I like how you kept a more simple 4 speed transmission instead of a modern 5 or 6, that gives a more authentic retro feel 
Awesome grill work, I can’t tell which I like more, the original or the restomod version .
Same here, as that grill was in consideration when designing the second gen Delux series.
About that 4spd though, I think it’s actually a 4+1: 4 speeds + overdrive speed. That’s not uncommon though for the time, as the viper started leading the way with the T56 (6-speed) at the turn of the century and it seemed everyone started swapping 5 and 6 speed overdrive trans into restomods.
#Archive Articles
A section dedicated to preserving the historic articles that cover AEA and RPG.
###RPG Opens Shop for “Special Performance Packages”
New York Times, February 1982.
Today Redhawk Performance Group, the racing division of American Eagle Automotive, released a statement basically stating they were “Open for Buisness” to car companies outside of their parent company, AEA.
“Today we want to open our doors to all manufacturers interested in limited run special performance packages. With over 25 years of experience in building high performance engines and automobiles, we are now extending our services beyond American Eagle Automotive.”
With this official press release, Redhawk Performance Group has finally broken free, it seems, from being just an AEA exclusive. To further prove their expertise, RPG has undertaken the unfinished contract AEA had to produce aluminum-bodied Eagle sports cars from the 1950s. But, there’s a slight twist, as the original Eagle was produced with a solid live-axle rear end. RPG’s Eagle will be produced with an Independent Rear Suspension instead, as they claim it will be sportier and safer to drive.
Will this prove to be the correct corse for Redhawk Performance Group? Only time will tell.
###Historian’s Note:
This signaled RPG’s start at breaking away from AEA, but only in 2008 did RPG finally become completely independent from AEA.
This was RPG taking on the roll of Shelby or Saleen and modifying stock production vehicles to make them faster, corner better, or even just sticking American V8s in them.
DSD would like to purchase a shipment of 283ci Windsor v8’s to be used in testing our NASCAR race cars
We would also like to offer RPG one off our SARATOGA cars for tuning
RPG will gladly send over some Windsor V8s, just specify the year and any special features you’d like.
We would love to test and tune the Saratoga cars!
Well we did our best with the old Windsor and have decided to pay for the rights to use your design.
We have however made some changes to suit the Griffen that will be it’s new home.
So we decided to use the stock OHV cast heads and block. Luckily there was a little bit of playing room as far as bore/stroke goes so naturally we went with the highest possible at 5452cc, we also 3/4 filled the block with engine grout to give a little more strength and the main caps are now a 6 bolt affair.
We filled the block with our own forged crankshaft with Mahle Rods and Pistons with a static compression of 9.6:1.
Then turning our attention to the heads we first raised the exhaust ports cleaned up the sharp turn radius for the exhaust valve and fitted a lightweight valve. On the intake side the intake manifold was match ported to the cylinder heads, a much larger valve was installed and we added length to the intake port (we had to weld up the old ports and start from scratch. We also modified the manifold to be a dry system with no coolant running through the manifold, also unique to the DSD version is an electric water pump. The ecu is a Holley unit and spark is now provided by a MSD crank wheel trigger coil on plug ignition system.
The camshaft is an off the shelf DSD unit (part no. 28528DSDC) and No fancy VVT was used. The only way that we could make this engine reliable and economical was to use turbocharging with units as always supplied by Precision Turbo’s. The turbo’s are tiny with large A/r ratios a small intercooler and very modest boost pressure. With the use of turbo’s DSD finally decided to invest in DI technology and the mighty Windsor is the first to benefit. What this means is an engine that develops economical effortless power while only requiring 91Oct fuel and in total we raised power by 81HP and torque by a staggering 132NM of torque while using 100% less fuel total power is 300Hp/517Nm
We will be sending some units your way.
1 Like
##Redhawk Performance Group Characters
As RPG became a separate company in 2008 (a badly timed move, but it survived), Oliver Redhawk (the second, third, fourth? not sure yet) takes on a cast of characters to help flesh out the company. Their ages range from young 20s to mid 50s.
These characters will be featured in RPG stuff post-2008 separation from AEA. This list only includes prominent characters to the story line, as there are many other within RPG. This list will be updated over time.
Oliver Redhawk (II/III?)-
CEO, Owner. The legend himself. As RPG was passed down to him in the early 2000’s, he has overseen RPG through tough times, and through the separation from AEA in 2008.
