To quote the often used statement from a different car company, “We’re not Saminda”. We’re willing to admit that if you drive our cars like a maniac, they’ll probably put you in the hospital or the morgue, but not from lack of trying to keep you safe.
(That said, 1998 is approaching, and it’ll be a bit of a doozy for us. I can say it in two-and-a-half words. SymTrak Problems.)
You have clearly responded to other users’ reviews (including mine) of the original Gunslinger. It now feels even more like an RS200 with its twin-turbo V6 and AWD, and with all those other improvements, it should be a more complete car than previously.
Oh, I wanted to do this after seeing those reviews. I know the original Gunslinger had flaws, that’s why I put it up for review. I also knew I could work it into the company lineup as the model refresh as it hadn’t been too long since I’d made it.
After all, I paid attention to the fact that the power distribution could be made better, that it needed a bit of an adjustment in power, and that the aesthetics could use a tweak. Aesthetics was easy, that’s the model refresh. Power, distribution, and tire balancing, well, that wasn’t something I knew to do. I don’t typically do mid-engine cars.
And no, the original concept Gunslinger doesn’t count. If that thing’s considered anything, it’s undrivable. That thing uses 70’s turbo tech to make 300 horsepower with that crappy 2 liter I4 I had.
Can i please buy one? And if u have any courier xl from the 80’s i would take one for the dsd museum
Sure. Just name the cars you want, I’ll get them up and running for you.
1996
As much as we had been avoiding the return of the I4, it became inevitable to have at least one four-cylinder powered car in the lineup. Something fuel efficient, and yet fun.
We now had VCT on our side, which meant we could do both at the same time, and we’d played around with turbos for quite a while now, too, so we were eager to get started.
We settled on a design plan for our new I4 engine. It’d need to be big enough and strong enough to handle competing against V6 engines, because otherwise we’d be in trouble. We needed the variable valve lift and timing components, which enabled VCT. We also needed the ability to turbocharge the engine, so it couldn’t be too wild at the base level. We settled with this:
Naturally, this engine had to be fitted into a car. Our choice was to slip the new engine into our new four-door compact sedan, the Storm Knight.
The Storm Knight GS-E was designed to be powerful, light, a little fun, but above all else, a touch on the efficient side. With SymTrak AWD and Advanced Safety on an aluminum body, the Knight was reasonably safe to drive, and while acceleration left something to be desired, at 9 seconds to 60 miles per hour, the 31.6 MPG made up for that nicely.
Inside the GS-E, we’d installed 5 seats with good quality cloth, and a fairly average cassette deck, because we were focusing on this car being kept inexpensive. At less than $15,000, the Knight GS-E was many parents’ answer to a kid wanting a new car. Kids learned to respect the sturdy AWD platform, and the 155 horsepower I4 under the hood, as the VCT was tuned for a very smooth transition in the GS-E’s engine. It could be felt, but at no time did the car ever really feel like a rocket. However, there was a lot of aftermarket for these cars, not because of the GS-E, but the GT-4T.
While the GS-E was the tame, mild-mannered fuel sipper, the GT-4T got the turbocharger package.
Helping the turbocharged Knight to 60 in 5.3 seconds was the new SymTrak+ Gear-Driven AWD, replacing the belt-driven front-wheel-drive unit with a gear-driven one. It also was equipped with geared limited slip differentials front and rear, and came with a 6 speed manual instead of the GS-E’s 5 speed.
The interior of the GT-4T was stepped up a grade, swapping high-quality cloth in favor of leather, and the cassette deck for a CD player. As this was a sports-compact and not a sports-car, we felt it was necessary to offer more for the extra money, other than an engine that drops the fuel economy down to 27.2 MPG.
For less than $21,000, the Knight GT-4T could be yours.
Of course, a common thing for people to do was to put parts made for the “4T,” as the kids ended up calling it, on the GS-E, making the GS-E something of a minor legend. The engines were built tough enough to handle modification, and aftermarket companies quickly picked up and made parts for those seeking even more power.
