World Record for the largest car mosaic.

This past Saturday, Subaru of America Inc.’s Great Lakes Region, organized what was said to be the largest parade of Subaru cars ever made — 339 cars, in the Village of Itasca, Illinois, U.S.

Guinness World Record adjudicator, Carlos Martínez, officially announced the new world record by presenting the World Records certificates to Mr. Tom Gehrke, of Subaru of America Inc., and to Chief Bob O’Connor, representing the Village of Itasca.

This isn’t the first Subaru traffic jam,  so to speak.

A massive mosaic, made entirely of Subaru cars, almost a kilometer long, spelled the name Colin McRae alongside the Scottish flag, was assembled on 31 August 2008 in Warwickshire, U.K.

Colin McRae, the Scottish rally driver who died in a helicopter accident in 2007, inspired more than four thousand Subaru enthusiasts and an expert team of volunteer marshals who guided car after car into place, 1,068 times. This feat earned the new Guinness World Record for the largest car mosaic.

The largest parade of 265 horse-drawing carriages at Tipperary Racecourse, Limerick, Ireland, on 3 August 2008.

Subaru is not alone in using Guinness to generate publicity.

• The record for the largest parade of Fiat cars is 500 and was organized, fittingly, by the Fiat 500 Club Italia. This took place between Villanova d’Albenga and Garlenda in Italy on July 9, 2006.
• The record for the largest parade of Ferrari cars is 490 and was achieved by Cornes & Company Limited at the Fuji Speedway Circuit, Shizuoka, Japan on 11 May 2008.
• A total of 249 Mazda MX-5 cars took part in a parade organized by Mazda (New Zealand) at Alexandra Park, Auckland, New Zealand on October 9, 2005.
• A total of 178 BMW Isetta cars took part in a parade organized by Maren Bohl (Germany) in Rödental near Coburg, Germany, on 23 August 2008. The Isetta, of course was a small BMW car produced during the 1950’s with three wheels (two front, one back) and a front entrance.

However my own personal favorite world record is for the largest parade of horse-drawing carriages, which was achieved by 265 carriages at Tipperary Racecourse, Limerick, Ireland, on 3 August 2008.