Flexing some muscle…

…at the Great American Truckin’ Show.

Earlier this year, the good folks at Chrome Shop Mafia gave me another shout, this time to pen up some designs for a ‘77 Kenworth with some muscle car flair. To say that I was stoked is an understatement, as working with “The Boyz” is always fun and creative… and having the opportunity to combine a great project, great folks and my love for muscle cars in one shot just had “good times” written all over it. 

Lean, low and clean!

 
After throwing a few ideas around and getting just the right tweaks in the right places (how cool is it to work with guys who just know how to make a truck look cool? AMAZING.), we hit upon the design above, incorporating an aggressive paint scheme that drew inspiration from several musclecars, but still kept that low-slung CSM attitude.

The result!

The lucky owner, Donald Wolford, won the $50,000 makeover as part of the Castrol Tection Extra Big Honkin’ Truck Makeover contest, and his pride and joy received such goodies as chrome and lighting accessories (including stainless battery and tool boxes, 6-inch chrome exhaust pipes, a drop visor, 22-inch chrome bumper and stainless air filters from sponsors Grote Industries and Your Truck Shop) and some parts fabricated in the 4 State Trucks fabrication shop. Continental Tire North America supplied new tires and wheels were made available by Alcoa Wheels. Go Green Fuel Systems provided a hydrogen enrichment system that will help the environment by decreasing emissions and improve Don’s bottom-line by increasing MPG. The plush leather seats came from National Seating, while the dash, floor, headliner and sound system were given a complete upgrade. Providing the ultimate in comfort, his sleeper was converted to a walk-through from the original crawl-through access. Add to that an 8-inch extended hood and that trick paint, and well, who can argue with the final results?

The made-over KW was debuted this weekend at the Great American Truckin’ Show on Friday. Thanks again to “The Boyz”, and hats off to yet another killer creation…

Going to the movies…

…as a kid was a big deal. We didn’t do it often… it just wasn’t in the cards. But when we did go, man… it was a total experience. I enjoyed any film we’d see, but I always held a special fascination with the theater lobby, namely the movie posters. Looking back on it, aside from cars, a few notable children’s books and assorted product packaging, movie posters were my first real exposure to design. (as a side note, after seeing Jason and the Argonauts as a kid, my obsession with stop-motion animation and film was ignited… Ray Harryhousen permanently warped my fragile young mind!) To say that there was an impact in that would be an understatement… I was floored by the graphics, the layout… the ability of an artist to convey the general scope of the story, to excite moviegoers into plopping down their cash for a ticket (in many cases, anyway— some just stunk up the joint) was, consciously, anyway, my first real understanding of print design as an emotional trigger.

I grew up on kung fu/horror/fantasy movies...and you wonder why I mash different topics together like I do...

Fast-forward a few years, and my interest in movie posters and film itself was still growing. I loved movies almost as much as I did cars, and my friend Joe was a total movie nut, namely horror films. The guy knew literally every horror film, director, production house… he was a walking encyclopedia of the genre (as well as sci-fi films… not so odd that he’s gone on to write some great books!). This was in the heyday of VCR’s and video rental houses, and what made it great was that we had access to so many movies, as the classics (meaning both “great” as well as just “old”) were being released by the dozens. Companies like Vestron (they essentially revolutionized video distribution, and pumped out roughly 3,000 movies on videotape between ’83 and ’95… there’s some more useless trivia that clouds my brain daily), MGM/UA, Embassy, AIP and more were releasing tons of independent, low-budget, B-grade and major releases… From The Stuff andBlade Runner to Revenge of the Living Zombies, Basket Case to Xtro, man, we watched a TON of VHS-format celluloid. We’d try to seek out some great films, and it was in doing this that I was introduced to the work of Hammer Films, a stand-out among the many great (and not so great) productions we’d watch.