As an inexpensive pair of cars, the Storm Knight proved that the I4 was here to stay in the lineup, just being careful where it was used.
However, we were hearing some disturbing rumors about our earlier SymTrak units. A few cars had been in for service, and the drivers were complaining about a screeching sound under hard acceleration. Inspection of the SymTrak units showed the front-wheel-drive transfer belts had been worn down, causing the toothed belts to slip on the pulleys. Given that these cars had over 65,000 miles on them, we decided it was best just to replace the belts with new factory units and send the cars back on their way. This appears to have fixed the problem.
Can KHT produce a tuning kit for this?
Certainly. Here’s the cars.
Madrias - Storm Knight.zip (120.2 KB)
My only request is that you post a picture here of the KHT tuning kit, and a link to where you choose to host it, whether here in Storm Automotive’s thread, or over in your own.
I thank you, actually, for expressing interest in doing so.
Rather small compact sedan, yet with a 2.6 engine - so American 
Nice that you offer AWD in standard. Now there are three things that I easily associate with Storm Automotive - those characteristic rear lamps, a bit of sportiness and AWD. But belt-driven axle… that couldn’t end up well
Well, technically Storm Automotive AWD is confusing.
The 80’s cars used a modified transfer case, providing full-time AWD, but acting as a semi-locked center differential. Not the best to drive, but reliable. It fell out of favor for SymTrak, which puts a lot less stress on the rest of the driveline because the front and rear axles aren’t exactly locked together.
SymTrak standard, used on many of the 90’s cars, is belt-driven AWD, with the belt taking power from the driveshaft side of the transmission and sending it to the front wheels. It works well enough, but we’re taking this issue seriously. We do not want a total SymTrak failure on the move, the results could be catastrophic. These could just be worn out belts from hard driving, but we’ll be doing a full investigation on the wear patterns on the old belts. The owners of the serviced vehicles have agreed to bring the cars in on their next oil change to have the SymTrak units inspected, free of charge, so that we can see the wear pattern on a brand new belt. This will tell us if we have a serious problem or whether it was just wear and tear.
SymTrak-M is our Mid-Engine SymTrak, and had to be rebuilt from the ground up as it was basically SymTrak spun around, which meant we’d be powering the rear wheels with a belt, not a good thing to do. So SymTrak-M threw essentially a geared limited slip differential in the middle of the car’s output. Essentially, this version doesn’t contain a belt, but shares a lot more in common with a geared limited slip differential. We’ll still call in any Gunslinger owners to see if their SymTrak units are okay, but we suspect they’ll be fine.
SymTrak+ is our high-end SymTrak system, and is basically SymTrak-M reconfigured for the traditional Front Engine layout. It, too, uses a limited slip differential instead of a drive belt, which should lead to higher reliability under hard driving. SymTrak+ will be standard on all future high-horsepower cars as it should handle the torque better and provide a higher-quality driving experience.
I’ll have to double-post as the next one is more in character for the company, and as such needs a year stamp on it.
1996 part 2
With SymTrak issues continuing for the rest of the year, mostly in high-mileage or high horsepower vehicles, it was time to release a public service announcement, as well as attempt to do something about this growing problem. Damage control was the first thing we focused on.
We released this to the press in hopes that we could keep our reputation up through these trying times, as the cars showed up, day after day, with SymTrak related complaints.
Storm Automotive is taking the SymTrak issue seriously. We are currently in the process of determining what exactly is causing the units to fail prematurely. We ask the public to keep calm. Our engineers have said that their predicted worst-case scenario of a total SymTrak failure is simply the loss of the front-wheel half of the AWD. The car should handle as a pure RWD platform long enough to reach a service center to have the SymTrak unit repaired.
We then figured it would be an appropriate thing to give the public things to look out for, and a way to help people out who had a car with a failing SymTrak drive belt and didn’t know what was going on. It was decided that a simple list would likely work best, combined with a free inspection and repairs covered by the mileage side of our powertrain warranty, disregarding how old the cars were.