Brett-
Main overseer of RPG, head of Exterior Design (and Interior too). As Oliver’s best friend, he has been granted all executive authority under Oliver.
I should also mention he’s one of the core test drivers for RPG.
Smith-
The Lead Engine Design guy. Believes everything needs a V8, including his lawnmower.
He is a slightly pudgy guy, short at 5’ 4", and his brown hair is starting to turn silver.
Mike-
Lead welder. Turned down a six figure underwater welding job to weld performance cars instead!
Slightly tough, darker skin complexion
Jeff-
Inventory and Bookkeeping guy. Knows the mess called the warehouse better than his own home.
Slightly socially-awkward, he is a tall and lanky kid (who is older than he seems).
(He did go to college to get a degree in Accounting and other financial stuff)
John-
The Suspension Guy. It’s said he once turned a Reliant Robin into a Drift machine. (and blew up the engine right after)
Jess-
The Tom-Boy-Next-Door girl who was always working on a vehicle with her dad. She knows a thing or two about cars, and is not afraid to get her hands greasy. And she knows how to deal with men… So watch out!
1 Like
##RPG Shop Sometime in 2011
Redhawk Performance Group
Note: Any spoken line without a name in front can be considered a random employee at RPG, and not one of the main characters.
[Small talk with truck driver]
Trucker: “So, whatdaya got in here today?”
“It’s the 2011 Saratoga D model.”
Trucker: “Sarawhata?”
“SARATOGA!”
Trucker: “Ok, what is it then?”
“A 4 seater coupe with an AHS Space Frame and Fiberglass bod-”
Trucker: “Fiberglass, like the corvette?”
“Precicely!”
[Talk amongst RPG crew at the warehouse]
“Some smallblocks”
“Some… which ones?”
“Some, uh, nos 1964 windsor blocks…”
“We sent over our 283ci small block? What for?”
“I think he said tunning for NASCAR”
“Um, ok. Was this part of a trade?”
“I dunno, maybe we’ll get something back?”
[At the loaded truck]
“yea, ok, so with this Saratoga… We tuning it or what?”
“Yeah, it was sent over to tuning when we sent over the windsors.”
“Any specifications on what needed tuning?”
“Nope, just sent it over when we sent them our small blocks.”
“So, DSD never actually specified what they wanted with the D model…”
“The Saratoga?”
“Yes, the Saratoga. It’s the D model.”
“‘D’ for dick.” snicker
“More like dickface!” laughter
Oliver: “Ok, cut the crap.”
“You know, for being a fiberglass body, this thing is sorta light!”
“Whataya mean?”
“The shipping weight states its 2919 lbs.”
“That’s lighter than a Corvette!”
“But this is smaller than a Corvette too!”
Brett: “Alrigh, Let’s open the truck to see what we’ve actually got.”
[car rolls out of the truck]
DSD Saratoga D Model
“Oh, my gawsh! What is this thing!”
“It’s a spider.”
“No it’s a bug.”
“It’s an uglyass bug!”
Some laughter
Oliver: “Hey, cut the crap!”
“Yeah, so what does it have for an engine then?”
Smith: “Looks like it should have a V8.”
Brett: “With your logic, Smith, everything should have a V8!”
Smith: “Hey!”
“Look: dual exhaust tips, but not a true duel exhaust system!”
[hood pops]
Everyone: “Oh…”
slight pause as everyone takes in the odity of a turbo charged inline 6
DSD6 Turbo
“Well that’s something you don’t see everyday!”
“Bet they stole it off a beamer!”
some laughter
Oliver: reluctantly “Alright, I’ve had enough. Stop ripping on the car and Get to work.”
The RPG crew works their way back into the shop
Mike: “Well, they did their homework with the chasis. The space frame looks well sorted. And all the welds are crisp and clean.”
Oliver: “Start her up!”
[engine spins to life]
Smith: “Well, it’s a little louder than I expected.”
“What, you think all non-V8s are quiet as a mouse?”
“I think you’re loosing your hearing, Smith.”
“How small is it then?”
Smith: “About 4.0L or 244ci”
“That’s not small for an I6, it’s actually quite big!”
“Small, our original small block V8 was larger than that!”
“Correction, the later variants were larger than it, our first two were acually smaller.”
