Coming soon…
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I will be doing a review of my Cadence Sport soon.
One and only what.
In my company lore, the Reverence nameplate has been in use since 1967, so I think it would be fairly established as ‘the one and only Reverence’
UPDATE: I have completely redone the Cadence! You can view the new stats here.
Notable changes:
Sport trim is now FWD
New Touring trim
Prices have been adjusted
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## 2017 ADENINE REVERENCE
Affordable, efficient, and highly versatile
A name you can trust for all your utility needs
Base - $22,500 (30% markup)
Key stats:
310hp 3.0L turbocharged inline-6
26 MPG (US)
0-62 in 6.8 seconds
91RON
$2501 running costs
The new 2017 Adenine Reverence is a pickup truck that does it all. With its body-on-frame chassis and solid axle leaf suspension, it’s tough enough to haul all of your cargo. It’s spacious enough to seat 4 people in comfort. It can handle off-road terrain. And despite all of that, it’s still efficient, reliable, and remarkably easy to drive. The base Reverence is fitted with a turbocharged 3.0L inline-six producing a healthy 310 horsepower. The 4.0L I6 is an option. All trims of the Reverence come standard with a nine-speed automatic transmission and manually-lockable AWD.
Premium - $37,500 (50% markup)
Key stats:
391hp 4.0L turbocharged inline-6
23 MPG (US)
0-62 in 6.2 seconds
91RON
$3138 running costs
The Premium trim of the Reverence comes standard with the 4.0L turbo six, good for 391 horsepower. All new for 2017 is a luxurious HUD system that projects speed, mileage, and navigation directions conveniently onto the windshield. Onboard wifi, music, and climate controls can all be voice or gesture activated. Plush leather seats and semi-active dampers complete the package.
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Update: fuel type and running costs have been added for all the cars.
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## 2017 ADENINE VALENCE
The definitive Adenine
Efficiency, comfort, and style like no other
Available with FWD or AWD
Base - $17,000 (20% markup)
Key stats:
211hp 2.0L turbocharged inline-4
48 MPG (US)
0-62 in 7.7 seconds
95RON
$1798 running costs
Ever since it made our name in the 1970s, the Valence has been the definitive Adenine. Through the years, it has become known for its perfect blend of efficiency, comfort, and price. The new 2017 Valence carries this tradition forward, and it’s better than ever. Boasting a 211hp 2.0L turbocharged engine and a remarkable 48 MPG, the Valence soars far above the family sedan class. The Valence comes standard with a 7-speed single-clutch automated manual and front-wheel drive.
Premium - $29,500 (40% markup)
Key stats:
255hp 2.0L turbocharged inline-4
34 MPG (US)
0-62 in 7.1 seconds
95RON
$2511 running costs
The premium trim of the Valence is elegant, refined, and offers uncompromising luxury for an affordable price. Outside, there is a unique lower fascia which fits steering-responsive fog lights. Inside, the materials have been completely redesigned for a premium feel, and you also get the futuristic new HUD system seen on the Reverence. This car is fitted with a 7-speed automatic and AWD.
Sport - $20,500 (30% markup)
Key stats:
267hp 2.0L turbocharged inline-4
33 MPG (US)
0-62 in 6.3 seconds
95RON
$2319 running costs
The Sport trim of the Valence brings sport sedan performance at an affordable price. Fitted with 225/45R17 summer tires, a geared LSD, and active aerodynamic components, it can corner at over 1.1G. A 7-speed manual transmission paired with FWD is standard, and AWD is optional.
Touring - $37,000 (50% markup)
Key stats:
267hp 2.0L turbocharged inline-4
28 MPG (US)
0-62 in 6.5 seconds
95RON
$3058 running costs
Finally, we have our flagship Touring trim. This car does it all - performance, comfort, and everyday usability - at an affordable price. This trim comes standard with AWD and the exclusive Active Sport suspension, as well as a 7-speed automated manual and the luxury HUD from the Premium trim.
