They're Watching Me, Part 199, lol

Mercedes Benz just introduced its new CLS Shooting Brake in Europe, the red wagon in the bottom of the photo. My Cadillac CTS Sportwagon is at the top. I Photoshopped the Caddy wagon more than two years ago and I find the striking similarity to the actual new Mercedes interesting! Of course, it helps Mercedes showed their new wagon in red, an uncharacteristic choice for the sober Teutonic manufacturer, which usually features its new cars in silver, but I'm sure it's just a coincidence... or is it, lol?

Dreaming & Flying & Living

"Deadly" Nightshade climbing on the boardwalk in town.

I think the shadows in this photo look like they're leaving for their own afternoon adventure. They don't really seem all that connected to-, or even related to-, the leaves and stems. I like to think I captured this this purple-and-yellow flowering wild vine as it was lazily daydreaming. Perhaps I captured its shadow/dreams departing on their almost-Summer mid-afternoon romp.

B T W : 

"Birds sing after a storm; Why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains yo them."

—Rose Kennedy (1890-1995)

This photo was shot on Thursday, with birds flying under the storm clouds, while there's just a bit of blue sky finally breaking out on the right. These birds were squawking, and singing, and shaking the rain off their wings, and the scene reminded me of the quote by President Kennedy's mother, Rose, above. If it reminds long-time readers of something else, I paraphrased the quote last year on this chop of a new Lincoln sport sedan...

I paraphrased Mrs. Kennedy's quote for the tagline on this early 2011 chop of a rear wheel-drive Lincoln sport sedan.

2013 Lincoln MKZ—Theirs/Mine. Close/No Cigar!

 

2013 MKZ concept vehicle just shown in Detroit—the first fastback Lincoln since the 1949 Cosmopolitan Town Sedan!

The glass roof, arched roofline, full width taillights and letterspaced L-I-N-C-O-L-N on the trunklid were previewed on my MKE below. What I don't "get" on this car, is the matte black panel below the rear window on the trunklid. I 'm guessing it's supposed to make the rear window look larger, but it's an odd fake touch to me. I would have worked out a different solution.

 

B R E A K I N G   N E W S — Just introduced at the North American International Automobile Show in Detroit, this Lincoln MKZ concept vehicle is a thinly disguised peek at their production version due in the Spring. I'm still digesting the details, and trying to decide just how much of the car is "show" and how much will be on the production version. Overall, I'm struck at the difference between Cadillac's design direction, which borders on macho and performance, and Lincoln's, which seems to be smoothly futuristic and efficient. Of course, both are full luxury automakers, and both will offer all the electronic bells and whistles necessary in today's market, but the way they're going about it is striking. In all of my 30+ chops of new Lincolns in the past 18 months, I didn't quite get "there" with the MKZ, but parts of mine have shown up on this concept. 

Even though I used a 4-window greenhouse instead of the new concept's 6-window, there is something about the overall geometric shape of the windows and arched roof of my MKE and the MKZ concept car that are very similar. I'm glad to see L-I-N-C-O-L-N letterspaced on the rear trunklid of the real car, too.

I was "designing" fastback Lincolns as long ago as 1988!

 Another fastback, glass-roofed MKZ, my Sportback from 2010.

My fastback MKZ coupe from early 2011.


 Another of my fastback MKZ renderings, this time a sedan from 2011. I emphasized the fastback with a horizontal triangular sixth window, and Lincoln has demphasized theirs with a slimmer, more vertical sixth window, but the idea of a sleeker, fastback Lincoln is very similar.

My Lincoln MKL from 2010 used a 6-window greenhouse very similar to the new MKZ concept.

Now I'm Just Bragging, lol. Acura NSX Concept

 

With the exception of a few details, the just-released Acura NSX concept looks exactly like the rendering I was commissioned to do for Automotive News last month! I checked out almost every car magazine I could find at the time, and now that I've seen the real car, above, I really have to say that my rendering was the closest of any of them. Working with Mark Rechtin, the AN editor that attended the press briefing, was a great experience and as you can see below, completely worthwhile!

 Front page rendering I created for Automotive News, December 12, 2011

• Original post, here. 

I Wasn't That Far Off—Cadillac ATS Revealed!

2013 Cadillac ATS, revealed today for the North American International Automobile Show in Detroit next week. Official press photo, above,

B R E A K I N G   N E W S — The production version of Cadillac's new small car, the ATS has been revealed. This is Caddy's rear wheel drive BMW 3-series fighter. Rendered earlier in the year for Automobile magazine, I used Cadillac's Platinum concept for the base. I made it smaller, gave it rear wheel drive proportions, and shortened the rear overhang and rear seat area. If I had only moved the door handles into the side swage, and used the extended headlights from my even earlier Seville rendering, below, I'd have been 95% there! 

