Meliora Automotive - 1989 Alba update

H-How do those headlights work? they look so good!

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So, how would this have done in the Fruinian Muscle Car Cup?

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I don’t know :smiley: The main beams are close to the center of the car, and I don’t know if that is or was legal, but I also though that the main beams will be the ones in the bottom, and the pop-up the high-range-road_lights (I don’t know how they’re called in english).
Or maybe… the real beams are hidden in the side vents xD

Hahahaha! that’s a pretty good question, I will put the data and the spreadsheet and we will see!

EDIT:
Well, it would have done terrible bad! 10th place around the Nascar track and around 10ish as well in the price/value.

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The Puma and Perenne are just plain gorgeous… I wish they both existed in real life! You are spot on about the Puma being too slow around the tri-oval at Daytona, though, but it is one of the best muscle cars I have ever seen! :smiley:

Edit: I ran into the same problem you did when my Chieftain entered stage 2 of the BFMCC - it was also too slow for its price. However, this would have been less likely if I had simply given it more power, by adding an extra four cylinders, at least one liter of displacement, cutting the price, or some combination of all three…

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@abg7 Thank you, I appreciate the comment. And yeah, the Puma is more looks than performance xD Compared to the Big Fruinian Muscle cars, it failed because those are absolutely monsters. The Puma still uses a ladder chassis and a solid rear axle with a 4 speed gearbox, which is pretty terrible because it is big and difficult to steer. An although it has a high (but sensitive) amount of power, still most of the fruinian monsters had over 500hp (and I pretty much suck at fine tuning).

1969 Andron

For several years, Eugenio wanted Meliora to participate in international racing events, and in 1966 decided it was the time to enter, so he and his engineers got to work in a racing car. The first part was to get an engine. Instead of designing a new engine, Eugenio decided to use an existing OHV engine (to save money… and weight). The AEA engines were to big, so they took the Mastiff V8 engine from ADM and got to work. The design of the car took more than planed, and they skip the 1966 Le mans event, and by 1967 the finished car was too slow in comparison to other cars, so it went back in the designing board again.

By 1968 the car was finished, but the engine still was in the making. Since Eugenio was so determined in use a OHV instead of a multivalve set-up, it was pretty hard to squeeze the power, specially since the help of some forced induction. At the end, the valvetrain was pretty expensive, were valves made of titanium and magnesium with pneumatic pushroads. The engine was good for over 400hp, depending on the fuel and the configuration.

1969 came, and they still needed to produce at least 25 road legal cars to meet the homologation requirement. Originally, it was planned to build 5 race cars and 25 road cars, but the race version was so expensive that only 3 were made, and after the event, 2 were sold to gain some money back (not official sources say that Meliora was close to bankruptcy due to the project). All the 28 cars were ensambled in the HQ (although most of the parts were either bought or build in the Farm-factory). The racing returned in mixed results. Only 2 cars enter the race and both finished, but were unable to still the victory from Ford, but the good performance and reliability caught the eye of many and give Meliora recognition in the automotive world.

Some of the closest competitors for the '69 Andron Road car are the KHT brooklands and the Mulsanne, as well as the Dimension Paradox 410. Although They never were put to race against each other, “in paper”, the 4.6s 0-100 km/h and the top speed of 283 km/h made the mexican super car slightly quicker and faster. In fact, it was only surpassed by the AC Cobra 427 from '66. Not even the corvette c2, the mustang boss 429 or even the Ford GT40 road were quicker.


ANDRON RACE CHASSIS

000 — Never sold or raced. It remains in the private collection of the Quiroga’s family.
001 — Sold in 1970 to Gulf racing, then sold again in 1972 to a private collector. Bought back in 2002 and remains in the Meliora’s Technical campus in display.
002 — Sold in 1970 to Gulf racing, then sold again in 1972 to a private collector. In 2003 it was bought by DSD’s CEO (@Darkshine5)

ANDRON ROAD CHASSIS

L01 — Car collector in Texas, USA
L02 — In possession of Gunnar Racing
L03 — Missing
L04 — unknown
L05 — Owned by J. Leno
L06 — reported as stolen in 1973, never found again
L07 — Missing
L08 — Crashed in 1971
L09 — unknown
L10 — Car collector in UK
L11 — Private car collector, unknown location
L12 — Owned by the Sultan of Brunei
L13 — Recently found abandoned in a old farm in near Sttugard
L14 — Car collector in Israel
L15 — Car collector in Mexico City
L16 — Car collector in Brazil
L17 — Unknown
L18 — Lost in a fire
L19 — Crashed in 2007 in Nürburgring
L20 — Pimped by a rapper
L21 — Private car collector, unknown location
L22 — Recently bought by D. Letterman
L23 — Missing
L24 — Private car collector, unknown location
L25 — Sold at auction in 1998.


