what IS it?

So I’ve been mad-curious about this beat-up, colorful car, filled to the roof with crap and adorned with things like a barstool, an umbrella on rainy days, and a fire extinguisher. (Tonight there’s a mattress on the roof.) I think it’s been there for nearly a month, sitting in the same spot on Harvard Street, three spaces down from Inman Street in Cambridge.

This past Saturday, I thought enough was enough. I took photos:




Then I asked the guy sitting outside, across the street from said vehicle, if he knew what was going on. He was either high or just plain stupid, but somewhere in his mumblings I heard something about “art” and people being able to add their trash to it.

On the passenger-side window, there are handwritten notes, but all I could make out what “chpd,” a warning about the car being under surveillance, and a telephone number.

I’ve been suckered in at this point; my curiosity is piqued. And yet, somehow I’ll be incredibly disappointed if this is a planned “art installation.” I’d rather that some homeless person has been amazingly creative with an abandoned vehicle.

Anyone know?