A LOOK INSIDE SO REAL

MURRAY PFAFF'S ILLUSTRATIONS CHANGED THE WAY WE LOOK AT PROJECT CARS. NEW TOOLS WILL TAKE HIS IMAGINATION EVEN FURTHER.

- DREW HARDIN

Murray Pfaff's photorealistic renderings have appeared in HOT ROD and many other enthusiast outlets for more than 20 years. Some 400 vehicle designs have gone from brainstorm to so-real-you-can-almost-touch-it illustrations since he opened Pfaff Designs in 2004. Many of the finished vehicles that began on Pfaff's drawing board have gone on display at the SEMA Show. Some were done for celebrities, such as musicians Sammy Hagar and Toby Keith and NASCAR superstars Richard Petty and Rusty Wallace.

Pfaff also designed a few cars for himself. He is a down-to-the-marrow car guy with very eclectic tastes. His best-known creation, the Imperial Speedster, is a 1959 four-door Chrysler that he and a team of co-conspirators whittled into a two-door convertible that looks just like a midcentury concept car. “The process of building that car created a story,” Pfaff said. “What if in the late '50s Chrysler had tried to compete with the Thunderbird and Corvette?” HOT ROD told the Speedster’s story three times, showing it in progress in May 2010, finished in July 2011, and with some choice updates in March 2020.