What's Wrong With This Picture? WTF Is It Edition.
Almost every time I go to a car show I see something that reminds me that skill in shaping metal and plastic doesn’t necessarily translate into aesthetic taste or talent. Last year at a Woodward Dream Cruise event I saw what at first glance appeared to be sort of a Dodge Viper, but actually was a C4 Corvette with some creative fiberglass work. Then, a few weeks ago at a spring shine-n-show in northwest Detroit I spotted this not-so-cute ute.
Someone put what had to be hundreds of hours into creating this custom Chevy pickup truck. My favorite touch of automotive kitsch here is the spoiler. Multi-element wings on tuner cars are silly, but they could, theoretically create some downforce. Sticking a spoiler right behind the cab of a pickup truck isn’t going to spoil anything except one’s sense of taste. A proper spoiler creates downforce. This one might force something to come back up. To be honest, though, it’s not an utterly terrible looking vehicle, the front end actually has some nice lines and proportions, if you ignore the hood scoop, but this Chevy’s been molded, slammed, shaved and gassed almost beyond recognition. Well, not almost, actually. I know my cars pretty well but I had to ask the owner what kind of vehicle gave its life to bring forth this into our world. After he told me, I was still scratching my head. Now that I’m looking at the photos I realize that there are a couple of tells, one or two things that haven’t been customized, but I’m not telling. Instead I’m asking the Best & Brightest to identify this wild custom. Since it’s wearing a bow-tie it’s not much of a hint to say that it started out as a Chevy, so I’ll give you the additional information that it did not start out as an El Camino or some other Chevy truck, it’s sedan based.
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.
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While I agree that thing is all sorts of hideous, I will disagree slightly with the statement of the spoiler. While a spoiler is technically for the purpose of reducing lift, a similar device can be used to perform other desirable air flow patterns. For example, the PT Cruiser convertible used a fake roll cage primarily for aesthetics, but it was effective at keeping the wind out of the cabin area. It worked like a spoiler but for a very different effect. Trucks have a vortex that forms behind the cab. It is very possible that some sort of spoiler-esque device could be of benefit there, to break up that vortex and possibly help keep the wind out of the bed and/or reduce drag. Of course, that's not the purpose of this POS, and the guy who installed it can't even spell "aerodynamics" or (or "ugly," it would seem).
So, that's what happened to the DC Sniper's Chevrolet Caprice...