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Dec
03
From an old people carrier to a surf bums’ beach ride. With barges like the Buick Park Avenue being rather cheap on the used car market, it is easy to imagine that a half-broke surfer dude would buy a car that has a lot of space. No money to fix the broken rear window? Just rivet in a random piece of sheet metal for extra privacy and use the leftover money from the last job to buy nice Trans-Am style wheels, fake wood trim for that old school look and a handful of hobby-related stickers.
Sep
05
A rainy sunday with cold wind gustst at the end of a super dry summer. No reason to leave the house and plenty of time to photoshop something. After fiddling around with a couple of projects that never quite get finished, I found a picture of a BMW E21 323i and immediately started modifying it. The most obvious choice would have been a BMW V8 engine swap, but because I wanted a USDM style theme on the vehicle, it made more sense to pretend that it is converted to a GM LS1 V8. The NASCAR inspired steel wheels give the car a more or less period-correct look and the overfenders add a more modern touch. The stance is a compromise between aggressive fitment and driveability – not too low, to remain functional. I removed the trim on the sides and the rear bumper and replaced them with two black stripes. The Alpina front spoiler, the rear wing and the diffusor create an aerodynamic package that has yet to be tested in a wind tunnel. This BMW E21 could be a daily driver with ample power and excellent gas mileage. Now, who wouldn’t want to have one?
Feb
14
A quick sketch on a napkin during lunch break last week inspired me to transform a full-size Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser into a station wagon surfers would have loved back in the late Sixties. Thanks to deleting the rear doors, the trunk space now reaches all the way forward to the B-pillar, which gives you plenty of room for the gear and a large sleeping area. The side glass has been replaced with metal, allowing for insulation and storage compartments on the inside walls. To ensure the period-correct look and feel I added fake wood to the sides, which is sourrounded by chrome trim. This also helps to stretch the lines of the vehicle. Imagine to lie in there with your favorite beach babe after a long day of surfing, pulling the curtains shut and gazing at the stars through the vista roof.
Check out the original image for comparison.
Feb
05
After the recent modification of a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham I went looking for more GM B-platform cars that could be modified. I found a picture of a Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon and immediately started to modify it. What I came up with is essentially similar to a Chevrolet Nomad: a two-door wagon. Because it looked rather odd with windows, I decided to take the conversion even further by modifying it into a panel van, lowering the car and giving it a wider track. Thanks to the body-on-frame design this shouldn’t be too hard to create in reality.
You don’t like it? Please feel free to enjoy the original picture.
Dec
28
What if downsizing the US land yachts went a little different?
Every car enthusiasts knows that the oil crisis in the early 1970’s eventually spelled the end for the gas guzzling land yachts. Cars from Europe and Japan with much better fuel economy flooded the US market and created a situation the big three had to face. They tried frantically to build something suitable. However, most cars they came up with were great achievements horrible miniature caricatures of the bygone era of dinosaurs. You fondly remember the downsized barges and new designs like the Ford Pinto, AMC Gremlin amongst others. Especially the shrunken Cadillacs and Lincolns put a sad expression on most peoples faces. But hey… what if they had approached the whole downsizing trend with a little bit of humor and left the interiors of the cars full-size and only compromised on the outside of the body and the drivetrain? They might have come up with something like this 1966 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special Shorty concept I created over Christmas. It puts a smile on your face, doesn’t it? 😉
Goal for 2018: smile more! Happy New Year! 🙂
Sep
09
Who didn’t love “spot the differences” pictures as a kid?
A friend of mine recently bought a Pontiac Bonneville SSE and one of the line-drawings in the manual left us guessing which car it actually depicted. It definitely wasn’t a Bonneville, that’s for sure. But, as always, our collective car brains eventually figured out what it was: an A-body Chevrolet Celebrity. While searching our brains google I found this old ad for the aforementioned vehicle and send it to my friends. We had a good laugh, mostly because of the mentioning of advanced technology. 🙂
Anyway… being the photoshop artist I am, there was no way I could leave the picture alone. Keeping with my motto that every vehicle has at least some sort of potential to look less boring I went to work. Ten minutes later it was finished: lowered, wheels enlarged and changed from convex to concave surface, sideskirts modified and a front airdam added. Looks less forgetable now, doesn’t it?
Time and again it is basically just a matter of subtle changes like lowering the car and adding a nice(er) set of wheels to make it look better…
Original picture for reference:
