-breathing mechaswan welded onto a 1996 Taylor-Dunn cargo mover. Built by the Dust to Dust Collective out of Oakland. Lives in Vegas. Returns to the playa annually to shed its skin.
Before there was a swan, there was Beezus Christ Supercar — a hot-rodded golf cart with too much chrome and not enough sense. Beezus broke. Beezus burned. Beezus had it coming.
Out of those ashes, in the spring of 2016, the Dust to Dust Collective stripped the cargo mover to its frame, welded a 16-foot mechaswan on top, plumbed a propane crown into its skull, and laced 200 meters of programmable LED through its feathers. They named it Prodigal because it kept coming home and Swan because the silhouette demanded it.
Now it lives in Las Vegas. It sleeps in a warehouse off the Strip and wakes up for festivals, parades, brand activations, film shoots, and the kind of private bookings where someone needs a ten-thousand-pound mood-setter to roll into the room and exhale fire on cue. Every August it points itself at the Black Rock Desert, sheds another skin, and comes back changed.
A cargo mover’s midlife crisis turned playa legend.— overheard, 4:30am, Esplanade & 7:30
We broke it. We fixed it. Now duck.
The build,
by the numbers.
Six honest specs for the engineer in your safety officer. The Swan is heavy, electric underneath, and runs propane on top. Everything else is showmanship.
× 12′ tall
Wide enough for the lane. Tall enough for the photo.
Taylor-Dunn B248
The cargo mover that started it all. Still moves cargo. Different cargo now.
4,000 lb load
Curb weight of a small school bus. Can carry a sound rig and a bar.
500Ah packs
Two 500Ah battery packs for drive + lights. Onboard propane for fire.
programmable LED
Two hundred meters of addressable LED, sequenced live or to soundtrack.
certified op.
Propane crown effect. Always operated by a certified fire effects technician.
Yes, the fire is
actually plumbed.
For event coordinators, fire marshals, and anyone whose job description includes the words “liability waiver.” Full schematics, propane routing, and certified-op sign-off available on request.