What made the Hammer films so great was the way they told the stories, and the era they came from! Their horror and sci-fi boom was ’55-’59… Coincidentally, the golden age of custom cars… hmmm… Anyway, Hammer’s horror films were more “gothic” in nature (monsters, based more in terror, with a back-story that makes you feel a bit for the players), and they often re-told classics like Dracula, The Mummy and Frankenstein (sixFrankenstein films from’59-’74, no less). Great actors like Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were regulars, and man… they were just tremendous entertainment, even for two kids discovering them almost 30 years after their release. The films had a great look, but, again, what infatuated me was the cover/poster art! Tom Chantrell was the wrist behind many of the great designs, and just had a knack with not only killer art, but amazing layout and design. I think that a lot of my color work is influenced, be it unconsciously or otherwise by the man’s work. Keeping a loose yet detailed feel in my work is directly attributed to Mr. Chantrell’s influence, as well as that of Saul Bass (whose mantra was “Symbolize and Summarize”—how insightful is that? Spare yourself four years of design school, and just repeat that… then send me the money you saved. OK, half. More on Mr. Bass later… and I mean Saul, not Lance. Although, I may have a great way to compare him with cars. I’ll think of it.). Bold, direct, powerful. You’d know Bass’ work anywhere: 

My infatuation with movie posters continues to this day (although with three young kids, my serious collecting days are some time off, yet). As a kid, the work of Drew Struzan was everywhere… remember the posters for Indiana Jones? The Goonies? Technical brilliance! My tastes fall somewhere between the amazing portraiture of Struzan, the expressionistic and detailed style of Chantrell, and the bold graphic statement of Bass… All have been a profound inspiration in my design and illustration work. It’s still a point of fascination for me when we go to see a movie… I wander around, and check out the new posters. However, it seems as though the true art of the movie poster is falling to the side of the road, as far as mainstream movies go, anyway. Independent films have always had kind of cool (and occasionally bizarre) poster art, but lately, it’s as though the fine art has gone away. The new Indiana Jones film brought back a spark of life, though… Struzan nailed it again! …and the new Batman flick?! Man…. Great stuff, and the two versions, each with the burning bat symbol (one of Batman, one of the Joker) are great, and really play up the menacing undertones (and overtones, let’s be honest here) of the movie. Would a hand-painted or rendered piece have been better? I submit that in this particular example, it could not. There’s a time and place for almost every style and technique, it would seem.

Does it get any better than this?

In any event, I bring up the movie poster art topic for a few reasons… One, you may not have been aware of the things covered here (Hammer horror films, the posters, the designers), and I enjoy opening up a new subject for you to head out and experience; Two, I had wanted to answer a few questions that I’m often asked (“where do you get inspiration from?”, “how did your style develop?” and “what the hell are you talking about?”); and three, hopefully, to inspire new designers who are trapped into relying on software and computers to draw for them to seek out what makes design and art so damn fun to begin with: creating it by hand! We’re already inundated by computer-generated, “cold”-feeling works that lack that human personality that shines through in all artwork. Now get out there, watch an old b-movie, seek out some wild inspiration from beyond the automotive sphere, break out the pencils and raise the bar…

A dream from future’s past…

I had received a call from Nick Licata (via our friend Steven Rupp) a little while back, regarding a rendering, and behold, it’s on shelves now as a part of Super Chevy’s “Chevy Classics” Annual! This is great, not only because I get the chance to show some forward-thinking ideas, but being a part of the whole Super Chevy history is HUGE to me personally.

Look for it on news stands now!

Growing up, the first magazine I had a subscription to was Super Chevy, and it fueled many a dream car in my imagination, most notably tri-fives! Obviously, I’m stoked to share my vision of an alternate take on the Projext X theme (which, ironically, is the cover car!) with some very modern and traditional ideas thrown in for some ‘56 Chevy stew. Grab a copy before 11/4, when they leave the shelves, and thanks again, Steven and Nick…

 

I thought I’d share the unedited version, along with the full tech specs here…. just to see if it strikes anyone the right way, and, who knows, maybe inspires a new project car. Have at it!

The spec sheet:

Chassis/Driveline:

All-aluminum 409 W-block based, blown and injected, running E-85

Toroidal Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT)

(not only can we launch and stay right in the optimal powerband, but “shifts” would be imperceptible, there’s almost no power loss, and we gain fuel efficiency!)

