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!
I thought they were very good. You certainly put the effort in to make the pictures look good!
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
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.
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.
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 
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!
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.
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.
Now this is definitely a piece of outside-the-box thinking. Who would have thought that a front-driver with a big V8 could be competitive against the opposition?!
Well, Oldsmobile, for one 
Well for one it hardly difficult to match and or surpass the driving dynamics, performance, comfort and interior space utilization of a 1960s American full-size.
Just as Martin Penrose was settling into his newfound success at Adenine, the 1973 oil crisis hit and shook the US automotive industry to its core. The Big Three automakers floundered as gas prices soared and sales of new cars tanked. Adenine was hit hard as well, although not to the same degree as the other automakers. Adenine had never quite been able to meet demand and its market base was strongly devoted, so sales did not drop off as sharply.
Still, Penrose struggled to readjust his market strategy in light of the sudden changes. The Veranda, Adenine’s most popular car, was hopelessly inefficient, and the Advent, which would have been ideal for the new landscape, had been discontinued a few years earlier. Luckily, Penrose had already commissioned development of a new compact sedan to replace the Advent. But what would he do with the Veranda, the star of the Adenine brand?
Development and tooling for the new compact sedan was eating into Adenine’s already declining profits, so Penrose didn’t have the money to design a new Veranda. Whatever he could do would be, at best, a stopgap measure. But he had to do something.
Penrose turned to Inline Designs, who were then working on the engine for the new compact sedan. The engineers at Inline Designs had been proposing some advanced new technology: turbocharging and mechanical fuel injection. Early test results showed remarkable gains in fuel economy and performance. Penrose asked them to work overtime and develop a new engine for the Veranda. (The full story of the Adenine-Inline Designs partnership will be told with the Adenine Valence series.)
Mechanical injection turned out to be too complex and expensive for large-scale production, and Inline Designs found that a triple-carb, single barrel eco setup could work just as well. But the turbocharging technology was very promising. Combined with a new multivalve head and a lean fuel mix, the new straight-six represented a technological leap over the old one. The engine was downsized to 3.2L, and it could still produce 163hp net - nearly identical to the old one - even with a catalytic converter attached!
While the stuff under the hood leapt into the space age, the rest of the car received incremental updates. The automatic transmission gained an extra gear and rear disc brakes replaced the old drums. The phonograph was replaced with a top-of-the-line 8-track cassette player. Outside, the body remained the same but the styling was updated with a more contemporary grille and rectangular lights.
The '75 Veranda was available for an inflation-adjusted price of $18500 (+40% markup). A wagon variant which could seat up to 8 people was also sold for $22000 (+40% markup).
The updated Veranda proved to be a moderate success upon its release in 1975. No, it would never reach the heights of the 1st generation, but the new technology meant that it was far more competitive in the new market. In terms of efficiency, the Veranda was miles ahead of anything else in its class. Competitor vehicles lost lots of horsepower in the switch to cats and unleaded fuel, while the Veranda was able to maintain the same or better performance while improving efficiency over 80%. Indeed, the Veranda could now run to 62mph in 10.1 seconds and it could still corner at well over 0.8g.
The big downside of the magical new turbo was, of course, the lag. Sure, the Veranda could do quick sprints if you kept the turbo spinning, but from a standstill the engine took ages to respond. Even though the turbo was fully spooled at 2000RPM (courtesy of the small turbine and low boost), the eco carbs just couldn’t deliver fuel quickly enough to spin it up. It took time for drivers to get used to the strange feeling of a turbo. The boost built slowly and steadily up to 2000RPM, and then torque held constant at 190 lb-ft up to 4000RPM. It was a totally different experience for everyday drivers, and the quiet whine of the turbo further enforced the space-age feeling.
Overall, the 1975 Veranda was a timely and well-received update to an already winning formula. The lightweight, FWD platform was well suited to Adenine’s newfound focus on efficiency. While the compact Valence would end up stealing the show, the turbo Veranda was still a brilliantly quirky full-size that stood out from the competition. With the Veranda, Adenine proved to consumers that it would innovate instead of compromise. People who wanted a full-size sedan could have one without worrying about getting stuck at the pump.
However, a special moment of silence should be taken for the Veranda’s beloved big-block V8. In the post-oil crisis era, Adenine didn’t have the room to continue producing a gas-guzzling V8, so it was quietly phased out of the lineup. After production of the engine ceased early in 1975, Adenine would never produce another V8.
So, a front wheel drive turbo landyacht, in 1975 oil crisis America…wow!
Correct me if I’m wrong - I’d be very interested if I am - but this must have been one of the first uses of a turbo on a car for efficiency and not performance?
