CMS-GT4
Active member
So I figured I would start this thread to begin development of a possible st185 body kit. Something that would look good enough to possibly get a group in on to have made. Maybe even just a lip.
I think this should be a group effort and a design critique of toyota's design, aftermarket design and the aftermarket design of cars that share simular lines. This thread may not fruit a new kit, but it may lead us to the conclusioon that a good kit can not be made.
Over the years I have studied the body and design of the alltrac. Vs all the other cars on the road, the st185 most resembles the porsche styling.
The long front over hang, and curves the flares.
I think the st185 looks like what the 944 would have evolved into. Toyota claimed the alltrac was their version of the 928.
My goal is to come up with some parts that blend so well with the car, they almost look stock.
Here is your assignment:
We need photoshopers and 3d modelers in on this.
Here is a link to a model of a st185. You can use this to maybe do some concepts in a 3d program.
http://alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php ... hlight=lip
If any of you have a 1/24 scale 185 model you can try and do some sculpting on it as well.
For those who can't ps or model anything. Here is some other suggestions to help out. Find pics of cars that resemble lines of the 185. One car might have simular fenders, and another might have a simular nose etc..
Then find aftermarket body kits for these cars. Post pics and links. Then we can study them and maybe use these to help develop some ideas.
Let me start first with some of my observations.
The alltrac looks up to date for the most part. The grill and popups are a bit dated, but they hold the charactersitics of the car. I think some other things can be addressed that will keep the essence of the alltrac yet update the look a bit.
One of the aging parts is the lack of sideskirts. While it does not look bad, it could use something there.
I have been looking at the 18x vert skirts. They are small and might go well with the lines of hte 185. They are also not much lower than stock, so they do not make the nose look too high as if you used only skirts from a 18x a/m body kit. I have also concidered something simular to the veilside 350z skirts. They are smaller, and might be made to flow with the body better w/o making the car look too narrow and w/o giving as much risk of screwing them up on speedbumps.
See link for example.
http://www.japanparts.com/images/ImageF ... =1&no=4315
The rear looks great. It might help if there was a skirt that hid the gas tank better. The savage rear skirt does this well. It look pretty good for the most part, except for having to mold it to the body. It might be a little too low as well. Maybe a tighter version of that might look good, with a better designed single exhaust exit.
The nose of the car suffers from the long overhang and upward sloping angle. Even though it looks great from most angles, this feature dates the look of the car since the trend of short front over hangs made popular by BMW. Even pickups and mustnags have a realativly short overhang now.
I think a lip would look good, but it would have to be very small. I think most of the lips are too low, and don't hep the looks very much. The alltrac is wider then it gets credit for and by adding too low of a body kit, it makes the car look too narrow.
I have concidered sculpting something like the supras OEM front lip. Or even trying to get one to fit.
While the alltrac is a great looking car, it might be able to be improved further if we al work together and bang our heads on this idea.
I think this should be a group effort and a design critique of toyota's design, aftermarket design and the aftermarket design of cars that share simular lines. This thread may not fruit a new kit, but it may lead us to the conclusioon that a good kit can not be made.
Over the years I have studied the body and design of the alltrac. Vs all the other cars on the road, the st185 most resembles the porsche styling.
The long front over hang, and curves the flares.
I think the st185 looks like what the 944 would have evolved into. Toyota claimed the alltrac was their version of the 928.
My goal is to come up with some parts that blend so well with the car, they almost look stock.
Here is your assignment:
We need photoshopers and 3d modelers in on this.
Here is a link to a model of a st185. You can use this to maybe do some concepts in a 3d program.
http://alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php ... hlight=lip
If any of you have a 1/24 scale 185 model you can try and do some sculpting on it as well.
For those who can't ps or model anything. Here is some other suggestions to help out. Find pics of cars that resemble lines of the 185. One car might have simular fenders, and another might have a simular nose etc..
Then find aftermarket body kits for these cars. Post pics and links. Then we can study them and maybe use these to help develop some ideas.
Let me start first with some of my observations.
The alltrac looks up to date for the most part. The grill and popups are a bit dated, but they hold the charactersitics of the car. I think some other things can be addressed that will keep the essence of the alltrac yet update the look a bit.
One of the aging parts is the lack of sideskirts. While it does not look bad, it could use something there.
I have been looking at the 18x vert skirts. They are small and might go well with the lines of hte 185. They are also not much lower than stock, so they do not make the nose look too high as if you used only skirts from a 18x a/m body kit. I have also concidered something simular to the veilside 350z skirts. They are smaller, and might be made to flow with the body better w/o making the car look too narrow and w/o giving as much risk of screwing them up on speedbumps.
See link for example.
http://www.japanparts.com/images/ImageF ... =1&no=4315
The rear looks great. It might help if there was a skirt that hid the gas tank better. The savage rear skirt does this well. It look pretty good for the most part, except for having to mold it to the body. It might be a little too low as well. Maybe a tighter version of that might look good, with a better designed single exhaust exit.
The nose of the car suffers from the long overhang and upward sloping angle. Even though it looks great from most angles, this feature dates the look of the car since the trend of short front over hangs made popular by BMW. Even pickups and mustnags have a realativly short overhang now.
I think a lip would look good, but it would have to be very small. I think most of the lips are too low, and don't hep the looks very much. The alltrac is wider then it gets credit for and by adding too low of a body kit, it makes the car look too narrow.
I have concidered sculpting something like the supras OEM front lip. Or even trying to get one to fit.
While the alltrac is a great looking car, it might be able to be improved further if we al work together and bang our heads on this idea.