Happy Veterans Day 2013! New MKZ Continental

2015 Lincoln MKZ Continental Touring Sedan, Pucci Edition

What started out as a quick chop to add more glass to the MKZ's cool fastback roofline, ended up being a second generation dual hatchback with electrically-assisted "clap-hand" doors. To manage the rear trunk cutline better, I made this glass-roofed sedan a hatchback. moving the cutline up into the roof pillar matching the existing rear door's cutline. Using an existing division on the edge of the trunk, I've made it a cutline as well. Picking up an idea from a Lincoln concept car of several years ago, instead of opening the entire hatch, a small "drawer" at the edge of the trunk would slide open with a fob button, revealing a beautifully finished luggage drawer complete with secondary top. Once the packages were stored, the top would lower ensuring all would fit nicely as it all glides back into the trunk. I sectioned the body a few inches, an old hot rod trick, making the body sides lower and less massive, and added that flowing third window.

This Pucci edition recalls the great Marks of the '70s and '80s. It comes in a very subtle two-toned Aubergine and Smoke Pearlescent with micro-thin areas of gold dust embedded into the paint at the color breaks. The effect of the pearl and gold clear-coat layers is a magnificent color shifting of all panels making the transitions even more subtle. A 24k gold Lincoln "Star" is embedded in the rear side glass, not only evoking those classic opera window logos, but is also taxed as a piece of jewelry recalling the early 1960s Imperial Crown gold crests. It is this American/European mix of function and style that lead me to name this hatchback MKZ, the Continental Touring Sedan. It signals the rebirth of the Continental nameplate. In addition there would be a flagship sedan, The Continental Town Car, as well as a new Continental Mark coupe.

I dedicate my newest Lincoln chop to America's veterans. I chose The American Luxury Car, and a European designer to celebrate Veterans' Day. We saved Europe and have gone through Hell and high water with them. I think this union of American luxury and European fashion celebrates what our veterans fought for. My dad served for almost 23 years and I know the cost of that service. Today my heart goes out to all, as always.

2015 Camaro Type LT—The Hatchback Returns

I would like to see the Camaro be repackaged. I'd like to see it slightly smaller, much lighter, feature better visibility, and offer more room inside and in the trunk. I've given it a sleek hatchback as well. My Type LT, an old Camaro model name, now stands for "Luggage & Touring" and would offer optional fitted luggage as well as several different luggage area treatments/hardware for various sports activities. The Camaro was a hatchback for decades, so it shouldn't be too much of a stretch for today's buyers! I've placed it along the shoreline of my town, lol.

Some Not so Oldies but Pretty Goodies

 

This 2012 Charger coupe is my most viewed chop on the 'Net. Many of "my cars" have found a life outside of casey/artandcolour-cars, but this particular one has been uploaded to more than 100 websites and has more than 7,000 views on my site alone. And unlike many of my more polarizing redesigns, has met with almost universal "likes."

Taking the rather mundane but very competent new Malibu, I added a coupe greenhouse much like the 1970s Chevy Monza subcompact, itself a nod to an early '70s Ferrari coupe by, I believe, Pininfarina.

Yes. Hard as it is to believe, I designed a new 4-door Lincoln without suicide doors! This is my idea for a new MKS sport sedan. It would be based on the Mustang platform, rear wheel drive with optional performance all wheel drive, and I think it would go a long way in reestablishing Lincoln as an aspirational brand.

 

Another Mopar coupe, this time a flagship Chrysler Nassau V10 with pillarless styling. It was my idea to use the Viper's powertrain but wrap it in velvet instead of velcro. I still hope the powers-that-be at that company do something like this eventually. It could be sold in Italy, like many new Chryslers, as an imported  highspeed luxury coupe with American flair.

This little Chevy Cruz Z/11 hatchback was based on the Europe-only hatch. I correctly predicted Chevy's abandonment of its longstanding dual grille, only they introduced it on the new Impala and Traverse, not the Cruz.

 

A funky little longroof Hyundai "Shooting Break." Hyundai and its sister brand, Kia, are making leaps and bounds in styling and engineering and they're taking chances with new cars. I could see them coming out with something like this in the not-so-far future.

