[ARM] Automation RestoMod Chapter 7: Buick GNX, Classic Villain Car (Results posted)

[karhgath]

ARM 7 – BUICK GNX, CLASSIC VILLAIN CAR

---

GENERAL ARM RULES

Automation RestoMod (ARM) is a challenge series focused on taking older, preferably real cars and restomodding them. The criteria for modding are provided by each host, and vary Chapter to Chapter. For a more in-depth description of the ARM vision and to get a feeling for the flavour the series so far, please read through the previous Chapters. Welcome to Chapter **seven**.

---

THE CAR FOR THIS CHAPTER

For this round you are provided with a 1987 Buick GNX. This Grand National Experimental car is considered the last true musle car and was able to beat contemporary Ferraris and Lamborghinis in 0 to 60 and even a F40 on the quarter mile. This menacing car is the performance version of the normal Buick Grand National and has a V6 Turbo as well but tuned to 300hp by McLaren, 55hp more than the normal Grand National. Torque climbed from 355 to 420 as well. It has been chipped and injection was less rich, turbo was boosted to 16.0 psi, and many improvements all around like low-restriction exhaust and dual mufflers. Tires were improved as well, but the speed limiter was not removed. Only 500 were ever made and it was available in any color, as long as it was black. See more info here: Buick Regal - Wikipedia

---

THE CLIENT

Julio Jimenez is a screenwriter and director, well, an aspiring one. He grow up in south Texas with his family in a rough neighborhood. He had it hard, with gangs and turfs all around. However, he was able to get out of this hell and made it to the city of angels. He always loved movies and decided to do what everyone in L.A. does - sit in a cafe and write screenplays. He tried many different projects and pitches, unsuccessfully. As a true petrol head, many of his ideas and scenarios centered around cars.

Much to his surprise, he was able to find a producer for his latest pitch- Flixnet! They were looking for more classic content around cars, because they did not have enough on their streaming platform. He’s even got a budget now and a crew. His screenplay is a hodgepodge of typical movie tropes, but seemed coherent enough to get funding. His first real project. Sure, it’s gonna go direct to Flixnet, but still it was super exciting for Julio!

Probably the main reason for his success was the central piece of his story - a villainous gang leader driving a modified Buick GNX. When it came to market, the GNX was right in the middle of the Star Wars craze and 16 years old Julio remembers dreaming about the Darth Buick, the V6 turbo dark side to the V8 light side.

As part of the deal, Flixnet will provide a old banged up GNX and a budget to restore it, but Julio will have to deal with the restomodding. Flixnet gave carte blanche to build the villain and car personas - the car is really the centerpiece of the story, even more so than the villain itself.

Julio sees many possible options and he’s really not set on anything yet - he wants creative ideas. The setting of his B movie is always a moving target, could be early 90s LA or Texas, or 2030 New York. The Villain could drive a gang cruiser, a lowrider, a hightech street racer or a menacing modernized GNX. The bad guy could come from the streets or be a ex-cop/military. The car is a status symbol and must exude power, but can do so in many ways.

Julio decided to let all those details up to restomodding firms willing to look at the project, to give them carte blanche as well. Julio is adamant that the car will define the villain and the setting of his B movie.

Oh, one more thing, Julio will be able to keep the GNX after the shoot. He can either sell it at an auction afterward or use it as he needs a car. It will depend on the mods done and the perceived value and uniqueness. Clearly, authenticity is not the most important aspect here, but it must look like a GNX and be recognizable for it to retain any value.

---

HOW THIS WORKS

Download this .car file: ARM7_-_yournamehere_-_CLONE_THE_MODEL_Buick_GNX_.car (34.7 KB)

IMPORTANT: This car requires one mod for the grills: Znopresk Aircooled Grill 4.24 (Steam Workshop::Znopresk Aircooled Grill 4.24)

Note: This car gets nowhere near the real car performance/stats unfortunately, especially 0-60 with a 4-speed slushbox. You should be able to do much better during restomodding.

