1966 Thunderbird Speedster Showcar

"If I Had Been There"

Quick Study: Loyal blogreader, "Bobf," suggested I try a Speedster version of the mid '60s Thunderbird. This is what I came up with, in the manner of a period '66 Ford showcar, complete with Cragar wheels, whitewalls, cut-down windshield and redesigned side glass. I "welded" the rear fender skirts into the body, removed the doorhandles and nameplate, added the sidepipes and a modified '66 Mustang scoop trim piece, all things they might have done in the Ford studios of the time. I wouldn't mind taking a country drive in this Tbird! I started with a base photo from a website called Bold Ride, found a background image at a wallpaper site and did the rest with the magic of Photoshop.

B T W :

This car inspired me... I'd love to see a TV show based on the automobile industry in Detroit, circa 1958-71. It could be a Mad Men-ish look at a major automotive design studio, and its execs, designers, clay modelers, and their wives, boyfriends, affairs, drinking and swearing habits, their custom cars, rushed clay models, weekends at the Grosse Point Yacht club, hijinks, shenanigans, their personal relationships... You know, but with a heavy emphasis on the cars and how those cars affect their lives, professionally and personally. There could be a 10-minute Epilog at the end of each 80 minute episode; an historic "sidebar" of an actual show car and short history and sexy trivia.

B T W :

Marty Martino, a new reader to casey/artandcolour, but a long-time car builder and afficionado, mentioned the '63 Thunderbird Italien when commenting about my Speedster. A long time ago, I did a chop of what a square-edged '64 'Bird might have looked like with a fastback, hence my '64 Italien 2. I think this chop is about 5 years old. I'll take another stab at a factory Tbird fastback one of these days.

 

A full length brushed aluminum lower body side strip was added, too.

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1961 Plymouth Fury Design Tweak

Refining One of Virgil Exner's Last Masterpieces

For this week's design tweak, I chose a 1961 Plymouth Fury 2 door hardtop. While I find the original Exner design stunning, its contemporary buying public didn't agree. Many automotive hacks wracked their brains trying to colorfully describe this car—The Car that Ate Tokyo—a riff on the Japanese horror flicks of the day, comes to mind, and they still do to this day in classic car magazines. The "pinched" grille and dramatic headlight placement seems to be the car's main issues, although the suddenly finless body was referred to as a "plucked chicken" by Exner himself. My main issues are with the details. There are fussy chrome doodads, fussy side sculpturing and an abundance of shiny chrome slathered in the front. Ironically, Lexus is just now introducing its new "spindle" grille across its entire lineup, and it's almost exactly the same shape as this '61 Plymouth. See the BTW sidebar at the end of this post. Let me describe how I "fixed" it to my own tastes.

T H E   C H O P — First I "radiused" the rear wheel wells. This means I opened up the fenders to reveal the entire wheel and tire. The original had a very low wheel opening which didn't really relate to the front wheel well and made the rear end look like it was dragging. I think this change did the most for "lightening" the look of the car. I resculpted the sides, continuing the front fender shoulder all the way to the back of the car instead of ending it at the front door. I also eliminated the ornate trim behind the front doors, and lowered the entire car about 3 inches so it sat closer to the ground hugging the tires more. At the front, I blackened-out the grille, which simplified the look of it, and made the dramatic "swoosh" around the protruding headlights work better. I added a satin chrome "header" above the now-black grille, with P-L-Y-M-O-U-T-H letterspaced across it. This serves to "rationalize" the grille shape, giving more prominence to the horizontal aspects of it, rather than the angularity of the opening. The front bumper was simplified too, deleting the rather baroque center section with its five raised ridges, and I raised it a few inches so it wasn't so close to the ground.

The original photo of the '61 Fury. Note the odd way the front fender shoulder sculpturing stops at the front door cutline, though the chrome trim continues. Also, just behind the front door is a set of chrome hash marks that seem really out of place, though they do serve as a start for a small sliver of white paint, matching the two-toned roof. The rear of the car seems to drag, a combination of the now-finless rear fenders and very low wheel well opening.

BTW: 

Exner has the last laugh after all, as Lexus introduces its brand new "Spindle" grille on its entire lineup. I call it an updated '61 Plymouth grille!


U P D A T E :  For some reason my chop wasn't enlarging from the thumbnail. Now it should be.

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1971 Cadillac Eldorado Design Tweak

This was a fun chop to create! I've been thinking of older Cadillacs a lot lately, and have been finding original publicity photos online and saving them to my hard drive. This was a black-and-white press photo of the new-for-1971 Eldorado convertible, a car that is most definitely a modern classic. In addition to the design changes, detailed below, I added in a subtle 4-color hand-tinted look to the rendering.