 

With Cadillac just announcing that its Volt cousin, the extremely gorgeous ELR coupe, is going to be priced from $75,000 and up, perhaps my idea for a Chevrolet Volt coupe isn't a bad one. The Volt lists for closer to $40,000 and with a similarly priced coupe, might just find a decent audience. Perhaps selling more of the coupe platform as a Chevy might help lower the Cadillac's pricepoint a bit. I was shocked at the "75 large" asking price and I don't shock that easily anymore!

2014 Lincoln MK-9E coupe. Plug-in Sports Luxury

Click on image to enlarge, as always, here at casey/artandcolour.

Lincoln MK-9E—This is my attempt at adapting Lincoln's current design language to the proportions of the late, and lamented, Marks VII and VIII. RWD and AWD would be available, as well as a Twin-turbo V8 or Plug-in hybrid with range extending EcoBoost 3 liter V6. Power Panoramic roof is standard, as are highly detailed wheels with body-color anodized as well as polished- and brushed-alloy wheels. The Eighties and Nineties are retro-ed in various ways, it's not too early, lol! The unique door handles resemble those on "suicide" door sedans, but in this case, the chromed portion mounted on the body next to the door is the receiver for the Smart Key and is touch-sensitive, descending quickly into the body revealing a clean, and, chromed, fingergrip for the door. The doors are power soft-opening-and-closing like the finest über German luxury cars.

I created this new Mark 9E, and made it this color, because of a cool Lincoln Mark VIII I used to see almost daily at my local grocery store. It belonged to a young man that works there, inherited from his late Dad. I took quite a few pics of his car, which while not perfect was quite a nice example. I thought I'd post those photos along with this chop when I finished, but of course, "the best laid plans of mice and men..." I've combed my eFolders going back a year and I can't find ANY of the photos I shot of his car. I have no idea where they may be. Since I can't find any of them, I'm thinking I must have put them all in a separate folder with some arcane name that made sense at the time, but which I can't recall right now. I only have about 35,000 photos to go through, so I'm not sure I'll ever find them, lol. Since I shot them, the car has died and was too expensive to repair. Let this Photoshopped Mark 9E be an homage to that once and beautiful automobile!

I've created a couple of other Mark 9s, or more correctly, Mark IXs:
Mark IX BiTurbo V12
Mark IX Luxury Coupe
Mark GT/V12 Sports Coupe

And of course, check out the "Labels" on the side for more Lincolns or to see if I've designed any other cars you'd like!

My Concept for Pebble Beach this Weekend!

The famed Pebble Beach Concours is this weekend in the Monterey, California area. It's often the site of new car launches. I've created a flagship station wagon, a full-sized plug-in hybrid, the 2014 Buick  Electra Estate Wagon. In addition to the trademark brushed aluminum-and-chrome Sweepspear and microveneer wraparound woodgraining, each front fender carries a platinum metallic circular access hatch highlighting the new TriColor Buick shield logo. Their design is a nod to the dual sidemounted tires so popular in the prewar period. The driver side panel opens to the plug-in circuitry. The passenger side opens to reveal four custom carbon-fiber cloth umbrellas, one for each well-cossetted interior passenger. Center opening side doors are powered as is the rear hatch and tailgate, the former's opening comprising fully 1/3 of the roof before it slides forward along roof rails.

This year at Pebble, I have a friend showing his '56 Mark II convertible in the Continental display, and another friend is there sheparding a pristing '65 Cadillac Coupe DeVille in the Cadillac display.

Audi A7C—Pillarless Two-door Coupe

My Audi A7C, an actual pillarless coupe version of Audi's 5-door A7 Sportback. The hatchback would be replaced by innovative slide-and-open tailgate opening design. I've simplified and refined Audi's corporate "face." The intertwined rings logo is smaller and moved to the header of the chrome grille frame. A central LED "light bar" has been added to the grille to unify the LED headlight graphic. There is a very subtle raised panel leading from this new higher-placed logo which fades into the rise of the aluminum hood. The taillights would also consist of a similar central panel LED bar tying their outer graphics together body-wide. A very American use of the Audi rings is their placement on the C-pillar, but, hey, that's me. I really think the new front end could be an effective refinement of their current design. Audi should have a competitor for the E-Class coupe.

