Thunderbird Once Again?

Rather than starting with a base photo for this 2015 Thunderbird, I used a black Sharpie and did a quick sketch on paper. Then I scanned the illustration and "played" with it in Photoshop to work it up. This Thunderbird would be a 4-seat personal luxury sport coupe to pick up where the 1971s left off. Power would come from an EcoBoost family V6s with hybrid assist. Rear-wheel drive biased all-wheel drive standard. Aerodynamics would be managed extremely well with a cd in the low .20s.

Still Unique in all the World and Happy New Year!

1966 Thunderbird Speedster Showcar

"If I Had Been There"

Quick Study: Loyal blogreader, "Bobf," suggested I try a Speedster version of the mid '60s Thunderbird. This is what I came up with, in the manner of a period '66 Ford showcar, complete with Cragar wheels, whitewalls, cut-down windshield and redesigned side glass. I "welded" the rear fender skirts into the body, removed the doorhandles and nameplate, added the sidepipes and a modified '66 Mustang scoop trim piece, all things they might have done in the Ford studios of the time. I wouldn't mind taking a country drive in this Tbird! I started with a base photo from a website called Bold Ride, found a background image at a wallpaper site and did the rest with the magic of Photoshop.

B T W :

This car inspired me... I'd love to see a TV show based on the automobile industry in Detroit, circa 1958-71. It could be a Mad Men-ish look at a major automotive design studio, and its execs, designers, clay modelers, and their wives, boyfriends, affairs, drinking and swearing habits, their custom cars, rushed clay models, weekends at the Grosse Point Yacht club, hijinks, shenanigans, their personal relationships... You know, but with a heavy emphasis on the cars and how those cars affect their lives, professionally and personally. There could be a 10-minute Epilog at the end of each 80 minute episode; an historic "sidebar" of an actual show car and short history and sexy trivia.

B T W :

Marty Martino, a new reader to casey/artandcolour, but a long-time car builder and afficionado, mentioned the '63 Thunderbird Italien when commenting about my Speedster. A long time ago, I did a chop of what a square-edged '64 'Bird might have looked like with a fastback, hence my '64 Italien 2. I think this chop is about 5 years old. I'll take another stab at a factory Tbird fastback one of these days.

 

A full length brushed aluminum lower body side strip was added, too.

Re-imagining the Past

Early-ish Chops of Early-ish Cars

2006 Chrysler 300 Sport Wagon—This was my creation of a "true" Chrysler 300 station wagon. I modified a Dodge Magnum body, adding more glass to the greenhouse and suicide doors. I gave it a classic 1955 Chrysler front end and slightly later MoPar "flashlight" taillights. I think all of these disparate parts really hung together well! I hope Virgil Exner, Sr, would approve!

1964 Thunderbird Squire—Taking one of my favorite Thunderbirds, the "Squarebird" of 1964-66, and making it into a classic 1960s Country Squire, was one of my more fun chops in the "early days." I first had to make it into a four-door, predating the actual 4-door T-bird by three years, and posted a sedan version online first. Then I went further adding the wagon bodystyle and then the "wood" paneling. I would love to see someone build this today for the car show circuit! The rear trunk on these 'Birds was low enough that the rear bumper/taillight assembly could be kept and a hatch added above it. Cutting the hatch into the roof, a la the Dodge Magnum, would be fine for ease of loading.

1980 Thunderbird—Moving forward a decade and a half, this is my idea of what a 1980-82 Thunderbird could have looked like, the so-called "Fairmont 'Bird." Instead of completely throwing out the mega-successful "Torino 'Bird's" styling, and Ford sold more than half a million of the '77-'79 T-birds, this smaller, lighter 'Bird would have taken that styling and proportioned it to fit the Fox platform. I really like the way this car came out.

1959 Cadillac Eldorado Sport Coupe—I created a personal luxury coupe out of a regular Cadillac Series 62 coupe for this chop. I shortened the trunk, lowering the fins and moving them forward at the same time. I actually lengthened the hood a bit, perhaps for a revived V-12? I also opened up the rear wheelwells, giving the car more of a forward thrust. And of course, as with so many vintage cars before restoration, I had to duct tape some of the chrome trim on it. I also added the rust... I know exactly what that looks like from experience, lol.