“Ok, smartass”
Brett: “Guys, are you working on it, or trash talking it…”
The mood settles down as the RPG crew finally gets to work inspecting the car and making plans.
DSD Saratoga D Model
“Well this thing should be relatively sporty, since it has that fiberglass body.”
Smith: “Not if the engine is limiting it.”
Brett: “What’s up Smith?”
Smith: “I think the engine is tuned for fuel economy.”
Brett: “Well, do you want to dyno it then, or what?”
Smith: “Well, Yeah I do! Why was that even a question?”
Stock DSD Saratoga D Model
[engine is warmed up, fan placed in front of car, and they let it rip]
Smith: “Welp, this is dissapointing! It’s only making 250hp, and that’s at the redline, 5900 rpm! On top of that, the AF Mixture is dead lean at 15.0”
Brett: “Wow, so what else is wrong?”
Smith: “The Timing is waaayyyy far advanced as well!”
“So what do you think it gets for fuel economy?”
Brett: “The paperwork says it should get 28 Mpg mixed.”
Mike: “All that, just to get 28 mpgs?”
Smith: “Yep.”
Jess: “What has the wold come to?”
Mike: “You know, I bet Patriot Motor Force would get 1,200hp out of this thing.”
Smith: “They wouldn’t even touch it, it’s not a V8!”
Oliver: “Well, we’re not worrying about what Patriot could do, we’re worried about what RPG could do… So what can we do?”
Smith: “Get rid of the crap, and make power!”
John: “And make it turn on a dime!”
Oliver: “Sounds good guys, so let’s Get To Work!”
[Later on, after tearing into the car]
Jess: “Welp, here’s an interesting design choice.” Looking at the transmission
“What’s that?”
Jess: “The transmission dummy.”
“Well, no duh! It’s the transmission, but what’s the problem with it?”
Jess: “It’s a super close, and I mean super close, ratio transmission.”
Brett: “So, we’re gonna need to craft a new one?”
Jess: “Or use one of our own. Jeff, got any gear-sets in the back?”
Jeff: “What ones you want?”
Jess: “How about an even spaced set?”
Jeff: “Speeds?”
Jess: “Five!”
Jeff: “I know…” awkwardly beckons Jess to follow
[speed-walks right up to a perfect set in the middle of a shelf filled with unmarked gears, synchros, and trans cases.]
Jeff: “Here ya are.”
Jess: “Thanks Buddy!”
Stock
Brett: “Alright, what do you want to do about visuals then?”
Oliver: “Simple. Recolor in a darker blue, code BZ7 should do nicely. Get rid of the chrome, except the grill outline. And get rid of that funky middle set of headlights.”
Brett: “Ok, about the vents on the side. I feel like they need to be repositioned.”
Oliver: “Ehh, they need to be repositioned slightly, we should put a side marker light above them.”
Brett: “Ok, I was also thinking we need to alter the wing slightly, and tone down the chrome around the tail lights.”
Oliver: “A good call.” Walks over to Smith “Now, Smith, what are we doing with the engine?”
Smith: “Well, short of putting a LS7 in it, we should definately try for at least 350hp with this engine… Less if you don’t want excessive turbo kick.”
Oliver: “Sounds good, and we might just find a V8 to stuff in later.”
Smith: “Really!?!?” Almost starts dancing to an unheard tune
Oliver: “John, where are ya?”
John: “Over here, hey check out the sweet new mount I made! It makes the camber and toe much easier to adjust on that car of yours!”
Oliver: “You’re crafting suspension mounts for my daily car?”
John: “Yep, thought you’d like to see how to improve it.”
Oliver: “Well, you need to get to work with the Saratoga now.”
John: “The Sarawhat?”
Oliver: “SARATOGA. Car just came in to be tuned.”
John: “Sweet!” Jumps over his workbench to check out the Saratoga
Oliver: Hollering after him “See what you can do before we rebuild the engine.”
[Later in the week]
Oliver: “How’s the Saratoga been going?”
Brett: “Oh, it’s been going alright. We took the car around the ATT a few times before we took it apart. Best time was a 2:21.32. Then John got ahold of it. With the stock engine it went around the track in 2:20.83, mainly by reducing camber and putting in better springs and shocks.”
Oliver: “That’s good. How’s the engine going?”
Brett: “Smith’s had that thing blue-printed and built three more already! He seems overly excited, did you tell him we were putting a V8 in the thing?”