If your Storm Automotive vehicle does any of the following, please bring it to the nearest Storm Automotive Service Center immediately for a free inspection:
1: Screeching or wailing noise under hard acceleration
2: Severe wheelspin from the rear wheels under hard acceleration
3: Strange noises coming from the center console
4: Abnormally rough acceleration
5: A clicking, grinding, or buzzing sound from the center console
These may be signs of premature SymTrak wear and should be serviced immediately. Any repairs will be covered by the original powertrain warranty, 5 years/100,000 miles. Cars older than 5 years will be covered by a modified powertrain warranty, up to 100,000 miles. Cars exceeding 100,000 miles will still be given the free inspection, but any repairs will require payment.
Our initial investigation on the wear patterns from the serviced vehicles showed a few different results depending on the cars they came from.
1990 Envy Turbo Coupe:
Belt teeth sheared off from significant torque load, cracks in belt from stress and age. Transmission side drive pulley covered in rubber material. Driveshaft side drive pulley reasonably clean. Dust like substance found in SymTrak housing. Dust like substance also intruding into drive pulley bearings. Recommendation: Replacement of the SymTrak unit. Unit cost: $3500.00
1990 Gunslinger GT:
SymTrak-M unit inspected, found clean and free of metal shavings. Gears found to have mild wear patterns on higher mileage cars, but nothing significant. Recommendation: Basic Courtesy Service. Cost: $200.00
1994 Jackal:
Belt teeth sheared from significant torque load, belts severely cracked with chunks missing. Transmission side pulley caked in rubber material. Driveshaft side pulley appears clean. Dust like substance was not present in the SymTrak unit, however, large chunks of rubber were present. Driveshaft side pulley bearings failed on 3 of 7 trucks inspected. Recommendation: Replacement of the SymTrak unit. Cost: $4000.00
1995 Serenity:
Belt shows severe wear given age of the vehicle, with 50% or more of the belt material worn down. Transmission side pulley caked in a layer of rubber material. Driveshaft side pulley also caked in a layer of rubber material. Dust like substance found in the unit. Dust like substance found in transmission side and driveshaft side bearings. Dust like substance present in the transmission fluid. Note: Serenity is T-AWD instead of L-AWD. Recommendation: Replacement of the SymTrak unit. Replacement of the PowerShift Automatic Transmission. Cost of parts: $2500 for the SymTrak unit, $6000 for the PowerShift Automatic Transmission.
1995 Gunslinger GTX:
SymTrak-M unit shows little to no signs of wear. Recommendation: Standard Courtesy Service. Cost: $325.00
1996 Knight GS-E:
Belt shows surprising wear patterns indicating belt slip under acceleration may be an issue. Dust like substance present in some GS-E models. Recommendation: Offer free SymTrak+ unit upgrade under warranty. Cost: $3500.
1996 Knight GT-4T:
SymTrak+ unit shows no signs of wear. Recommendation: Standard Courtesy Service. Cost: $325.00
The costs to the company were expensive, but worth keeping our customers happy. Most people fell under the 100,000 mile limitations on the powertrain warranties, which meant most people walked back to their car after the repairs and drove off with their new SymTrak units. However, some were left looking at the grim numbers on their repair quote and weighing the cost against a new car. Some owners asked about potential upgrades, but we didn’t have any options other than to replace the SymTrak unit and hope for the best.
The ones most heavily affected were the owners of the Serenity minivan. The closely-assembled nature of the transverse AWD platform meant that the rear wheels were the belt-driven ones, and that any dust generated by belt slip ended up with a higher potential of contaminating the transmission fluid. Several alternative options were often discussed with Serenity owners while waiting for the engineering department to make a SymTrak-To-SymTrak+ retrofitting kit. These options included:
1: Not installing the drive belt on the replacement SymTrak unit until the refitting kit arrived, accepting the fact that the vehicle, until a replacement kit was available, would be limited to FWD only.
2: Installing a complete SymTrak unit, accepting that the vehicle may require an additional Transmission and SymTrak replacement when the refitting kit became available.