My rendering of what I thought the ATS might look like, commissioned by Automobile magazine for its July 2011 issue.

If I had incorporated the exaggerated headlights from my rendering of a future Seville I did almost 18 months ago, September 2010, I'd have been that much closer to the production ATS. Enlarge the image to see how I extended the headlights along the fender top past the halfway mark of the front wheel, exactly like the production ATS. Which came first—my Seville headlights or the production ATS, lol? Original Seville link, here.

This profile of the new ATS shows how they stole my Seville's headlight design, lol. Just kidding Mr. Welburn, you've done a GREAT job with this new compact Cadillac!

• Ed Welburn is GM's VP of Design, and has a very cool list of GM's top designs, here.
  

Happy Winter Solstice 2011!

2011's Winter Solstice occurs just after midnight tonight, 12:35 EST, but I'm not sure if that means today is the shortest or tomorrow, lol. At any rate, the days will VERY soon become longer. YES! I know Winter hasn't even begun yet, but I know now that Spring is just 8-12 weeks away, a time I can start walking around outside and see which of the perennials have made it through the winter and which didn't. 

Illustrated here is my chop of the now-defunct Pontiac Solstice, a very eye-catching little convertible roadster. I decided a couple of years ago to create this sedan with a full roof and the name "Winter Solstice" just seemed perfect for it. Stonehenge in the background welcoming the winter sun. I might have posted this very illustration for LAST year's Winter Solstice. With these short days I find myself with less and less inspiration! I'm sure that will turn around soon, too.

I've Made Hemmings Motor News Blog

My quick chop of a '68 Cadillac with a fastback roofline has been picked up by Hemmings Motor News Blog this weekend. I've been reading Hemmings, and their collectible car magazines, Special Interest Autos and now Hemmings Classic Cars, since 1973. It's really cool to see a car creation of mine posted there. Thanks to Dan Strohl and Hemmings!

• More on this chop at my car blog.
• More about Hemmings history, and titles, here. I still have all of my SIA issues back to '73 and all but about 2-3 issues of HCC since it started publishing in 2004.
• To read Dan's great essay, Old Oak Trees, click here. I took a break from blogging last February, and ended the first year's blogs with Dan's essay. It really says it all about my love of cars, their place in my life, and the memories they evoke.

DIgital Beetle Woody vs. Real Country Squirt

I just used Photoshop to create a new Beetle "Woody. It's an homage to the Country Squirt, an actual ancient VW Beetle that I customized when I was a kid, see below. 

C H O P — For this digital image, first I changed the new Beetle coupe into a 4-door sedan. Then I added the wood siding on the sides and hatch. I used a lighter grain wood for the framing, perhaps Ash, and then applied a darker veneer, perhaps Mahogany, in between, just as many carmakers did on their Woody Wagons in the 1930s. I know no one would introduce a new Woody, but I think the second generation New Beetle body lends itself to a plain, painted-side, 4-door version.

The original, and real, VW Country Squirt which I created in the early 1970s. I've written about this little cutie before, click here to read.

Now They Can Be Shown, My ATS, GTC, and GW

The next issue of Automobile is on the newsstands now, so I can now post the three renderings I did for their June edition. My take on the new-for-2012, entry-level, rear-wheel drive Cadillac ATS sport sedan. I was given some spy shots to work from, so I'm fairly confident the "bones" of this car are very close to what GM will be introducing next year. It seems to be a bit "rounder" than the all-angles CTS. Perhaps GM is softening Cadillac's Art and Science design language just a bit. All three images enlarge nicely.

This is the next generation Bentley Continental GTC, or cabriolet. I used the brand new GT coupe as the base, and fashioned an interior, top boot and trunklid similar to the current GTC for continuity. I kept the original press photo's cool background for this rendering.

My Jeep Grand Wagoneer, a slightly larger 3-row version of the new Grand Cherokee. I was told that this larger Jeep would be competing with the Cadillac Escalade so I made it a bit bolder and "blingier" than the Cherokee. I lengthened the rear doors as well as the rear overhang, for a luxurious look and ride for 7 passengers. The chrome, cursive "Grand Wagoneer" nameplate on the front door is the same as used on the classic Wagoneers of the '80s and early '90s.  

For the ATS and Jeep renderings, I was asked to keep the background plain, for the best layout possibilities, and I also furnished them with "clipping paths" which is the way the background can be totally dropped out for cleaner layouts.