Chris Alston’s Chassisworks FAB9 rear end

Each rear wheel is fitted with a regenerative braking electric wheel hub motor

(approx output is 100Kw, or about 100 HP per wheel)

Chris Alston’s Chassisworks Eliminator 4-Link

Wilwood 6-piston front calipers and 14″ rotors, rear braking via wheel hub motors

Chris Alston’s Chassisworks VariShock ShockWave’s, 4×2 A-Arm crossmember

Billet Specialties Altered front wheels (19″ one-off’s), and one-off Apex-G’s out back (20″) for a retro gasser look, on Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/R tires.

Exterior:

Shaved emblems, handles and locks,

Front bumper, pan, vertical and lower grille bars removed

Carbon fiber hood, front fenders, doors and deck lid

PPG yellow pearl and black two-tone

Vent windows removed

Interior:

Lightweight materials replace factory dash and trim,

Full ‘cage,

Corbeau GTA low back buckets

Full Simpson harness system

Fire suppression system

Full AutoMeter gauges

It's yellow and black, but still "green"...

 

 

What I have is a take on a Project X-like ride…. After seeing so many G-Machines in the dream Car pages of different magazines, I thought “how about the kind of car that got most of us into this in the first place…. a bad street machine?” 

Let’s REALLY play up the “Dream Car” aspect, and use some emerging and existing technology to create a technological wonder.

Our fictional 1956 Chevy 2-door sedan will be named “Project W”. It’ll run a 409-based W-block, all aluminum, blown and injected, running E-85. The idea is an environmentally-friendly, rocket-like street machine.

The techno-fun kicks in with a CVT (Continuous Variable Transmission), which’ll keep us right in the powerband, in a state of almost constant acceleration. Off the line, we’ll be assisted by a pair of electric wheel hub motors, which’ll provide some extra torque off the line, and re-charge on braking. 

Retro touches, certainly… it’s a nod to the Project X, but a very modern, extremely engineered piece… Sitting on a full tube frame, the body is angle-channelled over the rails to exaggerate the rake, and runs full modern suspension. The look here is a drag strip refugee bred with an evil street car from the ’60’s, with pure attitude oozing from every pore. Removing the front bumper, pan and lower grille bar allows extreme lowering, and we’ll even knock out the vertical grille bars, just for kicks. 

A light shave eliminates handles, locks and badging, and Carbon fiber doors have lost the vent windows, and a carbon fiber hood and deck lid keep the lightweight theme in check. Bright yellow paint hints at the Project X-like heritage, while the black two-tone shows that this eco-friendly bruiser has a darker side. 

Chris Alston’s Chassisworks Varishock system up front, Eliminator 4-Link out back, with one of their Fab-9 housings swinging away. Big brakes are a must, and we’ll powder coat any exposed parts black to keep everything stealthy. behind the Billet Specialties custom-sized wheels. Why different fronts and rears? A nod to the gasser days, grasshopper. We’ll set this thing on some meaty M/T rollers out back, as we’ll need as much traction as we can find. 

 A full interior is a must, with power NOTHING… hey, this is a street machine first and foremost. Buckets, a floor shifter, and full gauges are all you need. We’ll keep the front windows operational, should any passengers get whiny and need “air”.

Need more inspiration? Head on over to www.problemchildkustoms.com !

A Rocket Ride….

…and a trade that rocked the world.

Twenty years ago this week, the Edmonton Oilers traded Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky to the LA Kings, marking the day that Hockey stood still. August 9, 1988 is a date that still elicits a response in any Hockey fan, and for good reason. I’ll throw in another date: December 12, 2000, the day that GM announced that they were pulling the plug on Oldsmobile. Two very different events with very different outcomes… yet, they share a few key things in common, and a valuable lesson that a carmaker could have learned from a Hockey player.

