A Beautiful 1970 Plymouth Cuda Convertible

It's Easter today and so this post will be short. But I wanted to share with you all this amazing video of a 1970 Plymouth Cuda Convertible I ran across.

Enjoy the holiday!

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.

1969 Opel Kadett Wagon

Opels were sold by Buick dealers starting in the mid sixties, and lasting until the end of the seventies. Available in the U.S. was the Manta (here), GT, 1900, Kadett, and later the Opel Isuzu by Buick. The Kadett was first sold in the U.S. in 1965. The redesign happened very soon afterwards, to the style shown here. The new Kadett was available in all body style variations, and was fairly popular in the U.S. However, despite that, very few remain, which makes this quite an amazing find. Even more so because of the fantastic color, and overall design of the car. It is truly a stunningly pretty design, in my opinion, with perfect proportions, and just fantastic design elements.

 

 

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!

Keep Baby Car Carrier Handles Folded Down!

Photo copyright: Dmyto Samsonov, stock.xchng

I'm a parent and I vividly remember the time I brought my first child home from the hospital. I think I read through the installation manual for the car seat a few dozen times and checked that the base was cinched down as tight as possible. I was incredibly worried that something would happen to my baby, and my worry was completely justified.


When my first child was only a few months old she was involved in a car wreck. Some idiot who didn't look before turning left out of a business' parking lot T-boned our car while my wife was driving. Thankfully baby and mother were not hurt, partially because I had been so obsessive about getting that car seat in correctly.

There are several considerations when it comes to installing a car seat the right way. One big one when it comes to the baby carrier style seats is that you must fold down the seat's handle once you secure the seat in the base. I have noticed for the past several years that a shocking number of parents around here leave the handle up!

If you leave the baby carrier's handle folded upward, the seat can come loose from the base, causing your baby and the seat to potentially go flying out of the car during a violent car accident!

I have heard people say they keep the handle in the upright position because they attach toys to the handle so the baby has something to play with while riding in the car. You might as well be giving a toy full of rat poison for you child to be playing with, because it's about as dangerous.

Please, if you don't have a baby or are done having kids, spread the word around to people you do know that parents must fold these handles down. I hear of car accidents where baby carriers have gone flying out of windows and into traffic on a pretty frequent basis. It's such a simple thing and yet it can save lives.

Fold those handles down!

1974 Land Rover Series III

The classic Land Rover Series was produced relatively unchanged from 1948-1985. The Series III was introduced in 1971, but was almost exactly the same as the IIA. Like late IIAs, the Series III had headlights on the fenders, and the classic curved sides. Land Rovers were and are extremely capable off road, and very utilitarian. Very utilitarian. Look at those door handles, and all the little hooks and other things. Then remember this is from the mid seventies.

   

I Think I'm in Love With the New Cadillac CTS

2014 Cadillac CTS. Photo courtesy General Motors

In case you have been locked in a closet or was lost in the woods for the past week, the New York Auto Show has been going on and quite a few great cars have been revealed. I have to say that I was totally shocked when I saw the 2014 Cadillac CTS Revealed.

Before I say anything else, in the interest of full disclosure I will admit I'm not a huge Cadillac fan. It's not that I think the company doesn't produce some nice cars but it's more about aesthetics and my philosophies on conspicuous consumption. The first time I saw an Escalade was in a college marketing course. I was complete repulsed by the pure bling of the thing.  When I saw one in person I quickly realized it was just a slightly modified Suburban, adding to my distaste for it.

I had heard that Cadillac was going in a new design direction that involved "cleaning up" the old design language. Cleaning up is putting it lightly. Cadillac dumped all the bling crap and the sharp corners galore found on the CTS and instead went for cleaner lines and a subdued grace that makes the car look higher class and more dangerous, yet it's still recognizable as a Cadillac.

And now I find myself in the strange situation where I am falling in love with a Cadillac sedan. Am I really that old or is Cadillac striking out in a brave new direction? Technically by some people's definition I could be classified as a member of Gen Y, so I think it's more of the latter. In my opinion Cadillac really is going to pose a threat to the big German three luxury automakers, which I say is a good thing mostly because BMW has gotten sloppy with its designs (other than the 6-Series, which I just love the look of). Maybe Cadillac will shake the Bavarian out of its deep design slumber, but then again if Cadillac keeps improving their cars in this direction I might not care.