This was a really fun project—fast and furious, really, lol. I had about 2-3 days for each photoshopped rendering. I work best with hard and fast deadlines though, so it was all good, and, once again, I thank Eric Tingwall, Automobile's Associate Editor, for this opportunity

On Newsstands Now!

Automobile's June issue is on newsstands right now. My first print-published automotive renderings can be held in your hands, taken on an airplane, perused over a cup of coffee at your favorite coffeeshop, or just carried around in your backpack and shown to anyone that even looks your way—which is what I do, lol. My Bentley GTC is on page 49, the Cadillac ATS is on page 52, and the Jeep Grand Wagoneer is on page 68. I even have a letter-to-the-editor published on page 36, a tribute to the late, great, Davie E. Davis, Jr. Buy one, buy ten, and enjoy! I'll wait a few more weeks to post the cars themselves, until the next issue is on the stands. 

I'd like to thank Eric Tingwall, Associate Editor, for finding me and giving me this opportunity to reach their large readership. And I'd like to thank Peter De Lorenzo, the Autoextremist, for putting Eric in contact with me. I had so much fun doing these renderings!

Another Hit for Kia's Schreyer

My Kia Rio 3-door, created from the just-released images of their new 5-door version. Click on image to enlarge.

C H O P — Autoblog.com published photos this morning of the new Kia Rio 5-door hatchback. The photos were released by Kia ahead of the new car's debut at the Geneva show. It looks to be another hit for Kia's designer, Peter Schreyer. His designs have continuity and freshness, a balancing act he accomplishes with ease and elan. Autoblog's post mentioned a possible 3-door coming in 2012, so I chopped this version quickly this morning. I lowered the car a bit on its suspension, changed the taillight lenses a bit, added wheels from the Sportage, and darkened the rocker panels. I also lengthened the rear side window a bit, making the C pillar a little thinner. My version is a pretty basic 3-door, keeping all of the rear seat room of the 5-door. Perhaps Schreyer has a sportier coupe in mind, and if he does, I'll predict it's going to be hot.

Chrysler 300 Nassau V10 Coupe

Pillarless construction and a lengthened hood would be just a couple of the new features of this new Chrysler coupe if I had my way. Click on image to enlarge.

C H O P — The Chrysler 300 Nassau coupe enters the market with an updated V10 powertrain from the Viper sports car. Electronic all wheel drive ensures the more-than-ample power is available under any circumstance. The 300 sedan's upcoming hybrid drive will also be available in this flagship pillarless coupe, and rumors persist that owner Fiat will utilize this new coupe's platform for a revived Lancia Gamma Coupe. 

Photoshop Ain't Magic, lol

"Tuner" look or not, the Matrix is not an attractive vehicle.

C H O P — Autoblog.com published photos today of the newly updated Toyota Matrix that will be introduced at the Chicago Auto Show later this week. It's nothing more than new paint, new wheels and a slightly revised interior. The mechanical bits are not class-leading in any way either, with two different low-powered four-cylinder engines and 4- and 5-speed transmissions—shades of 1991, not 2011!  Talk about lipstick on a pig, lol. Even a quick Photoshop makeover does this vehicle no favors. I've given it the "tuner" look, with a carbon fiber hood insert, roof panel and sideskirts. I enlarged the wheels, lowered the body on the suspension, and gave it a black laquer C panel to replicate a wraparound glass appearance. I extended the upper roof section a la GM's 1959-61 "Flying Wing" roof. And it still ain't too pretty.

2012 Toyota Supra—Mainstream Supercar

Finally, a new chop! This is my interpretation of a new Toyota Supra, a mainstream supercar missing from Toyota's lineup for a decade. I based mine on the über GT, the Lexus LFA. I changed the lower body, tucking it under instead of the Lexus's almost flat sides. The front clip is totally different as well, reflecting Toyota's lower price, lower top speed and more plebian role in life, with larger headlights evocative of the last Supra, and fog lights for more of a production look. I added "normal" door handles, larger taillights, turn indicators in the mirrors, new wheels, and a few other "Supra" details. I like the way this car turned out. I doubt any new Toyota would be as cleanly styled as this, they really have a very bulbous aesthetic these days, but we can always hope! Click image to enlarge.

The original photo I started with of the new $375,000 Lexus LFA. I flopped the photo to place the gas cap door on the passenger side, where I find it more convenient in every day life.

Camaro-based Sedan Coming to Chicago?

