“Let me get this straight, you want to race a Fantasia in the upcoming Trans Am series?” The Owner asks this new fellow who shows up. “Absolutely, I think it’s size will be an advantage.” With a furred brow of minor confusion.“It has a 1.8 liter straight four cylinder, where do you plan on cramming the other 3.2 liters?” The owner asks. “Well it is not exactly perfect fit, I believe it is doable to put one of your Airstar 305 cubic inch aircraft engines in, specifically the brand new one you introduced a few weeks ago at the Dalil air show. It is not certified for flight yet, is it?” Rob Doley has a point, there is much fanfare over the fuel injected aluminum block, but it has not passed all testing to be used on aircraft. “That motor only revs up to 4 thousand something, you do know that, right?” “Yes I do, which I can make up for by using the transmission from your older Villin racer, and coupling it with a narrowed rear end from one of your military trucks. Those should all handle the stress of your Airstar engine, and every part fits the specifications laid out by the TA series sponsor.”
At this point the owner realises that he can be in this racing series for no extra than what this fellow can pick up from out in the finished cars lot and a trip to an engine plant and warehouse, but as with all great minds, why get such a good deal when a great deal can easily come out of it?
“I can supply you all of this but with a few small requests, we keep the Fantasia badge and the Yinzer ornaments, with the addition of an Airstar label and engine displacement stickers?” Rob easily nods in agreement. It is a Fantasia, after all - there is no escaping that name. “Before you continue, why is it named Fantasia if I may ask?” “I mean…” he continues “It is a modern design that is rigid, and frankly I am ripping out a better rear differential and suspension setup than I am putting in. My neice bought one for college, and that is why I am here, it is a fine automobile. You do know there is a stigma with that name, right?”
At that point the owner looked out the window at a Fantasia in the lot, his actually, and said “This was supposed to be an everybody type of car but two things happened between the time we designed it and today, the design curves took much more of a cutting look, and manufacturers purposefully built larger more powerful cars and gave them masculine names to chase each other between the street and the showroom. This car is too small to sell in that market, so we turned it over to our design research team that found it appeals much more now to women then men because of its size and shape. So it was pretty easy a decision, we were already tooled up, we changed the paint options and renamed it from Honeybadger to Fantasia, which brings me to another request, you can cut and flare the body, but I want the paint colors to remain Fantasia brand. In our business it is about the customer being happy until they return a decade later, and I want them all to recognize these cars on the track, hell if it some other brand loyalist I want them to be sure they know we are out there racing. They will be reminded by it passing by Fantasias on their way about their days.”
Rob readily agreed to the request, as long as it was up to the design team to come up with the paint scheme. “You are willing to really let them loose? They might come up with something way out of the typical racing look.” “Hell it might be an advantage for me.” Rob replied. Rob always had single color race cars because Rob is colorblind.
“Well it sounds to me like we are almost to a deal, how many cars are you planning on building for this series?” Rob replies “Four would be ideal, but we can make it with two”. The Owner takes one more look into the parking lot at his cuppochino colored Fantasia, reaches in his pocket, and with a smirk tosses Mr. Doley his car keys. “Build five - bring that one back.”