1963 Mercury Meteor Custom Wagon

For 1962 and '63, the Meteor was Mercury's version of the Ford Fairlane. It was only made for three model years, beginning in 1961, and ending after 1963, the only year a station wagon was available. Also available was the fancy S-33 model, which had nicer trim and a better interior. This Meteor looks absolutely fantastic on 60s-style gold slot mags, which compliment this Mercury's 60s styling cues perfectly

 

 

 

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The New Mercedes S-Class Will Make You Feel Like You Went to Automotive Heaven

2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class interior. Photo courtesy Daimler

Have you seen the photos of the exterior of the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class Exterior? Mercedes has been putting out some great designs lately and the new S-Class is no exception. As can be expected with the flagship sedan, the S-Class delivers a plethora of creature comforts and snazzy new technology that will keep everyone who drives or rides in the car satisfied in just about every way imaginable.

Mercedes is calling the new S-Class "The Essence of Luxury" as part of its marketing campaign. All I know is I wouldn't mind spending an afternoon rolling around in one, even being driven around by some guy named Alfred or something like that. The car's seats will massage and warm you and they are not just ventilated but also feature a reverse ventilation feature which draws in cool air in the car's cabin to cool off hot seats. And buyers get five different choices for backseats, including an Executive seat that can recline back as much as 43.5 degrees!

The 2014 S-Class will also come with an optional perfuming feature that allows the driver or passengers the ability to release a perfume into the car's cabin to cover up unpleasant smells. Apparently the perfuming system's controls allows you to change the perfume's intensity for those extra bad smells.

What if the passengers want to all watch different things on the car's entertainment system? Mercedes has thought of that quandary and has outfitted the S-Class with the ability to stream different entertainment features to each of the DVD screens. So you can watch The Hangover while the other backseat passenger goes shoe shopping while you're stuck in rush hour traffic. Well done, Mercedes, well done...

Installing Exhaust Headers in the Spring

Image copyright: Hector Landeata, stock.xchng

Modifying a car can be a lot of fun even if it does involve some knuckle-splitting work. When you are young and dumb you make some mistakes when it comes to modifications, but hopefully those mistakes teach you a lesson. This post is all about one such mistake I made.

I had a cat-back exhaust system installed on a car of mine. After that installation job, which was done by a professional because of the weld joints that needed to be done right, I ordered and decided to install some exhaust headers. The only problem was that it was springtime and I didn't have a garage to work inside.

I live in Utah where spring really is just an extension of winter. We don't get a real spring where it is nice, moderate weather. Normally it goes from snowing one day to almost hot the next and so forth. The day I had set aside to install the headers turned out to be frigid, and it started to rain when I was partway through the project.

Laying on a cold cement driveway is a good way to chill yourself to the bone. Luckily I had a friend with me, so we took turns laying under the car and freezing our backsides. Installing an exhaust header isn't difficult work, unless you are freezing cold and it's hard to even hold a wrench steady. That and the catalytic converter on the car hooked up directly to the header, and it used springs in its connection which were difficult to work with in the cold.

So what's the point of this story? First of all, it's best to work on your car in good weather, or at least to have a garage you can sit inside out of the elements. I would have killed to have had an electric space heater and a dry garage. Since then I don't even change my oil outside when the weather isn't nice. Trust me, a frozen back is not worth it.

1969 Plymouth Valiant 100

Basic transportation at its best: the Plymouth Valiant. Has there been such a simple, reliable, and perfect for its purpose car since? The slant six will run forever, so too will the rest of it. Introduced in 1960 to compete with small compacts from the U.S. and abroad, the Valiant lasted until 1976 and, although it was available in fancy trim packages, no one cared. They are still common today, a testament to their reliability, but each Dart and Valiant has its own unique character. This one's appliance beige paint accents the swoop on the lower panels, and looks great with the paint-matched rims. 

   

 

60 Years of the Corvette

2013 Chevrolet Corvette. Image courtesy General Motors

Anyone who has actually driven a Chevrolet Corvette understands that it's a special car and not just an everyday driving machine. The sports car that was almost canned in the beginning by General Motors has become the company's crown jewel, being easily the most recognizable model GM has ever produced.


The Corvette is turning 60 and there's quite a bit of fanfare around the anniversary. I ran across this interesting video from Car and Driver about an exhibit on the Corvette that's being held at the Petersen Automotive Museum. It's long but if you are even a little bit of a Corvette fan it's worth watching.

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.

1973 Porsche 914 2.0

The 914 was developed by VW and Porsche, but Porsche was the only company to put it into production, after worrying their image might be hurt if it was sold as a VW. It replaced the 912 as the cheapest and most entry-level Porsche. Most 914s had Flat-4 engines, while a few, rarer cars had Flat-6s. Today, they are an interesting alternative to the usual British sports cars, especially with the 914's unique roof.