Consider the impact that Gretzky had on the game (if not a community): 1851 points… 200+ points in each of four seasons… 92 goals in ONE season! (hell, being a Sabres fan, I have to point out that Alexander Mogilny came close once… at 70) Take a moment to fathom that, then, consider that his record has stood since being set in the ’81-’82 season. The man’s photo should appear in the dictionary under the word “Hockey”. I could spout off stats here, but you can find those easily enough… Suffice to say, he dominated the game on the ice. Yet, what he did OFF of the ice would forever change the game as well.

In 1988, the Great One was traded to the LA Kings.

The deal was monstrous to begin with, but the terms were astounding in their own right: The Oilers gave up the league’s reigning superstar for $15 million, three number one draft picks, Krushelnyski, McSorley, and negotiating rights to minor league defensemen, along with LA’s Jimmy Carson (a recent pick who just put up 55 goals).

Take a second to drink in that trade.

Not only was that big money in ’88, but it broke up a team that had “dynasty” written all over it… If you’re a Hockey fan, then you know all about the Oilers of that era, with Grant Fuhr, Jari Kurri, Mark Messier… Man, I remember collecting cards and stickers of those guys like they were gold (in some cases, they were… Remember the gold foil stickers?). To take Gretzky to LA?! What were they thinking?

Granted, number 99 in Los Angeles wasn’t the ticket to a cup victory (or a dynasty) on ice… But what the deal did for the sport itself?! Far-reaching and dynamic are two words that scratch the surface… Barely. Here was an uber-talent, wrapped in a marketing dream. Great personality, incredible with words, and a look that could move product. His assimilation into US pop culture was the stuff of legend. Consider: If, like me, you grew up in the ‘80’s, you knew Gretzky (even if not from Hockey) from ads for Campbell’s, Coke, Ford, American Express, an action figure, hell… the guy even had a Saturday morning cartoon with Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan! (remember “Pro Stars”?) Add to his clout an ambassador status, bringing the game to numerous new fans… A fact to ponder: When Gretzky hit US soil as a player, there were 15 franchises of the NHL in the US. Today, there are 24. Talk about opening a market!

Back to Oldsmobile for a spell here… Consider that in 1897, the carmaker was forging ahead, pushing design and technical innovation to create a dynamic new car. It was to become GM’s shining star, the brand that pushed innovation for the corporation. Being GM’s “innovation brand” meant that other carmakers would often study their products, and attempt to mimic them. Not only was Oldsmobile the first mass-produced car (the 1901-1904 Curved Dash), but was the first with an automatic transmission (1940 – the Hydromatic), the first overhead valve V8 (’49 – also leading the way with a hardtop and wrap-around windshield that year!), the first turbocharged engine in an American car (’62!), the first front wheel drive car in America (the ’66 Toronado), and so on… Ponder this: in the 50’s and ‘60’s, makers like Mercedes would buy and dissect Oldsmobiles (and other GM cars) to see what made them tick. At the time, there was truly no substitute for an American car.

Oldsmobiles were the choice of the techie crowd… they had the advanced features, and appealed to the more technologically hip consumer. Olds and GM capitalized on this for a bit, but then lost the vision somewhere along the way. Rather than build on a success (see Gretzky above), GM stuttered, and down-graded the brand to compete with foreign cars on their own level. Rather than push the envelope, and allow Oldsmobile to bloom into the leader in technology and design for GM, they pulled funding from the coffers for projects like Saturn, among other things. (don’t get me wrong here— Saturn is a fine make, and having worked for Saturn, I am grateful for the food and shelter my career there provided… just still suffering the “WHY??!!” over pushing Saturn into Oldsmobile territory, and giving the little plastic-clad cars all of the cool advancements) GM dropped the ball, and took what should have been a bright Oldsmobile future, with great new cars that would have rivaled Lexus, BMW and their ilk, and let it slip into the old folks home of the corporation. One notable exception was the Aurora (I have a very soft spot for the first-generation units… Remember the first time you saw the ‘95’s… Man were those cool when new!), which led the way in innovation, and sat at the crossroads for a trek back to greatness… yet, sadly, it seems that the higher-ups were too busy looking into overpriced, oversized SUV’s to haul fat-ass suburbanites around the mini malls. By the time that last Alero rolled off the line on April 4, 2004, the fire was definitely gone. The rocket was more of a lawn dart, sadly…

Adding insult to injury, GM decided to kill off more jobs and cars with potential to concentrate on… Trucks.

