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Jan
16
Morris Marina Coupé (ADO28) | Brexit
The Morris Marina was never known for bullet-proof reliability. In fact, it was widely known as one of the worst cars ever produced. Bad image, rust issues and questionable quality caused prices to drop and vehicles to be scrapped as a result.
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Jan
02
Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC AMG Widebody with Overfenders (C126)
A good friend of mine recently complained that most of my photoshop chops are side-view only. That is true, because I have more ideas than time and 3/4 view pictures need a lot more time to finish properly than the simpler side-view pictures.
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Jul
26
The second generation (1980-1985) of the Cadillac Seville is a beautiful rather ugly vehicle. The chopped trunk is a weird design feature and was never really considered cool at any point in time. I remember one custom Mk2 Seville from roughly twenty years ago that was chopped, lowered and equipped with then-cool billet wheels that I liked. However, they did keep the four doors and ever since then I wondered what a two-door conversion might look like. A couple of weeks ago I found a nice picture and went straight to work. The result is more interesting than beautiful, but as I didn’t expect much I can’t be disappointed. I love the color, though.
Jul
14
I pondered this question before, when I created the short wheelbase Cadillac Fleetwood:
What if downsizing the US land yachts went a little different?
Every car enthusiasts knows that the oil crisis in the early 1970’s eventually spelled the end for the gas guzzling land yachts. Cars from Europe and Japan with much better fuel economy flooded the US market and created a situation the big three had to face. They tried frantically to build something suitable. However, most cars they came up with were great achievements horrible miniature caricatures of the bygone era of dinosaurs. You fondly remember the downsized barges and new designs like the Ford Pinto, AMC Gremlin amongst others. Especially the shrunken Cadillacs and Lincolns put a sad expression on most peoples faces. But hey… what if they had approached the whole downsizing trend with a little bit of humor and left the interiors of the cars full-size and only compromised on the outside of the body and the drivetrain? They might have come up with something like this Pontiac Bonneville 2-Door Hardtop Shorty concept.
Jan
14
Staring at the undercarriage of a car that has massive rust issues is more depressing than inspiring. Combing the rust particles out of my scalp proved to be inspiring though, because the vehicle in question is a gorgeous Hofmeister-designed BMW E9 coupé a friend of mine bought last year – sight unseen. As always, I let my mind wander in the following days to see what ideas I could come up with. Shooting Break? No, I want to do something else with it and create something out of the ordinary. CS means Coupé Sport and while talking about the recent trend of labeling new BMWs Gran Coupé, the coin dropped. A long list of modifications would be necessary to bring this to life. It sounds easier to do this in Adobe Photoshop, but it went through a lot of iterations until I was happy with the result.
Apart from the obvious additon of two doors, there are many modifications you likely didn’t spot right away when looking at the picture. The wheelbase is slightly longer to create room for the passengers feet and the front doors are shorter to keep the proportions in check. Extending the roof was a challenge in itself, because I also had to adjust the chrome trim above the windows. The E9 has frameless windows and I wanted to keep it that way. In order to be able to open the rear windows fully, I had to design a guide for the window, because I didn’t want to alter the C-pillar. Subtle, elegant and practical, just as the Karmann designers and engineers might have done it when challenged with such a task back in the days. Content with how the 4-door body turned out, I turned my attention to the wheels. The dinky original 14″ wheels look too small even for the 2-door and therefore I decided to utilize 15″ wheels with the same design. The hubcaps were carried over from the original 14″ wheels.
For comparison, please take a look at the original picture.
Dec
22
This photoshop chop took way longer to finish than all the other pictures I created this year. It all started with looking at a Peugeot 504 brochure from the 1970’s in January. Having always loved the Pininfarina-penned styling of the coupé and convertible, I wondered why there are no tastefully modified cars out there. These vehicles are not even too expensive to buy, despite having a history of motorsport ventures in rallye and racing. As always, the “what if (I had the money)” question followed immediately and all kinds of crazy modification ideas popped up in my mind. However, modifying this elegant coupé without messing up the lines completely posed a challenge. In the end I went with a retro-inspired theme the Japanese call works style. Imagine an engine with substantially more power, modern suspension and brakes. This necessitates larger wheels and a set of overfenders to cover them. I tried to keep them subtle and close to the original design of the fenders. Finding a period-correct design for the wheels also was a challenge. Campagnolos work well with the larger diameter and the conversion to the rather large Peugeot PCD. A good friend of mine suggested to add a ventilation flap on the roof, similar to the classic Jaguar E-Type race cars, and I happily adopted this brilliant idea. The hash marks on the fenders are Peugeot Talbot Sport colors from the early 1980’s, keeping with the idea that a conversion like this might have been built when this was just an affordable used car.
Fine art prints will be available early in 2018. Make sure to pre-order soon, as this will be a limited edition of only 73 numbered and signed pieces. The prints are without watermarks.
Click here to see the original picture.