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By the way, what do you guys think of my first photoshop? 
Doing the front and rear was easier than I was expecting, but fixing the perspective issues on the side turned out to be a challenge…
Comments and suggestions are appreciated 
I’m interested in upping my photoshop game, especially for when Unreal comes out!
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I thought they were very good. You certainly put the effort in to make the pictures look good!
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The design is really nice. I like that you’ve held back on going over the top. The thing is stylish as hell
Thanks, I appreciate the comment! My style tends to fall on the more understated (or even bland) side of things, so it’s nice to hear that people like it 
Presenting a look at the early origins of Adenine - a fusion of European innovation and American industry, forged in the chaos of WWII
Martin Penrose (1919-1996)
A young Martin in 1946
Martin Penrose was born in 1919 to a wealthy British family. From a young age, Martin was fascinated by mechanical objects, especially the newfangled automobiles which his father owned. His father was an official in the British government and often brought Martin with him on business trips. When Martin was ten years old, his family moved to Germany as his father had become a diplomat there.
However, just a few years later, Hitler rose to power in Germany and the Nazi party took over. Martin’s parents recognized the dangers of trying to raise a family in Nazi Germany and decided to get out of there as soon as possible. The family temporarily moved in with some friends in France while Martin’s father tried to negotiate a deal with the British government.
Ultimately, the British government denied his request to be reassigned and fired him for abandoning his post. While the Penrose family was devastated, this would eventually turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Martin’s father decided that the safest place to raise his children would be in America, far from the brewing political storm in Europe. So, in 1934, the Penrose family left their old life behind and emigrated to the United States.
In the US, the family settled in Pittsburgh, PA, and his father got a job doing business administration at a car factory. Martin would visit him every day after school. The factory manager took a liking to the inquisitive teenager, and he soon became an apprentice at the factory, where he honed his mechanical skills. At the same time, his father taught him the ins and outs of balancing budgets and managing a company.
While Martin proved to be a solid factory worker, his real interest was in the design and engineering of the cars he assembled. His combination of hands-on technical skills and business acumen gave him a unique edge over other employees. Over time, Martin rose through the ranks and became friends with many fellow workers and engineers. He was well respected, although some of the higher ups in management did not like how he always challenged the status quo and asked why things were being done a certain way.
Martin did not fight in World War II, but he contributed his part to the war effort by building thousands of jeeps for the army. He saw many of his American friends leave to join the military, and some of them never came back.
After the war ended, Martin gathered a group of his closest friends and they collectively quit the car factory. The group opened a car shop in Pittsburgh, building custom engines and cars for wealthy customers. Martin, with his many years of engineering experience, was the brains behind the operation. He brought a uniquely European perspective from his time in England, Germany, and France, and frequently applied it to his work.
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I’m going to skip the 1946-1961 years since cars made in Penrose’s shop weren’t strictly Adenine, but I may revisit them later!
After more than a decade of building bespoke luxury cars and sports cars from the shop in Pittsburgh, Penrose had built up a decent sum of cash and a local reputation in the Pennsylvania region. Penrose had always enjoyed the freedom and challenge of building a new car for each customer, but he yearned for greater recognition. Once his team had finished building a car, Penrose would often never see it again. That is, unless some bumbling idiot had screwed up a component he had spent weeks designing and testing.
Penrose had spent enough time building cars for the wealthy - now he wanted to make cars for the masses. He wanted to be able to see common folk driving cars he designed on the streets. Penrose knew that a small startup could not compete with giants like Ford or Chrysler by simply building the same cars they did. His cars had to be something different, something unique, and he had some ideas for how to do it. From his time in the factory, he had recognized that the big automakers were very much entrenched in tradition and resistant to radical new ideas. And so, in 1962, Adenine Automotive was officially established.
