The Career of Richard Nesbitt, Part Two

 

1972-continental

Book Illustrations

 

After a move to the Dallas/Ft.Worth area, I have been a vehicle and industrial design consultant for a wide variety of clients. From 1980 on, I have authored and illustrated several styling related articles for various automotive magazine publishers and I was commissioned to both author and illustrate a book title for Publications International, American Automobile Design  1930–1980, which was published and released for distribution in 1985.

 


Peterbilt

From 1996 to 1999, I worked with Peterbilt Motors in Denton, Texas on  the exterior and interior design of the all-new 387 Aerotruck series and a planned successor to the iconic, legendary 379 traditional series, the all-new 479.


Peterbilt 387 renderings from 1996–1999


Peterbilt advanced concepts

 


Magazine Illustrations

1952 “Hot Rod Lincoln”

In 1952, Ford released all-new bodies for Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln. Ford and Mercury were once again sharing body shells and Lincoln was on its own, but there was a strong family resemblance to all three that established the “FoMoCo Look” for much of the 1950s. From 1949 to 1951 there were two Lincoln series—the smaller version was based on the Mercury body shell.

For 1952, however, Ford dropped the smaller Mercury-based Lincoln option, and missed-out on an opportunity to compete head-on with Oldsmobile’s hot small-body OHV V-8 “88” from 1949 and Chrysler’s hot small-body “Hemi” V-8 Saratoga from 1951.

In 1952, along with the new “big” Lincoln, Ford had everything they needed to get it just right. Lincoln had a brand new large-displacement OHV V-8 that would have had Oldsmobile and Chrysler really up against it with a lighter, smaller Mercury body version. Ford and Mercury were still flathead V-8s in 1952, and would not have smaller, lower-powered OHV V-8s until 1954.

FoMoCo’s modern, trim new styling in 1952 combined with the smaller, lighter Mercury body and Lincoln’s big OHV V-8 would have been a very appealing low-cost-to-create alternative to the older GM and Chrysler models.

I authored and illustrated a feature on this concept for Collectible Automobile magazine on how this “Mercury-Lincoln” might have looked had it been built in 1952, including an illustration of the 1952 Lincoln Cosmopolitan.

 

The 1992 Riviera illustration is from a Publications International Forecast 1995 magazine feature, and the Silverado and Fiesta Illustrations are from the Forecast 1999 feature.

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