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Jun
29
A photoshop quickie, quite literally. A friend sent me a picture of the Dodge C500 and challenged me to modify it within a given time-frame of ten minutes. There is not much one can do in ten minutes, but hey – it was just for the heck of it anyways. 😉
Jun
29
The proportions of some American cars from the 1970’s are a bit cartoonish. The Chrysler Newport Sedan is a great example. Just for fun and to emphasize the oddness, I added a couple of axles and extended the hood and trunk accordingly. The passenger area remained stock standard. Note: this is likely to be the first vehicle here at VirtualModels that still has the stock ride height 😉
Jun
20
The Aston Martin V8 Vantage is a beautiful car, no doubt about it. However, the design of the lower rear end is debatable. This is why I choose the side view to create my idea of a low drag coupé. Chopping about an inch from the roof and lowering the car go a long way in improving the overall appearance. I could have removed the bumpers and chrome trim to suit the idea better, but decided to keep them to retain the classic look.
Jun
20
Who said compact family wagons are boring? Every boy sitting in the backseat of such a vehicle must have thought at one point that it would be really cool if Daddy modified the family hauler to add to the appearance. The Ford Escort LX Wagon pictured here was simply lowered, larger wheels have been fitted along with an airdam up front and a modified hood. Little things do make a difference.
Jun
01
Few people would think this legendary BMW designed by Albrecht Graf von Goertz needs more muscle or any other modification. And with the car being a high-priced classic it is probably wise not to tinker with it. However, sometimes you want to let your phantasy run wild, don’t you? Imagine if somebody with sufficient funds would get hold of a 507 roadster…
I always thought this particular vehicle is very elegant and beautifully shaped – but the stance was never to my liking. The nose high up in the air just doesn’t cut it for me. Now, I could have lowered the car and be done with it. But no, I added a few subtle modifications like the period-correct wheels a chopped windshield and a larger exhaust. Who know what might be hiding under the hood? A supercharger would be nice you think? Let your imagination go crazy!
Mar
31
The Alfa Romeo 4C is a nifty little sportscar, well worth of carrying the legendary brand name. However, I don’t like the stock headlights, because they do look very cheap and out of place on such a sculpted body. But hey, that is easily fixed with Adobe Photoshop.
Mar
30
Citroën has built many cars that have been well ahead of the game. However, they never built a CX Shooting Break with gullwing doors. But hey, they could have – and nobody would have been surprised at all. 😉
Dec
30
The inspiration to photoshop a Chrysler Voyager Mk1 came from reading Brock Yates‘ book The Critical Path. The old one-box design minivans have a lot of potential for customizing, in my opinion. I tried to keep it in an 80’s style, but the stance is definitely a more contemporary approach…
Dec
01
A true classic with a classic custom car touch. Not much done here, because it doesn’t need much to make that particular car look stunning. The body has been lowered, cleaned and received a pinstriping, which spans the whole flank. And yes – the Mercury Park Lane Sedan is a rather large vehicle.
Nov
21
An instant classic. The SAAB 900 Turbo has always had it friends and foes. I always liked them because they are a bit weird – but very well engineered. This shape doesn’t need a lot of tweaking, so I reworked the body carefully. The fenders have been flared a little, the door handles shaved and some of the trim removed. A healthy drop over enlarged wheels, a front spoiler and that’s about it. Not much drama for a rather subtle effect. Like it or don’t 😉
Nov
18
Mercury Park Lane Hardtop Sedan Custom | photoshop chop © Sebastian Motsch (2013)
Mercury Park Lane Hardtop Sedan | reference picture
Nov
14
A T5-R engine? Really? In a classic Volvo 780 Bertone Coupé? You must be kidding!
But hey… why not? The T5-R engine swap might be a little complicated in reality, I agree. Imagination is free and to me it’s fun to think outside the box. I kept the classic, straight lines and just modded a few details to achieve a look that is subtle, yet a tad more aggressive. Wouldn’t hurt to have a couple more ponies under that hood, though.
Oct
15
Winter is just around the corner – better be prepared in style.
The Lincoln Indianapolis Boano Coupé concept car inspired me to create a vehicle suitable for the snowy season. The shape of the car didn’t need much tweaking. A healthy top chop, the running gear of a Ski-Doo snowmobile and a few minor tweaks is all it needed to look the part. It could even be quite functional.
Sep
01
Martin Sifredi is a passionate car enthusiast who is gradually building on his Alfa Romeo car collection. He eventually wanted to build his own Alfa Romeo race car and chose one of his favourite models: the 1991 Alfa 33 Boxer 16V. He deemed this particular model a perfect choice, because they are such great cars to drive in factory trim. He already owns a show winning 1991 33 16V, so it was a natural progression for him to find another 16V to use as a base for his project.
