They're not cartoon characters. The bird is the Mr Horsepower logo for Clay Smith Cams. There are also Tiki motifs and Kenneth Howard (Von Dutch) style pinstriping all done with the bead roller. If you have used one of these at all you will understand how skilled he is with this machine.

He's doing it because he can. Gypsy caravan - I'm not seeing it. Most of it will be painted and then covered with standard Citroen 2CV rubber matting. But he will know it's there.

It's a hot rodding thing - kind of why I make everything on my 27 Ford hot rod again and again (usually 3 times actually). You can be sure that he would be doing a lot more than bead rolling if he didn't live in France.

Those who don't like it are welcome to post pictures of their 100 point restoration jobs to show us how it should be done.

Did anybody say he wasn't skilled?

That school of thought is completely stupid, if I dont like it I dont like it regardless of whether I have done a 100 point restoration, hes got loads of skill, but way too much shit on it. Less is more.

I have used a bead roller and its fcking hard.

I like it. It's a classic case of too much is too much, but waaay too much is just right.