Art pieces where discarded items are transformed into something new and old at the same time are among the coolest types of sculpture to me. The world is full of worn-out, tossed items, and with the right amount of creativity, they can become beautiful. Last week, I might have found one of the greatest examples of creative reuse. A small business in Minnesota takes old, weathered parts from cars, planes, motorcycles, farming equipment, and other machinery, then turns them into epic steampunk-style lamps and tables. I fell in love so hard with Machine Age Lamps’ wares that I bought an example for myself.
I have a confession to make. I’m so addicted to vehicles that they don’t just stay in the parking lot or in a garage, I bring them into my home, too. For the past seven years, I’ve had a Honda Spree scooter in my living room, hubcaps to some old Ford on my wall, and even a Smart Fortwo’s engine block in my closet. There may or may not have been a tailgate to a Volkswagen Touareg in my apartment for a couple of years. So you can only imagine my face when I stumbled upon the Machine Age Lamps booth at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2026 last week. Normally, I ignore most of the vendors at AirVenture, but I just couldn’t pass up on this one.
There are a lot of individuals and companies out there turning discarded items into functional art. In my bedroom right now is a retired taxiway light that was turned into a lamp. I’ve also written about countless old trucks, buses, and other vehicles that were turned into beautiful homes after their primary service lives ended. If you go onto Etsy right now, you can find hundreds of sellers all slinging lamps and other home decor that was made out of old machine parts. Just turning parts into decoration isn’t really unique in itself.
What makes Machine Age Lamps stand out to me is an attention to detail that I have not seen anywhere else. This company doesn’t just weld or bolt some car parts to a lamp and call it a day. Instead, each piece is unique and, if it could talk, would tell a story. At the very least, they reeled me in enough that I bought a lamp and hauled it all the way home from Wisconsin.
From Best Buy To Steampunk Art
Machine Age Lamps is a small business based out of Farmington, Minnesota, and its story sounds like the birth of many modern small businesses. From Machine Age Lamps:
Machine Age Lamps began with a simple idea and a meaningful gift.
Shawn Carling wanted to create something special for his father for Christmas. Something that reflected the life his dad had spent on the farmily farm. After finding a few old tractor parts, Shawn decided to turn them into a lamp. What started as a small, personal project quickly became something much more. His father loved the gift, and so did everyone else who saw it.
That single lamp changed Shawn’s life.
After spending 25 years in corporate management, Shawn made the decision to step away from the corporate world and follow a passion he had since childhood: building and creating with his hands. Today, he designs and builds one-of-a-kind steampunk industrial lamps using authentic vintage gauges, gears, and other industrial artifacts. Each piece is handcrafted and completely unique. What began in his garage at home has now found its way into homes, restaurants, bars, corporate spaces around the world. From Las Vegas to Hong Kong to Tasmania. Shawn loves what he does and doesn’t see that changing for a long long time.
Shawn says that, in his past life, he worked the daily corporate grind within Best Buy, and he was the only one who came to management meetings with grease trapped under his fingernails. The blue and yellow tech retailer giant paid the bills, but it wasn’t gratifying. Shawn really enjoyed working with his hands.
Machine Age Lamps started small, right in the garage shared by Shawn and his wife, Lori. To create his pieces, Shawn scours eBay and salvage yards for items to reclaim. Dash clusters from scrapped cars, airplane instrument panels, old pipes, and steam gauges from the early 1900s are some of his favorite pieces. Apparently, the shop has such a huge fanbase that people regularly email Shawn with unique pieces they’ve found that would make for great lamps.
Shawn says that his inspiration is the American industrial age from the 1800s through the 1900s. Back then, he says, companies proudly engraved, embossed, stamped, or painted their names on everything they built. These weren’t small logos, either, but large ones that were hard to miss. You couldn’t operate a machine without knowing what company built it.
These pieces also have character and stories. Shawn isn’t just pulling an instrument cluster out of a disposed car. The car that the cluster was attached to was likely once someone’s pride and joy. Someone drove that car to work, took it on dates, or who knows, maybe even had some naughty stoplight drag.
Shawn says that one memorable build began when a customer pulled an old steam gauge out of the basement of her grandparents’ home and asked Shawn to turn it into a lamp. That lamp reminded the customer of visiting her grandparents during her childhood and seeing that gauge in the basement all those decades ago. I love stuff like this. Even if your piece of equipment, plane, or car might never run again, maybe you can hold onto a piece of it, turn it into something new, and enjoy the memories from it.