2014 Cadillac CTS coupe—Artandcolour Elegance

Using the just-released photos of the 2014 CTS sedan, a more sedate and mature design than the current generation of Art & Science styling, "my" CTS coupe follows Cadillac's own strategy. Instead of the awesomely crazy and dramatic pyramidal Coupe now in showrooms, I created a pillarless coupe to compete with the Mercedes Benz E Series coupe. The profile is more flowing notchback than fastback and I've enlarged the already large grille just a little bit for a more formal look. Rather than use Caddy's now de rigeur slash door "handles" for this coupe, I used more elegant chrome handles. The "drama" in this coupe comes from the pillarless styling, ultra-luxe interior for four, a "faster" windshield angle and a 2 -inch lower roofline compared with the sedan. Aero wheels from the new electric coupe, the ELR, add to the quietness of this luxury coupe at speed.

2014 Delgiata Lineup Revealed: Eagle & Villager Hybrids

The first model in the 2014 lineup of my mythical car company, Delgiata: The Villager. Villagers are Executive class sedans with a dual-purpose hatchback. The electronic hatch may be opened remotely in one piece, lifting and sliding forward a bit on the roof for maximum opening, or in two pieces, with the glass lifting and sliding and the bottom part folding down and out to form a tailgate and longer loadfloor. Carbon fiber and micro-veneer construction is ultra lightweight and strong, and the plug-in electric motor is combined with a range-extending 1.5 liter horizontally opposed "flat" 6. Equipment levels are generous, with options limited to colors and owner-packages, including "Rear Office," "Entertainment," and full-boat, sybaritic, "Complete," packages.

The Villager joins the smaller, ultra-high mileage Eagle, below:


The second model introduced this year is the Eagle, the "entry-level" Delgiata that is anything but. Small exterior size belies the roomy 4-passenger interior, with every modern convenience. Construction follows its larger Executive brother's, the Village, in carbon-fiber and microveneer. In the Eagle, the plug-in hybrid drivetrain includes a range-extending .9 liter inline 3 cylinder. Combined they move the Eagle from 0-60 in 8 seconds while giving combined mileage ratings in the "150 MPG/e" range.

Both new Deligiatas feature electronic all-wheel drive.

These two new models in the Delgiata lineup join the 4-cylinder hybrid "Delivery Van" I created in the mid 2000s., here.

What if. . . Mark II Slantback?

The 1956-57 Mark II coupe is a tours-de-force. It is elegance personified with its formal roof and clean lines. It is one of the cleanest cars of the Fifties decade.

With this chop, I'm exploring what the car may have looked like without the severely formal and close-coupled roof.  I gave it a faster roofline and backlight. I straightened out the classic body contour kickup in the rear quarters and, obviously, gave it rear fender skirts and chromed rockerpanel trim.  Smaller details include moving the exhaust outlets down from below the taillights to below the bumper, thus extending the "tubular" rocker panel trim. I filled in the former exhaust pods and glassed-over the license plate recess. 

I'm not in any way "improving" the Mark II with these changes, that would be impossible! But I think this look could have been developed into a stunning car by the Mark's stylists had they gone in this direction!

2015 Mustang—Evos-based V8 Pony Car

I thought I'd try a front 3/4 view of an Evos-based Mustang. I extended the wheelbase and then shortened the cabin and moved it backward. "Proper Pony Car Proportions" are absolutely necessary for any Mustang replacement. I prefer the original 2+2 style louvered C-pillar, compete with functioning interior air extractors rather than the current car's glass inserts, but they'd be available at no extra cost for people that prefer that look.

I've been under-the-weather for the past few months, and I'd like to thank everyone who has emailed me and sent their thoughts and best wishes. Summer is here, so let's all enjoy the slow and easy days of my favorite season!

2014 Biarritz: Bringing Formal Back

The Next Fleetwood Biarritz—I don't see any reason why today's angular and flamboyantly styled cars couldn't include a bit of last century's formality, too. This rendering takes Cadillac's maturing Art & Science design language, which is softening on its new sedans, and reinvigorates it with a stark new brushed stainless steel-capped, limousine-like rear window. Interior would be sumptuous, with seating for four on fine fabrics and leathers. The elegant mid Fifties Brougham is recalled inside as well, with silver vanity and tumbler set, as well as umbrella and Arpége by Lanvin in a cut crystal atomizer.

