Anything and everything to do with the LM50 that was included in this initial post has been retconned, none of it holds any value!
Summary
In 1949, a group of wealthy motorsports enthusiasts met, on the premise of entering the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Armed with a desire to win, and the financial power to build something extraordinary, this group that would become known as Estrelle Motor Union, or jokingly as EMU. Armed with perhaps a bit more money than sense, they sought to begin a engineering venture.
Initially, this had one sole purpose: Compete at the 1950 Le Mans 24 Hours, next year.
Built purposefully for the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans, the LM50 was the very first car ever designed by the Estrelle Motor Union (Then known as Estrelle Motorsports Union) with one sole purpose: Crush the competition at Le Mans. With a new class having been made to support cars up to 8.0 liters of displacement, the outlines for what would become the LM50 were clear. The car needed to be as powerful as possible, and simultaneously as light as possible. So at the newly established headquarters, the new design team set to work, allocating one portion of the workforce to the car itself, and the other to designing an engine of monstrous proportions. And the result? A two door sports car with a long, bulging bonnet was designed, built on a steel spaceframe chassis, with aluminium bodywork, featuring double wishbone suspension in the front and rear. And then there was the engine: dubbed the HA1E-4V, a 7.9 liter SOHC V16 monster, with eight single barrel carburetors fitted along the top, the team claimed that the engine produced nearly 440 horsepower at 4,800RPM, and a redline of 5,400RPM. With a 4-speed gearbox, Estrelle stated that the car would be able to reach a top speed of close to 170MPH, the car was a monster. But alas… Doom struck the project. Anyone could make boasts of how fast their machine was, but not everyone could walk the walk when the going got tough. A car like this was not cheap to build by any means, nor was it a quick process. The team poured their heart and soul into making this mad machine as quickly as possible, while not skimping out on the quality of the parts used therein, and it was sadly not to be. The production process had been complicated from the start, with many of the parts requiring extensive time to produce, especially for the engine. By the time June had rolled around, the first prototype hadn’t even been completely assembled. The goal of competing at Le Mans was a bust, and so would be the project itself. With a prospective price tag of $37,500 (150% markup! I tried to be realistic about what a super tiny hypercar manufacturer would have to charge for something like this) There were quite frankly, no buyers for the intended run of 50 units. In the end, Estrelle only built a meager 5 units, all of which were retained by the company itself.
Hello! CNSpots here, as an after-mention to all this. I thought I’d say hi, I’ve not been around here since back in the day when I was still working on “Willow” Automotive. My old computer got fried and all a long time ago, but now I have a much, much more powerful rig, one that is capable of running the Unreal version of the game with maxed settings at my preferred resolution, whereas my old computer could barely even handle the Kee version of the game! Instead of attempting to retcon all my old work, I have thus decided to make a new story!
I love a good failure story. Very nice, the car is cool, but lacking a bit of detail IMO, and ballance.
Also keep it up and you’ll redeem this forum’s belief in people who’s screen names start with CN
@squidhead Thank you! And I’m aware, assuming you’re talking about the exterior design, it is a very simple design, I didn’t want to overdo it and make it look silly, so I went with something very modest that wouldn’t look out of place. Unless you mean the performance details! If that’s the case, I intentionally omitted them because it should be steeped in myth and legend, with little substance actually there to separate fact from fiction. There aren’t many places you could effectively test this crazy thing, nor many people crazy enough to flat-out a car that spins the tires at 120mph and has no safety equipment in it!
I’ll release another car within a few hours, probably!
Also, 440 hp in 1950… That sounds like a certain company that was a meme, engineering times were counted in centuries and even it’s creator has been featured in UE4 scenarios
But nice start, and welcome back!
You’d have to enlighten me as to who you’re talking about, I’ve not been around for a long while. The only madman I really seem to recall is Strop!
It’s not got a lot in quality sliders though, it has +3 in the pistons, but that’s it. And I only had to do that because otherwise the engine was so powerful it was breaking the cast pistons and rods that are available!
