1995
Technology marches on. With the research teams working as fast as possible, the engine development team sticking to their ritual of blowing up an engine at least once per week, and a multitude of voluntary inspections on some of our employees’ cars, a new technology for making engines better had been found.
While VVT has been a staple since it came out, even just on the intake cam, for making an engine perform better through the rev-range, the standard camshaft leaves a lot to be desired. Either you have to sacrifice your low-end grunt for some high-end scream, or you have to sacrifice the rev-monster in favor of a little torque. And while a turbo can help a little, it really can’t help enough to offset poor cam profiles.
But, what if you could vary how far the valves open? That’s exactly what the engineers were working on. Storm’s new Valve Control Technology allows the engine to run the equivalent of two completely different cams. Need some low-end grunt and fuel efficiency? We’ll set the primary cam profile lower to keep the torque and power in the low-end, while sipping fuel. Also need some high-end scream and tons of power? Set the secondary cam profile to what we’d normally dial in, and suddenly you have an engine that can do both.
The first engine to feature VCT is our new 3 liter, DOHC V6.
Some might question the rather unimpressive power figures and lackluster fuel efficiency. We’re learning, and we figured, what better way to test VCT with the public than to put this whole package into the most tame kind of vehicle on the road?
The Storm Serenity is our replacement for the Overland minivan. Featuring better aerodynamics and power sliding rear doors, power opening hatch, and fold-flat seats as standard equipment, as well as two transmission options, a 4 speed automatic or a 5 speed automatic, the Serenity is designed to provide premium transportation at a budget price. For a hint over $20,000, the Deluxe Edition is yours to drive.
The interior is designed for comfort for 7 people, with the middle row containing 3 seats and the third row containing 2 seats. The Deluxe Edition gives these seats power folding capabilities, allowing your minivan to convert from humble 7 seat people carrier to have 5 seats with some cargo space, or to fold all the rear seats flat and give yourself all that cargo room for loading those large, but not overly heavy objects. The entertainment package offers up a premium-quality CD player with a cassette deck, as well as Storm MultiPlay technology. MultiPlay lets the rear seat passengers plug in a set of headphones to one of the provided audio jacks and select their music source from the radio, the CD player, or the cassette deck. The panels near each of the seats will allow control over the appropriate device (in case of conflicts, the first turned on maintains control) allowing the rear seat passengers to operate the tape deck, CD player, or radio independantly, without having to bother the driver. While MultiPlay is operational, it supports up to 7 different audio sources!*
You’d think that the Serenity would get poor gas mileage, given that it has an automatic transmission and can carry seven people comfortably. Wrong! The Serenity is capable of 27 miles per gallon combined thanks to VCT and the latest PowerShift Automatic Transmission. With 5 speeds, this matches the gear counts of a lot of sports cars you’ve seen on the streets, but it’ll do all the hard work for you.
*Seven sound sources is the logical maximum, consisting of one CD player, one tape player, and five different radio stations. Only 5 jacks are provided, resulting in only 6 sources available at once. Radio quality not guaranteed if more than 3 radio stations are dialed in at once. Using MultiPlay to play the same audio source as the Driver has selected may result in undesired operation.
Despite the glaring problems of people using the wrong settings on the radio, the Serenity made for a decent minivan. It fit the market people wanted it for, and people soon began seeing these parked in a row outside schools, with parents picking up children to take them to various different places.
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In the same year, Storm Automotive decided to do something about the Gunslinger’s poor handling characteristics. Having received a couple reviews noting that the handling was dancing on the razor’s edge, and that the modest amount of power was good, although lacking low-end grunt, the company decided the best course of action would be reaction.
Sure, it’s five years down the line, but what better way to try giving people a kick in the butt with another chomp at the mid-engine cherry?
Starting at a little over $20,500, the revised Gunslinger was more expensive, carrying the weight of more improvements onboard. In a last great hurrah for the 1986 based 3 liter V6, the GTX Turbo version of the Gunslinger cranked out a still-very-modest 276 horsepower. In an attempt to improve low end power, the cam profile was adjusted to a more mild nature, while the turbochargers were used to keep the high-end power available.