3: Placing the vehicle into a high-priority on-site waiting list and accepting a leased Knight GS-E+ as a loaner vehicle until the refitting kit became available. These vehicles would be given SymTrak+ kits before any other vehicles, and would receive their kits in the order of the list.
Several Serenity owners chose option 1, as the loss of the RWD half of the SymTrak unit was minimal in basic city driving, and would allow them to continue using their 7-seat minivan. Several others chose option 3, accepting the loaner Knight GS-E+ and placing their van on the list. The remaining 20% of owners chose option 2 and hoped for the best, as they needed the AWD and the passenger capacity of the Serenity.
The Engineering department would spend the rest of 1996 attempting to create a retrofitting kit for SymTrak Standard to SymTrak+, a task that wasn’t exactly easy. At the same time, the number of cars affected became rather worrying. We would continue offering within-warranty replacements of faulty SymTrak units, but it was obvious in the drop in car sales that this SymTrak nightmare was going to hurt. A lot.
We just didn’t have any idea how badly it was going to hurt.
1997
The first retrofit kits were installed in the Serenity Minivans. The kits took the better part of the first half of '97 to assemble, as the SymTrak+ units were never intended to be installed on the transverse-mounted V6.
In the time it took for the Serenity Refitting Kits to be created, we found out other problems in our lineup. Released just last year, the Knight GS-E showed the weaknesses of the original SymTrak units, with yet more belt failures. Those cars were upgraded to SymTrak+ units at great expense to the company.
To keep our heads above water, we created a luxury version of the Serenity, with native SymTrak+ as an attempt to climb out of the shit.
Expensive though it was, many on the ‘waiting list’ who weren’t in the priority line decided to ditch their old Serenity minivans in favor of the new one, as they’d grown tired of waiting for that phone call as the screaming belts got worse and worse.
You could almost forgive us for thinking we were completely in the clear. Then a news article arrived, the first of many.
Five injured, three dead in ‘Beyond Worst-Case Scenario’ Storm SymTrak failure
A Sunday road trip sounds like fun for the whole family, and what better vehicle to drive than your trusty Storm Serenity minivan? That’s what one family thought in Chicago, IL, right up until the all-wheel-drive unit, what Storm Automotive calls ‘SymTrak’, failed catastrophically, leading to their van veering wildly off of the road and into oncoming traffic. The van, driven by 37 year old (Name Redacted), struck a tractor-trailer head on when the SymTrak unit in her van seized up, causing the back of the van, a 1995 Storm Serenity Deluxe, to lock up the rear wheels. (Redacted) and her husband, as well as their infant son, were killed in the collision with the truck. (Redacted)'s four other children were seriously injured, and the truck driver suffered minor injuries as a result of the high-speed accident. We attempted to contact Storm Automotive’s head of operations, Jim Shade, but received no comment.
With the reputation of the Serenity tarnished by the first fatal collision, and with trouble brewing on the horizon from the lawyers, all intending on nailing us to the wall with a class action lawsuit, claiming we knew the design was faulty and insisted on using it anyway, we knew there would be a heavy price to pay.
Choosing to avoid the fiasco that plagued other American companies prior to us, we showed documentation of our SymTrak units, including that they were more than capable of handling the loads we designed them for. We also showed evidence that we were investigating what was causing the premature failures, and that we had a strong lead on a culprit.
It took us the entirety of 1997 to iron out the mess, but we’d figured out the cause of the SymTrak failures. Back in 1993, our provider of toothed rubber drive belts switched from manufacturing belts in the United States and Canada to importing belts from China. The quality of these belts was sub-par, but not immediately noticeable. From our investigations and testing, these belts wore out at five times the standard rate. Our lawyers immediately sued the company that sold us the defective belts, that company quickly declared bankruptcy to screw us over one last time, and eventually the legal battles slowed to a glacial crawl.
And while we’d won the battle, the war still raged on. With little left in the money tank, we had many miles to go to clean this mess up, and now had a bigger problem, as all vehicles with our SymTrak units, even our SymTrak+ units, were stamped with the same fear and worry that they, too, would fail.
We’d need something dramatic for 1998, or it’d be our last year.
That’s a horrifying story for anyone to hear about!
