Wasp Automotive

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_Disclaimer : _
This company was created for the “Journey through time” challenge, and will only feature cars that were built for that challenge. If the challenge dies - the company dies. Enjoy these if you can, but do not expect any coherent narrative or anything.

Founded in 1922 in USA, Savannah, Georgia, as a marine diesel engine manufacturer, Wasp was contracted as an tugboat engine building factory through out it’s first years.Wasp stayed to it’s strength until the United States entered World War 2. During the world war Wasp modified their factory to create parts for many military contracted companies, providing high quality components to aircraft and navy vessel powerplants. Our story begins shortly after WW2, in 1946, with Wasp entering the scene of car manufacturers.

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Wasp Savage

Wasp Savage Advert
Wasp Savage Advert1800×1600 1.14 MB

Brutal as they come, the incompetence and the backwards thinking of the engineers for this poor excuse for a pickup truck hit hard on all sides. First there was the fixation on the V8 engine, because only wusses would want an inline 6. 8 is bigger, means 8 is better. The engine however was left for a later date, since the design of the truck came first.

At first glance this was a good looking thing, which was not a very important bit to it, since, being a pickup truck it would be covered in dirt, scrapes and traces of neglect. Naturally it needed chrome, because. HELL, WHO DOESNT’ LIKE CHROME?! The classic shape of a thin hood and bulging quarterpanels was chosen, which led to the before mentioned engine problem.

Wanting to squeeze in the manly man’s 7 liter engine was a task well worth doing. Sadly, however, it couldn’t be done without going full hot-rod and dismantling the whole front, so the V8 was made … less… by decreasing it’s size and capacity. Heaven forbid, God fearing christians had to use that pesky inline 6! Oh no, we’ve set on about the idea of a V8, and WE WILL DELIVER ONE! Even though it had to be literally cut in half, resulting in a 3.5 liter displacement.

Cast iron pushrod behemoth… ehm… regular engine with all it’s 16 valves managed to produce a whopping 105hp and some resemblance of torque (244 of them to be exact). chugging 92 ron through two single barrel carbs, pushing the 3 speed manual (because you’re a working man, not a fancy primadonna, lern2clutch) to it’s absolute limits

REJOICE, however, since the tires can’t handle any real power anyways, because 40’s! Our best attempts at making this anything but a drift missile ended up with a 4x4 setup (sitting on solid axles, in it’s ladder chassis glory… STANCEWORKS, YO). The 900 kilo pickup truck (who needs safety really) chugged a meager 18.7 liters per 100kph and managed a 0-100 kph in a whopping 12.3 seconds (which… is faster than a lot of modern eco boxes).

Without further ado, WE PROUDLY PRESENT THE FAILURE THAT WON AMERICA’S HEARTS!!! (Or it didn’t, the results aren’t in yet)
Teh WASP SAVAGE

Recipy here was - make a cheap car, save money where you can, and when you figure out that nobody wants to drive your deathtrap of uncomfortableness (that’s a word now) make sure they have to, by making it a workhorse. Although it could be done better with an i6…

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A very cool looking truck :slight_smile:

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The position the filler cap suggests the fuel tank is under the seat in the cab? That wasn’t an uncommon arrangement in trucks at the time but even so. The lack of safety - it hurts.

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So where do you suggest to put the fuel tank instead? There aren’t many places you can fit one.

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Chill, bro dude, bubbalah… bro… he said that it’s not uncommon. As in “it is actually common” :slight_smile:

Also yeah, I wanted safety, but that body plus that chassis selection on top of the 40’s means there’s pretty much still no safety no matter what I chose.

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If I recall correctly, Chevy trucks up until the 60’s had the gas tank in the cab, directly behind the bench seat. I’d say it’s a great incentive to not get in an accident.

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It didn’t get much better after that either, after they moved to the so-called “saddle tanks” in the rear quarters. This meant that if the truck was t-boned, there was the potential for a massive fuel spill and fire.

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if I remember right, wasn’t it the generation after that when they finally moved it into between the frame rails? and that wasn’t til '88

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1950 Wasp Meteor

It’s a wonder how the Savage got the company off the ground, and the Meteor to follow was another wonder. Spending as little as possible, and re-using the engine (although now modified to produce even less power, and then blatantly lying in the adverts about any relation between the two 3.5 liter v8’s), the Wasp Meteor was a premium car.

Sure slotting in the premium toys and good cabin was not too hard to do, and with the looks to match the Meteor was a pricey yet, cheaply built thing (much like the BMW of the 2010+). The crowds liked the car enough to make sure Wasp Motors was on the rise still. And next to come was the European expansion.

Still running inadequate tires for the job, and hugely inappropriate gearbox, the car was a slow poke even though it was marketed against the 300+hp v8 muscle monsters of the era. It was however pretty, so it was all well.

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From what I’ve seen, you have made the right decision in making a new thread specifically for the brand you made exclusively for the Journey Through Time challenge. Both the Savage and Meteor look the part, which makes we want either of them even more! If only they existed in real life.