The Gunslinger received a mild cosmetic facelift, removing the ‘oversize nostrils’ that served little purpose in favor of a larger lower air intake, allowing just as much air to hit the radiator. The once-decorative side-scoops near the window line now acted as ram-air intakes for the engine’s two hungry snails. The intercooler found itself mounted to the back of the car, and the rear deck lid had the vents adjusted, favoring a fast moving air channel to cram air into the intercooler. The rear vents were opened wider to allow the intercooler to do its job, despite getting warmer air from the engine compartment. Fog lamps were added to the front in order to promote better driving safety in poor weather conditions, and the rear spoiler was changed to appease those who thought the rounded wing looked out of place.
Inside, the seats have barely changed from the original, remaining the high-quality sculpted seats designed for a sports car. However, the expensive radio package has disappeared in favor of a standard cassette player, because now, you’ll actually be able to try using it.
That is due almost entirely to the fact that a lot of modification went into the already-modified SymTrak unit, creating a new variant, SymTrak-M. The M variants are designed to funnel more power to the rear wheels by default, enabling the M-AWD platform of the Gunslinger to retain nearly the same drivability it had, despite gaining the harshness of the turbochargers.
As for fuel efficiency, it’s improved thanks to our new 6 speed manual transmission, making it still a viable option to anyone looking for mid-engine thrills on a budget. The latest and greatest safety gear aids in keeping you alive, even in the worst of conditions. The new Storm Safe-T-Net^ works to keep you safe behind the wheel by bringing synergy to the table.
######^Safe-T-Net combines seat belts, air bags, ignition lockouts, electric pumps, and an integrated rollover safety bar to make our cars safer in the worst accidents. How does it work so well? Let’s start where it all begins, the seat belts. Safe-T-Net uses an ignition lockout to enforce the use of the seat belt by disabling the car’s electronic ignition circuitry if the seat belt is not properly connected. This relies on a weight sensor, a continuity sensor, and a few other rather simple circuits to make sure that unless the seat belt is unbuckled when the weight is removed from the seat, or the belt is buckled when there’s weight added into the seat, the ignition will not fire. What makes Safe-T-Net different from other attempts at ignition lockout is that most just disable the starter, preventing starting, but not preventing someone from unbelting after the car is started. Safe-T-Net disables the ignition, and will shut off the engine should someone try unbuckling their belt. Most people will typically try the belt trick once or twice in their driveway, posing no risk to other drivers when the engine inevitably stalls. However, we know there are always those ‘special’ people who will either unbuckle their belt at speed, or haven’t used their belts properly around their children, who will unbuckle at speed. You’d think this would be dangerous, as in most cars, the power steering and power assisted brake system suddenly stop working. This is where the electric pumps come into play, keeping power steering and power brakes working, even if the engine’s died. This is also great in case of random stalls, or engine trouble, as it’ll be easier to get the car to a safe location out of traffic with these functions working. So how do the air bags come into play? Well, Safe-T-Net uses side curtain air bags to prevent head injury from contacting the side windows, as well as the primary steering-wheel air bag and the dashboard-mounted passenger side air bag. Like a conventional airbag, a Storm Safe-T-Net airbag inflates rapidly, forming a protective cushion between you and the steering wheel or windshield. Unlike a conventional airbag, however, a Safe-T-Net airbag deflates slower, providing additional protection against multiple successive impacts, such as those commonly found in violent roll overs and multi-car accidents. Also, unlike a conventional airbag, a Safe-T-Net Airbag Control Module can set off the air bags under excessive G-Force loads, such as those experienced in a violent roll-over, providing a layer of protection not previously available in the event of such an accident. Again in contrast to conventional airbags, Safe-T-Net bags are not deployed in low-speed incidents where the seatbelt is enough to prevent injury. This saves you and your insurance company a lot of money.
In the end, the Gunslinger GTX Turbo ended up performing about on par with the older car. While it’d been tamed some from handling adjustments, the turbo got people into trouble. On the other hand, the Safe-T-Net complete synergistic safety system made sure that the only fatality from the GTX Turbo edition was caused by a driver trying to run the crossing gates at the railroad crossing, only to have his passenger unbuckle the seat belt and bail out. An investigation into whether the Safe-T-Net system was at fault was called for, only to be blocked by Storm Automotive’s new legal team, who claimed:
“It is not Storm Automotive’s duty to investigate whether the safety equipment was at fault or not. The fault lies with the driver, who chose to run the crossing gates with an approaching train.”
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 