Edit: It wasn’t even their fault - their suppliers tried to cut costs by using cheap Chinese parts and paid the price. And I wish Storm a speedy recovery from this scandal - they will bounce back and keep doing what they do best - manufacturing cars that people actually want to buy, own and drive.
No, of course not, why would you think of that in any god damn sense of the fucking world? I’m pretty sure it was fucking hinted at…
Motherfucker, don’t add shit without claiming a fucking edit… I swear to jesus…
1998
Special Delivery
With a little luck, we managed to finish the ‘common’ SymTrak+ Retrofitting kits. These were sent to mechanics to be installed in customer cars, primarily, but we did sell them as ‘off-the-shelf’ factory aftermarket, both with professional installation and ‘do-it-yourself’ kits. Do-it-yourself was favored by all the garage grease-monkeys who had their car already run out of warranty, or would have preferred just knowing that they’re the ones who put in their SymTrak+ unit. Professional Installations were done on a case-by-case basis, where someone could bring in any SymTrak Legacy-equipped car, purchase a retro-kit, and have one of our powertrain techs install it for them, for a very modest price. And we made sure professional installs were covered under warranty.
But, we weren’t out of the woods yet. Having expended the vast majority of our savings ‘safety net’ in the bank, we were walking a tightrope made of fishing line over a tank full of hungry pirahnas. Figuratively speaking, of course. We had to make a decision.
1: We could build one car with a new engine and hope like hell it sold, or it’d be the last car for the company.
2: We could make one new variant of an existing engine and use that engine in all of our 1998 lineup.
3: We could stick with the engines we had and manage maybe one other type of car, making two or three choices available.
4: We could look for a contract and hope we can survive with that alone, because if it falls through, we’re dead.
One of our team leads found a contract to make inexpensive cargo-haulers for the United States Postal Service. We realized there might be a fifth option…
5: Take the Post Office Contract, build an SUV, and make alternate trims for civilian use, riding the wave of the SUV boom.
The Brute was never built to be stylish. As the Post-Office-Special, it used the exact same 3 liter V6 that the Serenity Minivans used, but mounted Longitudinally instead of Transversely. The engine didn’t receive a refresh as we dared not risk making an engine we couldn’t use.
With luck on our side for once, we got the contract, and almost immediately dedicated our main plant in Chicago to cranking out the required amount of postal trucks to meet the demands and receive our payment.
Feeling a little more relaxed, we realized our primary assembly building was at 100% capacity, cranking out postal trucks at an obscene rate. However, we’d thought ahead, and several years back, we bought a decent-sized plot of land out in Nevada. While not exactly optimal for building in mass production, it would suffice for what we wanted to do, which was to meet the demands of the public. You see, as people saw postal workers driving around in the new Storm Brute SUV’s, and being rather quite comfortable knowing they had SymTrak onboard, they started to realize, slowly, that we were trying to turn things around. We’d been trying to do so, just things were happening so fast that we couldn’t prevent the big one. The important thing was that we didn’t shrug it off, that we did do something about it, and that we came down hard on the company that screwed us, and screwed them.
So the Brute ended up with a whole lineup, face-lifted for civilian use.
The LX model came equipped with 7 seats, a good-quality CD player, and a 5-speed PowerShift Automatic transmission.
The P-1000 is a Half-Ton (1000 pounds) light-duty pickup, with a bench front seat and decent-quality CD player, as well as the PowerShift 5 Speed Automatic transmission.
It came in a crew cab…
And King Cab variants.
Surprisingly, the Storm Brute lineup didn’t just sell well. It sold well enough to fund the expansion of our Nevada plant to the point where it became a full production facility equal to that of the Chicago plant. With our asses out of the fire, we settled on how to leap out of the frying pan and into the icebox.
The solution was to come up with a car that was just devilishly fun to drive. Something to bolster the sales of the 3L “AluStar” V6.
