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    Rear Fender Rendering

    My wife and I just had our first child*, which means I've been spending less time in the garage and more time at my desk watching her sleep. And while I've been keeping watch I've had some time to play around in Photoshop, seeing how a Box Town Car would look with a different treatment of the rear fenders. I don't have the skills to do any of this work for real, but I thought the results were interesting enough to share.



    I tried smoothing out the rear wheel arch entirely, like the '75-'77 Continentals or the '90s Roadmasters or Fleetwoods. I think it helps ground the car a lot more. Boxes seem to feel a lot more upright than Barges, and a lot of that is probably due to the greenhouse. But by eliminating the second, equally-sized wheel arch, the car seems a lot more horizontal. Maybe even boat-like. A Box will never have the presence of a Barge, if only because of its smaller footprint. But with the mild 'aero' refresh from '85+, I think this fender redesign would remain sympathetic to that end. Of course GM went in a similar direction in the '90s with their sedans, but something has always felt off about them to me. Maybe they're a little too streamlined, too lacking in details. A Box TC doesn't really suffer from that problem.

    I also think that continuing the belt line brightwork all the way around the vinyl top reinforces this feeling. I've seen this done on some Box TCs, but I don't understand which ones got it and why they didn't do it for all of them. The little upturned curve where the C-pillar meets the trunk seems like a deliberate callback to the same move on the Barges, but then they hid it by matching that molding to the vinyl top.



    An easier move would be to keep the flare and just cap the arch, either permanently or with a fender skirt. It's not quite as clean a look, but I think so long as the brightwork was modified appropriately it could still work. You still gain an uninterrupted slab side behind the front wheels, which the stock rear wheel arches both break up and direct the eye up into the greenhouse.

    *Obligatory kid pic:
    1987 Lincoln Town Car - Signature, "Prudence"

    #2
    Congrats on the new kid.

    The first pic looks exactly like a barge to me at first glance. That wheel arch does make a difference. Looks better without it running the skirts. This may explain why I've never liked the skirts on boxes. Never realized the wheel arch was so pronounced, which ends up conflicting with the smoothing effect of the skirt in my opinion.

    That said, I still prefer the skirtless box to most any 70-79 barge exterior appearance. The boxes seem to be a cleaner, crisper appearance that I like. I will say that the barge rides better, though.
    1990 Country Squire - weekend cruiser, next project
    1988 Crown Vic LTD Wagon - waiting in the wings

    GMN Box Panther History
    Box Panther Horsepower and Torque Ratings
    Box Panther Production Numbers

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      #3
      Nice picture. Peaceful.

      The first pic reminds me of a Chrysler slab side look. I like it.
      03 Marauder DPB, HS, 6disk, Organizer Mods> LED's in & Out, M&Z rear control arms, Oil deflector, U-Haul Trans Pan, Blue Fuzzy Dice
      02 SL500 Silver Arrow
      08 TC Signature Limited, HID's Mods>235/55-17 Z rated BFG G-Force Comp-2 A/S Plus, Addco 1" rear Sway, Posi Carrier, Compustar Remote Start, floor liners, trunk organizer, Two part Sun Visors, B&M Trans drain Plug, Winter=05 Mustang GT rims, Nokian Hakkapeliitta R-2 235/55-17
      12 Escape Limited V6 AWD, 225/65R17 Vredestein Quatrac Pro, Winter 235/70-16 Conti Viking Contact7 Mods>Beamtech LED headlight bulbs, Husky floor liners

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        #4
        My favorites from most liked to least.

        Baby...Congrats.

        Pronounced arch.

        Smooth....not for me.


        Nice skill you have there on the puter.
        ~David~

        My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
        My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

        Originally posted by ootdega
        My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

        Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
        But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

        Originally posted by gadget73
        my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.




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          #5
          Yeah, I guess the slab side, arch-less rear is more of a '70s look, at least with the Box styling. Funny how wheel skirts seem to come in and out of style.

          The Box Panthers, or at least the Lincolns, have always struck me as a sort of compromise, or a barge Continental that shrunk in the wash. It's still cool in its own right, and compared to most anything else on the road today, but it just doesn't have the presence of a barge, or a fuselage Imperial. By the time you get to the '90s, the Aero Town Cars became their own thing, with enough styling distance between them and the '70s to avoid comparison. There have been several occasions when I'm driving my Town Car that people will talk with me and guess that it's a '70s car.

          Anyway, since I already had the layers set up, I decided to keep screwing around with paint schemes. Here's the box Town Car police package:

          1987 Lincoln Town Car - Signature, "Prudence"

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            #6
            For serving arrest warrants in Wallstreet.
            03 Marauder DPB, HS, 6disk, Organizer Mods> LED's in & Out, M&Z rear control arms, Oil deflector, U-Haul Trans Pan, Blue Fuzzy Dice
            02 SL500 Silver Arrow
            08 TC Signature Limited, HID's Mods>235/55-17 Z rated BFG G-Force Comp-2 A/S Plus, Addco 1" rear Sway, Posi Carrier, Compustar Remote Start, floor liners, trunk organizer, Two part Sun Visors, B&M Trans drain Plug, Winter=05 Mustang GT rims, Nokian Hakkapeliitta R-2 235/55-17
            12 Escape Limited V6 AWD, 225/65R17 Vredestein Quatrac Pro, Winter 235/70-16 Conti Viking Contact7 Mods>Beamtech LED headlight bulbs, Husky floor liners

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              #7
              Makes you almost want to commit a crime just to get picked up in that "bad boy"!
              What I Own: 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis GS
              What I Help Maintain: 1996 CV / 1988 CV / 1988 Tempo

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