The Car Shopping Round (Round 64): Tears in Heaven

I am in favor of this round being set in the 80s - it’s been done twice before, and the first time it happened, as I have told you earlier, @koolkei won with a car which was basically the Continental GT of its time (twin-turbo V12 luxury coupe). That era was also when Group B took off, then crashed and burned (literally), to be replaced by Group A, which had already been in use as a touring car formula for some time by then. The second round to be set in the 80s was about building a cheap car for developing countries with at least 0 (not negative) quality in everything. But the poster also taught me that the next round will actually feel more like the former…

Reminds me of the font used for the title of the first couple of Test Drive games. Boy those were the days. They featured some of the hottest and most legendary cars that remain so to this day… Countach, F40, Testarossa, 911 Turbo, Esprit Turbo, ZR-1, Yellowbird… Not to mention all the classic muscle. But I digress.

I just spent the better part of an hour drifting an F40 around Nurburgring GP in Assetto Corsa, so I may be high on digital fumes

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look, i’m gonna enter a Miami Vice reject for this challenge, no matter what the rubric.

yup. that teasing after teasing after teasing are working isn’t it?

CSR19 - Fleet Replacement


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The year is 1986, Joint Indonesian-Australian mining and resource giant KRK Corporation has a problem, the company working fleet are nearly 20 years old! Way WAY longer than any fleet vehicle should be operated. Most of them aren’t even properly maintained, due the cost cutting that started in the late 1970’s due to the fuel crisis. They break down so often that they are actually costing the company more to run. But on paper, the cost of running the car is still not enough to justify the cost of buying a whole new fleet of cars. At least that’s what the penny pinchers at the head office are saying, that is, unless the head manager can be convinced to do otherwise.

The crew are tired and frustrated over the POS that they are forced to use for their work, it often slows down their work when it breaks down, which also leads up to them getting yelled at because it makes them seems like they’re slacking off on the job when in reality, the car is the cause of the problem.

We as a sympathizer and also as one of the main operational manager are also starting to get tired of relentless whining, cursing, frustration scream and all the stories about the parasitic car. It’s a POS, but it’s also the lifeline of their work. It’s usually used as the main mobile tools transportation between the rigs, but also used for transporting some people between the rigs and the office, at least when they do work. If they don’t? That’s about up to 30 preciously wasted minutes of walking and not working between places, each trip, while hauling the tools needed.

We have been pleading for some time to the head manager for a refresh of the fleet. But we never once got a response. A call usually ends up us talking to his “secretary”, saying he/she will report the complaint. A formal written request never got any answer, and we never know where it all ended up.

But now, the head manager is retiring very soon, and he is to be replaced by a supposedly more down to earth son, or so the rumor says. Either way, he’s not slacking off, he has been preparing himself for it. He has been taking a tour off all the rig the company have, and are making a list of what to do when it’s time for him to step up next year by surveying.

Our branch is scheduled to be visited within the next 2 months and we along with the crews have cooked a plan. A surprise and not a pleasant one! We’ve gotten tired of getting our plead ignored. So this time, we’re taking it to the extreme. We’re taking him for a ride. In the POS that we have been suffering on for years to make sure that he will hate the car as much as we do. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Now we’ve been talking really bad about the car. But really, the only main problem is it keeps breaking down, and it’s like the reverse of a back massager! There’s a reason that it’s not driving us insane yet. When it does work, boy does it do it’s job. It’s got enough power. It can haul almost anything we need it to, and anyone, to anywhere, anytime. Well, anytime it works.Now we are looking for a replacement. Not just any replacement. We won’t restrict any design choices, and there won’t be any hard line figure number the car has to achieve. We want for it to haul a pretty significant amount of both people and tools at the same time, we want enough power, drivable, reasonable running cost, able to outlast my sexlife, and most importantly, DOES FUCKING NOT BREAK DOWN! Though, never forget about the looks too, we are going to show the chosen cars to the head manager’s son, and it needs to appeal to him and our public relations manager for our section.

Except there’s a twist. We’re drilling for oil. Sometimes we’re in the middle of nowhere. What roads are available are usually barren. The crew usually stays in the quarter nearby, unless when they’re going to town. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it. Big engines, big power, empty street, burly chassis. That’s right, we like to have a little drag event every couple of weeks. Put down all the shits we always carry on it. Maybe even take the seats out. Get 2 drivers to lineup, have a little betting game, and let it rip. Just for fun, without the knowledge of those up top, I’ve personally already ran a couple times. It’s our little precious time that brings the crew together. and we would like to continue this little fun event of ours.