Oliver: “I may have. It wasn’t the original plan, but the I6 proved ‘hard to work with’ due to ‘design flaws’.”
Brett: “And those were Smith’s words?”
Oliver: “Precicely.”
Brett: “Well, what’s your plan with the V8 now?”
Oliver: “The Stage 3 build.”
Brett: “So… Does that also include a drift build?”
Oliver: “No.”
Brett rolls his eyes sarcastically.
Brett: “You never give me any fun do you?”
Oliver: “Maybe nextime…”
They share a Chuckle
[UPDATE]
Brett: “So, what’s Smith planning for the inline 6?”
Oliver: “Hm, let’s see his notes. He has to make two versions with a significant difference in performance.”
Both walk up to the main office where Oliver has the notes Smith submitted for approval.
Oliver: “Here they are.”
[Smith’s chicken-scratch writing]
Stage 1: 300hp
remedy bottom-end design flaws
Steel Ibeam conrods
resulting dimentions are +.010 bore, -.040 stroke.
same displace.
raise redline 7000, less cam around 44 - more durable
keep vvt on intake only
Bigger turbo (55-60mm), 8psi boost, less ar ratio (.85 orso)
keep mp efi, make single - tpc not needed - cheaper
performance air filter
14.7 fuel mix, 48 degrees ignition
use our efi system - run on 91ron
smaller exhaust 3" better bends, reverse flow muffler cuz its too lou8d!
Oliver: “I think smith just hates the sound of an I6. That exhaust would have been fine, but as usuall, I’ll put our tuned mufflers on.”
Brett: “Yeah, he dislikes anything that’s not a V8, but at least his work is good.”
[More of Smith’s chicken-scratch writing]
Stage 2: 365hp
Same bottom-end, w/ Lighweight Forged pistons instead, domed for compression
comp, increase from 8 to around 8.5:1
Performance cam, around 50
Head shaved, port and polish
same turbos, higher ar (0.90ish?) 11psi boost
better wastegate & plumbing
14.2 fuel mix, 54 degrees timing
our efi again - 91 ron
Note: 6900 rpm limit. anything more is wasted rpms
3.25" exhaust, rest same as before.
Note: Both versions can be run on higher octane gas and only boost increased for huge gains.
Note2: stage 1 has deficencies if running more than 11psi. (Can run 11psi on 91ron gas)
At this point Brett had left, having to tend to something else
Oliver takes a look at the second sheet of paper containing the V8 specs
[Smith’s writing, neater and crisper.]
RPG Modern OHV LS7-based V8
Stage 3:
CLS V8 7.0L - 485hp rated
4.126" bore, 4.00" stroke
Forged crank, IBeam steel, LF Pistons
9.6 comp, muscle cam, custom RPG heads
N/A MP-EFI single w/perf filter
14.0 fuel mix, 56 deg. timing 7200rpm redline, on 91ron
Custom Tubular headers, dual exhaust 2.75" 3-way cat, RPG Baffled to Reverse Flow mufflers high quality exhaust for a TRUE MUSCLE V8 SOUND!
Engine 2153 dyno’d 455 ft-lbs @4000, 506 hp @ 6600
CLS V8 7.0L - 555hp rated
Bullet-proof bottom end
cuz not like many will order it anyway
11.1 comp, slightly more aggressive cam, head port and polish
N/A MP-EFI TPC, perf filter
13.2 fuel mix, 59 deg, ignition, 7400rpm redline
Custom long tube headers, dual exhaust 3" High flow cat, RPG mufflers
Note: Must use unleaded 95
Engine XR1284 dyno’d 500ft-lbs @4500, 589hp @6800
[END UPDATE]
[Finishing up Production Prototype Blueprints of the RPG-Tuned Saratoga]
RPG Appearance Package on the DSD Saratoga
Oliver: “Alright, this thing is comming together great! Smith, how’s the engines looking?”
Smith: “Fantastic! See, I knew we needed to put a V8 in the thing! It’s practically pointless to do without!”
Oliver: “Nice Work.” Said slightly dismissively toward Smith’s unstopable wall of energy
Oliver: “Brett, how’s the handling?”
Brett: “As good as ever with John’s tuning hand.”
Oliver: “Excellent! How well does it do at ATT?”
Brett: “Quite Well, especially with only a -1.10 degrees of camber up front and -1.00 degrees in back”
Oliver: “Good, but what are the numbers?”