Absolutely! 1970s Adenine is basically American Saab
I’m not sure, but I think Adenine would also have been the first to introduce an intercooler on a turbo engine!
Well, then after the Unreal comes Adenine will have a very proper competitor - my yet unreleased Saab-Volvo (but more Saab) mashup, with a slight addition of 80s Audi, existing in Sweden 
And yes, I plan to use all the turbo goodness as early as possible So now Adenine is probably first, but it won’t be in the Unreal version
Oh, and now as you wrote that, Adenine really has some Saab-like character - that might explain why I like it so much
With the breakout success of the Adenine Valence in the 1970s, Adenine was now a major player in the US auto industry. With more money and exposure came greater production capabilities, and Adenine was able to top sales charts for the first time. But the compact segment was highly competitive, and the Valence faced especially stiff competition from new front-drive compacts like the Accord and the Golf.
Conversely, the full-size segment was practically abandoned. With oil prices at record highs in 1979, American automakers scrambled to downsize their full-size cars, while Japanese and European automakers didn’t even enter the segment. Demand for large cars was at an all-time low and few automakers felt the need to invest in new technology in such a small market. The Veranda was now even more distanced from the competition, with its front-wheel drive layout and turbocharged engine.
Adenine refused to downsize the Veranda, believing that its large dimensions gave it a unique selling proposition in the market. The challenge, of course, would be to make the Veranda as efficient as the competition without compromising on interior size and comfort. The downsized competitor cars were now hundreds of pounds lighter than their predecessors, and their fuel economy could match or even surpass the aging 2nd gen Veranda.
The primary focus for the new Veranda was once again the engine. The venerable 3.2L straight six returned, but now with some fancy new technology. Inline Designs had been experimenting with fuel injection for over a decade since the mechanical systems of the 60s, and the new electronic multipoint injection was now ready for prime time. The turbocharger was now fitted with faster-spinning ball bearings, and the new three-way catalytic converter was cleaner and less restrictive. Throttle response was significantly improved over the old engine, and turbo lag was still noticeable but much less intrusive. The new engine produced an impressive 185 horsepower.
With a brand new platform came new opportunities. The front subframe was designed so that the 3.2L I6 could be squeezed between the all-new front wishbones, for even better ride quality and handling. Overall dimensions were reduced only slightly, with a shorter hood and rear deck. More efficient space utilization (no more massive area behind the engine) meant that interior space could be increased even more. The smoother, more rounded body improved aerodynamics as well.
After Adenine’s success in the 1970s, Martin Penrose felt very satisfied with his career. Within a few decades, he had grown his small Pittsburgh car shop into a huge, nationally visible juggernaut. His innovation and willingness to embrace new ideas had set a strong precedent for the company, and made a noticeable impact on the US auto industry. But Adenine was now a far-reaching corporation, and in his old age he found it more and more difficult to oversee all the different aspects of the company. In 1980, he retired at the age of 61.
The most popular version was the sedan paired with a 4-speed automatic, which sold for $19500 (40% markup). A coupe with a five-speed manual could be had for as low as $18000 (40% markup).
The 1982 Veranda would prove to be the most successful Veranda yet, although perhaps not for the reasons that Adenine anticipated. The 23 mpg combined rating was indeed quite remarkable - much higher than anything in its class, and approaching the economy of many midsize sedans. However, by the time the Veranda was introduced, oil prices were already on the decline, and by the mid-to-late 80s, they were as low as pre-crisis levels.
The real selling point of the Veranda was its power and performance. Big American V8s were becoming increasingly outdated and choked by emissions regulations. The Ford LTD Crown Victoria produced just 130hp from its heavy 4.9L V8 engine. The Veranda’s fuel-injected turbo six was far and away the most powerful engine in the class, and it showed. 0-62 could be achieved in as low as 7.7 seconds with the manual or 8.6 with the automatic. The competition was far behind, with times in the 12 to 13 second range. The Veranda was the only car that could offer the presence and performance of the classic full-sizers from before the crisis.
After the new Veranda was released in 1982, Chrysler became the first to challenge its position with its front-wheel drive E and S platforms in 1983. In 1984, Chrysler even introduced a 2.2L turbo I4 for the Chrysler E-Class and the Plymouth Caravelle. However, the E-platform cars were considerably smaller and slower than the Veranda, and their fuel economy wasn’t any better.
Still, it was clear that American automakers were finally beginning to catch up with Adenine. Moreover, the market as a whole was changing significantly. Chrysler’s front-wheel drive minivans became an unexpected success, and the unibody Jeep Cherokee SJ proved to be surprisingly popular among suburban families. While Adenine continued to dominate the full-size sedan segment, it seemed that fewer and fewer buyers were interested in the segment altogether.
