These vintage car pictures are the work of Michael Paul Smith who has created an amazing optical illusion by combining vintage model cars with trick photography. The results are nothing short of awesome, read on to see more of Michael’s illusions.
For the last 25 years, Michael has spent some of his spare and much of his professional time building miniature models and photographing them. He has built up an impressive gallery of vintage car pictures from a fictional 1950s American town called Elgin Park.
As a professional model maker, Smith’s models are detailed enough to withstand the scrutiny of close-up photography. Smith places them in miniature dioramas and uses forced perspective to make parts of the real world lend his vintage car pictures additional realism. The result is a quirky sort of historical fiction – faithfully and authentically reproduced scenes from a small American town that never actually happened (but could have).
- [SEE ALSO – Fiat 500 Abarth Cabrio Made From Body Painted Models]
What’s also great about his Elgin Park collection is that the magician is willing to reveal his secrets. Smith’s Flickr gallery often pairs his brilliant illusions with a picture that breaks their carefully arranged perspective and reveals how he managed to blend reality and his imagined history. His vintage car pictures are an excellent example of how art can be used to fool the eyes.
Born in Pennsylvania in 1950, Michael has been building scale models for over 25 years. His model making skills have been accumulated through his varied job and life experiences; he has been a text book illustrator, wallpaper hanger and house painter, designer of museum displays, architectural model maker, and art director for retail stores. His love of the 20th Century has been a constant inspiration for all of his work.
- [BONUS – Top Ten Most Ugliest Cars Ever Created]