Also in 1962, Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery of the molecular structure of DNA. Penrose was a big fan of Watson and Crick and felt proud to be both British and American. After reading about their discovery, Penrose took a liking to the name “adenine” and thought it was very pretty. It was a strange name for a car company, to be sure, but he decided that its importance in DNA and the human body gave it a strong meaning.
One of the things that always annoyed Penrose about traditional American cars was the big, bulky transmission tunnel. Neither of his personal cars - a Citroen DS and a Porsche 356 - had a tunnel, and he greatly appreciated the improved interior space. Another thing he liked about his European cars was their unibody construction, which made them lightweight and gave them superior handling to American body-on-frame cars.
Back home in Britain, the BMC Mini had just been released and was sweeping the nation. Penrose immediately recognized the advantages of its transverse engine mounting and unibody construction - it was a logical step forward from the longitudinal FWD layout of the DS. However, another part of the Mini intrigued him - the stubby, space-efficient two-box body style. It reminded him of the jeeps he built in the factory during WWII and the postwar Land Rovers which were inspired by them.
And so, in 1962, Penrose drew up plans for a radical new vehicle which would combine innovations from the DS, the jeep, and the Mini. With the money made from the custom shop, and some help from his father, Penrose bought the Pittsburgh factory he and his friends had worked in and retooled it for the new car. Named the Adenine Advent, it would prove to be unlike anything anyone had ever seen.
Yes, this the vehicle KOTH1 was based on
The 1965 Adenine Advent was a front wheel drive, unibody SUV. With a high ride height and tall roof, its external appearance was that of a rugged off-road vehicle, but on the inside, it was a comfortable and easy-to-drive car. By most accounts, the Advent was the world’s first crossover vehicle, predating cars like the AMC Eagle and the Jeep Cherokee SJ by nearly two decades.
Although it was officially marketed as a wagon, it soon became clear that the Advent was in a class of its own. The high ride height offered a commanding position of the road; the tall roof and front-drive configuration gave it unmatched interior space for its size. Light weight and fully independent suspension meant it was nimble and easy to handle.
But Adenine’s primary audience, suburban families, didn’t recognize the Advent’s numerous advantages. They saw the Advent’s simplistic, utilitarian looks, and balked. It didn’t have the beautiful flowing lines of a Valiant or a Fairlane. It didn’t even have the cutesy appeal of a Beetle. The Advent looked like the kind of car to go rock climbing, not like the kind of car to take to see your relatives. Penrose couldn’t help it; the factory had been designed to build jeeps and Penrose needed to minimize the costs to retool it.
Furthermore, at that point Adenine lacked the capabilities to produce anything other than the single 2.2L I4 engine, marketed at 120hp (SAE gross). With a 0-60 time in the 15 second range, the Advent could outpace similar cars like the Falcon or the Bronco equipped with their base engines, largely due to its light weight. But once small- and big-block V8s came into the picture, the Advent quickly fell far behind. Americans wanted power, and Adenine couldn’t deliver.
The few customers that did gamble on the weird-looking car from the unknown company were mostly suburban commuters who often traveled into the city or northern families who were worried about winter performance. These customers quickly became Adenine fans for life. With its flat floor and tall roof, the Advent offered superior interior space to even the largest of American sedans, at a fraction of the cost. The high ride height and FWD meant better performance in the snow, and even allowed drivers to look down at the big sedans on the road. Despite the high ride height and soft suspension, body roll was kept in check due to the wide track and light weight.
The Adenine Advent was a revolutionary concept that was simply too far ahead of its time. A few decades later, Penrose would be proven right, as unibody crossovers exploded onto the SUV market. But the Advent itself was doomed to an early death, as production would end in 1970. However, Penrose remained confident. Even before the Advent went into production, he had planned out designs for two new vehicles, which would be more conventional in nature but would still have that Adenine flair. The Advent was a commercial failure, but Penrose was sure that the engineering principles behind it were sound. Now it was just a matter of learning from his mistakes and shifting production towards the two new vehicles: the Veranda and Reverence.
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As usual, figures that make you want to cry. How do you do it? 