Optionally download this track: Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, CA, USA
(Note: I will test performance on it)

• Import the car into Automation.
• Clone both the CAR MODEL and ENGINE FAMILY.
• Open the car model, and swap the engine to the cloned one if you plan to use the original GNX engine. Otherwise start new engine project for the car.
• Forward year on both car model and engine family to 2020.
• Set the names according to this standard:
  
  
  Engine Family: ARM7 – [forum name]
  Engine Variant: [engine name]
  Car Model: ARM7 – [forum name]
  Car Trim: [car name]
  
  
• Start modding.
• When finished, export car and PM your cloned and modded .car file back to me.
• Sit back and wait for results.

If you have trouble with cloning or don’t know how to do it, please watch this tutorial video. It will save me headaches when importing your car, and will save you getting binned:

Cloning tutorial for Automation challenges

---

RULES

• For this Chapter, you may not change the body type.
• Do NOT change cabin morphs, but you can play around with any other morphs, including wheel arches. You are allowed body moldings and 2D/3D fixtures to alter body shape and cabin.
• Do NOT change chassis type, chassis material or chassis quality.
• You may change panel material, engine orientation and suspension type, but it does affect Authenticity.
• You may bore out and/or increase stroke of the engine up to 4.5L (in the variant tab). This kind of work comes with a $3000 penalty added to your total cost (for either or both), but no Authenticity penalty.
• You may swap out the engine to another one, but with a sizeable penalty as numbers matching is important for Authenticity. Some swaps are more advantageous than others. Since the GNX uniquness vs typical muscle cars was it’s V6 Turbo, going with a V8 might be less interesting here. If swapping it out to a unique engine would probably serves this better and might be worth it. If you want to retain number matching for Authenticity, do NOT change any engine family tab values. Otherwise it will be considered an engine swap. Any kind of swap comes with a $3000 penalty added to your total cost.
• You may change the fuel injection mechanism for a slight Authenticity knock, but no extra cost.
• Do NOT swap to a V16.
• Do NOT exceed 150 ET for the engine.
• Do NOT exceed 120 ET for the car.
• Do NOT exceed a final cost of $45,000 (“Approximate Cost” shown in Detail Stats).
• Do NOT have worse than 18.0 l/100km fuel economy
• Do NOT have more than 100kg of front effective downforce, and more than 250kg of rear effective downforce (Test Track Tab)
  
• Do make sure to use unleaded fuel, 98 RON or lower.
• Do have ESC installed.
• Do have at least two full seats in the front row.
• Do have noise levels below or equal to 60.
• Do have a 3-way catalytic converter.
• Do make sure to forward the year on everything to 2020.
• And again, please please please make sure everything is cloned properly, and cloned or new engine swapped in (see above).
• Feel free to develop a background for the car - while it won’t give you any scoring advantage, Julio would be appreciative and might sway him as a tie breaker.

Failing any of these requirements will lead to an instabin. Please double-check your work before submission!

---

JUDGING CRITERIA

UNIQUENESS & CHARACTER: You want to make the car recognizable and it must have character. This can either comes from the styling, the interior, the engineering or preferably all three. This is not a Ferrari with carbon ceramic brakes and latest tech. It still is a unique late muscle car and its character should be built on that. It must also define it’s villainous driver.

COMFORT: All-day shooting with the car in many scenes means that the villain actor/stuntman will be quite happy to sit comfortably - in this case, being comfortable is more about seating and suspension than the latest and greatest HUD.

AESTHETICS: Julio is looking for a very striking car, one that evokes some villainous characteristics. Styling is thus paramount to this build, it must look good and well put together - it is going to be a star afterall. Interior is important here as well.

AUTHENTICITY: Remaining authentic to the original car components can bring a sizable bonus in terms selling price at an auction - this means number matching engine and original components. However, not a top priority here.

DRIVABILITY: As it will be used for filming, it must actually be quite drivable around the set.