1962 Plymouth Fury—Reimagining the great Virgil Exner isn't a task to be taken lightly. I like to think that in this chop I just removed the awkward production values forced upon him. Besides the new roofline, and a bit of trim removal, the most important thing I did in this chop was to restore the curved sideglass I know was on the prototypes, but changed at the last minute for cost reasons. By moving the bottom of the glass out flush to the bodysides like Mr. Exner originally wanted, the styling makes so much more sense. His early "fuselage" styling is revealed to be the genius it really was. My sloping roofline makes his emphasis on the individual fender shapes and long hood, classic-era touches, really stand out, too.

B O N U S   C H O P :

2008 Toyota Cressida—Not a vintage car, but one that stood out in my Photobucket account while I found the above chops, this is my take on an updated Toyota Cressida. The Cressida was a rear wheel drive "luxury" Toyota back in the 1980s. I began with the current front wheel drive Avalon, but gave it more classic rwd proportions and smoothed it out, removing much of Toyota's current lumpy-and-bumpy styling ethos. I say this a lot, lol, but I really like the way this large Toyota came out. I wish it was available at a dealer, today!

Future Coupes? Take Woody's Poll!

Parade of Early Chops Continues

Chrysler 300 Nassau, a V10 powered domestic luxury coupe. Woody Thompson, owner/writer of Woody's Car Site, has offered a poll this week: Which 4-door would you like to see as a coupe? When I read through his list, I realized I had created most of them already, lol. One I haven't rendered yet is a new Fusion coupe. I've started one, and I can tell you this, it's not what you're expecting! And I have yet to do a Subaru Impreza coupe. But the rest, I have rendered and will post here.

Please take a moment and click over to Woody's site and take his poll!

Infiniti M45 Hybrid coupe. Svelte, green, and powerful. What more could you ask for? Well, maybe a Jag . . .

Jaguar XJC, 2012 style. The newest large Jaguar luxury sedan is so coupe-like, it practically rendered itself. I smoothed out the trunk cutlines, simplified the taillights, added a unifying piece of chrome to the trunklid and a full glass roof, and that was about it!

But perhaps a more sublte, and smaller and economical coupe is for you. Perhaps a VW . . .

Volkswagen Jetta coupe. Again, the new Jetta sedan is almost coupe-like as is, so half of my work was cut out for me.I shortened the trunk a bit, lost the two rear dooors, and did the full "artandcolour" treatment on the rest of the car. I'll take two, please!

Except there is a Kia dealer next to the VW dealer near me, and I'm so in love with their styling. If they'd only do an Optima coupe . . .

Kia Optima Coupe—Ask and you shall receive! The newest Optima, designed by former Audi designer, Peter Schreyer is a tour de force. It makes an elegant, and natural two-door.

However, if you're craving a tall car, an AWD crossover, 2-doors are extinct these days. Call Cadillac and tell them you'd like the SRX Grosse Point produced . . .

 

Cadillac SRX Grosse Point—Some people just don't need "easy access" to the rear seat. They'd prefer the larger front door openings that 2 door cars afford them. This cream and gold metallic SRX would be perfect for them. 

Not on Woody's list, probably because Mercury is kaput, but still high on my "what if" list, a modern-day Mercury coupe . . .

 

Mercury Capri—Well, it could still be a Ford Taurus Capri coupe, lol. I really would like to see large 2-doors make a comeback. If they are pillarless like my version, well, that would be icing on the cake. Large luxury coupes, while undeniabley "sporty" do not have to be raw performance cars. The days of large luxury coupes, elegant and sophisticated, do not have to be over. 

And speaking of a Ford coupe . . .

Taurus SHO Coupe—I've also created this sleeker Taurus coupe, a modern-day Fairlane 500 XL. The roof is mostly glass and the C pillars quite thin and elegantly arched, much like the classic Ford coupes of the 1960s.

Or if you'd prefer a more elegant and formal Taurus coupe, how about a new Thunderbird . . .

Thunderbird—Instead of reprising the classic 2-seater Thunderbird, as Ford did in the early 2000s, I have brought back the also-classic 1960s personal luxury coupe Tbird. This iteration would be created from the Taurus's Volvo-derived platform with an extended wheelbase for more period proportions, moving the front wheels forward and cutting the front overhang. The C pillar is widened in this pillarless coupe, and the Thunderbird logo proudly centered on it. The interior would be suitably luxurious, with the rear seat designed with the same wraparound "cove seating" as the '64-'71 Tbird coupes.

