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Feb
19
This is another one of those 15 minute challenges. I found a (very small and bad quality) picture of a Renault R18 Turbo wagon and thought this might look good converted into a shooting break. The actual shooting break conversion was done in six minutes, but it took forever to modify the rear wheel arch and to get the stance just right. The original ride height is more suited to a 4×4 trail than to a regular road and naturally I changed it. I kept the original wheel design, but increased the diameter an inch to 15″. This was fun, but it’s a shame the quality of the picture is horrible.
Prefer stock ride height and body? Check out the original picture.
PS: I might re-create this with a better picture at some point in the future.
Feb
11
GM thought it was a brilliant idea to add some Swedish flavor to their rather sad and uninteresting line of mid-size SUVs by introducing the SAAB 9-7X. The 9-7X was a classical GM badge-engineering job with a couple of different trim pieces here and there. It’s not hard at all to guess that the Swedish designers and engineers didn’t have a lot of influence in the development.
Let’s imagine GM would have given free reign to the Swedish colleagues, with the only mandatory requirement that they must build it on an existing platform. They might have come up with what I imagined in the pictures below: a SAAB 9-5 based SuperWagon. It would have featured more interior space, more windows for the kids to see out of during road-trips, better handling and fuel mileage than the horrendous 9-7X. The already spacious trunk space of the 9-5 Wagon would have been enlarged in height and width to fit all the necessary gear a family of four might need for a holiday.
Creating a 2-door delivery van for those needing less seat and more room for cargo would have been rather easy. To keep the distinct SAAB profile, the safety conscious Swedes would have added a window just aft of the B-pillar to improve visibility. Now only one question remains: do you think the SuperWagon variants would have sold better than the GMT360 platform based 9-7X?
Take a look at the original picture for reference.
Nov
21
Creating the BMW 2002 Touring was so much fun that I decided to run with the idea and turn it into a panel wagon. I kept the shortened front doors to maximize cargo space in the spacious rear compartment. Having done that I noticed that the half of the vehicle looked rather bland. 2002 Turbo fender flares and BBS E50 center-lock wheels help tremendously to remedy this situation. Gotta haul those BMW Motorsport parts in style!
PS: Wait for the next iteration if you don’t like the period-correct Saharabeige (oo6) of this version. 😉
Nov
16
Waking up to the news that Paul Rosche (aka Nocken Paule) passed away yesterday inspired me to finish a long-overdue project: the BMW 2002 4-door Touring.
Why would somebody want to do that? Well, a friend of mine thought about converting a 1:24 scale model of a BMW 02-series to a station wagen. He challenged me to design such a car with Photoshop, so he could use the picture as a reference for the build. Challenge accepted… but as always, it took (a lot) longer than expected. We agreed to leave the wheelbase as is, which made it very difficult to get the proportions right. Yes, the front doors are shortened and the rear doors are a little too short and only suitable for children – but the 02-series was never known to have much space for grown-ups. I wanted to keep the pop-out windows in the rear, even though it might only available at extra cost by ticking the right box on the order sheet. 😉
Rest in peace, Mr. Rosche. May one of your brilliantly designed engines live in the engine bay of this vehicle – should anyone ever build it in 1:1 scale.
Please let me know if you like the design and if you’re interested to see the other versions I cooked-up, based on the same original picture. Thank you in advance for your feedback.