LAP TIME & PERFORMANCE: Some scenes will be shot at the California Speedway (formerly the Auto Club Speedway). Since this is a muscle car and was renown to beat exotic Italian purebreed, doing well on the oval, 0-60, quarter mile and such is expected of this car - no so much on a technical track tho.

RELIABILITY & SERVICE COSTS: Julio wants to keep delays to a minimum and operation costs down as much as possible.

SAFETY: It might be a good thing to keep safety in mind, considering this is a pretty rookie crew most likely shooting car stunts.

SPORTINESS: It goes without saying, but this was a performance car so sportiness is still important, but this will never be a race car in any way.

PRESTIGE: Prestige is less important for this build. It will come more from the look and character than engineering prestige, but still important to keep some of it.

FUEL ECON: It is interesting to keep fuel costs down during filming - the car might be idle a lot as well so a low RPM efficiency might be preferred.

OTHER STATS: Use common sense, and don’t make it worse than the original! They all can be used as tiebreakers, and some might tie in more to the brief than others and be desirable. Pay attention.

---

Some inspiration to get your creative juices going

---

Rules will be open for debate until 23:59 (11:59 PM) EST May 14th.

Submission deadline is 23:59 (11:59 PM) EST June 6th.

[HelloHi]

A (not-so) small teaser from Sunset Garage:

Yes, we made it a lowrider ute. Are we crazy? Yes.
Speaking of crazies, our mechanic Jeremy says V6s are lame

[cake_ape]

Since we’re doing teasers, here is something from the Mons Customs and Mons Racing garage.

Disclaimer

Might not be representative of final product. Like, at all.

[abg7]

@HelloHi

Jeremy says V6s are lame

If that’s the case, I suspect it has a V8 instead of a V6 under its hood. Heretical? Probably. Effective? Certainly.

[karhgath]

Rules are now locked. Ready for submissions now.

Three small updates to the rules:
1- Modified maximum cost to 45k
2- Modified downforce rule to have numerical maximums instead of fixture counts
3- Lap time/performance criteria was moved up and reliability/service cost went down as a result.

[cake_ape]

Mons Customs

Introducing the

Buick GNX "Demon 666"

Dear Mr. Jimenez,

Please accept this letter as our formal offer to restomod your iconic 1987 Buick GNX. We understand your desire to break into the world of movie and television and would like to help you achieve your dreams with this restomod build. Our proposal for your GNX will be the iconic villain car you need to achieve your goald in your first big Flixnet project. True to Mons Customs tradition, we aim to preserve as much of the original vehicle as possible while giving it a refreshed yet authentic look and feel. If you choose our custom shop, we guarantee the best experience in your custom modded GNX both on-set and thereafter using it as a personal vehicle!

AUTHENTICITY

Mons Customs has opted to retain much of the original components of your GNX. It sports the original bodywork, suspension, and V6 engine. For this build, we opted not to add additional body flares or custom body work of any kind. We feel that the GNX is such an iconic car and has such a strong identity, that modifying it in any way would only detract from its aesthetic value. While much improved in many other areas, this car remains the real deal and would be the proud possession of any true GNX enthusiast!

COMFORT

While we retained the major suspension, the components have been swapped to more modern variants to provide a more comfortable - and stable - ride. The drivetrain has been upgraded to greatly increase driver comfort. High-quality tires and comfortable brakes add to the overall feel of comfort, while retaining all sporty qualities you’d expect from a 666 HP muscle car. And of course, the ultimate comfort comes from our detail-minded craftsmen that build the one-of-a-kind hand-made interior, and combine it with the latest in HUD technologies.

SPORTINESS

Mons Customs once again paired up with Mons Racing to retune the engine and develop the drivetrain for this vehicle. The mission was to keep as many original parts as possible, while increasing overall power output to achieve our desired goal: 666 BHP (this is the Demon after all!). Mons Racing bored the original engine to 4.5L, which costs a few extra dollars, it does retain complete authenticity. While Mons Racing could’ve squeezed another 100+ BHP out of the engine easily, we felt that the number 666 was a perfect fit for this car - not to mention more than enough to propel this beast around any track in record-setting time. The new GNX laps the ATT track over 15 s faster than the original and accelerates 0-100 more than 3 s faster!