Jul
30
“A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.” Ogden Nash
It really makes me wonder what the photographer of the original picture had in mind, when he placed a rather large dog in the rear seat of the Volvo 262C? Is it possible that he wanted to illustrate that dogs are good companions and like to travel in Volvos? Good idea, but judging by the dogs’ rather sad face he might have actually prefered to ride in a 265 station wagon.
The original picture was on my hard drive for more than a decade. The first try on modifying this vehicle is just as old – and was horrible. So I saved it and forgot about it. A chance encounter with a 262C on the Autobahn last week reminded me of the old file and I openened it in Photoshop again… only to delete it minutes later. After a quick search for the same picture with better size and resolution, I started to modify it again. This time around I changed a vital part that I didn’t think about ten years ago: the rear fender. The Volvo 200-series cars have a rear fender cutout that prohibits lowering the car without looking odd, because the upper part of the wheel disappears behind the sheetmetal. Once that was fixed I selected a set of wheels with period correct design, lowered the car, modified the front spoiler and added the black stripes.
It took ten years to finally finish this one, but now I’m happy with the result. If you have any suggestions what could be done differently or better, please let me know in the comments. Thank you in advance.
Apr
23
The Mitsubishi Sapporo Coupé is one of those vehicles with great lines and design details. All in all a nice car, but it somehow lacks something. However, this can be fixed easily: a healthy dose of lowering, larger diameter “OEM+” wheels and a few details here and there. The two-tone paint is more pronounced now, the taillights are all red and the front grille darker. The front airdam is the icing on the cake.
This photoshop chop only took half an hour, give or take. I just love to enhance original design so the changes are hardly visible to those not familiar with the original car. 😉
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.
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.
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.
Aug
15
Visiting the 2012 Nitrolymp’x at the Hockenheimring last weekend inspired me to create a couple of dragsters with photoshop. And because mainstream isn’t really my cup of tea, I used a couple of rather unlikely cars as a base: the Aston Martin Lagonda Limousine and the Talbot Lago T23 Teardrop Coupé by Figoni & Falaschi. Chances of seeing this conversion done in reality? Probably next to nothing 😉
Jul
30
For many years I wanted to create an Opel Kadett C Coupé that is raceworthy, but doesn’t stray too much from the original design. No big spoilers and wings here, sir. I just lowered the CQP and moved the fenders up a little. This gives the car a more aggressive stance and a lower center of gravity. Bring on the curves and bends – this little RWD gem is going to tackle it with ease! I imagine a naturally aspirated 2.4 liter Mantzel engine under the hood would be fun.
Nov
03
For many years I have been wondering, why Renault didn’t build a proper turbo version of either the 15 or 17 coupé. The powertrain of the Renault 5 Turbo would have fit in the coupé bodies. Well, with some minor alteration to the original shell, of course. Because this is very easy to do in Adobe Photoshop, I just went ahead and did it: transplanting the powertrain and adapting the wide fenders. Voilá, c’est le résultat.
Oct
04
The 1937 Delage D8 120 Aerodynamic Coupé by Letourneur & Marchand: a masterpiece of vehicle design. Nonetheless… even a beautiful vehicle may be altered and changed. Not in real life, mind you. Pixel by pixel, exclusively here at VirtualModels.org.
Sep
15
Cord 812 Beverly Sedan. A beautiful car… but wait a second! Didn’t that originally have four doors and a shorter nose? Yeah, you’re right about that. Quite a lot has been changed here. Take your time and compare it with the original. Find 10 things I changed and win… a smile. 🙂
Jul
17
Having finished this photoshop chop back in 2009, I was rather surprised to see that Xenatec had the same idea and actually built a coupé in 2010. Also based on the Maybach 57S, it looks very similar to my design, although we never had any contact. The decision is up to you which one you like better. However, mine is not for sale. 😉
Jul
08
The iconic Porsche 911 came in various configurations. The picture of the 3.2 with the narrow body inspired me to create a phantom racecar. No livery yet… but I’ll figure something out sooner or later, hehe. In case you’re wondering where the wheels came from: they are from the Singer 911.
May
21
What if? Citroën could have built this more muscular version of the SM coupé. With a Maserati engine already aboard, even rear wheel drive could have been an option -but they never even considered it. Therefore you just look at this picture and add everything else with your imagination.
Feb
20
In 1972 Opel presented the OSV40 Opel Safety Vehicle Prototype. Based on the 4-door version of the Kadett C, it looked rather bland. The ride height of the OSV40 has been changed. I also made some changes to the body panels and added a front air dam. While working on it I thought I might as well change the body itself. Voilá – the Coupé and Aero versions of the Opel Safety Vehicle.
The Coupé sports a set of white 13″ ATS classic wheels, the Aero a set of 13″ polished Fuchs wheels.
Feb
14
A friend of mine built a scale model of a Chrysler 300C Coupé. This inspired me to create this virtual model when the SRT8 version was unveiled. The body has been cleaned, bigger wheels and exhaust tips have been added. Even though it might look like – but the roof is not chopped.