At the start of a new environmental awareness, the good General concentrated on big old SUV’s, targeted at vacuous housewives who have no clue how to drive them. Another well thought out plan. Rather than attack the future and hold an upper hand, doing some good for the entire brand, they concentrated on one small niche, which ironically, has become the proverbial Achille’s heel of a car-making giant. Presently, they have no true marquee in brand that does what Olds once could. Who’s to say that Oldsmobile may have been the leverage point for GM in the escalating hybrid wars? I’d like to entertain that notion. Had they stayed on path, who knows? We may have seen George Clooney cruising a Cutlass versus a Prius.

Consider the effects of the Gretzky trade, when applied to the Oldsmobile (and subsequent GM) debacle: While Edmonton sacrificed a pillar of their team, they still managed winning seasons and a Cup victory, and gained a fairly stable ground (player-wise, not so much owner-wise) to build on. Bigger than that, Hockey itself won, big time. By allowing a great talent to continue down a road that he himself forged, great things happened all around. Had number 99 stayed in Edmonton, I have no doubts that we’d have seen a number of Oilers Stanley Cup years… it’s a given. Yet, what that trade accomplished for the future of the sport was incredible. Am I suggesting that had GM invested resources into allowing Oldsmobile to progress on the brand’s original course that it may have had a similar effect on the corporation at large? You bet your ass I am.

All told, I’ll bet that there will be a moment of silence this week as Edmonton fans and residents recall the day the Great One left the Great White North… and that, at the same time, a few tears will be shed by GM shareholders as they look back on the rocket ride that could have been…

Need more insight and opinion? Just want to look at cool pictures and hot rod designs? Head on over to PCK Studio at www.problemchildkustoms.com.

“If life were fair…”

…Johnny Carson once said, “…Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.”

It’s a pretty deep thought. It’s a fitting one, too, as originality seems to be a dying art at times. I fell into a creative funk recently, and began to look at a late crop of cars, and thought “wow… another car on a set of aftermarket rims. How progresssive.” (keep in mind that the cars in question were presented as some “Hot, new!” and “ground-breaking!” rides, and a few were flowing from my pen, seemingly keeping the envelope flat and tidy — no pushing allowed!) It appeared, during that spell, that true automotive personalization was dead… That, just maybe, we had gotten to a stagnant point in the hobby where every car had to adhere to some set of rules to be “cool”… it was high school all over again, oh no! And just when I thought it was, along came a brilliantly conceived idea, and I’m honored to take part in the design process. Suffice to say, a client approached me with his genius take on a truck, and it’s lit a fire, so to speak… In fact, that fire spread quickly to a new piece for a magazine, that I knocked out in record time… (not a truck, but an over-looked car that suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks).

The drive was back, and with a fury… My eyes were opened to a whole new set of possibilities… it was like re-discovering cars. I dug through my notebooks and sketchbooks, and began reviewing them with a newfound purpose. I have set out on a journey, the road paved with unique cars, and seemingly endless possibilities.
 
Talk about timing, too… I needed a creative “goose. Going back a ways, it was about a year ago that we took in the “Curves of Steel” exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum, which, despite its small size, packed an unexpected punch. It was a great time, just taking in some design work from true masters. Classic forms, many mixed with function light years ahead of their time, all leading to one thought in my mind: I love what I do. I create, literally, passion on paper. It’s not a job, it’s creation of passion. It’s taking an idea and running with it. It’s not something you wake up one day and say “I’m going to design custom cars.” It chooses you, and while it makes you work at it endlessly, it gives back a million times over in satisfaction. Add to that a love for design itself, be it print, sculpture, architecture, whatever… I LOVE it.

