Lincoln Sedan—Town Car or Continental?

Oh yes, I've chopped another Lincoln sedan from the MKT. I'm just not sure if it's a new Town Car or a revived Lincoln Continental.

C H O P — Starting with my new favorite car to chop, the MKT, I took quite a bit of height out of the middle of the car. Since this rendering is meant to show the spirit of a new sedan, forget the actual MKT's dimensions. I'd say the wheelbase of this car would be 120-22 inches, similar to the regular S class, 7 series and XJ these days. I've made the grille wider and shallower in relation to the lower horizontal grille, and cut the fenders down as far as possible, crating subtle fender humps. Instead of the rather abrupt beltline bump on the MKT, which I believe is modeled after the incomparable '61 Continental, I've made it much more gradual in the manner of the gorgeous 1970-71 models. I've used a slim vertical C pillar window, patterned after the '80s and '90s Town cars, too. Relative to the lower body, the wheels are perhaps 20s or 21s and I've made the rear overhang longer for a sedan. The front overhang was shortened by moving the front wheels forward by about 6 inches relative to the crossover donor. A very minor change from the MKT is the hood's cutline. Instead of cutting across the front of the car above the Lincoln logo, I've dropped it below it, in line with the bottom of the grille openings. The twin grilles would lift with the hood, in the same way many "fine" luxury cars do. I think the cutline on the MKT hood is one of the very few 'mistakes' they made. It dilutes the strength of the body colored central divider, and it looks a bit cheap to me, 

This rendering is a bit over-the-top, a bit too low—the William Townes outrageous mid '70s Lagonda comes to mind—but I'm in love with the vintage stylized renderings that Harley Earl's and Bill Mitchell's studios created in the thirties, forties, and fifties. In the back of my mind, those are what I'm trying to evoke. Yes, my chops are photographic to start with instead of hand drawn sketches, and are already production cars for the most part, but I like to think of Photoshop as just a better pencil I'm privileged to be able to use. Think of chops like this hung up all around the studios for the styling heads to peruse and discuss. I also like to add to the backgrounds and create the atmosphere I'd like see the imaginary marketing departments shoot for.

So the question is: Would this make a better Town Car or should the classic Lincoln Continental nameplate make a comeback? I really can't decide!

I've also created this Lincoln Town Car chop in the past couple of weeks, based on the same MKT, but in profile instead of front 3/4. The greenhouse is totally different, as are most of the proportions. This shows the power of Photoshop. Starting out with the same vehicle, you can really do anything you want with software and an Apple single-click mouse growing out of your right hand, lol—I really don't care for the new multifunction ones.

I really liked the earlier one when I did it, but now I think I like this newest version, lol. Reminds me of when I'm working on my 'other' art: My favorite art piece of all time is always the one I'm working on at the time. 

Have a great day/afternoon/evening/all three!