DRIVABILITY and SAFETY

The new AWD system combined with an advanced automatic gearbox, perfectly tuned and cooled brakes, ESC, top-of-the-line steering aid system, and modern safety equipment, this GNX is the ultimate in handleability, ease of use, and safety.

Mr. Jimenez, please find attached photorealistic renders of our vision for your GNX and detailed specifications. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Mons Customs

Under the hood

Mons Racing’s mission was to retain authenticity of engine and to achieve 666 BHP exactly - not one more, not one less. This was an important mission goal from the first concepts drawn for this car. It is the Demon after all, so 666 had to be represented in its power figures. The engine is bored and stroked to 4.5 L, but otherwise changed little from the original. We aimed to keep the car clean of major brand badging, which includes the engine that has been refinished in all black paint and materials.

Interior

The Mons Customs GNX comes with a custom hand-made interior and premium HUD for ultimate comfort. The modern HUD system ensures that you spend more time with your eyes on the road and less looking at instrumentation. The hand-selected leather seats will be custom molded to your body shape, so you will feel at home and comfortable behind the wheel forever. Authenticity meets modern convenience throughout the whole cabin. Most surfaces include soft-touch leather, and accents include black chrome and body-black paint.The entertainment system is, of course, also second to none, with 11 speakers placed around the cabin - just in case you get tired of listening to the beautiful engine notes of the revamped engine and exhaust. The steering wheel boasts the “666” logo, a motif carried over from the outside of the car. In lieu of the second row of seats, we include a larger speaker system and lockable storage. Last but not least, we will also include your own movie prop: a villain’s pistol that fits perfectly into the custom dash holder compartment.

Exterior

Mons Customs has aimed to retain as much of the original look of the GNX as possible, while providing fresh and modern touches all around. The front and rear lights have been updated to modern fixtures. The enhanced engine performance and enlarged turbo necessitated the addition of a larger - and appropriately menacing - hood intake. While the GNX retains its original paint colour, we will strip the original paint and reapply a new coat to original specs. Any rust or imperfections will be taken care of during this process. To set the car apart from any other GNX restomod, we add some subtle black-gloss and black-chrome accent stripes and a distinctive “666” logo on the hood and the side of the car, which of course not only denotes the “Demon” name, but also the power output of the engine. The enhanced brake cooling ducts add another distinctive shark-gill element to this GNX. All glass surfaces have been darkened for the appropriately ominous, dark look, further increasing the “black-out” aesthetics of the car. Last but not least, the brash black-chrome side-pipes add a distinctive and menacing element to the car’s looks. And they sound amazing too!

Rear light functionality top left to bottom right: off, rear light, brake light, indicators, reverse light, all on.

[karhgath]

Only a little bit less than 2.5 days remaining on this challenge, do not forget to finish and submit your entry.

[HelloHi]

Buick GNX Whittier by Sunset Garage

Low and slow

Video

Buick GNX Whittier by Sunset Garage trailer- ARM7

More pictures

[DuceTheTruth100]

Nice!!!

[Frostquake]

PUREBLACK X GNX

---

DISOBEY

---

REPENT

---

REPEAT

[DuceTheTruth100]

Word around the campfire is that it goes by the name Big Red.

[karhgath]

And we are done! 4 entries to review:

@DuceTheTruth100
@Frostquake
@cake_ape
@HelloHi

[karhgath]

Results and Bins

---

ooc: did not use very american values, I might do a pass later and convert to mph and such. I realized too late.

Julio’s at a small trendy cafe in LA. He has trouble concentrating and writing his next script. As his email account lets out a few incoming notifications, he decided to take a breather.

Finally, he’s gotten a few responses from restomodding firms on his life changing project for Flixnet. Four offers in fact. He’s more and more excited as he opens his first proposal…

OOC: Unfortunately, I have a few issues with missing fixture since my failure a while ago, they imported initially properly but now I miss a few, so no custom photo for this time.

