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Aug
25
Citroën CX 22 TRS
2019.08 | Photoshop Chop | Tuning
Growing up at the French border gave me the opportunity to enjoy the weird and quirky French cars. At a very young age, I was fascinated by the sheer elegance of the big Citroën cars parked in the lowest position of the hydropneumatic suspension. Seeing them sink into or rise from their “sleep” position always was the icing on the cake and put a smile on my face. These days now, air suspension setups are the norm, but for me it will always be a reminder of days long gone, when the French engineers’ ingeniuity and driving comfort was more important than the bean counters interference in vehicle development. This photoshop depicts a dream of my younger self: being able to actually drive the Citroën CX in the low position and fit larger multipiece wheels. Ça c’est une voiture très belle.
Dec
08
Recently a friend and I discussed which OEM wheel has the best design. We agreed on the deep dish five-spoke Mitsubishi Starion wheel and thought it wouold look good on most vehicles. Just for fun and because I wanted to chop a V6 Nissan anyway, I fitted them on a Nissan Maxima J30. Just a quick photoshop chop with lowering, larger diameter wheels, replacing chrome with shadow line parts, window tint and deleting the rear door handles.
Sep
09
I have always loved the shape of the SAAB Sonett I roadster, but similar to the BMW 507 I never liked the stance and choice of wheels. Diameter too large, tires too skinny and a stance that would suit a 4×4 – not my cup of tea on a roadster intended to be driven hard. Fixing these three problems is exceptionally rewarding on many cars from the 60’s and 70’s, because the designs are often adorable. Apply this recipe to a first generation SAAB Sonett, add a set of American Racing Torq Thrust wheels and tires with white lettering on the sidewalls. Voilà, you have a roadster that it still tiny and nimble, but looks like it packs a lot more punch.
Aug
01
Lately I had a phone conversation with a friend and he asked me what I think about Daihatsu. Due to my experiences with Daihatsu vehicles, I’m quite fond of the engineering, reliability and longevity. I drove my first Daihatsu Cuore (aka Mira) while studying in Karlsruhe, had a long-term hire Sirion while living in South Africa and even took that one to 4×4 trails without any worries or problems. Mind you, it was not the all wheel drive version. I have never driven a Materia, but it definitely is on my bucket list. I like the styling of the body very much, but the dashboard with the centered instruments doesn’t do it for me. Researching the PCD and availability of tuning parts, I stumbled upon the Inden Design shop truck. Taking this concept a bit further is easy with photoshop. Remove the rear doors, convert it to a panel van and it’s done. Or isn’t it? To make the converted car look good, I modified the rake of the B-pillar and changed a few things here and there to get the proportions right. Once finished it received some spice: I lowered it, added vintage Gotti wheels and converted them to multi-piece with BBS barrels. Now, would you jump into this Materia to fetch some parts or deliver pizza?
Nov
12
When the Opel Signum first came out I thought it was a horrible design with odd proportions. Not much has changed over the years – I still think the proportions are not great on the Insignia. But nonetheless, my motto is that you can turn every boring car into something more interesting. Et voilà – let me present the two-door Opel Insignia Panel Van with a Steinmetz bodykit and a Thule box on the roof rack. Gold colored Rays TE37 wheels look good on most cars and prove the point that often the wheels make the car look good in the first place. It was fun creating this with Adobe Photoshop. Now, who dares to do this in real life?
Oct
08
A friend of mine came up with the idea of converting a Nissan Skyline GT-R35 to transport a motorcycle in style. And hey, why shouldn’t you want to do do just that? All you need is a GT-R35, right? Measure the motorcycle, in this case a Kawasaki Ninja H2R, and figure out how you want it to sit once loaded. I prefer to have it flowing with the lines of the car, so I located it rather low. It should still clear the rear axle, though. Now just get the cutting tools out and have fun slicing this fine sportscar into various pieces. Extend the wheelbase, fabricate some panels and you’re almost finished. This is what I thought and the result didn’t please me one bit, to be honest. Therefore I went to the additional trouble of adding a set of butterfly doors à la Mazda RX-8 and a set of overfenders for the rear wheels. So far so good – but the conversion wouldn’t be complete without lowering and a set of nice Forgiato wheels and Pirelli P Zero tires. And while we are at it, we might as well add brakes from the Liberty Walk Lamborghini Murcielago for good measure to slow it down properly. Do you think Kato-san would approve?
Now load up your sportsbike, strap it down securely and have fun! 🙂
Sep
13
“Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems.” Scott Adams
Nobody would have even the faintest doubt that the FIAT engineers created a lot of problems when they came up with the FIAT 130 and 130 Coupé, because these vehicles shared virtually no parts with other FIAT models from that period. Even the Aurelio Lampredi designed V6 engine is not identical with the machine used in the Dino. But nonetheless – the 130 Coupé is a beautiful automobile – and definitely more elegant than the somewhat baroque sedan model. The guys at the Pininfarina design studios must have had the same thought and created a four-door model based on the design of the coupé. Quite a stunning vehicle with almost perfect proportions – but as I never liked the tall and narrow wheels of the Seventies I updated the looks with more modern wheels and tires. Larger diameter, lower profile and a substantial drop in ride height all of a sudden make the vehicle look more contemporary timeless.
See the original image here for comparison.
Jul
21
The Jaguar E-Type is one of the automotive icons of the 20th century, along with the Citroën DS. Most people, including most of my friends from Passau Classics, think that these iconic cars should not be messed with and any modification deviating from 100% originality is deemed evil. If you are a regular reader you already know that I created a DS Shooting Break and hence you will not be surprised about the latest creation. Unlike the DS, which is completely my idea and design, the Jaguar E-Type Mk3 V12 you see below is inspired by the current trend of bolting fender flares to cars.
As per my opinion that parts should not only be cosmetic but also serve a purpose, I choose the Jaguar as a base for this conversion. The original body of the E-Type is not designed to accomodate wide wheels due to the shape of the fenders. An update to state-of-the art coilovers along with a healthy drop in ride height and a set of larger and wider wheels necessitates the above mentioned bolt-on fenders. Oh… and of course cutting off substantial parts of the original bodywork in the process. The purists out there might not like it a tiny bit or even hate it, but like-minded enthusiasts might love it even more. 😉
Apr
25
Found this picture of a nice Maserati Shamal today and decided to have some fun and create a quick photoshop chop, Stance|Works style. Not much done here: lowered, USDM sidemarkers, tinted window frame and the same front lip and concave multi-piece OEM+ wheels I used on the Maserati Biturbo Spyder. Like it or not – it does put a smile on my face. 🙂
Edit: somebody asked me how the front of this Maserati Shamal would look like. Turns out to be a rather mean and evil looking Maserati Shamal.
May
13
With the 2012 Woerthersee Festival being held next weekend, I decided to post a couple of Volkswagen and Audi themed photoshop chops.
Click here to see the modified vehicles.
WÖRTHERSEE TREFFEN SPECIAL 2012
Das Wörthersee Treffen 2012 findet nächstes Wochenende statt. Deshalb habe ich mich entschieden, zu diesem Anlass ein Wörthersee Special mit modifizierten Volkswagen and Audi zu veröffentlichen.
Klickt hier um die modifizierten Fahrzeuge zu sehen.