Repost: Mazda RX-8 Notchback

One of my least-viewed chops of all time, lol, the Mazda RX-8 notchback. I'm not sure why this hasn't been more popular, I love it, but I think it could be the fact that the RX-8 just wasn't very popular. I shortened the wheelbase and took away those Saturn-like rear half doors. This would be a 2-seater with a parcel shelf behind the front seats for packages. The car could be lighter and tighter than the regular hatchback 4-seater and I think could have provided additional sales. Generally I like the profile of notchbacks more than fastbacks, but give me a moment and I'll find a hundred fastbacks I love!

Repost: 2012 Saab 9-5 Hybrid Coupe

I think it's such a shame that Saab was shut down. They had such a storied postwar history and were very popular in areas of the country like New England. They are still quite ubiquitous around here, but we have no new ones to look forward to anymore. This was my idea for a top-line 9-5 Hybrid coupe, and would have included a dual-action hatchback which could be raised like a trunk or with the window attached like a hatchback. I believe VW was the first with this type of trunk on one of its Skoda models. I think the newest Saab design language had a lot of "legs" and was really looking forward to the smaller 9-3 and perhaps a 9-1 model in the future.

Repost: 21st Century Chevy Bel Air

This was chopped several years ago and was my idea for a top-end Chevrolet rear wheel drive luxury 4-seat coupe. I created it from a Mercedes Benz CL coupe and I used the quad taillights Bel Airs were known for. I also gave it a flying buttress roofline, evocative of the mid-Sixties Chevelle coupes, and of course,it  was a long-standing Corvette styling cue, too. The rocker panel brushed aluminum trim has faux "vents" in front of the rear wheels, an homage to the great little details Harley Earl was known for.

Repost: 2010 Crown Victoria Concept

One of my sillier chops from the past, this Crown Victoria concept was chopped in 2008 I believe. I worked in lower resolution then, hence the pixelation. I based this large, rear wheel-drive 6-passenger Ford sedan on a photo of an S-Class Mercedes, one of the few contemporary sedans with the correct rwd proportions built-in. I polished the front doors in a nod to professional pursuit vehicles nationwide and also indented the hood and trunk to catch the light in a way that would mimic Ford's classic racing stripes. Uplevel "civilian" versions would have a blanked out C-pillar, a la the classic "Galaxy" roofline, but fleet cars would use that very 1990s Crown Vic "sixth" window. Lastly, I'll just say that this was chopped way before the current Taurus hit the streets and it picked up my chromed trunk bar with the Ford oval almost 100%. I, of course, had based mine on the late '60s Torinos which had sort of similar trim pieces. My front end treatment used modified Cadillac headlights for a more vertical appearance, a nod to the '65-'67 large Fords and their stacked vertical headlights.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone, a day to remember all that have served and sacrificed for our country, and personally, happy birthday to me today, lol. (And a happy birthday to Clay, a longtime reader and contributor to those early car forums where I began chopping photos and posting them.)

Repost: 2014 Mustang?

One of my most widely-read, downloaded and reposted around the Web is this 2014 Mustang I created from the Ford Evos concept car. I first posted this rendering in September of 2011. I mentioned at the time that I felt the wheelbase was a little too long aft of the door. I thought I might go back and do a second one tightening up that space, but haven't gotten around to it yet! Interestingly I find the new Corvette Stingray to be too long aft of its doors, too. Maybe it's my eyes!

Just last week I was asked for permission for a website to run this Mustang. Sometimes you have no idea what types of "life" your work will lead once you've published it on the web!

21st Century Torino GT Sportsroof?

This reborn Ford Torino GT Sportsroof was chopped a few years ago, but had been posted only over at my other blog. I'm reposting some of those earlier pieces that never made it over here until I can carve some time out to finish new chops. In addition to being swamped with book projects I recently had a 16GB thumbdrive erase itself, losing my "Chops Start" folder with perhaps half  dozen new cars in various stages. Such is the electronic world!

