The Collection
DRIVE is a networked art project on the Ethereum blockchain, with 444 works spread over two seasons. Lap 1 contains 111 cars, minted in September of 2021, and Lap 2 followed in August of 2024, with 333 new vehicles.
The Game
The innovation of DRIVE is that holders are invited to participate in creative contests. In the world around you, how can you make the best image in the style of DRIVE? Participants submit their photographs to our threads on X, and I decide who wins each contest.
The Stakes
Winners are airdropped additional tokens, which incentivizes them to create and distribute work that propagates the memetics of DRIVE. By holding back a significant percentage of the artworks for these challenges, we leave potential energy inside the project — energy that can be unwound over time to sustain the momentum of DRIVE in a world of shortening attention spans.
The Fuel
This withheld supply is like fuel, driving the engine, propelling the project far past where it would otherwise run out of gas. These contests have generated hundreds of thousands of organic impressions, sustained over many years. You can explore the entirety of this collection below, find deals, trade cars, and get involved with our ecosystem on a variety of levels.
Best Deals on DRIVE Cars
Here are the easiest entry points to the DRIVE ecosystem. Click to make an offer on OpenSea.
Shop the full collections
The Dealership
Browse the Lot
444 vehicles
Creative Contests on X
Holders submit photographs in the spirit of DRIVE. I pick a winner each round; winners are airdropped additional tokens.
Reaction Pack
The DRIVE Philosophy
The Instinct
People collect because we are hard wired for pattern recognition. Simply put, we get a thrill to match sets, to notice cohesion, to find a diamond in the rough. What was once an evolutionary necessity is still an embedded instinct, our environment has changed but our programming has not. We like to hunt and gather.
Pokemon cards, watches, stamps, labubus, video game items, tattoos, clothing, accessories, shells, records, and yes— photographs of other peoples used cars on the internet— recognizing and collecting systems satisfies us.
The Process
Since 2010 or so I have been making a pattern of my own. With my iPhone, any time I would see a car that had a bit of a distinguishing character, I would make an image of it. Over time I created a system, like generative art, a set of rules that would qualify a car for inclusion.
It had to look like it had a story. It had to fit in a clean 3x2 crop with room on both sides of each bumper. It had to be lit well, even if dark it had to have some bit of spirit in it. Over and over, thousands of times, I replicated the pattern, and ended up with a deeply cohesive body of work.
The Drop
Once I realized what was possible with blockchain it felt as if I had been building towards this my whole life. Cars were the perfect collectible item— stories of americana, a culture of collecting and passion already present, and the idea of a market already swirling around them.
The 2021 release went viral, sold out, and completely changed my life, giving me runway as an artist to try even wilder ideas like Drip Drop and my culture company @ALLSHIPS. Three years later, we revisited the DRIVE universe, releasing LAP 2 with Nifty Gateway and building a rich world on top of the tokens, which were laid out like a foundation we could build upon.
The Road Ahead
I could never have imagined that shooting cars with my phone in an obsessive pattern seeking flowstate could have led to where we are at now. For the rest of my life I will build out this world, run creative contests, and use tokens as incentives to prove that a creative life is possible.
Future drops will be distributed through this network, we will evolve with the culture and technology, and I couldn't be more grateful to each and every person who has played their part in the DRIVE ecosystem. We're still early, its just the first few miles, and I can't wait to keep driving with you all.
Drive Statistics
Cars currently parked in davekrugman.eth, trophies excluded. Click any card to make an offer on OpenSea — these are the ones I would let you drive off the lot. Open to art trades, clever ruses, tit for tat, convincing pitches, and high-brow bartering. Make me an offer I can’t refuse.
—Dave