---

The order of review is the order I received the submissions, not the final ranking, but with bins first

---

@frostquake - PUREBLACK X GNX

Julio’s a bit puzzled looking at the PUREBLACK X GNX entry.

While the styling was relatively good, with some very nice and interesting choice, it was clearly the most menacing of the four entries. The skirt making it low to the ground, the sharp angles, the deep black color, it did look evil. Perfect for an evil villain.

The lack of any kind of interior was a huge let down however. It was however interesting in how they proposed to restore it tho, with aluminium panels, dual double wishbone suspensions, a top of the line automatic transmission (although not as useful because of only 6 speed). Brakes were partly kept original, which was surprising but is more authentic. Only two front seats were kept and the rear one removed - probably a performance enhancement, but without an interior render in the proposal, hard to see exactly what was done. Suspensions were nicely upgraded but are not luxury car fancy which is perfect, but the interior was only premium - Julio’s expected a bit more posh interior at that price point as comfort is very important here.

Then things soured when looking at the proposed engine. While it was the most stock and original engine of the group, not even bored or stroked out, they (who are they again? they only sent renders) decided to rebuilt it completely with new quality modern parts… however, it seemed a bit TOO high tech components quality. The Direct Injection is a nice upgrade, but Julio’s realize they could not possibly source all the new quality parts in time, making this project unrealistic. Also, the proposed engine was lacking - all that quality did not help make it competitive. Only a paltry 325 hp. Clearly the turbo could have been tweaked to get better power out of it while keeping it authentic.

Disappointed, he deleted this submission and moved on to the next one.

Binned: Engine ET is 162.7 and above maximum allowed.

---

@DuceTheTruth100 - Buick GNX “Big Red”

The next entry was also from a mysterious sender. Mostly a render and BIG RED in all caps. Their marketing departments might have tried to build a bit of mystery (or need to be laid off).

Well, the title did not disappoint. It is red. It is big. It looks like a flaming cheetos. This was a bold choice, but it did work on some level.

Again, a lack of interior render did not help ease Julio’s mind. Looking at the renders more carefully, he had to whip out photos of the original GNX to compare - the red threw him off, but he realized nothing much changed styling wise. A few very minor details left and right, but it wasn’t up to the standard he expected. Sure, the GNX is iconic, hard to make it look that different, but creativity needs to at least be elevated.

Then Julio let out a huge exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes when he opened the spec page - at the same time the whole cafe attendance full of aspiring writers raised their head in unison to quickly glance at his reaction before going back to their dreams and hopes.

This was not very modern. In fact, nothing made much sense. With lacking style and nearly all original parts, this looks like a '87 restoration job, not restomodding. But then it gets weirder. They changed for some kind of weird atmo V8 LS Frankenstein, with magnesium block and even DOHC, but still around the original bore out 4.5L. The worst part? The engine was chocked at 293HP. Even worse than that, it was a flat pane. This is no racing engine at that power output. Could have given a bit of room to use this (low) peak power. It could have made well above 310hp unchocked, and this kind of engine could have reached much more at full potential. However, it was dirt cheap - all the left over budget could have actually been used for restomodding the car.

Oh well, another one to the trash.

Binned: Model year was still stuck in 1987 and model was not cloned as per the video in the original post.

---

@cake_ape - Buick GNX Demon by Mons Customs

As Julio was opening the next submission, his hopes and dreams nearly in the gutter, he realized the owner was standing behind him. She was eyeing his empty table. He ate a croissant 2 hours ago, but nothing since. Impatiently, she coughed.

“Oh, erhm, I will have a… orange juice please?” Julio’s hated coffee, but needed to order something he could actually pay for. All this hard work at the cafe was not free! But this is where he needed to be.

Oh yeah, the submission. This one was Moms Customs. What a weird name Julio thought. Oh, no, Mons. Clearly he needs to pay more attention.