The Storm Pirahna GT-X took the same AluStar V6 and added a great pair of snails to the poor thing, squeezing 310 horsepower out of 3 liters on Premium pump gas. Offered in both hard-top and drop-top Roadster, the Pirahna was a unique Storm Automotive car, omitting AWD in favor of being a true RWD sports car. With “Turbo fun for everyone” in mind, the Pirahna was priced to sell. And sell it did, making the first half of 1998 our best year yet, between the SUV boom bandwagon and a punchy RWD budget sports car. But we weren’t done yet.
What a way to recover from a scandal - by serving the needs of a lucrative sector and making huge profits as a result! I wonder what you will come up with next.
1998 part 2
And… Action!
With a healthy budget keeping our heads above water, we were approached by a film studio who had purchased several Envy Turbo Coupes and wanted us to help convert them from scary, barely-drivable street slayers to their new secret-agent’s car. They wanted the engine to sound mean, but not overwhelm the microphones or the actors. They also wanted there to be sufficient power to use the car for stunt-work, as well as switches to disable certain driving assists in order to make the process easier.
At the same time, they wanted us to completely transform the Turbo Coupe so that at a passing glance, it wouldn’t be instantly recognized, yet true car guys would be able to see past the facade and tell what car it really was under all the body work. The film studio also wanted us to make sure that we left room for special effects equipment where possible, and that they’d appreciate it if we made the opening panels all controllable from in the driver’s seat, as it’d make fitting the car with prop weaponry easier.
The result was this.
The original ventilation was changed, as the car no longer required near as much airflow to cool the engine. The classic tail-light arrangement was scrapped in favor of the sci-fi-inspired multi-segmented rear light unit. The rear wing was swapped in favor of a lower-profile one, extra ventilation ductwork was added to the body, despite being unnecessary, and four forward facing red lamps were fitted, as had been requested. The rear side flaps functioned as air-brakes, and each of the cutouts in the bodywork had a servo to open and close it.
As for the engine, the original twin turbochargers were scrapped in favor of two much smaller units. This had the dual advantage of both cutting the Envy’s tremendous horsepower down to something more easily handled, and keeping the turbos spooled up from 1500 RPM upwards, making the engine sound even more powerful than it really was. It still had more than enough power for the stuntmen to throw the car around with confidence, which made it easier for the director to complete the movie, as the car scenes went well. The modified engine also still provided enough power to avoid having to speed up the film to make the car look fast.
Inside the cars, the interiors were outfitted with everything your average movie secret agent could possibly need. Not knowing which cars were going to be their star cars, and which were going to be stunt doubles, all 16 of the Envy Turbo Coupes were modified to the exact same specifications. While we had all the cars, they were upgraded to SymTrak+ units, and the transmissions rebuilt for a little extra abuse.
Once the movie had been completed, only 4 of the Envy Turbo Coupe show cars remained in reasonable condition. One was kindly donated back to Storm Automotive, where it resides in the main office lobby as a reminder of our hard work making our first proper movie car.
With our dabbling in show business over for the time being, we had to focus on the task at hand, and the biggest thing we were worried about was cornering the Midsize market. Having broken into the SUV market, and made something small, RWD, and sporty, we knew we’d be okay not having a midsize, but we also knew that failing to do so would make it that much harder next year.
As we wanted it to be a little more up-scale, but not true luxury, we stuck to our naming schemes from the past. With the Sentinel being our Luxury car, it was decided that the up-scale midsize would be the Guardian.
The Guardian GT showed up with the same engine used in the Pirahna GT-X. This, coupled with SymTrak+, meant that it was a comfortable car that had a bit of sport to it. The Guardians were built using all-steel constructions in order to improve their safety figures, as these were to be family sedans, and being low to the ground made them less likely to tip over. The GT received a 6 speed manual gearbox for a more pure driving experience, and had a more common interior trim to save a little weight.
The Guardian LX is the proper up-scale midsize. Also packing the same all-steel construction for safety, but bringing the 5-speed PowerShift Automatic transmission to the party, the LX was easy to drive, and incredibly comfortable due to the up-scale premium interior trim. Also fitted with SymTrak+, the LX carried a bit of a burden on its shoulders. It’d be the last car in the lineup to carry the + on the modern SymTrak units.