Simply put:

When I am approached to design a hot rod, custom, pro-touring ride, whatever, I want to bring out every aspect of the car’s potential, and tie it with the owner’s personality, not just create another ho-hum car that wears the right “uniform” for its genre. Granted, certain ideas work well, and have an established following… an early generation Mustang or Chevelle, for example, on 18’s and 19’s and sitting low looks good, it’s a given. However, simply adhering to one look closes so many doors, creatively speaking, that you rob yourself of exploring the car’s full potential. It’s far too easy to just plug in a formula to achieve a certain look… Of course, there are always budget constraints and whatnot, but this is where careful, creative planning in the earliest stages can make any car into a unique, personal statement.
 
Obviously, if you like a style of car, you should go for it… I’d never suggest change for the sake of change. Don’t just plop a heap of “different”" on top of an over-used motif just to stand out… To stretch the metaphor, if a singing impersonator is good, a fire-eating, sword-swallowing, contorsionist skydiving crooner may not always breed better results. Break the formula where you can, and stretch your imagination, but keep good taste in mind. What my funk and subsequent anger about these recent cars boils down to is that I am SICK (all caps… I’m yelling because it pisses me off to see this) of seeing third-rate work and “design” being celebrated, causing, essentially, the public at large to settle for third-rate as being the “state of the art”. Awesome. Let’s just cut our feet off here, and call this the pinnacle of the hobby/industry, and quit now.

I say “no f-ing way”. I know that there are some talented designers and builders out there pushing forward every day, who feel the same as I do about this, and by golly, we’re not drinking the Kool Aid.

All it really boils down to is that if all cars were built using the “formula method”, every car would simply mimic another, and, in effect, be just another Elvis impersonator.

And that’s just not fair to anyone, much less your clients…

Check out my work and design approach at PCK Studios.

An Italian delicacy…

…from the land of back bacon, Hockey and beer!

Can your Fiero do this?

I get around a bit, and have had the honor of meeting some truly great people over the course of my life and career… Often times, I get an introduction to someone through a current client, or referred by another, and occasionally, I just stumble to the right place at the right time, and make a new friend. The latter is true with Ryan, who happens to be a very creative and talented fabricator in the Great White North. We crossed paths, and hit it off almost instantly. I had been admiring his work, and was stoked to find that he was admiring mine as well! Always fascinated with anyone who works with steel, I was just mesmerized with his vision and abilities.

Schooled at BCIT in Vancouver, Ryan landed a great job at Fabrite Services in Cranbrook, and spent the next ten years at that great company,working up from cutting material and cleaning up, to an eventual role as shop foreman… While there, beyond being treated “like family”, he learned that “some people have some strange things to be built!”, as he puts it.

Gratuitous in-progress shot!

He also has some great mechanical skills, which he owes to both his father, and a natural curiosity as a kid. Fast-forward, and he’s completing the first of his planned series of supercar-inspired rides, a Reventon/Murcielago-looking beast, based on a Fiero platform he purchased for the princely sum of $60 just about a year ago…

Knowing he got a great deal on the car, he didn’t want to leave it stock, and certainly didn’t want another fiberglass-wearing “kit” car. As the Fiero sat outside until December that year, he saw a Lamborghini Reventon, and knew just where to go with the wedge-shaped Pontiac. Researching the original car’s measurements, Ryan was off to the races, buying the steel, ordering glass from James at AGP, and finally, an intercooled, twin-turbo 350 Chevy and 6-speed trans with modified G6 axles, offering more than ample pulling power for the 3200 lb. ride. Add to that 11 1/4-inch cross-drilled and slotted rotors with Cadillac (rear) and Camaro (front) calipers, slowing it down should be well-controlled.

Dashing, isn't it?

The only regret at this point? “I’ll have to paint it”, says Ryan, “and cover up all of that work!” But fear not, as Ryan and I are getting the wheels moving on the next project, a Bugatti-inspired, home-built supercar that’ll bring in some elements from other great Italian exotics, and mix in some original styling points that we’re kicking around… and that means some more months of looking at bare steel!

Getting there...

Look for more updates as this beast nears completion and hits the road soon, as well as some previews of the design studies for his next home-built super car… In the meantime, keep an eye open over at Problem Child Kustoms Studio for more design/insight and delirium…