Wow. The render was really great - this was a pretty authentic look. Unlike the Big Red, it was kept Black but had so many small details and the Demon 666 was playing the part of evil badass car to the letter. The muted elements like plates complimented the dark ominous atmosphere. It oozed character.

The interior rendering was also very nice. All black leather, touch screens, a big stereo, 666 on the steering wheel. You cannot go wrong with that. Some kind of chests full of evil goodies in the back and a prop gun readily available made this very useful for an villainous mastermind.

Then engineering did not disappoint. A pretty authentic restomod, with original panels and suspensions, but it had a small ace up it’s sleeve. It was AWD. Even with a 6-speed automatic, it flew from 0 to 60 in only 4.3 seconds, the faster of all proposals! The wheels were barely contained by the wells, spilling out and showing these are not your mamma’s wheels. Brakes were perfectly tuned, and but simulations clearly showed it was a oversteering monster. This one would be hard to control, even at low speed, even if its drivability was top of the crop - you’ll spin out for any mistake you make. It did have great cornering tho, and could actually have not made too bad of an impression on a real track. The electric variable steering and ESC helped control this beast, as did the high performance progressive springs. But the culprit here, making this oversteering monster spin out was the front camber, which was unnecessary.

Now let’s talk about comfort. It was pretty good! The hand made interior is clearly playing a big role in making this baby comfortable and relatively quiet. The premium HUD and controls are welcomed as well. The power from the engine was not the smoothest, but overall this would provide great comfort during shoots. Everying was tuned to make it as comfortable as possible.

Performance wise, with it’s incredible 0-6 in 4.3 seconds, thanks to AWD, Julio thought it would be a performance monster. However, even with aggressive areo, it had trouble at high speed on the oval curves, losing precious time. A respectable 1:05.46 lap time tho, nothing to sneeze at, but not the best. It’s top speed of 250km/h probably slowed it down a bitas well. These were nitpick tho - no one could accuse it of being a slowpoke.

The engine behind all of this was the original one, bored and stroked out. With DI and aggressive turbo tuning, this screamer made 666 hp. “Oh, I see what they did there!” muttered Julio. A pretty authentic engine here, and very powerful. Julio wonder how much more they could have gotten from it tho, if they didn’t “stop” at 666hp.

Reliability wise, it would not win any contests. Lots of high tech components across the whole car, but a lack of quality disappointed Julio a bit. This is a 45k car and the worst reliability of all proposal - he hoped it would last the whole shoot. The good new is that if it does breakdown, it probbaly won’t break the bank, with very low service costs for such an offering. Safety is top of the line as well. This is also one that is going to be highly coveted during the auction as it oozes prestige.

Julio quickly glance at fuel econ being interrupted. The owner of the cafe was back to his empty juice glass.

“Need anything else? It is pretty packed here, we need to turn people down”.

“No thanks” muttered Julio as he was less than impress with the fuel economy of the Demo 666, ignoring the hints the owner was giving.

“Ok, thanks then, we’ll see you next time you come in”

Julio just realized he was being kicked out. Reluctantly, he took his laptop and knapsack and left the place happily with the conviction that he already had a pretty good proposal in hand.

---

@HelloHi - Buick GNX by Sunset Garage

As Julio was getting comfortable in the booth of another cafe, 15 minutes away from the other one, he opened his laptop excited to open the last proposal.

“What. The. Fucking. Hell.” he exclaimed loudly, completely disgusted. He heard a lot of people shushing him or looking at him like he was the devil. It did not take more for him to be on the street again, walking to yet another cafe.

He could not remove from his mind what he just saw when he opened his email.

He collected his thoughts as he was sitting at yet another establishment. Then he reopened his email account.

His ex-fiancé sent him a wedding invitation. To him. After what she did. She probably would make the best villain in his movie, she was truly heartless. He promptly deleted the invitation and clicked on the last proposal, disturbed at the thought of his ex marrying John. John.

He paused for a long time after opening the mail from Sunset Garage. He was taken aback.

