Thursday, February 23, 2012

Looking Good with Wood! Some Old, Some New-ish

Kia Piccanto Outdoorsman edition—I've created many, many cars with wood siding. Growing up, we had a Country Squire at one point, and I've just always loved the look of them. In the "early days" the wood was real of course, structural even. Then it became a decorative touch, and was eventually replaced with Dinoc appliques, a "contact paper" of sorts. All of my creations would use something I'm not sure even exists yet, "Microveneers." This treatment would be super thin veneers of real wood, sandwiched in between the paint layers and the clearcoat top finishes. This wood would be able to follow any body contouring and curves as it would be paper thin. Some of these Woodies in this post were done 5-6 years ago, some are from the past year, and some have been updated today to include the paneling. Enjoy!

Lincoln MKW—Created before the current MKT was introduced. This would be a sleek and luxurious Lincoln station wagon.

2008 Chevrolet Malibu Concours wagon—This generation of Malibu has just been replaced, but sadly, there will still be no wagon option, woody or not.

Mercedes GLK—This photochop was created before the current GLK was introduced. I thought it might look more like its bigger brother, the ML, but I was wrong. Mercedes chose to make it boxier, more like the GL SUV. And you can't get Microveneer doors on any of 'em!

Lincoln Cosmopolitan Estate Wagon—This avant garde luxury station wagon would sit at the top of the Lincoln range, with various types of wood available, burled walnut adorning this example. This chop dates back to 2006.

Audi A6 Allroad Black Forest Edition—Because Audi will never do it, I did, lol.

1940 Lincoln Continental Wagon—Hearkening back to the prewar Lincoln Continental, this "sport wagon" would have used the convertible's two front doors and added a wood-trimmed wagon compartment. This chop has run in the Letters section of Collectible Automobile.

Buick Apollo MPV—Estate wagons are a part of Buick's past, and I hoped to show that they could be a part of Buick's future as well.

Buick Special Estate Wagon—This little wagon was chopped several years ago, before anyone knew Buick would even introduce new, and smaller, European-inspired vehicles. I take complete credit for them doing so, lol.

Buick Enclave Estate Wagon—When the Enclave was first introduced, I found it a bit lumpy looking. At first I just cleaned it up the way I'd like to have seen it, sleeker even though it's a large crossover. Then I decided to give it an old-world touch by adding the wooden paneling. Crude now that I look at it, but this was done about six years ago.

Pontiac G8 Safari—This would have been Pontiac's top-of-the-line rear-wheel-drive sportswagon, bringing back Poncho's classic "Safari" moniker. No Pontiacs today at all, regardless of the wood.

Ford Interceptor Country Squire—Again, a very old chop, pretty darn crude, but my heart was in the right place... I used the same chrome Country Squire nameplate that was used on the very first 1951 model, also a 2 door—the only 2 door Country Squire ever built.

Jeep Grand Wagoneer woody—The woody version of the Grand Wagoneer I created for Automobile magazine last year.

Jeep Wrangler woody—My most recent Jeep chop, adding a classic woody look to the Wrangler 4-door. This could be produced tomorrow, for real, if Chrysler wanted to! They have so many special editions of the Wrangler, I think they should build this one, too!

2013 Beetle 4-door with Woody Option—Not only is the New New Beetle not available with 4-doors, it's not available with woody. It's a shame, lol!

7 comments:

  1. Carbon fiber is what wood use to do some 70 years ago: an inexpensive agent in place of metal. The inorganic substance simply has no personality or texture to it like wood. Wood is kind of like a figure print where two are not alike and can never truly be replicated. If science could figure out away to trees perhaps Casey's wooden covered cars can once again become a reality.

    A Buick Encoure in mahogany would look interesting, lol.

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  2. they're creating hamburger in a test tube now, so maybe scientists will create wood in a lab someday, then there will no excuse not to make my cars! : )

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  3. These are all terrific -- my favorites are the 40 Continental (it just looks SO right!) and the MKW (a vast improvement on the MKT -- it's like Lincoln took your idea and made it lumpy and dumpy).

    What about your your 300 Sport Wagon -- that would make a nice Town & Country -- and how about an actual current Town & Country with wood? That would get some tongues wagging!

    Paul, NYC

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  4. The MKW is awesome. Seems like a Country squire treatment for the Ford Flex would also be an obvious move.

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  5. Casey
    Love your Squire! I am to old to be a fan of modern cars that represent what I call ,anti stylist or "the box the car came in "I.e. Honda element,scion ,Aztec etc.I put the Flex in this category, but have wondered what if Ford would build a boutique edition that picked up on the wonderful '49/'51 2door wagons. Well you pretty much nailed it.( My only change from your work would be adding wood to the side window frames)Your headlite treatment that updates the '51s grill did not go un noticed,nor did your front fender emblem that hints at the early cars fender only emblem.Is there a suggestion of a spare tire on the tailgate? Marty Martino

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  6. Good eye, Marty! Yes, I was referencing the original '51 Country Squire with the nameplate and headlights! I really appreciate your comments!
    -casey

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  7. Love that Enclave Estate. I may actually add faux wood siding ours, I just need to find someone who does it!

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