Richard Bartrop

That bezel looks a little thick for a Falcon, so I'm going to toss out that it might be a 1960 Frotenac?

Oh, that was exactly the point. The annual model change was a key component of what Alfred P. Sloan termed "Planned obsolescence." That it drove out of business any competitor who couldn't keep up probably didn't hurt either.

Hard to say. You have to admit that some of the cars that did make it out the door were pretty wild, and seeing how quickly Detroit dailed it back after '59 suggests they weren't that well received as it was. Virgil Exner tried to sell his bosses on a central tail fin a couple of years later, and that didn't go well either.

P M Hobbycraft has a Cyber Monday sale, so I got an airbrush, and these two kits

A movie accurate, but not reality accurate model could be fun. I knew someone who would build armor models based on films, which would drive the rivet counters crazy when they saw a Leopard tank with WW2 German markings displayed as an "accurate Battle of the BulgeBulge tank". Of course, it was 100% accurate for the 1966 movie Battle of the Bulge.

I realized it after I posted.

Yeah, I know, it doesn't look like a '63 Impala, but you still have to be impressed that whoever built this made it work. https://i.imgur.com/oPvng7I.mp4

I admit, I gave those '90s kits a miss the first time around because of the Lindberg name.

The last thing I need is another project, but I think I have enough parts to get a good start on the Lightning Bug version.

And as I recall, one of their nicest efforts.

That Ford Victoria has my interest.

...Toyota redoes its fuel cell powered Murai, and it doesn't look half bad.

I got to see the Centaur at a car show make years ago. I still think the front looks unfinished. Now if GM wanted to make its own electric truck, they could do far worse than to base it on the XT2. As for the idea that the target market for the Cybertruck really wants to pretend they're a video game character, is it really any dumber than any of the other fantasies that Detroit has peddled over the years? The current crop of pickups seem to be for people who want to pretend they're driving an 18 wheeler, and the Hummer was basically a G. I. Joe toy for adults. And the cars of the '50s show there's nothing new about people wanting to act out sci fi fantasies.

You aren't wrong. My personal vision of the 21st century transportation has more tailfins and bubble tops, but a world where everyone is whisked about in sexy doorstops sounds pretty good too. It's not your fault that a good idea was ruined by terrible execution. My favourite bit of game related snark about it is, "Is it done rezzing yet?"

I remember it being a big deal when if first came out. A front engined VW with water cooling? What is this world coming to?

Thin acetate or butyrate seems to be the way to go, as clear styrene likes to craze when you bend it. Most curved auto glass is just a simple curve. so as long as you have something that can bend, you should be good. Use a piece of heavy paper to make a template.

An online archive of a Dan Post's books on custom cars, and customizing techniques going back to 1944. If you're interested in traditional customs, or just curious where it all came from, this is worth a look. https://www.undiscoveredclassics.com/undiscovered-classics-archives/historical-archives/dan-post-publications/dan-post-publications-library/dan-posts-custom-car-documents/dan-post-custom-car-literature-1947-to-1954/

THe thing that always impressed me with the teddy bear wheels was just the fact that they made everything balance so it functions as a wheel.

I want to see if you can play them like a xylophone.

And of course we have all those giant video screens everywhere we go. William Gibson had a big hand in it too, and the look of Blade Runner owes a lot to French comics, but it certainly helped to form everyone's image of it. All the people responsible for cyberpunk did have one thing in common. They meant it to be a warning.

Oh, we do weird stuff too. We're just used to our weirdness.

Because not everyone here does hot rods and muscle cars, a Japanese site devoted to alloy wheels. Some interesting designs there. https://kyushashoes.com/

Even the name Cybertruck sounds like some cheesy knockoff of Knight Rider.

No argument there.

There are lew trucks out there that anyone would call pretty, and more than a few that are downright ugly, and that's just fine. Most trucks are there to work, not win beauty contests. Personally, I think it looks like a prop from a science fiction movie with a very low budget, but what really bugs me is that pyramid roof line. If we're talking about a practical vehicle, doesn't that rear slope cut into rear headroom an awful lot? I have my doubts about trying to park with that hood, though I imagine modern sensor technology would offset that. If you just want a wild, impractical shape, that's fine, but maybe hire someone who's good at it? Come to think of it, a Gandini designed truck sounds pretty cool.