John: “With only the -1.10 front camber and -1.00 in back, this car can do ATT in 2:16.77 with just Stage 1 Tuning! And it still feels somewhat comfortable!”
Brett: “That’s good, we don’t want Smith wrecking his back driving this.”
John: “With Smith’s engine work, Stage 2 gets down to a 2:14.29, and with Stage 3 tuning on just the easy V8-”
Smith: “It is not ‘easy’! That V8 has over 450hp!”
John: “Ok, ok, the 450hp V8-”
Smith: “And to be precise, it’s rated at 485hp! But I assure you it may make even more!”
John: “Ok, with the Four-hundred and eighty five horse power veee eight, it does ATT in 2:11.77.”
Smith: “And I bet the optional 555hp version will chop a full second off that time, because it’s a VEEE EIGHT!” He said with excitement, as if it was the first time he had ever heard a V8 engine Growl
The 555hp variant of Smith’s LS7-based V8
Brett: "Alright, I think we got this covered, so Oliver, care to take it for a spin?
Oliver: “I already did, thank you, but I recommend you try our latest tune out on it.”
Brett: “What? Did you build a Stage 4?”
Oliver: “No, not that far, but a custom tune of the Stage 3, using Smith’s optional 555hp engine.”
Brett: With some Skeptism “All right, I’ll suit up to try it.”
[The Final Test Run]
[Brett is suited up in the car, engine idling]
Oliver: “Are you ready?”
Brett: “Are you going to tell me what you changed yet, because it feels awfully loose!”
Oliver: “No, just try not to burn through too many sets of tires.”
[And he takes off, spinning through gear 3]
John: “He’s not going to want to return that thing after this”
Oliver: “No, but hey, he does have just 3 sets of tires to burn, so he’ll have to stop eventually.”
John: “Well, at least he’s happy.”
Oliver: “As happy as a driver can be when they’re given a Drift Car!”
[A little time later}
Smith: “Oliver, we got our Windsor V8 back!”
Oliver: “We did?”
Smith: “Yeah, you should check out how much DSD was able to get out of it!”
Oliver: “Ok, get it set up on the dyno then.”
[In The Dyno Room]
Oliver: “Hmm, I don’t recall there being any direct injection casting in the block…”
Smith: “Yeah, check this out! They retrofitted the block with DI somehow, and bored and stroked it out to 333ci!”
Oliver: “Yes, I see that. You think they would be going for all out power though, with the twin turbo setup.”
Smith: “Well, do you want to run it, and see how much power they tore out of it!”
Oliver: “Sure!”
[Engine gets turned on, then they run it up to the 6 grand redline.]
Smith: Disappointed “Wow”
Oliver: “Only 300hp? There must be more to the story.”
Smith: “Only 300, what were they thinking?”
Oliver: “Hold on, did DSD send a letter with the engine?”
Smith: “Um, maybe…?”
Oliver walks back to the office to find a discarded letter from DSD
[Letter is 2 Posts Above Edit: Link]
Oliver: Chuckles “Of course, the engineers at DSD know exactly what they’re doing!”
Smith comes in
Smith: “So, what does it say? Why did they return an engine with only 300hp?”
Oliver “Smith, look at how efficient they made it! It’s marvelous! They made the old Windsor architecture relevant in the day and age of fuel economy!”
Smith: “So…”
Oliver: “Just hold you thoughts, and marvel at the accomplishment.”
3 Likes
There’s a hell of a lot of text and sadly almost zero information. No info on how anything was achieved, what was changed, how it was changed, why exactly that thing was changed and most importantly the results.
All we know is “you swapped an engine”. Im fairly certain we all would like to see a list of modifications.
1 Like
Those are the shortcomings of erotic car fiction.
3 Likes
Ok. I wanted to try out a more character heavy format, but I’ll take that into account and see if I can improve it more (later though, I have a music festival to attend).
Alright, just an update to the Saratoga tuning story with lots of specs!
I really didn’t mean to leave them out when I originally wrote the story, but yet I did. So now I have included them in the updated section of the story.
No, really! It’s coming soon! Like before HL3!
In all seriousness, I have the story over half way done, and have already taken the pics and uploaded them to imgur. I’ll try to finish it by this weekend
##Warning wall of text and photos incoming for the Eagle story!!!
