The Cadillac of Chops

I made this XTS chop from the mighty Sixteen concept of 2003. While I was totally wrong about the direction of the actual XTS concept shown this year, reports out of GM yesterday say that Cadillac will indeed introduce a rear-wheel drive flagship in the next few years. While directly going against Cadillac's "Art and Science" edginess, I really like the soft curves of the Sixteen, and of my own XTS. As with all of my images on this blog, click on each photo to enlarge and see in greater detail.

Crossovers and SUVs these days are only available in 4 door versions. My friend Barry from Michigan likes to have large doors on his cars to accommodate his 6'5" frame, and I made this 2 door SRX Grosse Pointe edition for him. 

Now that the XLR convertible has been discontinued, there is zero chance of this sport sedan version from ever seeing the light of day—as if there was ever a chance anyway, lol.  I was quite surprised at how much I liked this car when I got done with it. I actually like the look of it more than the original tin-top convertible.

This is my version of what a personal sports coupe from Cadillac may have looked like in 1959-the original XLR? I lengthened the hood, shortened the rear deck. I cut down the fins in height, but extended the 'rocket tubes' of the taillights. I also opened up the rear wheel wells and added some well-positioned duct tape to hold on the trim that has loosened up over 51 years...

Ah, the Presidential Limousine! While somewhat resembling a current Cadillac motorcar, the President's limo is actually much more closely related to the separate body-on-frame Escalade SUV. The car is more than 6 feet tall, and estimates range from 10,000-15,000lbs in overall weight. The tires alone are close to 3 feet high. I think it's WAY too truck in appearance, ungainly in fact. The main point of this exercise was to see if I could possibly bring back some glamour to the limousine. I added some classic Cadillac limousine touches from the past, such as rear fender skirts and more private rear windows. I doubled the size of the rear taillights, to give it more of an old-world Caddy look, and also added the brushed aluminum trim on the trunklid, removing the license plate cove. Does the President's car really need a license plate, lol?