You don’t see a lot of lead sled builds nowadays because it takes so much time and skill to pull it off. The style is, however, epic. And this fact was recognized by a rendering artist when he created this 1953 Buick Skylark Convertible with a widebody twist.
This is unlike anything ever built in real life, mixing old and new in a way that only @adry53customs can. The famous artist has a thing for rare, forgotten cars and styles, which he now mixes together in his “Ruined Classics” series of renderings.
So far, we’ve featured two cool renderings from the Ruined Classics series, a widebody 1970 HEMI Cuda with some custom muscle under the hood and a 1958 Plymouth Fury “Christine 2.0”, which was a Demon-powered Baja truck-looking twist on a movie car.
I don’t know if Adry53 realizes this, but the 1953 Buick was actually an extremely popular movie car. Just check out this insanely long list, which includes a Roadmaster Skylark in Forrest Gump and even Star Trek. And while we’re on the subject of Hollywood and celebrities, Howard Hughes famously had a 4-door Roadmaster.
How to ruin a 1953 classic car
Most people won’t even recognize a 1953 Buick, so only die-hard classic car fans will be outraged by this rendering. However, there were only about 1,000 units of this car ever made, so we’re actually glad that one of them didn’t have to be “ruined” to achieve this look.
The digital build borrows ideas from the lead sleds. However, those are usually hand-fabricated all-metal coupes, not convertibles. And a “sled” builder probably wouldn’t fabricate a widebody kit like that; he would roll out the factory fender until they fit the wider wheels.
Not only has the Skylark convertible been slammed on custom air suspension, but it also sports a set of gigantic alloys, which look several times larger than what was on 1950s cars. Behind those, gigantic performance brakes have ventilated and cross-drilled rotors, something nobody could even dream of back then.
From the side, it looks like this Buick secretly wants to be a 1960s Corvette or Shelby Cobra. Custom exhaust headers snake their way around the chassis to end at red-hot side mufflers. She is as fast as greased lightning!
Love the artistic workmanship no matter what anyone says. It’s a work of art not for the purist really.