Blasts from the Past

Although I haven't had a lot of time to create new chops, I have a back-catalog of more than 600 cars I've created since 2005. Here are just a few of them.

Porsche's smaller-than-Panamera 4-door would be powered by a turbocharged 4-cylinder front-mounted engine. Weight would be kept under 2700 lbs through the use of carbon fiber and aluminum.

Chrysler's now-classic Engel Imperial, 1964-'66, reimagined as a 2-door limousine Crown Coupe. Besides the roofline and rear window, I modified the rear bumper and bodysides to enhance the coachbuilt appearance. I placed the car in front of a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home. Classics deserve Classics!

"The Sky Belongs to You." My '66 Thunderbird Sky Coupe photoedited an advertisement of that year's Town Landau which ran in the National Geographic. I added fixed glass panels in the roof, on either side of the real roof console featured in that year's Town coupes. I also greatly enlarged the rear side windows to add a more light to the interior.

"Unique in the All the World" was a Thunderbird tagline for years. In this instance, I modifed a press photo of the brand-new for '67 Thunderbird four door Landau. The model was wearing what appears to be a Pucci dress, so I went with that mid-Sixties style, adding translucent Pucci fabric to the layout from one of my mother's scarves. I made the Tbird into an early 5-door Grand Touring vehicle, not quite a wagon, not quite a sedan. I surmised that perhaps Pucci reversible seat cushions could accompany this special edition. Working to make images appear "vintage" and somewhat worn, is an effect I especially like to create in Photoshop. By "practicing" on my car chops like this, I've been able to use these techniques in some of the books I've designed.

Although the Hyundai Genesis coupe is just about to be introduced in facelifted form, with a much more attractive and aggressive front end design, I created this "4-door sports car" version a few years ago. 4DSC was the advertising "gimmick" for Nissan's Maxima, and I appropriated it for this Hyundai which would compete with the Maxima. With this sloping roofline, this sedan would not be the most spacious, but today's 4-door coupes are all about style and not practicality. I kept the unique beltline "dip" and "hid" the rear door handle to preserve a bit more "coupiness."

This little Buick Special "Estate Wagon" was chopped so long ago, I can't remember the base photo. I'm guessing it might have been one of the Opels that Buick was about to introduce in the States, but it might have been an Audi A3. Or a Saturn, lol. I remember adding Buick's classic "sweepspear" downward sloping character line and then emphasizing it with a 1969-type Buick Sportswagon woodgrain treatment above it. The "wood" is bordered on the top with a brushed aluminum molding but is left borderless on the bottom, instead relying on the character line for its stopping point.

A quick chop when the new Taurus was introduced, to add a bit of visual "drama" to the SHO version, with a two-tone paint job. I  recontoured the rear bumper, adding the "cut-in" at the top near the taillights to visually diminish the size of the plastic bumper covering. I also added that wraparound chrome molding to emphasize the new bumper contour and to add some width to the very tall rear aspect of the Taurus.

Besides making a 4-door out of the Genesis coupe, I also chopped this 2-door Luxury Coupe from the Genesis 4-door. I've always wondered why the Genesis 4-door was so much larger and more luxurious than the coupe. They almost seem like they're not related at all, except for the fact they're both rear-wheel drive cars. For this Luxury Coupe, I targeted the Mercedes CLK in appearance and marketing.

One of my Most Outrageous Thunderbirds

I Photoshopped this 1970 Thunderbird last year. I made the fastback C-pillar a bit more formal with a smaller quarter window. I moved the front wheels forward to make room for, perhaps, a V12. Fender skirts add an old-school touch to this Bunkie-beaked 'Bird!

Hard to Believe I Haven't Posted These Before...

2010 Taurus-based Thunderbird coupes. I just saw a Taurus-based T-bird coupe on another website, and wanted to link to these two similar chops of mine, and couldn't find them on my blog. I might not have "labeled" them correctly, or maybe I just never posted them on the blog. In either case, these are my ideas for a modern AWD Taurus-based T-bird coupe. The top one is my ideal Thunderbird, ie, pillarless coupe with classic Sixties T-bird cues. The bottom one is more of a modern version of the last 5-seat Thunderbird, the '89-96 or whenever they stopped building it, lol, a 2 door pillared sport coupe. These two examples show just how much diversity can be achieved in Photoshop, as both began as a new 4-door Taurus sedan.