So Hamish Shearston is the Australian born public relations manager, he is largely based in the ‘offices’ that we use because he’s got one of the company’s brand new computer terminals. So he hardly ever actually uses the vehicles, instead he’s more concerned about what it looks like and how well it would represent the brand. But he also loves all the latest gadgets. He’ll be judging vehicles by their looks, touch and feel. Despite working in the office most of the time he’s a real outgoing bloke fits in with the crew so he’ll give a perspective from the view of the driver and passenger. He’ll be scoring how styling of your car looks (he’s the ‘looks’ guy)

Now me, I’m Salek Soetarja, an Indonesian born and is the operations manager and I’m the car enthusiast of the bunch. I started the drag racing tradition, i teached some of the crew how to fiddle and repair the cars sometimes, essentially made some mechanic out of the crew. But I’m a pretty nitpicky person, and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna nitpick the smallest thing to the point it drives someone nuts about the car. (I’m the ‘works’ guy)

We’ve sent plenty of request for quotation to car companies, to offer us the best they have. Hamish even wrote a program of requirements for the car on his terminal!

There’s some things needs to be take into account on designing the car. Similarity and familiarity of the mechanical workings. What we’ve been working with our car for nearly 2 decades. We know almost every single thing to the point we can rebuilt the whole drivetrain just inside the company garage, partly because it just breaks down that often.

Two main points, but there are also some smaller ones.

Carb vs EFI. MPFI are the best at this era, in-game. But it’s still the 80s, and we’re more familiar with the carb technology. So, SPFI? it’s really essentially a carb but electronically controlled, may be tolerable, but we’re still gonna to need to learn this new technological wizardry. Remember, you can appeal to Hamish’s love of tech if you like but really we’re gonna be more like rednecks rather than computer nerds of the time. Plus Hamish won’t be the one fixing the car so his opinion on this side of things might not be the best idea. But a little add-on to this, you can ‘eliminate’ the ‘drawbacks’ of EFI in our mind, if you are willing to offer some ‘lessons’ for us, but at the cost of adding $1000 to the car’s sales price, for no quality fuel systems. but for +1 quality on fuel systems, add $1200. +3, add $ 1400. +4 add $1600 and so on.
and then the oddball i’ve heard of but never see, and don’t want to ever see. Mechanical Fuel Injection. that thing is just NOT for work vehicles. i really don’t want any part of it, and i think, neither will my crew.

Pushrod vs OHC vs DOHC. Again, we know pushrod the best, just because that what we’ve been working with. But lately, some pretty FAAAANNNNCEEEEEEEEHHH valve systems are getting more out of the engine, or at least that’s what the magazine says. But it’s still pretty alien to us.

Rk38 - Benchmark CSR19.zip (88.5 KB)

Hamish Shearston will deliver the final verdict with his compute


btw. sent it to me. the files.
mods are okay as long as they’re on the steam.4
DEADLINE: 21 August 2018

namig, as usual
Model: CSR19 - username
Trim: vehicle name
Engine: CSR19 - username
Variant: engine name

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LOL.

Well played.

So were we going to submit that Miami Vice reject still?

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Sounds pretty interesting. But I’m still quite unclear as to what the exact judging criteria are. Also, what’s the budget? Markup? Fuel type? Cat required? Stable or beta?

So… You’re looking for an affordable, reliable and practical work truck with enough utility, economy and drivability to keep your company running. And anyone who enters must weigh up the pros and cons of carbs, EFI, OHV, SOHC and DOHC before deciding on a suitable engine. The theme of this round is actually closer to The Affordable Utility challenge, hosted by @phale and won by @HowlerAutomotive, but takes place more than two decades earlier.

originally, i wanted to be, ‘we want a working fleet car, use common sense’. but nah.

@abg7 not just that. EVERYTHING

Your narrative for this round is even better than the one for the only other round you have hosted so far. However, as @phale pointed out, you forgot to specify the fuel octane required for your new fleet truck. Is it low quality (80 RON)? Otherwise I will just use 91 RON regular unleaded. Also, I am still using the current stable release. At any rate, I will use a catalytic converter - by 1986, such devices had become increasingly commonplace.

read again. i put it in not as numbers, but only as a hint. there are no restrictions on fuel, but i did hint on what i want. or preferably look at the benchmark car.

Whoa, sorry for the delay! I guess it takes a while to boot up :stuck_out_tongue:

Oops…let’s try that again…

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Finally a set of clear rules for us to follow. The GIF you posted looks like it came straight out of a James Bond movie, Top Gun, or even Star Wars!:slight_smile:

absofuckingloutley

Okay, I still have two questions: stable or beta, and are limited production parts allowed?

What about mods?

stable. allowed, yes. in the spirit? you decide.

mods, as long as they’re in the steam.