Autoblog

Well look at that, the quarter panel vent from the new Focus can look good! No need to complain yet that this is but another Ford we'll never see, as it may not happen on any continent. Auto Bild has gone to press with shots of a new Mercury Capri concept that is rumored to be the work of an extremely skilled PhotoChopper. We're also unsure if the details they cite about the car being a sub-3,000 pound 2+2 with 140-250 horsepower and a production date of 2012 are fanciful or rooted in truth, but none of that matters. This thing is off the hook to our puppy-dog enthusiastic eyes. Mercury has nothing badass in its lineup, and while it'd be weird to be proffering this car with KISS makeup next to an entire lineup of handsomized Fords, we think it might be a way for Ford to reel in some new blood to the brand. Just don't call it Cougar. Cougars drive Mercurys - though probably while smoking Capris. Call it whatever, just put it on sale.

[Source: carspyshots.net]

Click to view a larger photo at CWW Automobile Design

CWW Automobile Design, purveyor of interesting Photochoppery, has served up a good one in the mythical Buick LaCrosse station wagon you see above. By melding an Enclave-style roofline and glass profile with the existing sedan's bodywork, an admittedly attractive family truckster is born. Hell, I've never been a big fan of the LaCrosse's styling, but the updated face is growing on me lately, and as a wagon fan and driver, I'd give something like this a long hard look. I definitely prefer this make-believe machine to the 4-door. Of course, with the unveiling of the Holden Commodore Sportwagon yesterday in Sydney, I can think of an even better idea. Buick-ize that puppy, dust off one of the old nameplates, and send it here as an Electra or Roadmaster wagon. Who's with me?

Thanks for the tip, Daniel

[Source: CWW Automobile Design]

click on image above to view the high-resolution gallery with 61 pics

What started off as a suggestion turned into something much bigger when we politely prodded our readers to submit their own Pixar creations to us using the CARS Photochop guide we posted on January 2nd. In less than 10 days we've received 61 submissions, which is incredible. We were doing well at updating the gallery with your submissions in real time, though that exercise took a back seat this week to our Detroit Auto Show coverage. Today, however, we finally got around to uploading the last batch of pics to complete the gallery.

The quality of submissions is incredible and it looks like everyone had fun anthropomorphizing their daily drivers. What amazed us, however, were the submissions that actually seemed to express the personality of the subject car. The little white Honda S2000 on the track with a giddy grin, the HUMMER H1 with a snorting sneer, and the Gemballa Mirage GT that looks frighteningly overconfident and cocky. In truth, they were all really good, and a special shoutout goes to Mike Warren who submitted four quality designs – the Hugger, C. Exef, General HUMMER and Mater II.

How sweet is that?!?!?! His name's Hugger, created by Michael W.

We love our readers, especially when they send us things that make us happy like the Pixar Cars photochops we've been receiving. For those of you who may have missed it, John posted about to a NASIOC forum thread that laid out the steps necessary to turn a photo of your car 9or any car, for that matter) into a character right out of this past Summer's animated blockbuster, Cars.

John's "Ernie Intercepter" and "Ned Nassau" kicked things off, but it's you guys who've carried the torch from there. We love the creations you're sending, so please send more, and we'll add them to the gallery for the whole world to see. For instructions on how to make your own personal Lightning McQueen, check out the original post here.

Now go have fun and show us what you've got! Email the fruits of your labors to abresearch at gmail dot com to get added to the gallery.

UPDATE: Tons more have been added.

click on image to enlarge

This nicely done Photochop of a Mercury-badged Ford Mondeo was sent in to us by Autoblog reader Galvin, which is funny because it's the second Photochop of a Mercury-badged Ford Mondeo we've received from readers this week. The quality of Galvin's pixel painting got us thinking about amending our comments in the past about what Ford should do with Mercury, which you can read here. Seeing this makes you wonder whether such a vehicle could actually do anything to not just stop Mercury's slide, but bring back the brand we'd all like to succeed but just don't expect to. It's a nice thought, and frankly we'd entertain a lot of crazy notions that would result in Ford's new Mondeo being sold in the U.S., but then reality kicks in and we remember the Mercury Milan, which shares its platform and a lot of other stuff with the Ford Fusion and Lincoln Zephyr. The Mondeo would likely never become a rebadged Mercury because the Fusion triplets are actually selling well as a whole. Also, such a vehicle would likely cannibalize sales from the Fusion and MKZ were all three to be sold in the same market.

Nevertheless, something has to be done about Mercury and its overreliance on poorly-rebadged Ford products. With General Motors officially announcing the Saturn Astra yesterday and completing that brand's transformation into an almost all-Opel lineup, we wonder whether or not the same thing couldn't be done with Mercury, at least in the case of the Mondeo. Bringing over your best cars from Europe to save that slipping brand in the homeland seems to be working for GM, perhaps Ford should follow suit.

Peter Smith is a 20-year-old Brit who happens to be a big-time car enthusiast and an avid photochopper. His website, Digimods, is an online showcase of his work. Currently, he has 211 finished projects on display, including the sweet Lexus IS coupe shown above.

Everything is fair game. As such, you'll find disparate creations like a Vauxhall panel van converted into a lowrider ice cream truck, a 1980s-era Nissan March reimagined as a widebodied rear-driver, an Audi A6 Avant that's been slammed and turned into a 3-door, and many more. Smith lets his imagination run wild, and more often than not, the results are a lot of fun to behold.

Aspiring 'choppers can learn from Smith as well, by having a gander at his online Photoshopper's Bible, which is loaded with invaluable tutorials for virtual modders. It's an outstanding resource from an equally outstanding and entertaining website. We can't wait to see what Peter dreams up next.

[Source: PistonHeads]

The dedicated General Motors supporters at GMInsideNews are tired of waiting for GM to come up with the compelling model lineups that will propel its brands back to market leadership, so they've taken matters into their own hands, with a minisite called Revitalization in Action.

The first marque to receive the group's revitalization efforts is Buick, once tagged by Bob Lutz as one of GM's "damaged brands." The GMI group's product ideas are based on an encyclopedic knowledge of GM drivetrain and chassis architectures, as well as finely tuned Photoshop skills, and include the Buick Roadmaster Coupe shown above - theoretically based on GM's new Zeta RWD platform and proposed for a 2009 rollout as a next generation Lucerne. (We have to admit, the storied Roadmaster name carries much more weight than Lucerne...)

Read about the rest of the Buick dream lineup here, and stay tuned for the group's efforts for GM's other brands.

[Source: GMInsideNews]