My Company Lore Thread

So, this is my thread where I’ll spam my cars in a place where they won’t interrupt other people’s activity. Anyway, here’s my cars for the 1973 Rally di Fruinia, starting with perhaps the most special of my five companies.

Mouton - Building four-eyed, RR, boxer-powered micro hot rods since 1951

Pre-1975 Moutons have always been known for purple racing colors and a stripe-and-bar-based system that differentiated models and their trims - base cars would always get one “grille bar”, mid-trim L/S versions would get two and three bars respectively, and top-of-the-line R versions would get four bars. The tiny Cherie always had a little bird logo on its C-pillar with one stripe going through the badge’s middle; the bigger Premier had a nobleman logo on its C-pillar with two stripes slicing through the badge; and the larger cars would have three, four, or even five stripes going through their logos.

Cherie Mk3 (Type 291; 1967-1977 in EU and US market) (1973 post-facelift Rally 750 R shown)

The Mk3 Cherie is often considered as one of Mouton’s finest cars before the Aviator Takeover of 1974. It was the star car during Mouton’s “transition period” in the late-1960s/early-1970s, when they started swapping out their old rear-engined compact cars for Aviator-engineered counterparts with engines at the front. However, the ‘291’ was traditional Mouton inside and out: a pair of tiny SOHC 2v/4v 600-750cc W6/W7 cast-iron boxer-fours at the back powering the rear wheels through a four-speed manual. It also had Mouton’s distinctive McPherson-strut front/double-wishbone rear suspension setup, which was used on all post-1955 models to aid cornering stability and improve drivability for the masses. The most famous version was the 750 R, used in many rallies and club-level circuit races by amateurs and the factory themselves. With only 7,500 built, the top-trim ‘291’ is by far the most-coveted of the Cheries, but pre-Aviator Moutons’ signature poor rustproofing means that finding a restorable example is a lot harder than with a Mk4 ‘301’.

Premier Mk3 (Type 232) (1967-1974 in EU and US markets) (post-facelift 1973 Rally 1100 R shown)


Like its smaller cousin, the Mk3 Premier is often considered as one of Mouton’s best pre-Aviator cars, and for good reason. Like the Cherie, most versions of the Premier used a tiny cast-iron boxer engine (in this case, the V-Familie 1000-1600cc SOHC 2v/4v boxer-six) in the back powering the rear wheels through a four-speed manual gearbox. However, the post-1971 facelift 1100 R was Mouton’s first use of a five-speed manual, developed for a balance between acceleration and fuel economy. Unlike the Cherie, the Premier’s biggest engine ended up in Aviator’s own Mk2 Primavera; the drivetrain was extremely easy to swap in and modify into the Prima’s middle, and it also improved weight distribution and cornering significantly for the top-trim RXI model. Unfortunately, this factory swap was used by quite a few hot-rodders in the late-'70s and early-'80s, making finding one of the 1,600 1600 R models uncannibalized even harder when combined with their propensity for rust. Thankfully, the cheaper and less-powerful 1100 R was popular enough after its rally success (11,000 built) that it often is a pre-Aviator Mouton collector’s second-best option for a hot ‘232’.

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I built a thing.

For those of you wondering, it gets an incredible 4.6 mpg average.

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1973 US-spec Premier 1100 R

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I can instantly see that you put effort in your cars, and it shows. It looks good, really good. That death wagon is crazy :joy:

Thanks! (Also, the Hyperwagon has 1,182 horsepower out of its 1985-model 7.4-liter all-aluminum DOHC-4v twin-turbo MPFI V12, the ZAE-74-4TR “Mega Nuke” used in the '85 KZNG Statesman 12-4/4 AVR.)

Anyway, here’s another few of my cars.
1957-1965 Fauxhill 80-3E



1972-1991 Aviator Utility Aardvark (1972-1974 250 shown)

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Mega Nuke :joy::joy:

Since everyone seems to like modern cars on here, I thought I might as well give the whole retro thing a go with this.
1968-1983 Aviator Primavera RXI (Mk2) (PQX20) (1973-1977 facelift shown)

2008-2020 Aviator Primavera RXI 2.0(Mk5) (PQX50) (2015-2020 second facelift shown)

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Would love to see more views, detail shots etc

Haha, just noticed your bumper writing! :astonished:

FYI, it’s spelled B, O, G, L, I, Q! :wink:

Of which one? The Mk2 or the Mk5?

@HighOctaneLove: That’s the joke; it’s intentionally misspelled (as is just about everything else on the Hyperwagon).