1 Like
#[1955-1962]The Eagle Story
###1953 Oliver Redhawk’s Vacation
In 1953, Oliver Redhawk needed a vacation and decided to head over to Europe. This was suppose to be a vacation, but with Oliver’s growing obsession in speed and power, he was also in Europe for the racing and to see other engine designs. I mean, this was his well deserved vacation after the second generation of Delux automobiles had hit the road, and he was going to spend it exactly how he wanted.
So in his two week vacation in Europe, Oliver traveled around, seeing the races, talking to other companies’ engineering departments, and also doing some general site-seeing. Well, he happened to find the headquarters for AG Ltd., and got to talking with them about their small operation. Oliver Redhawk talked to AG about what it takes to mass produce vehicles, but suddenly cut off his sentence when he noticed what was on the drawing board.
AG Ltd. Hawk
“What is that sporty looking convertible?” Oliver asked.
“Oh, umm… You’re not suppose to see that, … Why do we have that up here!, Benjamin, take that down, it’s not suppose to be here!”
Oliver poked further, “You know, I could see a great partnership here. If you let me take a look at that convertible, I could work out a deal where we provide you with engines for your mass production vehicle… Seeing as you don’t have the facilities to make that happen…”
“Wait, um… Hold that there, Benjamin. Mr. Redhawk I am greatly interested in your proposition now.”
“Please, call me Oliver,” Mr. Redhawk responded.
And with that, a deal was worked out. American Eagle Automotive would provide a mass produced engine for AG, in return for adding a US-based production facility where AEA would produce the convertible roadster code named “Hawk” for the North American market.
AG Ltd. Hawk
Now, when Oliver finally got back to the States, Andrew Eagleson was understandably frustrated with him, as Oliver got AEA into an unapproved contract with another company, and to top it off, the contract required new assembly buildings be built for the “Hawk” and the new “mass production export engine” that was not even designed yet! In fact, Andrew was so furious at Oliver’s brash decision making, he nearly flipped his desk over, and mandated this “Hawk” to be properly named after himself in an act of defiance against Oliver, thus the Eagle nameplate was born.
So the work was started. Oliver had a facility built and brought a third of the AG aluminum body workers over to the US to get a head start on the Eagle’s production. But there were problems. First off, Oliver wanted to fit their V8 in the thing, but that was found to be a tight squeeze. They had to use custom bent tubular exaust headers to get it in the small frame. Further early testing showed even more weaknesses. The main one being AG’s double wishbone IRS. While sufficent for AG’s I6, the IRS was simply too weak to use with AEA’s V8 engines and their massive torque. So, on a whim, Oliver, and a few fellow engineers, took one of the live-axel rear ends AEA had lying around, shortened it to fit within the confindes of the Eagle chassis, and took the coil springs from AG to suspend it. Amazingly it worked! The home-built coil-spring live-axle could hold up to the torque. Thus the V8s could be used in the little chassis!
Early AEA Eagle Base model
But the second big problem was with AG’s I6 engine. Due to some odd regulations and exporting/importing laws, AG could not get the I6 into the US. For two straight weeks Oliver fussed over the paperwork, trying to find a loophole. There was one. The engine could be mass imported separate from the rest of the car, but then AEA had to sell the car separate from the engine! (But AEA had no trouble sending the mass production I4 to AG Ltd.)
It was a mess… until another engineer suggested using the I4 they were designing in the base model of the Eagle instead of AG’s I6.
AG Ltd. Hawk Front End
“Well, Why didn’t we come up with that earlier!” Oliver exclaimed, surprized at how simple the solution was. So the I4 was used in the North American version of the Eagle, along with the coil-sprung solid-axle rear end. The European version, being the AG Hawk, had the AG I6 and IRS. The difference between the two versions, visually, was the front grill and the rear end. The European version… Was very European in looks. But the North American version, having to deal with the V8 engine, got a totally different grill. It was opened up to allow more cooling for the engine, giving the Eagle a distinctive front end.
AEA Eagle V8 Special Front End
Now, the final problem was not with the car itself, but the contract. Feeling very confident in AEA’s abilities Oliver Redhawk had agreed to a production of at least 2,000 total AEA Eagles each year for 6 years in the North American market. Well, that was a highly ambitious goal that was realistically unattainable. When production was fully underway, AEA found they could only produce about 10 to 12 cars a day*, as long as the imported bodies didn’t get delayed. And that left the total production number at just under 500 cars a year.
