Matt's Online Sketchpad

I've come up with lots of crazy ideas, as well as a few not-so-crazy ones. This page is dedicated to various ideas I've come up with, some of which I might even build someday. Right now I don't have many of the images I want scanned in, but the should be up shortly.

The Fractal Dart

Flames have been painted on customs and hot rods for about as long as people have been customizing cars. This model shows a possible computer - assisted contemporary interpretation of that tradition, replacing the intricate curves of a stylized flame with a Mandelbrot set. The white, black, red, and silver color choice was intended to match the red interior of my Dart without looking as stark as a solid red and black. Mapping the computer-generated image onto the sheet metal turns out to be relatively simple, by taking advantage of the possibility of fitting the roof into the large solid-colored bulb at one end of the fractal.

This is an idea I dreamt up back before I had my Dart repainted. Unfortunately, the elaborate paint scheme went a bit over budget before I even started. It turns out just an aibrush and paint wouldn't be enough; I would have to get the entire car painted with a sealer using a paint sprayer. So I just took it to a discount auto painting shop and had it repainted the original solid white. The idea, and the pattern I'd put together on a gargantuan roll of paper, were shelved temporarily. The model shown here is actually a model of a Dodge 330, a B-body with very similar proportions to the Dart.

Land Yacht Brake Swap

This is a recipe I've collected for installing mamoth front discs onto an A-body. While the usual disc brake swaps will already give a great improvement in stopping power, this swap uses the brakes off one of the massive late 70's Chrysler sedans for incredible braking on a low budget, using mostly junkyard parts. This swap will work for any A-body, from '63 to '76. Here are the ingredients... they should bolt right on, from what I hear.

* Using a master cylinder from a car with power brakes without a vacuum booster will require a lot of pedal pressure to stop. Using a master cylinder from a car without power brakes with a vacuum booster is not recommended. Avoid master cylinders from cars with drum brakes. If your car is not equipped with a dual reservior master cylinder, you will also need custom fabricated brake lines.

This swap will require 15" or larger diameter, large bolt pattern wheels. It would be a good idea to convert the rear to the large bolt pattern, too, as carrying two spare tires is a pain. The most direct way to convert the rear axle to large bolt pattern is to take a rear end out of a disc brake equipped '73-'76 A-body and bolt it in. I hear certain Ford 9" rear ends, including the early Mustang and the disc brake equipped rear from the Lincoln Versailles, are also bolt ins. Alternately, the axles and brake drums can be redrilled, or you can send a 8.75" rear end from a C-body to Moser Engineering and have it narrowed to fit.

Mad Max Mustang

The Black Interceptor from the Mad Max movies is a menacing looking car, but anyone in the United States who wants a clone is going to have a hard time finding a Falcon XB. It occurred to me that a '71-'73 Mustang fastback with some front end work would look very similar. Hopefully, I'll have more pictures and information on this shortly.

Mercedes lights on a Dart front clip

Some new Mercedeses have large round headlights with integral turn signals. These look like they would seem very appropriate on a fiberglass Dart front end based on the "Turbine Car" '63-'64 front end. Again, I hope to have pictures up shortly.

A K-Car Body Kit?

I've been toying with the idea of dropping a 2.2 or 2.5 Turbo into a K-car for a daily driver, cargo hauler, and all-purpose beater. Although I like the sleeper potential of an Aries or Reliant, sometimes I've wondered if you could give an innocent looking K-car looks to match the performance of over 200 hp in a 2,400 lb car. This concept sketch illustrates how a K-car wagon might look with a fabricated fiberglass grille, grooved covers made of sheet Lexan over the stock headlights (a cue shamelessly taken from Mad Max), and a front bumper inspired by the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO series of rally cars. It's lowered a bit on "Swiss Cheese" wheels from a Shelby Dodge - cheap but somehow appropriate looking. Suspension goodies are likely to come from a Daytona Turbo Z.

What's This Doing Here?

This is a rendering I did for the cover of a report I did on potato guns for one of my classes. I though it was too amusing to just sit on a report cover, so I decided to post it on the Internet - but I didn't really know where to put it in my site. So it's just sitting here in my sketchbook until I can find a better place for it.