What's Wrong With This Picture? WTF Is It Edition.

Ronnie Schreiber
by Ronnie Schreiber

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, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can dig deeper at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS



Ronnie Schreiber
Ronnie Schreiber

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.

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  • Redav Redav on Jun 12, 2012

    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).

  • Idemmu Idemmu on Jun 13, 2012

    So, that's what happened to the DC Sniper's Chevrolet Caprice...

  • ArialATOMV8 All I hope is that the 4Runner stays rugged and reliable.
  • Arthur Dailey Good. Whatever upsets the Chinese government is fine with me. And yes they are probably monitoring this thread/site.
  • Jalop1991 WTO--the BBB of the international trade world.
  • Dukeisduke If this is really a supplier issue (Dana-Spicer? American Axle?), Kia should step up and say they're going to repair the vehicles (the electronic parking brake change is a temporary fix) and lean on or sue the supplier to force them to reimburse Kia Motors for the cost of the recall.Neglecting the shaft repairs are just going to make for some expensive repairs for the owners down the road.
  • MaintenanceCosts But we were all told that Joe Biden does whatever China commands him to!
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