Planes, Trucks, And Automobiles
The Machine Age Lamps booth at Oshkosh stopped me in my tracks. I suppose it was a mix of the yellow lights and all of the steam gauges, but I was drawn right in.
On the floor of the booth sat this table, and there’s just so much going on here. There are all sorts of valves, pipes, and gauges under the glass, and even the perimeter of the table has a lot to look at, from the wood to even more pipes and contrasting metal pieces. Apparently, the wood is naturally weathered as it came from an old barn. The lights can be dimmed or turned off, too. The price? $5,999.99.
The shop sells lots of tables like these, including some with engine blocks under them, a couple of tables made from vintage boilers, and one made from a water wagon.
The cheapest coffee table, pictured below, is the water wagon table at $3,195.
If steampunk tables aren’t your jam, the company also makes tables out of Jeep front ends, outboard motors, tractor radiators, car front clips, and more.
It was the lamps that caught my attention the most. Machine Age Lamps has lamps made out of Chevrolet Bel Air instrument clusters, vintage brake lights, pistons, air cleaners, and even truck tailgates.
These parts aren’t just welded together and sent out. Look at the cluster there; it has working lights, a clear crystal, and bold paint. Yet, it still has patina from years of use.
It’s the same deal with the outboard motor lamp. It was scratched up with faded, thin paint. The motor is well-used, and who knows how many lakes it’s seen. Yet, it’s also in good enough condition to look stellar.
I especially like how the light is buried inside this one, and the glow comes out from underneath. The price? $1,999.99
On the wall was something really special. Shawn took the nose and some Lycoming engine parts from a Piper PA-22, then connected the nose cone to a rotating platform from Semco Motion. It was mesmerizing to watch the lightbulb “propeller” spin. How much? $4,399.
Machine Age Lamps also has an entire line of art and furniture with officially licensed Shelby branding. Apparently, the tables and other art here feature real engine blocks and parts from Shelby vehicles.
From the shop:
Every piece is signed, numbered, and officially registered with Shelby American. Each creation also features an authentic aluminum placard, styled after the iconic Shelby identification plates used on historic Shelby vehicles.
Through our licensing agreement with Shelby American, we are able to use official Shelby colors, logos, designs, and Carroll Shelby’s signature on our Shelby-featured creations. These elements can be incorporated into custom builds—allowing us to create a one-of-a-kind piece tailored to the vision you have for your space.
Machine Age Lamps is honored to be the exclusive licensed furniture and home decor company to hold this unique agreement with Shelby American. We have proudly held this partnership since 2019, allowing us to bring authentic Shelby design elements into our handcrafted creations while celebrating the brand’s legendary heritage.
The company’s most popular product is #130, which pairs a 1900s steam gauge with a bunch of pipes and bulbs for $1,499.
I Got A Valve Cover Lamp
My lamp was one of the Machine Age Lamps’ simpler creations. It pairs a discarded and dented Avco Lycoming valve cover with piping, a tractor gear, and a stylish lamp.
What drew me in was the soft glow of the light over the Lycoming branding on the cover.
I also love looking at the finer details, like the damage to the valve cover and the markings on the pipes.
The whole creation is heavy, and its vibe feels like something from the world of BioShock, or some contraption made by a survivor in a Fallout game. I paid $399.99, and I think it’s worth every penny.
My images just don’t do it justice. I could stare at this thing all day. If I had unlimited money, I’d have a garage full of these works sitting next to my motorcycles. I could even see someone justifying the huge prices of the steampunk tables.
I Want To See More Of This
So, if you have hundreds or thousands of dollars burning a hole in your pocket and you’re looking for some sweet car, motorcycle, plane, boat, or other mechanical art, I cannot recommend Machine Art Lamps enough. Of course, you sort of have to be into steampunk style. If you aren’t, I wouldn’t blame you for not liking it.
Even though I cannot afford most of what Shawn makes, I’m happy he’s doing it. So many things get thrown away, abandoned, or scrapped. There’s a whole world of vintage everyday items that are getting lost to time. I love that there are people turning them into something new.
The next time you’re thinking about throwing out some old equipment, maybe consider if it has a second life. Who knows, maybe a weirdo like me will come by and buy it!