Not willing to back out of the automotive game yet, following the demise of the LM50 project, the brass at Estrelle set aside funding for the next big project. They turned their sights to the American car market, a growing landscape of big V8’s and also, Stock Car Racing. The concept was much more modest, and less optimistic than the former attempt that had been the LM50, a big ladderframe chassis, and a four door body. It needed to be family friendly, and it needed to be comfortable. In 1955, the new order of engines arrived, a pair of V8 mills, one known as the GE4, which was a small-block pushrod motor, and the other codenamed the F3AE, a massive, SOHC big block V8 that differed slightly from what you’d find under the hood of your average American land-barge. The small-block was shown off in a 295CI variant, and the big block was unveiled to be a 400CI mill, with plenty of room in the block to be machined for a much, much greater displacement at a later point. Next year, 1956, it hit the showrooms around the world, dubbed the “Elianor”. Though it was much less well-received in Europe due to its massive dimensions, the car would survive in America. The heavily detuned single-carb 400 engine in the Deluxe variant put out roughly around 220 - 230 horsepower, which was meager for the size of the engine, and definitely paled in comparison to the FirePower V8 found in the Chrysler 300, but was enough to propel the nearly two-ton sedan to 60MPH in around 10 seconds. The less powerful 295 was rated at 180 horsepower, but was quieter and provided a smoother driving experience. Either engine was provided with a 4-speed manual transmission. Inside the car, you were greeted with seating for 6, featuring Premium class accommodations all around.
The car was far from legendary in class, but as Estrelle’s first proper car, you wouldn’t expect it to be. Still, if you happen to be in the market for a rare classic, an Elianor would certainly prove more affordable today than the likes of something such as a Hudson Hornet.
By the time 1960 rolled around, the tried and tested Elianor received an update. Using the same chassis, the S2 was mostly the same, albeit with an updated front end. The car lost the secondary set of headlights located in the grille, and the grill itself grew in size. The biggest changes were however, surrounding the technical aspects of the car. For the S2, Estrelle added a lower end model to the line-up. A “Standard Series” model, which came fitted with a brand new 3.0 liter V6 engine, good for 120 horsepower on regular leaded fuel, which was paired with a 3-speed Manual Transmission, and standard accommodations inside. But you weren’t interested in that, the real bread-winner was the Deluxe trim. With the big block 400 V8’s upgrade to a 4-barrel system, and new short cast headers, the engine now produced a stout 290 horsepower, which was paired to a 3-speed Automatic. Fitted with Premium interior accommodations all-around, the Deluxe Elianor was a respectable offering, the 1.9 ton sedan being capable of a 9.3 second sprint to 60mph, a sub-17 second quarter mile, and a top speed of 140mph, and that was on the stock 190/90/14 tires that the car came with, with the 3-speed slush box.
If you had the need for speed, though. Estrelle had you covered. Being a man of taste, you didn’t need to be “limited” to the Deluxe model in your quest for performance, and opulence. Meet the GTX, a high-end model for those who wanted more. Armed with a 430 Twin Carb producing 410 horsepower, a 4-speed Manual, 225/75/14 tires front and back, and a squat stance. Luxury accommodations once you got inside, and things like Power Steering and all-wheel disc brakes were standard with the GTX model. But let’s not ignore the performance specs: 0-60 in 6.4 seconds, the quarter mile in 14.8 seconds, and a top speed of 157mph. As a result, the '60 - '64 Elianor GTX is one of the most collectible production cars that Estrelle has ever built.
Engine Options
(EO4H) 3.0 OHV V6 - 120hp (GE4 Small Block) 295 OHV V8 - 190hp (GE4 Small Block) 295 SIX PACK OHV V8 - 225hp (F3AE Big Block) 400 4-Barrel SOHC V8 - 290hp (F3AE Big Block) 430 Twin-Carb SOHC V8 - 410hp *Only available on GTX Models
Next up, we take a trip to 1965, where Estrelle’s lineup begins to expand!
