Clown car

{{Short description|Circus routine}}

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File:Lou Jacobs miniature clown car and gas pump, 1951-1952, wood, metal, paint - Circus Museum - John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art - Sarasota, FL - DSC00458.jpg

A clown car is a prop in a common circus clown routine, which involves a large number of clowns emerging from a small car. The first performance of this routine was in the Cole Bros. Circus during the 1950s.{{cite book |last=Feiler |first=Bruce |author-link=Bruce Feiler |title=Under the Big Top |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-06-052702-0 |page=71}} The effect is usually produced by removing all of a car's internal components like door panels, headliners, engines, seats, and any interior barrier to the trunk, and then filling the enlarged space with as many clowns as possible.{{cite web |url=https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15125743/the-physics-of-clown-cars-feature/ |title=The Physics Of: Clown Cars |first=John Pearley |last=Huffman |website=Car and Driver |date=March 28, 2011 |access-date=November 10, 2018}} Greg DeSanto of the International Clown Hall of Fame estimates that somewhere between 14 and 21 clowns and their props could fit into a car prepared in this manner.