As a kid I wanted to become a car designer, but teachers told me I couldn’t draw well. In turn, I wanted to become a car salesman and while that may have been a career path I might have been good at, some three decades later I found myself in a very different field and all my automotive passions were relegated to my free time. Free time of which I found to have increasingly little raising three children and trying to pay the bills in an ever more expensive Berlin. The only time I had for myself turned out to be when I would take my little daughter for walks so she could nap a little. And that’s when it dawned on me: I might not be drawing cars or selling them, but I could still create my very own cars! Welcome to my quirky little personal design studio: Weird wagons, secret twins, ill-fitting body parts and maybe the occasional beauty (well, that is for you to judge).
Was anyone waiting for an E38 coupe? Maybe. But even less relevant: What about an E38 convertible? One based on an E38 hatchback and parked out in the Berlin rain for too long?
Now if you are so put off as to quit reading, please bear with me as I will tone it down a notch, I promise.
While I have always admired the E24 I do admit to having second thoughts about both its comparatively short wheelbase and the lenghts of its overhangs. While playing around with those parameters I came up with three alternatives to the original (which is depicted on top). Is any one of these an improvement, in your opinion?
Most of us love a good Swedish brick and while it has a very good turning circle for its size and cargo capacity, parking in a tight European city may be a different story. Now here is the answer to a question few have asked: All the trunk capacity, most of the brickiness, none of the legroom and some of the style of the tried and true 740 wagon.
Let us assume you agree with the basic concept of a city-sized Volvo, but say you lived in a stylish place in Northern Italy and didn’t need that much cargo space but maybe better traction in the winter? Boy have I got the right vehicle for you:
What if you lived in Italy in 1988 with its narrow roads, but you had personal parking available at your home and needed to transport 6 adults in style? I got you covered.
While a genuine lover of Audis something that has always bugged me about their designs is the dash-to-axle ratio which, being front-wheel drive designs, is never as visually pleasing as a Mercedes or BMW of the era. Here is an attempt at one of my all-time favourite Audis, the RS2 Avant, only this one is based on a rear-while drive version of the Audi 80. What do you think?
However, what if we went the other way, and took a perfectly proportioned RWD car like this CL 65 AMG and turned it into a front-driver while maintaining enough engine space to retain that V12 engine?
And if you thought that that was silly, then take a breath: Here is your Mercedes 190E with a 10 foot turning circle while retaining full trunk capacity (Interior space front and back is a different story …..)
The reason I am playing around so much with wheelbase sizes is because that is relatively easy to do with the software that I am using. I’m not saying it looks great, but it is easier than say, changing headlight designs. And while we are at the theme of altering universally acclaimed designs:
One thing that has always bugged me is the late advent of the wagon in the history of Mercedes. While there were the little known “Universal” models of the W110 and then the successful S123 what was and always is missing to me is the big wagon based on the S-Class.
And with even more niche appeal: The shooting brake version.
If there is a shooting brake based on an S-Class, surely the E-Class deserves one as well, right?
Before you get bored I will throw in some more experimental work. Here is a study of an early VW minivan from 1987 with a mid-engine layout.
A Toyota Carina E / Corona based coupe.
And to finish: A little fantasy car of mine. I challenge the CCommenriat to identify ALL the cars from which this car has stolen body parts and wheels ! Thank you for reading.
Nice work! A couple of these mockups, might have potential.
It is very rare in the modern era of auto production, that you see a major manufacturer’s car hit the market, with genuinely amateurish styling elements. I feel a convincing example of styling that was not ready for the big time, occurred with the new for 1978 Ford Corsel II. Specifically, the 2-door fastback sedan version. In so many of the photos I’ve seen of this car, the trunk/boot appears like an oversized glued-on afterthought. Design would have been clean for its era, as a VW Dasher-like hatchback. But with the awkwardly included, visually too large/too long trunk, it appears noticeably disproportionate to the rest of the car. Practical to have a large luggage space, but its styling aesthetics, are questionable here.
Back in the 50s, I was limited to cut and paste of the ancient kind, so I butchered brochures snitched from dealers.
Another brochure mod….
I also tried some pencil art with limited success….
The pencil art attempt 3…..
Yeah I can’t draw either.