This modern throwback coupe was created from a 4-5 door Tesla sedan if I remember correctly. I placed some of the German Alps behind it. I was born in Stuttgart in the Black Forest and at the time my Dad had his pink-and-black '56 Fairlane Sunliner shipped over there. I grew up with stories of how his Thunderbird-Special 312 V8's exhaust echoed through the Alpine passes and tunnels as he drove.

I think a 21st century Torino could once again be positioned as a powerful rear-wheel drive larger brother to the Mustang. I'd envision a 6-8 inch stretch in the 'Stang's wheelbase for a larger rear seat with added/upgraded luxuries.

Yellow Goodness from 2006

Until I can carve out the time to finish a bunch of chops I've started, I thought I'd post another couple of "oldies and oddies." Above, my Lamborghini LMPV-002 high-performance minivan! I created this light-hearted effort in 2006 from a Murcielago. The name is a combination of the marque's classic LM002 V12 full off roader from the 1970s and the European MPV—Multi-People Mover.

Way before there was an Estoque four-door concept, I created this QV350 Sedan. Ever since I saw a photo of the Iso Fidia sedan in the late 1960s, I've loved the idea of an Italian supercar sedan. This was before the current "four-door coupe" fad began, also.

Corvette C7 4-door Corsa, Second Version

This was actually the first C7 4-door I created, but I posted the second, more refined, version first. This rendering shows the rear 3/4 view and the cool sliding glass roof/rear window I created for it. The glass panels are approximately 9-10 inches wide from windshield header to rear spoiler and at the push of a button would slide back over themselves, resting on top of each other, leaving the entire interior open to the sun- or moonlight.

• The first 4-door Corvette Corsa I posted, here.

Earliest Chops: Crude, Outside-the-Box

Some of my earliest digitally-modified cars. The technique! Or lack of it! These date to the 2005-07 era. Many were done in less than an hour. I was participating nightly in Autoweek's Combustion Chamber, an online forum. Someone would ask "what if" about a various cars and sometimes I'd do a quick chop and post it as fast as I could. Still, I like looking back at these.

International Harvester Travelall "Sedan Pickup." Behold my suicide door 4 door pickup with wraparound glass and an immense rear seat at the expense of a very short pickup box. Answers a question no one has ever asked. 2007-ish.

Exaggerated stab at a Toyota hybrid sedan, ca 2005-06. Interestingly, spy shots of the next '14 Corolla have some similarities with this futurist rendering.

Done in 2006 or 2007 this was my attempt to show GM that, yes, Saab's DNA could be made to work with a crossover... Body modified from some European GM crossover from back then.

This Wildcat was done just a few days after the first Enclave prototype pics were released, 2006 or '07? It was to be a tall, AWD, Enclave based sedan with a touch of Thirties Buick trunkback sedans in the rear.

I'm pretty sure this is Chop #1. It's an Escalade sedan. I was very interested in seeing what a really tall, truck-based sedan would look like. To me, the Escalade was a station wagon, and thus should have sedan and coupe variants. I had used Photoshop professionally for my book designs and production, color-correcting images, fading, feathering, collages, etc, but had never tried to modify a photograph into something entirely different. I think I might revisit this concept with the newest Escalade one of these days.

A quick attempt to turn a European Ford concept car, the Iosis if I remember correctly, into a domestic Lincoln sedan. I used the then-current Lincoln grille cues in a larger/wider form. I still like this front end. The rest of the car was pulled and made taller. I used the tall, slim C-pillar windows that classic Town Cars sported. 2007-ish.

Veloster Hybrid Sage Edition / artandcolour

My first stab at playing with this ultra cool little Hyundai Veloster, my Hybrid in uplevel trim. The entire car has been gone over, extending some lines, deleting others, reworking other ones entirely. I carved away at the oversized taillights and headlights. The two-tone exterior illustrates the top-shelf Sage Edition. In addition to the two-tone pearlescent white and sage multifleck metallic and teh 20 inch wheels with Bright Lime brake calipers, the interior features Charcoal, Black, Stone, and Sage vegan fabrics and "leatherettes." I've kept the cool body with 2 doors on one side and only one wider one on the other, but I've deleted all the door handles and replaced them with electronic poppers. Grab handles pop out from those small pushbuttons. The rear doors now open "suicide" style, too

It's been quite a while. I think I started working on this more than a year ago, but I'm pretty sure Woody Thompson sent me this photo of a Veloster at a dealership when they first arrived. Woody runs the worldwide web famous Woody's Car Site and is known for his automotive scoops and breaking news!

