3 tonnes, 8ft tall ... and missing

The sculpture, made from junk, was in Aotea Square in the 1980s and was about to have a new life. Photo / Supplied

A three-tonne, 8ft tall sculpture made from junk has gone missing, and the artist fears it may have been broken down into scrap and sold.

The Oblivion Xpress was built by Frank Womble, also known as Frank Zimmerman, and sat in Aotea Square in the 1980s.

But it went missing from a storage yard in Kelston last month and has not been seen since.

"Someone has obviously taken a shining to it and thinks it would look better in their yard than where it was, I just hope it hasn't become scrap," said Womble, who is now based in Leigh.

After being in storage for a number of years, the sculpture was about to be restored as it was to be used by a Japanese production company in a documentary about recycling.

Ralph Davies, the owner of Auckland production company CineArt Productions discovered the sculpture was missing when he arrived at the locked storage yard to transport it to Studio West film studios in Glen Eden where it was going to be displayed.

Mr Davies said while the sculpture is valuable as an art piece, it is made of "wonderfully chosen pieces of junk", which themselves are not worth much.

Mr Davies and a friend of Womble, Michael Guy from Whangaparaoa, both get the feeling the sculpture has been taken by someone living near to the storage yard.

"The Oblivion has a steering wheel and you can actually sit in and [pretend to] drive - I think that would take the fancy of a fair few people"

"I'd say it's on the back of a property or a paddock somewhere".

So far the theft has not been reported to police. Womble said he has not reported it because if people think police are not out looking for them, they may be more inclined to quietly return it.