After all, the SymTrak+ gear-driven AWD unit was designed to be exactly that: A model above the usual SymTrak unit. But with SymTrak+ being our new standard, it made sense to change the naming scheme. SymTrak became SymTrak Legacy, SymTrak+ would become SymTrak, and thereby free up SymTrak+ for cars that really did need some extra heavy-duty parts thrown at them.
With the 90’s fast approaching their end, we looked to the future and hoped things would keep going well. 1998 was our best year yet for car sales, as well as record-setting profits for our company, and we knew we’d made it big when we beat the Detroit Three at their own game. Our no-longer-quite-so-little company from Chicago beat the big guns at their own game, and while we’d struggle to ever do it again, we’d established ourselves as an American Car Company that cares for their customers.
At the beginning of 1998, we estimated that nearly 60% of our cars needed to be brought in for a SymTrak upgrade. By the end of '98, our estimates were down to 6%. We’d gotten the word out, made the process as quick and painless as possible, given out loaner cars to those who couldn’t be without theirs for any length of time, and managed to settle the court cases for those injured or the families of those who died due to a SymTrak failure.
With 1999 on the horizon, we all looked to the future and wondered what cars would be like in 10 years. Where would we be in 10 years? We saw huge leaps of technology from the 70’s to the 80’s, and again from the 80’s to the 90’s. Everyone agreed to make a few predictions and see what came out true. Some suggestions were a little outlandish, like having flying cars, but others seemed plausible. A few suggested that we’d be able to have pocket sized computers, and a few others believed we’d see cars breaking 50 miles per gallon soon.
Either way, we looked forward to the future, as we now sat among some of the strongest American car companies, at least in our own domestic markets.
The modified version of the Envy Coupe for the film deal is basically what KITT would have looked like if the original Knight Rider TV series had carried on into the 90s and beyond. It would have been much better than what we actually got - the Team Knight Rider series instead used assorted Fords and only ran for a few years, which was a much shorter run than the original.
Also, the milder tune might make more sense for a base model Envy were you to put it into production. But the new taillight treatment actually improves the car’s looks somewhat in my opinion.
1999
High Class
Looking back through the years taught us what we lacked in our lineup. In 1982, we created the Sentinel, with RWD and AWD trims to test the waters with the new tech. And apparently, it was terrifying. Turbocharged engine in a luxury car. What the hell were we thinking back then?! But, then again, we’d just come off of the turbocharging high from the Storm Duke, so maybe the gas fumes got the better of us?
In 1986, we did it again, same engine, different car. The Storm Turbo Pilot was… Even more terrifying. But that one at least had half an excuse, as we were trying to build for Group B, only to have it cancelled in our face. So to sweep our mistake under the rug, the barren interiors of the homologation cars were packed full of luxury goodies, the gearbox was swapped from a 5 speed stick to a 4 speed automatic, and we shoved the car out the door as it was, unleashing yet more turbocharged terror on the unsuspecting Luxury crowd. At least the Turbo Pilot had AWD with no RWD option, so it was less likely to kill you.
Which brings us to today. 1999. And we’ve done Luxury a favor. We brought back the Sentinel in two separate trims. Without turbos.
The LX version is the ‘cheap’ one, being standard high-end luxury.
A 5-speed Automatic is coupled to a SymTrak unit, providing power through the geared rear differential, sending 400+ horsepower through all four Medium Compound tires. The car rests on 185mm wide 18 inch magnesium multi-spoke rims. Brakes are vented four piston up front, and vented single piston out back, bringing the Sentinel LX down from highway speed in about 33.5 meters.
A fully clad undertray keeps the air resistance down, improving the gas mileage just a little, and cooling vents make sure that big 7.1L beast under the hood stays cool without being a drag.
