For Lord, the auto has been an object of fuel-injected desire since 1974 when he placed ten Cadillacs nose-down in the Texas prairie and called them "Cadillac Ranch." Motorist continues the test drive of this American icon. Behind the wheel of a '62 T-Bird, Richard the Motorist (Richard Marcus) is heading for Los Angeles to hand his classic car over to its new owner, a Japanese auto exporter. The trip is a high-mileage monolog as Richard reminisces about the formative influence of the automobile. After all, he's a third-generation Ford man. Motorist employs a chilling metaphor for its world of diminished expectations. Glamorous fifties promotional films and magazine ads find their mocking counterpart in a stretch of highway riddled with two-bit towns, a dinosaur park and the London Bridge. If the car promised a lavish journey through some boundless autopia, Motorist navigates a vast cultural cul-de-sac. The T-Bird's sale as the hard currency of American myth suggests it's already on a road to nowhere. -Steve Seid