This was true worksmanship on the styling. It was a true pinstripped low rider, through and through. The kicker? It was made into a UTE! What a great idea - nobody needs those 2 rear seats, but a pickup bed behind gave all kinds of ideas to Julio for his scenario. He was slightly disappointed in the rear tho, it felt a bit rushed compared to everything else.

The blue, the white, the gold were sprinkled (more like poured) throughout. A very luxurious interior welcomed you aboard. Comfort was top of the line, with a smooth engine, an adjustable air ride suspension and comfortable gearing. Low and slow. The multilink suspension upgrade at the rear really helped as well.

Brakes were less comfortable tho. Very grippy and prone to locking and fading, that was a hit to the overall sportiness of the car. It was still surprisingly sportier than Mons entry tho. The engine was completely replace to a turbocharged(!!) V10 with nearly 770 hp! A true monster with a low cam setting and plenty of quick torque despite the turbo. It really did not disappoint on the oval. The simulated 1:04.87 lap time was the best of all proposals.

However, as with a typical RWD low rider, 0-60 was not the best of the group, but still second best at 5.22. It was better at higher speeds than the Mons tho and the top speed of 280km/h (peak of 265 on the oval) helped edge out the Mons on the track. Still, Julio expected a turbo V10 monster to obliterate competition here, but it was merely competitive with the Mons at the cost of authenticity.

But everything was not all praise.

Servicing that engine and suspensions meant hefty fees, nearly 50% more than the Mons! And for a low rider, the drivability (due to the manual transmission most likely) was the worst of them all. At 43,400 there was enough leftovers to go automatic here and have a smooth cruising. Safety was near the top, and fuel consumption better than nearly all of them, so this was still an attractive, costly package.

This will be a very difficult decision for Julio…

---

The Verdict

And the winner is...

In fact it was never difficult for Julio to make up his mind. Even with less authenticity and drivability, the styling, character, uniqueness and simply boss attitude made the Sunset Garage proposal Julio’s favorite. It reminded him of gangs in his older neighbordhood and he could see some late at night cruising across LA. This will bring a specific sub culture to the movie plot, and Julio’s already thinking about the Villain gang boss just slowly driving by and making you shiver and fear for your life. A large scar on his face, but a smile that seems genuine at first but slowly creep on you and make you piss your pants.

Yes, the script was writing itself at this point. He could have a twin brother that is not actually evil in a coma, and the Hero would have a backstabbing ex-wife set to marry the evil gang boss…

Then some time traveling pants…

So easy to write now…

Congratulation to @HelloHi for his victory! It was closer than it seems from the writing, but not as close as previous ones. This means @cake_ape made second place, with the two other entries binned.

Can’t wait to see what the next chapter has in store for us!

[cake_ape]

Congrats to the winner! Looking forward to the next chapter.

[HelloHi]

I really enjoyed the reviews, thanks for hosting, Karhgath! I will try and get something together for ARM8 in the next day or two since I’m on vacation next week, I have a few ideas rattling around that can hopefully make for a cool challenge even in the limited time I’ll have to prepare it!

[HelloHi]

After starting on a base car and looking back at my plans, what I am realizing is that I don’t think I will be able to make a challenge up to my standards in the time I have, let alone implement the new mechanics I’ve been wanting to add. The car needs a lot more time to get right than I’ll have because of inaccuracies with the body, the brief will take a good while, and I really need more time to balance and simplify the challenge idea I have on top of that. I really want to make sure this challenge is done right! I simply don’t think I can get that much done, along with packing for my trip, in such a short period of time. I apologize for the wait, but I think holding off on the challenge until I get back (in a little over a week) will ultimately be for the best!

I have also talked to the runner-up, Cake, about hosting and it would seem he will be gone on a trip for even longer, without any internet access, starting the same time. So unfortunately, waiting for me to get back is still the best option there is right now, unless there is someone else who wants to take this on!

[HelloHi]

For those curious about progress on ARM8- don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about it, the event will be up shortly! The brief is written and put together including the backstory, and the balancing and test builds are getting a lot closer. I am busy for almost all day tomorrow, so expect ARM8 up at some point Sunday!