Top graphic images: Mercedes Streeter; Machine Age Lamps
Wow, these really are so unique and gorgeous…plus it’s great to support local businesses such as this even though the prices on some of these items are…astronomical
I have long been infatuated with repurposed wing section and jet cowling furniture. I believe Relic Design and Plane Industries are two of the groups I have seen do it best. Now, if I can just convince the wife they’re worth the price.
I LOVE repurposing old car parts as decor. The walls of my garage are covered in old car parts, from classic VW wheels used as reels for my air compressor, and extension cords, to my retired Indy Car rear wheel that I put RGB led lights into above my work bench.
My best friend is a vintage BMW guy, and he and I went to the junkyard a few months back and took the face off of a wrecked e23 7 series. He painted it and wired the lights to work as a wall-mounted light fixture in his garage. SO many possibilities with old parts!
Very cool stuff.
I like the idea of repurposing things. It’s moved into the garage now that I don’t have a finished basement, but I built a couch and rolling chair out of the back seat and passenger seat of a Range Rover many years ago (probably close to 15 years ago at this point. I walked past it at the Detroit Autopian’s favorite junkyard, US Auto, and thought it was way too nice to stay in the car. Total cost was under $300 with the wood I needed, and it’s way more comfortable and durable than any traditional couch I’ve owned. And there’s a fold down armrest with cup-holders in the center of the couch.
Reminds me a little of Jeremy Clarkson winning a challenge by creating furniture from a worn out Porsche.
I like the lamps but don’t think I want to feel like I’m about to be kneecapped by a Chrysler sitting down at the table.
I supposed 75 years from now some guy will be taking Tesla dashboards and turning them into retro digital clocks.
Rumor has it, that after reading this article, DT has begun selling Hubcap cake pans!! ???? 😉
I will take an airfilter lamp please.
Ooo, I like that valve cover lamp. What’s the other side look like?
edit: wait…is it two covers clamshelled?
Brings back memories. Once upon a time I had dreams of becoming an A&P, but after 6 months of being berated by a slave-driver of a boss because I wasn’t working fast enough I’d had enough and went back to what I knew. I’m an absolute n00b to GA with no training whatsoever and he’s complaining I’m not tearing down the Baron engine with a popped jug or getting the Cherokee’s gear rebuilt with new seals fast enough? Yeah, neither his pay nor my love of aviation was strong enough to make the abuse worth it.
Stretching things a bit from rusty car parts, but a good story from France in a similar vein….
A son-in-law, good with hands and with an arty bent, got down a magnificent Asian hornets nest, one late November, being assured by experts that all the hornets would have left.
He took it to his unheated workshop, and turned it into a magnificent lamp for a Christmas present for his in-laws.
They of course were delighted and plugged in the lamp during the family festivities.
And as the lamp warmed the nest, an ominous buzzing was heard..
A dozen of the beasts suddenly rushed out, causing panic and confusion.
Years ago, one of the various “let’s make a show about some small shop making cool stuff run by interesting (possibly unstable) people” shows was WingNuts. They followed MotoArt (who still exist), and dona VERY high end version of this by pulling parts from aviation graveyards.
My MotoArt collection is at something like 20 now. Just picked up a skin from an Embraer E190, a Boeing 787, and a Space Shuttle SRB.
Oh, did they start doing things that aren’t $10K?!?!? Oh, this is bad news for my wallet
I’m a ship nerd. My prized piece is an aluminum towel bar from a stateroom off the SS United States. The fastest cruise ship in the world with an estimated 240,000 horsepower. It’s made of aluminum like much of the rest of the ship to make it lighter. It’s in our kitchen now used for kitchen towels.
I get it, and some of these pieces are very good art. But somewhere out there, the owner of a 1950s Chrysler is weeping because he’s been searching for a decent bumper, but it’s been turned into art. You can’t find a tailgate for your vintage pickup in the junkyard, because they’ve all been pillaged and turned into benches for Boomers.
This is like a redneck fever dream. Reminds me of all of those fake 1950’s retro boomboxes from the 90’s shaped like the front of a 57′ Belair.
Did you have the VHS rewinder shaped like a Bel Air?
