"If life were fair..."

...Johnny Carson once said, "...Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead."

It's a pretty deep thought. It's a fitting one, too, as originality seems to be a dying art at times. I fell into a creative funk recently, and began to look at a late crop of cars, and thought "wow... another car on a set of aftermarket rims. How progresssive." (keep in mind that the cars in question were presented as some "Hot, new!" and "ground-breaking!" rides, and a few were flowing from my pen, seemingly keeping the envelope flat and tidy -- no pushing allowed!) It appeared, during that spell, that true automotive personalization was dead... That, just maybe, we had gotten to a stagnant point in the hobby where every car had to adhere to some set of rules to be "cool"... it was high school all over again, oh no! And just when I thought it was, along came a brilliantly conceived idea, and I'm honored to take part in the design process. Suffice to say, a client approached me with his genius take on a truck, and it's lit a fire, so to speak... In fact, that fire spread quickly to a new piece for a magazine, that I knocked out in record time... (not a truck, but an over-looked car that suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks) The drive was back, and with a fury... My eyes were opened to a whole new set of possibilities... it was like re-discovering cars. I dug through my notebooks and sketchbooks, and began reviewing them with a new-found purpose. I have set out on a journey, the road paved with unique cars, and seemingly endless possibilities.

Talk about timing, too... Some time back, we took in the "Curves of Steel" exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum, which, despite its small size, packed an unexpected punch. It was a great time, just taking in some design work from true masters. Classic forms, many mixed with function light years ahead of their time, all leading to one thought in my mind: I love what I do. I create, literally, passion on paper. It's not a job, it's creation of passion. It's taking an idea and running with it. It's not something you wake up one day and say "I'm going to design custom cars." It chooses you, and while it makes you work at it endlessly, it gives back a million times over in satisfaction. Simply put:

If I were approached to design a hot rod, custom, pro-touring ride, whatever, I'd want to bring out every aspect of the car's potential, and tie it with the owner's personality, not just create another ho-hum car that wears the right "uniform" for its genre. Granted, certain ideas work well, and have an established following... an early generation Mustang or Chevelle, for example, on 18's and 19's and sitting low looks good, it's a given. However, simply adhering to one look closes so many doors, creatively speaking, that you rob yourself of exploring the car's full potential. It's far too easy to just plug in a formula to achieve a certain look... Of course, there are always budget constraints and whatnot, but this is where careful, creative planning in the earliest stages can make any car into a unique, personal statement.

Obviously, if you like a style of car, you should go for it... I'd never suggest change for the sake of change. Don't just plop a heap of "different"" on top of an over-used motif just to stand out... To stretch the metaphor, if a singing impersonator is good, a fire-eating, sword-swallowing, contortionist skydiving crooner may not always breed better results.

Break the formula where you can, and stretch your imagination, but keep good taste in mind. All it really boils down to is that if all cars were built using the "formula method", every car would simply mimic another, and, in effect, be just another Elvis impersonator. And that's just not fair...