AUBURN — Margaret Betts says she enjoys the reactions she gets when people see her gem-covered car.

Women wave and children giggle and smile.

“Men are the exception,” Betts said. “Men think I have devalued my car.”

Betts joined the “art car” movement 20 years ago when she bought a Toyota pickup with 200,000 miles on it from her Auburn neighbor.

She painted a daisy on the gas cap cover of the “boring navy blue” Toyota, and “it was all downhill from there,” Betts said. “I kept adding more daisies.”

That “boring navy blue” pickup ended up pink and purple with a yellow bumper.

“I cut my teeth on that one,” Betts said.

She named the car Miss Ultraviolet “because I love purple.”

Betts’ former neighbor, Bill Stevenson, sparked her interest in the “art car” movement with his own decorated autos: Top Cat and Whimsy.

Betts is now driving her third “art car,” a 2011 Honda CR-V that she has decorated with old jewelry, plastic rhinestones and artificial bugs.

“I didn’t want to spoil the paint job,” Betts said, “so I have not put anything on the paint yet.”

Betts said she is waiting for the Honda and its 90,000 miles to “mature.”

“When you go to your town office to register it and they ask you what color it is, it can be a little problematic,” Betts said.

Betts said her car attracts plenty of attention. 

“It’s easy to find in a parking lot,” she said. “Even if you can’t find it, someone can. It’s the greatest friend-maker I ever had. Much better than a dog.”

“It’s the greatest friend-maker I ever had. Much better than a dog,” Margaret Betts of Auburn said of her gem-covered Honda CR-V. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Margaret Betts, who raises chickens, has decorated her third “art car.” Betts is thinking about giving her gem-covered 2011 Honda CR-V a name: Gemma. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Margaret Betts has decorated her third “art car” with “caterpillars, old jewelry, rhinestones and stuff like that.” (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

“It’s the greatest friend maker I ever had. Much better than a dog,” Margaret Betts of Auburn said about her gem covered Honda. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)