No, instead we had some Mitsubishi VCR that had a SUPER fast rewind function that went a billion miles and hour and then automatically slowed down as it got towards the start. I always wanted one though
I make lamps out of old MTB parts: old style QR hub axles are the same M10x1.0 thread as standard lamp holders over here, so they tend to be a couple of hubs high, with a base made from a floating brake disc and a high-end aluminium spider rear cassette as decoration at the top. I tweak the freewheels so the cassettes still rotate, and the hubs.
I’ve also made a few trophies out of old car parts. It’s nice to turn broken cool things into something new. One of my old coil-overs became a trophy for a drift competition.
On the 427 Shelby Cobra thing, they used small block Ford valve covers not 427 ones.
this is all so damn cool.
thank you for doing a deep dive on this, I was so interested when you mentioned it in your earlier piece.
I love that air filter lamp! And I’m glad there are people out there willing to upcycle old parts into something else. Last month I sold a Wrangler body tub (rusted through in multiple places) to a guy for 200. I was intrigued why he would go to the trouble of picking up an unwieldy, clearly knackered part and even pay for it. He said he was going to turn it into a bar for the garage where he and his pals wrench on their Jeeps.
At one point I strongly considered pulling a C4 Corvette hood I found in a junkyard and turning it into a coffee table; but it was gone before I got back to the yard after building a frame.
Every chair in my house is a repurposed automotive seat on a custom frame and caster wheels, as is my office chair at work.
I love the repurposing of these unique items, esp the car and plane bits. Not 100% my style, but cool nonetheless. My grandfather used to build lamps out of found materials such as wooden pulleys, “repowered” railroad lanterns, and cast iron coffee grinders, amongst many other crafty projects that he and my grandmother would sell in their antiques shop alongside regular, non-modified furniture.
To those working with their hands and creating things, big ups to you!
I’m gonna be a big negative Nancy here…
I’m way over the fake patina and preserved patina look. Half their stuff has that.
I also think it’s crazy there’s so many ugly booger welds on these things for the price. Heck, on the threaded black pipe, don’t weld the joints at all. Torque them to east-bejeezus or use some red thread locker.
And personally, I think most of this stuff looks like it belongs in the garage of that rich blue collar guy who owns his own excavating company and has a 60x150ft shop and probably owns a ’31 Ford, ’55 Chevy, ’64 Corvette, and about four other stereotypical Boomer cars (hey, I like them too).
I will nance negatively with you.
I 1000% respect the desire to work with your hands. I essentially work professionally to fund the ability to do things I want to be doing – I just bought a welder not two weeks ago.
You’re right-on both about the aesthetic, which is admittedly mostly a matter of taste and the associated culture (as you mention) and the execution. I saw that exact same globby weld and had the exact same thought about the black pipe.
These look like high dollar Cracker Barrel props, Machine Age rococo, without the wood-and-brass warmth of steampunk, the elegance of the Gilded Age, or the sleekness of modernity or futurism.
I want to know why they think it needs to be welded. You can put enough twist on black pipe that you’ll basically never get it off. Hell, my house has old electrical black pipe conduit that is taper-threaded together and I’ve never had one work loose (I admit it being in the walls and thus not handled likely helps).
Yes, I’m making mountains out of molehills, and the biggest thing is that most of these pieces I simply do not like the aesthetic.
To each their own.
Heh, I use black iron for furnace nozzles. There’s a slight taper to the threaded portion so it starts very easily, and then can be cinched to ungodly levels of torque. Throw in a few dozen heat cycles to 1500C* and it might as well be welded!
*And one massive burn well past that. I still have the slag somewhere in the pile. 1.5kg of copper is hard to melt!
Edit: ha! You mentioned the taper and I bumped right over it. More validation we’re seeing the same things here.
Very eloquently put. I was just gonna say it reminds me of some ‘stomp-clap’ hipster millennial $20 burger joint, but that works too.
Yeah.. I don’t want to yuck anybody’s yum, but at those prices they could have at least used stainless pipe fittings.
I am with you for some of the pieces. But the air filter lamp is genius.
Right? I’m trying to find a nice shade for my dining room, and guess I should have been looking at NAPA rather than IKEA.
Yeah, the air filter lamp shade is good. I actually like the lightbulbs as propeller blades too, but I think it’s also tacky. Just tacky in a way I like.
That air filter lamp shade though… man, replace it with a 4″ filter and might be on to something.
Same same.. I’m suspicious about the recycle aspect as well, sure some of the parts are clearly “junkyard”, but the black pipe isn’t