According to a report in Autoblog.com this February 6th morning, Chevy will show two new concepts this coming week at the Chicago Auto Show. One of them is rumored to be based on the rear wheel drive Camaro platform. Speculations range from a Z/28 version of the new Camaro, currently the SS is the top model, to a new sedan. The second concept is anyone's guess as Autoblog writes. 

I chopped this Camaro sedan a couple of years ago. While there is ZERO chance of an actual Camaro four-door, I'm posting this chop to show that the proportions of the Zeta-platform Camaro work quite well with four-doors. Perhaps the car will be a new Impala? For my "Concours,", I raised the roof of the coupe and widened the rear window, which narrows at the bottom of the coupe, one of my biggest pet peeves of that design. I think widening it at the bottom as I have done here, lightens up the entire design, making it look less "pinched" and more contemporary.

Vim and Vigor. Oh yeah, and Va-Va-Varoom!

Honda's use of a darkened glass panel in the vertical section of their hatches, continues on this Vigor coupe, accented with a line of red reflectors and LED taillights. Click on each photo to enlarge to full screen.

C H O P S — Vigor was one of Honda-owned Acura's better nameplates from the 1990s. It was a sport sedan available with a very evocative, and warbling, five-cylinder inline engine, as well as a V6 later in its life. For this Accord two-seater I've created, I've brought back that nameplate. If this spunky Accord sports coupe doesn't possess Vigor, I don't know what does! This car would give Honda's family line a sportier profile, but would possess a large trunk area for those that would love utility along with their sport. This would be a revived CRX for grown ups that don't require a back seat.

B T W :

Posted on this blog before, but presented again to show Honda's current design language, and how I've used it to create new models for them. They illustrate how the Vigor would fit into the Honda family in 2011.

Honda's hybrid Insight made into a three-door 2+2 hatchback coupe. Gives the high-mileage green car a second body style that the Toyota Prius doesn't have. I created this before the current CRZ came out, but this slightly larger Insight would have small bucket seats in the rear giving it more utility than the smaller, sportier CRZ.

A new Accord sport sedan, or four-door coupe as current marketing types like to call these cars. I've used the Coupe's more flowing roofline and given this four-door more flair than the current Accord family car. Fold-down rear bucket seats would limit this sedan to four-occupants but the hatchback would give it greater versatility. This would be an additional model in the Accord range, and would then give Honda's best selling nameplate a two door coupe, a three door two-seater, a 4-door sedan, and this five-door sport sedan. And of course the Crosstour crossover wagon.

Now what the heck is this fake Mercury Montego Hybrid doing in a Honda post? This never-will-be Mercury sport hatch was actually a Honda Crosstour before I started playing with it in Photoshop! The front door and the rocker panel shape, as well as part of the rear bumper are just about all that remain from the "donor" photo.

Lynx—Luxury Compact from Mercury. Sigh.

Before the demise of the Mercury brand earlier this year, I was working on updating their current models, as well as working on all new ones for the fabled marque. It was my idea that Mercury could serve as Ford's high-tech hybrid division, sporty and luxurious, offering all of Ford's futuristic drivetrain choices first. This is how I envisioned a Mercury C segment, or compact, sedan, based on the Ford Focus. I guess all of my hard work was for naught, lol. For more of my Mercury renderings, click on the Mercury Label at the lower right of this blog.

The Flying Dutchman—1966 Lincoln Berline

The spiritual successor to the mammoth 1958-60 Lincolns, cars which are finally getting the respect they so richly deserve. I enlarged the already large second-generation "slabside" Lincoln from 1966, giving it engine room perhaps for a revived, and mythical, V12. The roofline is of course, a revival of the Mark III, IV and V from '58-'60, but extended for even more leg-and head-room. I painted the wheelcovers with a touch of body color, and placed the car at a seaside marina—perfect for those ephemeral, very occasional-glimpses-if-you're-lucky of the Flying Dutchman. You'd be lucky to catch a glimpse of this Lincoln Berline as well.

Far, far, away, and much, much, in the future from the Berline at the top, is my Lincoln MKH, a four-door hybrid hatchback. Lincoln has showed a small concept car at shows recently, the C Concept, and there are rumors the esteemed marque will actually soon be selling a C-segment car based on the Ford Focus, a very highly-developed small car platform. I've hedged my bets by giving my chop European license plates!