Added factories and facilities owned by Meliora to the OP.

'69 Andron LM Race Car



Lap times with +5 quality semi slick tires

1:08.03 — daytona nascar
2:13.59 — automation
1:20.54 — airfield
8:09.29 — Green hell


'69 Andron Road Car




1969 price: $10,700

Lap times

1:24.28 — airfield
2:19.66 — automation
1:12.00 — daytona nascar
8:36.51 — Green hell

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Woah very close stats to Dimension’s first generation Paradox 410 on road and track! I’d imagine lots of close battles with the two since the 60s.

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Like it, like it a lot - your best effort yet. Would it have been eligible for stage 1 of the BFMCC, and if so, how well would it have done? Unlike the second stage, mid-engined cars were actually eligible in stage 1.

@Deskyx Wow, hahaha yeah very similar stats and performance indeed. Although yours has an advantage in cornering (and overall real life driving), seeing it is significantly faster around the nürburgring. But the paradox got some help with a rear wing, and the Andron is pure mechanical grip… because Meliora was so poor to cost a wind tunnel to test downforce xD
Also the Andron is probably one of the few MR cars prone to understeer instead of oversteer, it’s quite difficult to pivot the frond end in this one.

@abg7 Well, it doesn’t qualify because it scores poorly in any muscle/pony demographic, but I’m sure in the first round it would have been last, because it is quite expensive and not adapted to real life driving, and in the second round, the road trim is like the 4th or 5th faster around the NASCAR track. But the race version is obvioulsy faster than any of them ;D (but not by that much tho)

@sillyworld Dimension is always keen to supply engines to smaller companies to save costs. And just as keen to enter the Mexican market… Perhaps we can see some cooperation in the future? :smile:

TFW when a race car is more reliable than your performance car :laughing:

Also you can use our wind tunnel…

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When can we see some modern vehicles? @Sillyworld

I get a real vibe of futuristicness from the Andron, especially with those headlights. Must have caused quite a stir back in the late 60s!

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Those are some big-ass tires for a race car :stuck_out_tongue:

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Well… it was 4 years in development and was build for endurance racing ;D

Other than the ones I post in some challanges I’m not posting modern cars any time soon. I want to progress in my company timeline as I’m building cars, which can work for me, as when I reach a modern era, maybe I will caught the force induction revamp and I’ll be able to use TWINSCROLLS!

They aren’t wide enough :worried: I think those in the rear are something like 275/50R15, but IIRC the ford GT40 MK1 used +300 tires

October 1970, Eugenio Quiroga, Meliora’s founder died after 4 weeks in hospitalisation

After different health issues for over a decade, the founder of Meliora Automotores was diagnosed with fungal meningitis, but the diagnosis came too late and died after 4 weeks in hospitalisation.

His son is now the owner of the company, and he has declared that he will continue with his father’s work in the company, taking his vision and moving also into newer grounds.

One of the first changes was that now Meliora Automotores changed name to Meliora S. de R. L. de C. V now stylized as [color=orange]Meliora Automotive[/color], becoming a private share company, ensuring a higher flow of money in the company.

One big factory was open in Puebla, México for the new production of models planned for 1973 and 1974. Also it was announced that the production of muscle cars was dropped in order to expand to more family oriented markets, but the Perenne will be retained as the flagship’s company.

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Is this repositioning of the brand a result of the oil crisis?

Nicer fate than my founder, he was stabbed in prison.

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At least he… nope, that is definitely a worst dead.


@abg7 Actually no, but it kinda works now that I think about it :stuck_out_tongue:

#1974 - Meliora Accolam - expanding markets

After the dead of Eugenio Quiroga, the re-estructured company was ready to take over new markets. Their first family/premium car was presented in 1974, it was called Accolam. Completely different to the previous cars such as the Andron, perenne or Puma, the Accolam was powered by an in-house designed L4, pushing between 73 or 88 hp, depending on the configuration. Meliora was aware of the upcoming changes in the emission and fuel regulations, that’s why all the engines were equipped with catalytic converters (although it means less power and worse fuel economy).

The car wasn’t a sales record breaker, but it helped to develop and test new technology, such as advanced safety or semi-trailing arms suspension.


##2 door E-line




##4 door E-line




##4 door L-line




##2 door S-line




2 door E-line: $5,397
4 door E-line: $5,466
4 door L-line: $7,700
2 door S-line: $6,689

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What a pretty car! The S-Line trim puts me in mind of a Cortina Mk II 1600E with that 88hp output. Bet it sounds lovely!

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