Fun With PhotoShop: 2011 Retro Cars

Okay, I really should call this Fun With Photo-Paint, since I use the CorelDRAW suite on my PC (at least until my Mac laptop arrives and broadens my horizons). I also should call it half-assed edition, since I started this little project with enthusiasm only to realize that my idea might be a little beyond my skill set (for now!).

2009 Mitsubishi Galant with Lancer Evolution nose

Last week, I did a mock-up of my 2009 Mitsubishi Galant, with a (much more sporty) Mitsubishi Lancer nose grafted onto it.  It reminded me, that back in the day of the big SUVs, I'd always wanted to mock-up an old Ford Pinto with all of the styling cues of the Ford Explorer, Expedition, Excursion and Escape.  It would of course be called the Ford Exploder.  Since that germ of an idea, SUVs aren't nearly as ubiquitous, and Ford's styling isn't quite as iconic as it used to be.  The brand new Ford Explorer sort of apes the Ford Flex, rather than setting its own style.  Anyway, aftter the Exploder idea, I also thought it would be funny to see some of the lesser lights of the 1970s be reborn in the fashion of the Ford Mustang, the Chrysler PT Cruiser and the Volkswagen New Beetle.

2011 Ford Pinto

Here are two of those ideas, though like I said, I didn't spend a huge amount of time on them once I realized this was going to be tough to pull off well.  But it's still sort of fun!  When my Mac arrives, I'm going to need the PhotoShop practice, so I may tackle the Dodge Omni. So many car lines have died out though, some great ones--say the AMC Pacer or Gremlin--would be a little trickier to execute.

2011 Chevrolet Chevette

One weird thing I noticed about these two cars is that their hoods are gigantically long compared to today's smaller cars.  This gives the Chevy Chevette a droopy-mouthed appearance when you graft a 2011 Aveo nose onto it.  On the Pinto, I used a 2010 Ford Explorer, harkening back to my Ford Exploder idea. It worked, I think, though I ran out of gas before I got to extending the red rocker panels to the bumper.  The funny thing is, however "grafted on" these 'shop jobs look, the real front end of that Pinto is a collision of lines and planes that itself looks like a bad PhotoShop job!

(Click pictures to embiggen!)