###Advertising and Marketing
With the introduction of Chevrolet’s Corvette in 1953, Oliver Redhawk watched its progress and success as he worked with AG Ltd with the Eagle. If the Corvette survived until 1955, he would aggressively advertise the Eagle as a direct competitor.
And the Corvette survived into 1955, getting its own V8 as well! Oliver saw this and talked to the advertisement department about aggressively going after the Chevrolet Corvette. Within that same year, more important events happened…
AEA Eagle TR
###In 1955 Andrew Eagleson finally gave Oliver Redhawk a separate branch inside American Eagle Automotive: The Redhawk Performance Group (RPG).
Done in an attempt to keep Oliver happy and give him an outlet for his “projects”, he also gave Oliver the reigns for all of AEA’s racing teams, and factory backing. This proved to further fuel Oliver’s obsession with speed and power, but at least he had his own division to explore within.
So, in 1955 the Eagle was offered in three trims, a base trim, a track oriented trim called TR, and the V8 Special trim. Due to the pricing, the base trim was a very popular choice, with the V8 Special taking the cake over the TR trim. All trims came with a 4-speed manual, the TR getting a special Close-Ratio super competition version of the 4-speed. The Eagle was well received in the North American markets, but the I4 in the TR version was a disaster!
AEA Eagle V8 Special
There were reports of bent connecting rods and scored pistons. While the base used the same I4, it had no issues at all due to the lower power output. So with reports of weakly designed conrods and pistons, Oliver Redhawk started an aggressive search for a better solution with the engineering team. That solution came in early 1956 in the form of Forging! By using forged pistons and conrods, not only could engines take much more abuse, they could also be tuned with slightly higher compression and timing compared to equal cased components.
American Eagle Automotive also tried to keep good public relations in this, as once the flaw was fixed with the TR version of the I4 they issued a recall to replace any of the affected engines with a brand new forged I4 (with some restrictions of course). And mid-year in 1956 they called the new TR with the forged engines TR-F just to differentiate from the early non-forged TRs in 1956. That made finding a non-forged 1956 TR in modern times extremely rare, as many were brought back under the recall for the replacement forged engine.
1956 AEA Eagle TR-F
But one more problem hit in 1956, Chevrolet dropped the base cost of a Corvette to only $2,900! This also hurt sales for the Eagle that year. It was a great move by Chevrolet to encourage buying a Corvette over an Eagle, but it only lasted one year (thankfully!).
In 1957 the Eagle was given a slightly bigger V8 for the V8 Special. Displacement went from 242ci to 255ci. Horsepower went up by 15 as well for 1957.
AEA Eagle V8 Special
In 1958 a new trim replaced the TR, that was the TR-200. Named due to the bump in displacement for the I4, the TR-200 was overall a bit better than the original 1955 TR. But it was missing something, as sales were not quite as strong as the original TR was.
By this time, though, the V8 Special, even with its high price, was actually selling much better than the TR or TR-200 did. The public wanted the V8 in North America. Unfortunately, the Eagle didn’t get the new-for-1957 273ci Special V8 until 1961! But while the 273ci engine was not standard, nor an option, the clever folks could Special Order anything in the catalog. Yes, someone did special order a 1957 Eagle with the 273ci Special. It was rumored to have gone racing and been very successful.
AEA Eagle V8 Special
While 1962 was the last production year for the Eagle, American Eagle Automotive had not held up their contract for 2,000 cars a year. Total production was only around 3,500 cars, including the special ordered cars. And Andrew Eagleson was done with producing the specialized Eagle, he had moved on with his El Govnor full-sized sedan, and searching for more mainstream markets to open up into, he was already planning a new midsize sedan to be sold alongside the El Govnor. On top of that, AEA needed a new Big Block engine to power the said El Govnor and midsize sedan, so letting go of Oliver’s Eagle would allow many more resources to be used for the sedans and engines.
####I’ll update this later with some performance data, but for now I need to get this posted.