Also, here’s another one of my “amazing” creations: Alfie, a teeny little pink van powered by an 800-cc inline-3.
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And the three generations of Aviator Ronolits I’ve built so far.
Mk3 Coupe RXI (REX30) (1983-1990) (built for CSR83)
CSR83 DriftinCovet1987 - Aviator Ronolit Coupe RXI.car (39.9 KB)
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Mk6 Sedan DXiT by @marcus_gt500’s MVDesign (REX60) (2013-present)
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The Mk4 KZNG Comrade, otherwise known by Statesman elitists as the “Half-Statesman”, was actually a pretty good car, all things considered. While it might not have ever received the Statesman’s four-wheel-drive, aluminum body, or series of Gatz-sourced SOHC V12 “Nukes”, the Comrade’s selection of inline-six and V8 engines was still plenty for the upper-middle-class quirky folk who did not mind that their cars were built by communists. One model that few people remembered (or bought at the time) was the 1971-1974 6-3/2 SC, a rare case of a six having any performance aspirations. In this case, KZNG took “half-Statesman” literally in this case, and chopped a mid-level 12-2/3’s ZC-69-2/3 V12 in half to produce the KE-35-2/3 six, an engine which (in sports and 1973 Rally di Fruinia tune) produced up to 200 horsepower - comparable enough to the Aviator-sourced OHV V8s in the top-line models to make some people choose the better economy and serviceability of the 6-3/2. Most often, this was a 4-door sedan (the 6-3/2 S) to maximize practicality, but the SC version was popular enough with the pony-car crowd that it almost ate into the sales of parent-company Aviator’s own base-line Radicus models. Perhaps understandably, (although still unfortunate) the 6-3/2 SC was killed off after the 1974 model year in the US market - but its engine still found use in select Aviator, Fauxhill, and KZNG models until 1995, when it was replaced by the ZE-30-4/4 DOHC V6.


(1967-1971 Mk1 pre-facelift Aviator Radicus 380 Base; one of the cheapest Radici? that you could buy in the muscle car era. (Note this is a VERY old car, and therefore does not reflect the leaps and bounds I’ve made recently in terms of styling cars. It’s merely an example of what the Verno was based upon.))

(1972-1975 post-facelift Gatz Verno 650-12, powered by the ZC-65-2/3 “Little Nuke” SOHC tri-valve V12 putting out 400 horsepower in race tune (350 street).)
Speaking of Aviator, this is what Gatz turned their Mk1 Radicus into. The Verno, a name often associated with luxurious GT coupes and sports cars, was turned into a muscle car by sticking Gatz’s smallest V12 - a massive engine by comparison to the Radicus’s base-model 292 V8, but small when compared to the big-dog ZC-74-4/2 DOHC 2-valve V12. With 350 horsepower on tap for the streets (a special race tune with DCOE carbs available from select dealer could give over 400 horsepower easy), it was a scary prospect for most other muscle cars at the time. It could corner rather well, with its wide radial tires and fully-independent double-wishbone/semi-trailing-arm suspension being great for cornering, but a bit expensive to maintain and replace (especially the tires). Even though it never could race in the Trans-Am and was not exactly popular with SCCA racers, the Verno was a holy terror on the dragstrips…when its wheels could hook up, that is.

(Also, if these pictures aren’t proof I’ve improved over the past few months, then I don’t know what is.)

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If that’s not the fastest hearse of its time (if not all time), then I don’t know what is!

It already can go 205 miles per hour with its 1,200-horsepower twin-turbo DOHC 4-valve 7.4-liter V12, but it could go faster…much, much faster.

That’s a pretty mild tune compared to what I had in mind.

What have I done to humanity now?

1979-1989 Gatz Valerian Mk4 600-6TDE (VSX40/D) (1986 second facelift shown

This, folks, is insanity and ingenuity wrapped up in one oddball malaise-era premium muscle car. The Mk4 Gatz Valerian (which by now had become pretty much a rebadged and re-tuned KZNG Statesman coupe), although smaller and lighter than the Mk3 that it replaced, was still a bit too big and gas-guzzling for the 1980 CAFE standards. Obviously, since Gatz only had its big V8s and V12s and KZNG’s many straight-sixes on standby (and because Gatz refused to use anything smaller than 6 liters in their biggest model), they decided to go the wild route and swap the mighty KR-60-O/TDE 6-liter straight-six from KZNG’s pickup trucks into a new trim of their halo GT/muscle car, with a specially-built 4-speed manual to handle the torque.

The combination, called the 600-6TDE proved to be an instant success with those who still wanted to buy a Valerian, but didn’t want to have to pay a gas guzzler tax or lose the performance of the V12s. It was plenty powerful for the time, with almost 500 pound-feet of torque at 2,600 RPM and almost 300 horsepower at 4,000 RPM. It could crack 135 miles per hour and reach 60 miles per hour in less than 8 seconds - seriously quick for a 3,800-pound muscle car. It wasn’t that bad-handling, either, with the Valerian’s all-around double-wishbone suspension and clutch-pack LSD (swapped to a geared LSD for the '82 first facelift) giving it decent cornering grip and driveability.

But after the release of the ZD-Series quad-cam all-alloy twin-turbo V12s in 1985, the TDE no longer had much of a use in Gatz’s lineup. It was now too heavy for the corners, too slow for drag racing, and not as economical of a choice as it had been before '85. Neither did it have enough prestige for most Valerian buyers, as it was now viewed as only a poverty-spec eco model for those who couldn’t afford a “proper” model. A shame, really, for the 1986-1989 final edition proved to be a fine choice in the lineup with over 500 pound-feet of torque and over 300 horsepower, cracking 144 miles per hour and hitting 60 in 7 seconds, all while still getting 17 mpg from its multi-point-EFI-equipped engine.

Yes, I’ve done it. I’ve built a 6-liter straight-six turbodiesel muscle car - and I’m not ashamed of it, either.

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