Well, for one thing… being crazy/stupid enough to try to make a FWD family car out of a 60s truck body 
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It’s a crossover that at least has some character, I’ll it that 
Great story behind the car too by the way, I’ve just read it while eating breakfast!
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The Adenine Advent, true to its name, was just the beginning. It was a proof of concept, a way to show that the fledgling startup could mass-produce a high-quality, convention-breaking vehicle at a low cost. It went into production first, with its simple design and lower tooling requirements. However, its market was never all that big in the first place. The best-selling vehicles in the US were the big, full-size sedans, and Penrose had planned out a new design to compete in this sector. The second car in the Adenine lineup would be its flagship.
Penrose and his engineering team began with the Advent’s unibody chassis and stretched it in every dimension, resulting in a new, considerably larger platform. For smooth and supple ride quality, the rear trailing arms were replaced with a double wishbone setup. In the front, the MacPherson struts remained - so that the engine bay would be wide enough to house a full-sized, 3.7L inline six.
The new engine was, in Penrose’s opinion, a thing of beauty. It was quiet, silky smooth, and produced 220hp gross (168hp net), which was quite remarkable for its displacement. Its (relatively) high-revving overhead cam design could outperform the bigger, OHV V8s produced by Ford and GM. Still, Penrose knew Americans wouldn’t be satisfied with only a six-cylinder, so he also designed a big-block 6.0L V8 to fit between the front wheels. It produced a staggering 350 gross horsepower (268hp net), competitive with Ford’s 7.0L 427 Thunderbird V8.
When designing the body for the Veranda, Penrose wanted to shorten the front deck since the transverse engines engaged so little front-to-rear space. His styling designers convinced him not to change the design and stick with the more attractive long-hood style. Instead, the interior designers fitted larger air conditioning units and speakers in the space behind the engine, and the Veranda still had a nearly comical amount of front legroom compared to the competition.
I find this picture to be unexpectedly hilarious
The interior of the Veranda was trimmed with premium materials, and it was available with either bucket seats or bench seats. A radio and even a phonograph player came standard. Safety wasn’t a big selling point at the time, but the Veranda was perhaps the safest car on the road with its unibody construction and huge crumple zone. Despite all of that, the Veranda tipped the scale at almost 1000lbs less than its competitors!
The Veranda was initially sold in sedan and coupe body styles. V8 models were equipped with a performance package including a hood scoop and a rear spoiler. Later, after the Veranda became popular, a wagon body style was also introduced.
When the Veranda was released in 1967, Penrose knew he had a winner on his hands. The Veranda had all of the radical behind-the-scenes innovations of the Advent, combined with a conventional and attractive outward appearance. The big but lightweight car was remarkably quick and nimble, with a 0-62 time between 11.2 seconds for the I6 automatic and 6.7 for the V8 manual. The V8 model was faster than its closest competitor, the Oldsmobile Toronado, and it could even out-accelerate several versions of the Mustang! Perhaps even more impressively, the Veranda was capable of cornering at over 0.8g with the optional 205-width tires.
While the Advent had shown off some of Penrose’s new ideas, the Veranda was the car that proved he could turn them into a success. Certainly, the 1st gen Veranda was never as popular as the Ford LTD or the Toronado - not that Adenine could build that many Verandas anyway. But Adenine could sell just about every Veranda it built - and in the process, it was able to develop a small, loyal fanbase in the Northeast. Money was coming in and Penrose could start thinking about growing the company to new heights.
Many of Penrose’s friends praised his ingenuity, but to him, he hadn’t done anything particularly special. All he had really done was take some existing European innovations and combine them with a good old fashioned slice of America. Big engines and big cars, plus deft European handling - it was a match made in heaven. Sometimes, all it took was some thinking outside the box - or in this case, across the pond.
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Looks great, stats are great, the idea is great. I want an Adenine Veranda now
This thing is front wheel drive?! That’s weirdly ingenious.