Inside, we paid attention to everything you’d be in contact with. There is no exposed plastic in this car, everything is either covered in leather or is made of metal. The 5 luxury-grade seats have heaters in them for cold days, the mirrors are heated for defrosting, the heater itself is a hybrid heater-core and electric coil unit, so you don’t have to wait for your heat, and your air conditioning is provided through redundant twin compressors and cooling loops, meaning that you won’t lose your cool if one of the units gives up. Not that it would, as we’ve built the Sentinel’s interior with a little extra care and attention. The in-dash radio has a 3-CD changer cartridge mounted just below the climate controls, there’s a cassette deck in the radio itself, and underneath the CD changer is a set of extra cupholders, in case the two we’ve given up front aren’t enough.
In the back seat, there’s a TV with DVD and VHS players built into the center console, as well as cupholders built into the center console, placed low enough that even the tallest of beverage containers shouldn’t interfere with viewing the screen.
The Sentinel LX also features our advanced safety package, with crash-rails in the doors to prevent deformation, enhanced A, B, and C pillars to handle not just roll-overs, but also an impact directly to the roof, and airbags powered by the main Safe-T-Net unit. Unlike previous conventional airbags, these Safe-T-Net airbags inflate rapidly using nitrogen gas instead of an explosion. This means that there’s very little risk of air-bag injuries, as well as that Safe-T-Net can deploy the airbags at different speeds depending on the type and intensity of the collision, as well as keeping the airbags inflated slightly longer for improved crash protection.
The Sentinel LX rides on our Hydropneumatic suspension option, with semi-active sway-bars providing improved ride stability and comfort. While not quite as floaty as the old land-barges of the past, the LX does have several selectable ride-comfort modes, as well as a custom programmable mode using the multi-function display in the radio unit to adjust your suspension settings to your own personal preferences.
For $61,000, this car’s a steal given what you get, and it shows.
However, if you’re the guy seeking the ultimate luxury car, if the Sentinel LX sounds good, but you’ve already got four cars like it, if that’s not quite good enough for you… You can order a Sentinel Custom.
Same PowerShift 5-speed through SymTrak, but we worked to quiet down the big engine just a little more, and in the process found a little extra power. Medium compound tires are used again, but this time wrapped around a 19 inch magnesium rim at 185mm of width. Same brakes, with a shorter stopping distance, despite the higher weight. Same undertray, same cooling flaps, all working together to keep maintenance costs down by sharing parts with it’s less-expensive and less classy sibling.
Inside, you’ll find there’s still 5 seats, but this time, they’re hand-stitched with high-quality leather, meaning each Custom is 100% unique. The front bucket seats are heated and air conditioned, the mirrors are heated, the heater is again the same as the LX, with hybrid ElectroHeat technology, but there’s an additional layer of redundancy in the air-conditioning unit. Three separate cooling loops were used, instead of just two. The radio in this car is further improved, with a 10-CD changer, in-dash TV for the front-seat passenger, DVD player, cassette deck, in-dash 33/45 RPM record player, and a satellite phone for business calls. The climate control unit has a bigger multi-function display, can be programmed to keep the car at a specific temperature instead of just being close enough, and is capable of informing you when your vehicle needs service. Oh, and we don’t call it a cigarette lighter in this car. They’re cigar lighters. Same port, but better quality all around.
In the back seat, the rear bench is also heated and air conditioned, there’s again a TV with DVD and VHS players, another set of cup holders, cigar lighters, and a refrigerated compartment to keep your drinks ice cold on long trips.
We’ve also beefed up the safety in this car, adding in side-curtain airbags to prevent a side-impact slamming your head into the double-thick sound-insulating window glass, knee-airbags to stop the driver or front seat passenger’s knees from meeting the dashboard, and heavily reinforced the passenger compartment ‘safety cell’ to prevent intrusion even under some of the most severe impacts. We’ve done this to ensure you don’t just survive an accident, you’ll be able to open the doors and walk away unharmed to call your lawyers and insurance company.
At $101,500, the Sentinel Custom is not something to order lightly, but if you have the money, you owe it to yourself to get one. These cars are bound to become collectable some day, and while there’s no limit on how many Customs we’ll make, that’s because we know there is a limit on how many are willing to throw that kind of money around.
Madrias - Storm Sentinel.zip (47.8 KB)
