I’ve discovered another photoshopper who loves to re-imagine old cars, and is happy to share them with us. Here’s a couple of Lincoln coupes, the first one the 1961. Of course, that’s an interesting subject, given that the ’61 Continental was derived from a coupe concept for the 1961 Thunderbird. So it’s coming full circle, or is it squaring the circle? And what a nice one, at that.
Casey’s version of the ’64 obviously reflects the actual ’66 coupe roof, but maybe with a bit less headroom. Both very nicely done. Which would you rather have? Did I have to ask?
While the coupe does look great, I still prefer the sedans because the suicide doors are definitely part of the characteristics of these 60s era Continentals.
Both interesting coupes but the setting on the 1961 makes it look like a “Bonneville Special” built for by Lincoln for competition.
That one looks like the car they did on Monster Garage
Sorry, they look totally wrong. The bottom of the car is way too big for the roof.
The same could be said for almost every vehicle currently on the market…
“Gangsta” is the term that springs to mind looking at that fantastic ’61! All the other re-imagined cars on the site are fantastic as well – I’m so glad I’m not the only person who’s intrigued by re-imaginings and mash-ups.
Australia’s Street Machine magazine printed a special issue of reimagined cars back in the 90s, which I have on the bookshelf. They were proposing changing whole body parts from one car to another – the most memorable was a ’61 Chrysler Valiant, with everything above the wasteline replaced by the glass/pillars/roof from a ’95 Honda Prelude (they chose the Prelude because they reckoned the dimensions fitted). It looked suprisingly good.
And the other area which fascinates me is the people who mash-up Nissans – creating one model out of two. Eg the Skyfiro (Skyline front on a Cefiro), Lauline (Laurel front on a Skyline), Cedvia (Cedric front on a Silvia), etc etc – not to mention the One-via and Sil-80 180SX-Silvia drift cars. I’ve seen it done to Toyotas too (Soarer fronts on Supras etc). Very, very creative!
There’s something prewar about the proportions of the top car, and I mean that as a compliment. 🙂 Looks like you could fit a flathead 12 under that hood.
I’m into the 64. There is something odd with the proportions on the 61 that turn me off to it. Maybe if the rear wheels were moved forward about 4″?
There more photoshopped pictures at http://artandcolourcars.blogspot.com/ 🙂 Imagine a 300 wagon with an Imperial front end, a Thunderbird Country Squire… 😉
Shhhh! We’ll get to them soon here; patience please!
I did want to make a Thunderbird Ranchero, once – when I was enamoured of those “pickup cars.”
Would have been easy, with the LTD II-based Ranchero. Seats, some dash trim, door trim, and – of course – hidden headlights, and viola!
It won’t be happening – both are pretty much extinct these days.
The 61’s proportions are off slightly. The terminus of the C pillar should be right above the rear wheel. On this car, the C pillar is too far forward. I believe the wheels are too large also.
The ’64 looks a little off, too, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I think the back of the roof is too low relative to the front. I’d have to see the donor pix to know for sure.
@Geozinger
We’re on the same page. I’d decrease the windshield angle and raise the roof 1 or 2 inches to really set it off.
The 61 needs more rear overhang.
The “61 coupe pictured at the top of this post is not meant to portray a coupe of the actual production sedan. I changed every body panel on the car. The hood is longer, the trunk is shorter, the steering wheel/front wheel proportion is greater on my car. The wheels are definitely 19s or 20s with “wheels” meant to evoke the original wheelcovers. I was going for prewar proportions, not production proportions.
Here’s a look at what an actual “production” ’61 Continental coupe would look like:
I love how you moved the front wheels up to kill the front overhang on the 61. That’s something I wish Ford would have done with the Mark V(and several other models).
Sweet work for certain!
Casey, Yes, I noticed that. I was only referring to the fact that the ’61 did start its life as a T-bird coupe concept. And this one evokes the lower T-Bird to some extent. I like your ’61!
yeah, I was just responding to “geozinger’s” question about the proportions being “off” or different. My work sometimes needs explanation, and isn’t always understood, lol. enjoy, though!
Hi casey, no offense intended, I just found the C pillar location a little odd.
I grew up with one of these cars (a 4 door) in my neighbor’s driveway, so the image is ingrained in my mind. The explanation does help considerably. I didn’t understand the concept (s) until I saw your post and now it makes sense.
Otherwise those are beautiful images. Well done.
Hi, thanks. No offense taken. I just wanted to mention that it wasn’t a straight up coupe-from-sedan chop, but one that changed every body panel for a different look.
Nice touch on the Continental Shooting Brake in the picture on the wall.
I want that wagon. Yum!
Casey’s stuff is often posted by Peter DeLorenzo over at Autoextremist.com. Great stuff!
BTW I’ll take the ’64.
But I thought there had been a coupe versions of the Continental…like these two abandoned ones shown in the links below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/apixelintime/5694194058/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/3682409418/
Yes, but the first one didn’t appear until 1966, with a body that had been restyled somewhat.
Oh OK, thanks. Shame about those two in the pictures, huh?
here’s an abandoned Lincoln coupe from ’61… besides the coupe part of the chop, I made this one look like Lincoln had brought back the split-wing grille in ’61 instead of the 2000s… it was fun photoshopping in more rust and dents for this one.
LOL! That first link is one of my shots… Crazy where you find links to your work when you google them!
I owned a 1962 Lincoln convertible; it was a remarkably close-coupled car. The convertible top was actually shorter than the top on the 1958 Plymouth convertible I owned at the same time. (This probably was because the Mopar cars right up through the New Yorker used the same top.) So it’s easy to imagine one as a two-door car – visually nothing needs to be changed except to lengthen the front door. But I agree that the fact of it being a four-door convertible was part of its exclusiveness at the time.
Actually, what the 1961 Lincoln eventually became in production started out as a prototype for an “upscale” Thunderbird. Consider the grills for the final production models on both the ’61 T-Bird, and ’61 Lincoln. They are virtually the same. Both cars came out of Ford’s Wixom plant back in those days, but if you dig around on the internet, you will stumble across pics out of Ford’s engineering department that show a slab-sided square-roofed 2-door Thunderbird that looks very similar to what it ultimately became for the 4-door Lincoln. What you guys are imagining what the ’61 Lincoln would have looked like as a two-door is closer to what the ’61 T-Bird prototype looked like. It gets better though: There was indeed a model of what the ’61 Lincoln could have looked like in a 2-door format. it incorporated elemets from the 1959-1960 Lincoln roof, and the 1955-1956 Continental Mark II rear deck. Elwood Engel was chief of design for Lincoln, but Robert McNamara who was a VP at Ford before he would up in LBJ’s cabinet thought it would have “a lot of promise” as a 4-door model. As they say….”the rest is history”.