For this design "tweak," the biggest change I made was restoring the hidden headlights of the 1967-68 Eldorados. Besides being a very period touch, hidden headlights really clean up a front end. I broadened the grille to full-width, removed the stand-up hood ornament and added the Cadillac wreathe-and-crest to the hood, a '67-'70 styling cue. Then I cleaned up the bodysides, removing the mid-level chrome spear and the front nameplate and engine logo. I moved the front cornering lights down into the rocker panel to blend better with the chromed rocker panels between the wheelwells. I left the nifty decorative rear fender "vent" as it's such a great nod to not only the original Eldorado of '53 but most Cadillac models of the '50s. Then I added back in a teeny tiny letterspaced E-L-D-O-R-A-D-O nameplate on the lower front fender and a wreathe-and-crest logo on the rear fender. Last addition? A Connecticut license plate.

Overall, I tried to "clean up" a classic GM design. Ballsy perhaps, but the late, great Bill Mitchell isn't around to yell at me, lol. But that would be COOL!

T E C H N I C A L   T H O U G H T — At first I completely "shaved" the sides of the car, airbrushing in a perfect white paint job where I had removed the chrome bodyside spear etc. But the sides looked too "flat" without reflections. I looked back at the original image and added back in the very subtle horizontal reflections all along the lower sides of the car. Now I think they look like I didn't quite remove the chrome spear correctly, lol. I went back and forth several times, with them, without them, with them, without them, finally deciding to leave them in the final rendering.

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Buick Encue—Their Active New Middle Child

Meet Buick's midsize crossover, my new Encue, slotting nicely between their small Encore and their large Enclave. Woody, my friend that writes Woody's Car Site blog, suggested this chop and I thank him for the idea! The base photo was the brand new for-Europe-only Chevrolet Trailblazer. I modified the Encore's front clip to fit the wider and longer Trailblazer body and added a few casey/artandcolour touches including Buick's famed "Tricolor" badge, the letterspaced B-u-i-c-k nameplate above the grille and the chrome "teeth" in the now-functional scoops below the headlights. Other detail changes include a taller rearmost side window, the glass paneled roof, and a few added chrome embelishments here and there.

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Needs Work! '80s Imperial Crown Coupe

1982 Imperial Crown Coupe—restoration needed! One of my tongue-in-cheek chops, this was a perfectly acceptable 1982 Imperial coupe when I started with it. I gave it a more "private" greenhouse with a stainless steel "crown" roof section, much wider C pillars, a 1960s Imperial nameplate on the trunk, and larger wheels on blackwall tires. Then I gave it rusty patches bubbling up in several places, chalky paint and a For Sale sign, placing the car in a typical stretch of car dealerships in Anytown, USA. I think this design could have worked, Chrysler certainly wasn't against retro styling, the Imperial often flaunted Classic-era touches. (I did this chop a while ago, but couldn't find it posted. Maybe I just didn't label it properly, but if that's the case, please enjoy it a second time!)

: )

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First Gen Audi TT Tweak

Could the third generation Audi TT draw inspiration from the bold first gen rather than the meek second gen? As much as I loved the original TT, the uninspired second series left me cold—unusual for an Audi, one of my favorite brands! For this chop, I started with the original '90s TT and enlarged the side windows. This made the roofline flatter and less bulbous and also opened up the interior. I dropped the door handles a few inches to better line up with the head- and taillights, and I darkened the rocker panels except for the lower doors. I like the "form follows function" look of the rounded lower doors "breaking" the dark rocker trim. I also added a three-dimensional embossed Audi nameplate to the doors. Following the existing cutlines on the trunk/hatch, I divided the taillights into separate clear and red sections and gave them a high-tech grid appearance for updated LEDs. To match, I did a similar treatment with the wraparound front headlights. I enlarged the wheels and blackened portions of the rim for a much bolder look and actually raised the ride height a little bit. This TT would be a Quattro model, and I like the idea of a slightly higher-riding vehicle, perhaps for rallying. The glass roof section rounds out the changes I made to this iconic little German sportscar.

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Fusion Energi 5-door Hatchback: Plug-In Sleekness

My newest stab at playing with Ford's hot new Fusion is this sleek 5-door hatchback. Besides the sleeker greenhouse, and new black glass roof, I darkened the rocker panels. I also detailed the taillight graphics with a matte black panel tying them together with a chrome license plate plinth for a bit of sparkle. With today's cars virtually monochromatic from wheels to roof, I miss the darker/brighter/two-toned detailing that older cars featured. I think they added great visual interest when done well. New, lighter wheels a  bit of sporting appeal to this electric plug-in Fusion Energi.

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