New Tiny Germans Coming: Q1 and A-Klasse

This chop dates back a couple of years, hence the name A1 AllRoad. Today this up-and-coming small car would most likely be called the Q1. Audi already has the mighty Q7 and the slightly smaller and very desirable Q5. There are spy photos circulating the web right now of the even smaller Q3, due to be introduced perhaps as early as the next Geneva show. While I'm not really sure there needs to be an even smaller crossover from Audi, there are plenty of rumors of a Q1. Part of me hopes this would be a small 3-door crossover. At some point as a car becomes smaller four doors become too small to be practical. The tiny A1 is a 3-door right now, so perhaps the crossover will be as well.  I chopped my A1 AllRoad as a 5-door though. Not really a crossover so much as a tall hatchback, the AllRoad concept gave Audi's regular wagons more road-clearance and butcher details, which I have included here.

Mercedes Benz's tiniest line of cars, excluding the Smart cars, is their A-Klasse. Available in 3- and 5-door versions, as well as the slightly large B-Klasse, these are MB's base models in most markets, although they've never been for sale in the USA. The platform is innovative, and features a double floor with the tiny front engine designed to slide in between the two floors in case of a front impact. There is to be a 3rd generation A-Klasse shortly, and will most likely be completely redesigned for today's market. The original A came out in 1997 and was revised in 2004, but has really been changed very little. For my chop, I lowered the car, and made it a bit wider. I gave it an actual wraparound rear glass hatch, instead of the faux wrap that the real cars have. I also beefed up the fender flares and gave it quad exhausts, perhaps a bit of overkill, lol, but let's call this the AMG version. I also made the third rear stop light part of the enlarged MB star logo.

1965 Dodge Dart: Perfect Size for 2011?

I'm especially taken with this bright red GT hardtop coupe, with the black half vinyl roof, bottom. There is just enough chrome trim and detailing on it to make it stand out for all the right reasons. The black vinyl bucket seat interior is really fetching as well! The well-drawn proportions of the base models at the top illustrate how important it is to get the car "right" before you add any extra trim to it. Chrome accents and two- or three-tone paint can set a car off, but they can't be used to make a poorly proportioned vehicle "right."  The same holds true with so many disciplines in the creative world. When I was designing publications full time and leading an art department, I could never stress enough to my artists that they get the basic design of the page, or cover, correct, before they started adding details like shadows or colors. Many of them would try to "wow" me with typographic "tricks" right away before they got the layout right, and believe me, you really can't "save" a bad design with filigree or "pretty clutter!" Click to enlarge to full-screen.

M Y   C O L L E C T I O N — In 1965, Dodge's smallest car was the Dart, available in three series: Base, mid-level 270 and "luxury" GT. Body styles ran the full sixties gamut, from 2- and 4-door sedans, to 2 door pillarless coupes, convertibles and 4-door wagons. They were available with six- and eight-cylinder engines with ratings from 101 hp to 235 hp, 3- and 4-speed manuals or an automatic transmission. 

Though they seemed small back then, seen in today's light, their 111" wheelbase (106" on wagons, shared with the Plymouth Valiant) place them squarely in the mainstream of 21st century sedans. Their curb weights of approximately 2,800-3,000 lbs are much lighter than similar-sized cars of today, but that's largely the result of all of the added safety equipment and crash structures our cars must now possess. Though the '65 model's styling shown is credited to Elwood Engel, the basic chassis and proportions date back to Virgil Exner's sensational 1960 Valiant. 

Engel's philosophy was to "fill out the square" in both silhouette and plane views, but there is a humble honesty to these cars that's very appealing. The hood and trunk lengths are just about perfect, the greenhouse and roof shapes are attractive, and the chrome strip that wraps from the taillights up and over the rear window on the pillarless coupes is really well done. The half vinyl roof seems a bit flamboyant, almost Exner like, and wouldn't really catch on with the rest of the industry for several more years, becoming more of a seventies cliché. It's just about perfectly executed on this Dart GT.

One is lucky today if a car is available in anything but a 4-door sedan, and if it is, the additional body style is usually a tall wagon. With all the advancements in computer-aided design and electronic "robotic" construction, I just find it odd all we can seemingly come up with are sedans. To top it off they're usually painted gray with a gray interior. Even though this was Dodge's least expensive, and smallest car, it came in a full panoply of body styles and trim levels. Interiors came in several color choices, usually red, green, blue, beige, white and black, and in a choice of cloth or vinyl—we hadn't yet felt it necessary to skin a cow for every single car in the 1960s. 

"Those were the days, my friend, I thought they'd never end! We'd sing and dance, forever and a day!"

B T W :

I just remembered I've photoshopped one of these 1963-'66 Darts before. This is a 1963 Dart convertible in which I smoothed out the sides a bit, and added fender skirts for that proper "Cruiser" look. I chopped down the windshield a little to give the car a longer, lower appearance. I also dropped it closer to the ground a few inches and upped the wheel size, though I kept the sixties wheelcovers and white walls.