2014 Buick Riviera—The Boattail is B-A-C-K!

My 2014 Riviera would be based on the longer platform of my 4-door Corvette Corsa. The Riv would be slightly shortened for proper 2+2 fold-down seating a la the Porsche 911. Creature comforts and modern connectivity abounds and there two higher-performance models, the GS and GS/h hybrid. Completely up-to-date LED lighting is housed in retro chrome-trimmed nacelles front and rear.

2014 AMC Ambassador Eight coupe: Yes, I Said AMC!

Here in casey/artandcolour's world, Chrysler reached into its deep stable of unused nameplates for this new twin-turbo V8 hybrid drivetrain luxury coupe: The Ambassador Eight. Styling picks up from the marque's long history of dramatically styled Ambassadors with a roofline evocative of its last large pillarless coupes from the early '70s. Red, white, and blue Ambassador Eagles from 1961 adorn each wheel center and '66 wraparound trim pieces on each corner of the car include contemporary LEDs. Those classic-looking, flush AMC door handles would now be electronic touch panels with powered soft-close mechanisms.

Note: The wheels are modified Volkswagen wheels. The flush covers actually are removable for a more traditional spoked wheel look. Bobf, one of this blog's longtime readers, suggested them for a different chop, one that's on the list, but I have a feeling you'll see them on many of my future cars. I love the look of them! The flat portions could be body-colored, too. VW is doing some really great wheels recently. They have a set that look for all the world like painted steelies with dog-dishes and some with such thin and flat spokes as to look two-dimensional.

C7 Twin-Turbo V6, Smaller/Lighter, Take 2

My second stab at creating an entry-level Corvette model is this slightly shortened C7. I've reduced the hood and front wheelbase by about 6 inches to accommodate the smaller V6 engines. For this example I left the rear of the car pretty much intact with the exception of the slightly wraparound rear window and restyled quarter windows. I extended the single chrome grille bar to the sides of the body, continuing it from the side scoop. The original '53 Corvette had smaller bumperettes on the corners of its body which lined up with a chrome spear on the bodysides, so this modern chrome trim is a nod to that.

• My first V6 C7 Corvette featured a shortened and restyled rear clip as well as a new roofline. This one would have gotten rid of the heavy hatch and replaced it with a trunklid. The roof would be solid and not have a lift-off panel. Here.

Note:
Cadillac has just today announced the engine for my V6 series Corvettes, lol: A new 420 hp twin-turbo V6 slated for its upcoming brand new CTS model. For economies of scale, I'd certainly design a new 'Vette air cleaner for it and use it in my C7 V6! Link, here.

If I Been There . . . Rendered 1948 Packard Ad

My take on a print ad for the 1948 Packard Super Eight Touring Sedan, done as if I was in the automotive community back in those heady, early post-war years in Detroit. I gave it a new tagline as well, "Your Day Has Arrived," referring to the optimistic post-war boom in the economy from the previously war-weary public.

"Your Day Has Arrived"

C H O P — The base image for this piece was a scan of an illustration of a '48 Super Eight from one of Packard's sales/dealer brochures. I found the jpg online, I believe at that awesome Old Car Brochures site, here.

While I didn't change the profile of this regal sedan one bit, I changed all the detailing on it and gave it a two-tone finish. Changes include the rear taillights, fender skirts, rocker panels, side spear and other trim. One of my friends, the esteemed Palm Springs Automobilist, blog link here and on my Blog Roll, told me my changes resembled what Bill Mitchell's studios might have done, high praise indeed!

Once I was done with the car I "lifted" it from its period layouts and stylistically placed it at the shore. Color matching created a very special and "eye-catching" ad if I do say so myself. Finishing it off was an optimistic new post-war tagline I created for this Packard: Your Day Has Arrived.

• I've reworked a couple of 1954 Studebaker ads, creating sedans from their lower, longer coupe bodies. It's posted at my original blog, casey/artandcoloujr. I didnt' realize it wasn't also posted here. Enjoy! Link, here.