Back in the prehistoric-predigital age, folks used to modify pictures of cars in the analog way: with scissors and paste. I did it back in 1972 with a friend (see below), but others were doing it all the way back in 1965. I found these in a Motor trend, and I thought you’d enjoy this handiwork, starting with this Dodge Dart.
A bit crude, but then the tools of the trade were simpler. I do wonder about that Corvette though; it looks like it’s been airbrushed too.
The ’64 Tempest looks just like some of Virgil Exner’s asymmetrical concepts for his 1962 cars.
In the fall of 1972 my friend Paul B. and I went to the dealers to take in the new ’73 models, and we came home with brochures and started cutting them up. Paul gets the credit for these; I’m not sure where mine ended up; probably in the garbage. He later turned these into an envelope to mail me a letter, which is how I ended up with them.
Here’s a few more.
Crude, but we had fun at the time.
Paul sent me this photo of one later.
So now that AI can do in seconds what it took us hours with scissors and glue and in minutes in Photoshop, will anyone still be using PS to customize cars?
Maybe crude but I like the inventiveness of the minds that created these .
-Nate
4th posting:
These a ’83 or ’84 two door Cutlass above which could be converted to a 4 door hard top.
I was never much on the Colonnade styling trend. Found it too bulky, too stogie.
I did a bit of this when I was a young teen!
I like the sky blue Cutlass 4 door colonade. It gives the impression with its forward cab/ shorter hood , of having the engine at the rear. The Gremlin has an ‘Avanti’ vibe . I found your collages more entertaining than Ed’s ”what if” photoshopping.
oops… it’s not a four door .
I like the high rear deck on the Toronado, and the stretched Nova. I agree with Martin – the Gremlin definitely has an Avanti vibe to it.
That `65 Corvette`s proportions look EXACTLY like the Palmer ‘scale’ model of their Corvette I built when I was 13 years old.
Those Palmer kits were awful! Cheaper than the good brands for good reason. I only built one – and so wished I’d spent the extra dollar to get the MPC one.
Slightly less awful is this seventies 1/64 Fujimi Corvette; I think it’s just the vertical height of the fender bulges that’s out of proportion.
Absolutely! They were geared for kids to spend their allowance money on. But their ‘historic cannon’ kits were pretty good. They had a Revolutionary War American cannon, a Civil War era Gatling gun, a Naval 24 pounder from the late 18- early 19 century, and a WW l field artillery piece.Their barrels and detail parts were molded in a plated brass like the chrome on a model car. I built the 24 pounder and mounted t on a wooden base that I planked with strips of wood to resemble the deck of a ship. I built part of the upper hull bulwark with a open gunport and rigged the blocks and tackle on the cannon. It came really good. I sold it to a collector at a scale model ship show. He liked my work and asked me if I did commission builds. Long story short, I told ‘yes’, and built 3 sailing ships for him.
How we used to do Photoshop before Photoshop!
The Australian magazine Motor Manual ran a competition back around 1977 called “Snip ‘n’ channel”, and published the best and downright weirdest photomangles they received. I had two or three published. I’ll see if I can find my copy – might take a week or so…
This would be great to see!
Nice work, all around. In many examples, it really accentuates specific styling highlights, of each car. This technique teaches one to be more observant of each cars best styling features.
Photoshop has been around since the late 1980s, and has come a long way. With the earliest versions, you could only go back one change, with the history palette. Very primitive. Both the latest versions of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, now feature the ability to insert artificial intelligence ‘fills’, in both programs. Adobe managing to keep up, for now.
When I was a kid I’d occasionally grab the automotive ads section of the newspaper and take a black pen to the line drawings of cars that the local dealerships advertised and restyle them. Newspaper ads were better than magazine ads for this because of the simplistic black and white (not greyscale) cars were easiest to modify in this way.
The stretched Omega actually improves the lines!
You may also want to check out Road and Track’s April Fools issue ( I don’t remember which year ).
They posted a “picture” of the new Jaguar E type 12 cylinder coupe. They showed an E-type with a straight 12 engine, I.E. two 6’s strapped end to end. Now THAT was a long hood.
In general the April fools issues were the best including the Greyhound Bus test and a test of the Goodyear blimp among others.
A couple things: Scale Auto Modeler magazine did a story on how to turn two, I think late ’70s Caddy Coupe de Villes into a limo. The front of one car and the back of the other was great. I had a couple ’49 Merc coupes, but the lines would not work. The other was some contest I entered where they wanted updated vintage cars. What I “photoshopped” (with scissors and tape) was a Dodge Magnum with a 1951 Hudson grille, and on the side, I made, “The Fabulous Hudson New Hornet” ! My mottos were from the old days: Hudson Rules the Road and America Knows it! Look for the White Tri-Angle! Uh.. I did not win.
Some of these make me wonder if somebody got into mom & dad’s “pharmaceuticals” prior to constructing them. Big fun and very imaginative.
I recently asked one of those A I’s to make me a hybrid of a 1966 GM car with coke bottle styling and it came up with this:
Paul, please encourage me to come up with a portfolio of altered cars for you..I have about a thousand, and need someone to edit them..
Its always fun to read these reminiscences.