Spec Sheet (not all models covered in all years)
1955 Base with 4-speed M
150ci I4 90hp @3900rpm
Top Speed 119 mph
Weight 1640 lbs
0-62 in 9.4s
50-75 in 6.6s
Quarter Mile: 17.22 @ 84 mph
Cornering (low and high speed): 0.85g and 0.82g
62-0 Braking: 134’ 8"
Marketed towards Sport Budget and Premium Budget
$11440 @30%
Notable Features:
29 mpg and 66.8 avg. reliability
1955 TR with 4-speed Close Ratio M
171ci Dual Carb Special I4 100hp @4300rpm
Top Speed 125 mph
Weight 1630 lbs
0-62 in 8.2s
50-75 in 4.9s
Quarter Mile: 16.26 @ 92 mph
62-0 Braking: 130’ 5"
Cornering (low and high speed): 0.92g and 0.88g
Marketed towards Track and Track Premium
$12320 @40%
Notable Features:
Engine is at its limits with a 36.1 reliability rating.
1955 V8 Special with 4-speed M
242ci Special V8 (180 hp est) @4000rpm
Top Speed 142 mph
Weight 1930 lbs
0-62 in 7.3s
50-75 in 3.6s
Quarter Mile: 15.18 @ 102 mph
62-0 Braking: 140’ 2"
Cornering (low and high speed): 0.89g and 0.87g
Marketed towards Sport and Muscle
$18000 @50%
Notable Features:
1957 V8 Special with 4-speed M
255ci Special V8 (195 hp est) @4200rpm
Top Speed 142 mph
Weight 1945 lbs
0-62 in 7.1s
50-75 in 3.4s
Quarter Mile: 15.06 @ 105 mph
62-0 Braking: 138’ 3"
Cornering (low and high speed): 0.90g and 0.87g
Marketed towards Sport and Muscle.
$18300 @50%
Notable Features:
Forged connecting rods and pistons
1958 TR-200 with 4-speed Close Ratio M
200ci Dual Carb Special I4 (145 hp est) @4100rpm
Top Speed 131 mph
Weight 1685 lbs
0-62 in 7.5s
50-75 in 3.8s
Quarter Mile: 15.42 @ 99 mph
62-0 Braking: 133’ 2"
Cornering (low and high speed): 0.91g and 0.88g
Marketed towards Track and Track Premium.
$11880 @35%
Notable Features:
1961 V8 Special with 4-speed M
273ci Special V8 (230 hp est) @4600rpm
Top Speed 158 mph
Weight 1970 lbs
0-62 in 6.7s
50-75 in 3.0s
Quarter Mile: 14.34 @ 110 mph
62-0 Braking: 129’ 1"
Cornering (low and high speed): 0.95g and 0.92g
Marketed towards Sport, Muscle, and Track Premium
$18750 @50%
Notable Features:
A 5,000 rpm redline. Last of the Eagles to be produced (under AEA). Better cornering than previous TR models.
######*IRL AC could only produce up to 15 cars a day for Shelby in 1963, so 10-12 is reasonable.
3 Likes
I have now introduced the official timeline for AEA/RPG on post 2. I did this to keep track of my company lore, and to get myself back into creating cars for this as well.
I remember your CSR26 entry, so why is it not here? It clearly deserves a mention…
Because that was a different company
That was Velocity Motor Works or VMW for short. It was a company I created mainly for csr entries, so I didnt’ have my lore restraints from AEA or RPG.
The CSR 26 car in question:
Here’s the official thread for VMW:
1 Like
So, let’s stamp out more details about American Eagle Automotive, namely the one I have mentioned but never directly specified… Location.
St. Paul, Minnesota
Highland Park, Right alongside the Mississippi river.
It’s actually the location of an old Ford plant.
But this is Automation, which brings me to the next point…
Moving forward AEA and RPG will transition from real-world to Automaiton-World. IE: I’m going to stop referencing most of the minor real-world events, and (almost) completely stop referencing any real-world automobile companies, preferring to reference Automation companies instead.
So if you find you want to compete in the Automation world with the cars I make for AEA and RPG, go right ahead, I actually encourage it. It will help everyone learn something new, or improve.
I find I lurk more than I post nowadays, partially due to my school work, so I’m also going to be looking far and wide to find other Automation companies to compete against and reference.
Last note: I may not complete the El Govnor story any time soon due to the shift to UE4, but I will still reference it, and try to fill in the backstory through other cars as well.
Good day fellow Automationeers!
4 Likes
Coming to a dealer near you…
And an alternative ad using the same picture:
These ads ran in most magazines at the time, the advertising team favoring the later one for more manly publications like car magazines and Popular Science. The first one was rare, as it was in far less publications, and only ran for about 3 months.