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Aug
30
Bruno Sacco created his masterpiece for Mercedes-Benz: the C126 S-Class Coupé. One shouldn’t really mess with such an iconic design. Hence, I only changed very subtle things. The vehicle has been lowered over a set of multi-piece wheels with central locks*. The window trim has been color coded to match the body. The fenders have been widened ever so slightly and the door handles have been shaved. It still has an OE feel to it – but the appearance and attitude changed dramatically.
Aug
04
Asüna? What the hell is Asüna, I asked myself upon stumbling across a picture of their Sunfire car. A quick search reveiled, that GM Canada sold (rebadged) Isuzus under the name of Asüna from 1991 to 1995. The Sunfire is actually based on the Geo Storm, which in turn actually was an Isuzu Gemini/Impulse. Confusing?
However, getting rid of the Geos’ pop-up headlights actually improved the overall look of the car. I further enhanced the shape of the car to give it a more substantial and more serious, if not beefy, look. A set of deep concave wheels, a healthy drop of the suspension and hey… it doesn’t look that bad now, does it?
Aug
04
Just a few subtle changes added to the Mitsubishi Lancer 2000 Turbo. Lowered with a set of coil-overs, mounted set of larger wheels and grafted on fender flares and an extension to the factory body-kit. I then converted the picture to grey-scale, because I didn’t like the colors in the reference picture.
Jul
29
Regular visitors know that I do like two-door station wagons, aka Shooting Breaks. The UF31 Nissan Leopard responds nicely to the wagon treatment. A set of shorter springs and some multi-piece BBS wheels do alter the character a little and make the Leopard look sportier. Would be nice to have, wouldn’t it?
Jul
29
The angle of the car pictured here inspired me to try a new design for fender flares. Worked quite well – but the really wide rear fenders on the short-wheelbase AMC AMX create a somewhat odd shape, though. It just adds to the character of the vehicle, I guess 😉
AMC AMX Stage 1 | photoshop chop © Sebastian Motsch (2013)
AMC AMX | reference picture
Jul
23
The Alfa Romeo 164 is a typical car of the late eighties, with straight lines that seem to stretch the body. Unfortunately Alfa Romeo never built a two-door coupé version of this beautiful car. To create the coupé I got rid of the rear doors, moved the B-pillar backwards, chopped the top and reshaped the C-pillar. The lower suspension and a set of larger diameter wheels completely create a more serious attitude.
Jun
11
A couple of weeks ago I found the picture of a Honda N600 that has been converted to a pick-up truck. The car in the picture is in a very sorry shape, so I decided to create a properly executed photoshop chop of how it could look like in reality. Wouldn’t be that hard to fabricate one, actually. Or as the slogan goes: Honda – The Power of Dreams.
May
12
The colorful custom vans of the 1970’s and 80’s have always been an inspirational source for me. Especially the Chevrolet G20 / GMC Vandura vans are amongst my favorite body styles. In this case I used a Vandura Rally STX as a base, deleted the windows and added colorful graphics to the side panels. The van has also been lowered and a set of period-correct custom wheels have been added. The boat on the trailer has been color-matched and the GMC logo color-coded. A rather simple conversion, but it has all the vibe it needs, doesn’t it?
Apr
10
Sometimes a random memory sparks something. In this case I remembered, for some reason or another, that my French teacher once used to drive a very un-cool dark blue Volkswagen Santana Mk1. I searched the web for a suitable picture to use as a base – and got carried away… again.
This project evolved to be a custom Santana which a surfer might drive. The body is essentially stock, but a roof-rack with a surfboard has been added. The car was then lowered over a set of vintage Corvette wheels with tires sporting red stripes. A couple of surf-related stickers, a few details here and there and it was finished. Point proven, even a VW Santana has potential to look (somewhat) cool. 😉
Apr
09
Many crossover models came to the market in the last couple of years. Most of them just adding some plastic cladding to a regular wagon for that “offroad feeling” – but missing the underpinnings to actually go offroad without getting stuck. Just imagine what a cool old-school wagon on a rugged base with solid axles could have looked like back then, when cars where still properly designed by engineers. It could have looked like that: grafting a Nissan Bluebird Wagon body to a Datsun 4WD pick-up chassis. OK, it wouldn’t really be that easy in reality, due to the FWD architecture of the U11 Bluebird. But hey… what if? 😉