A legacy built, Part 1 (Cancelled)

How about shooting brakes, or more specifically, Personal Luxury Wagons?

from QFC23

Skye stood back and let Jay walk around and see for himself for a moment before narrating, "DCMW calls it a Personal Luxury Wagon, basically a Personal Luxury Coupe with extra cargo room. The Sharriallat nameplate began in the 40’s in the Dalluhan domestic market; when Norðwagen and Western sales began, it took on the name Fenrir, representing the ultimate yet sensible vehicular companion for lone wolf types - a medium- to high-end shooting brake, essentially. The concept evolved in the late 60’s when Archana expanded its road network into several remote and very scenic regions, and it became very fashionable among the well-to-do in Dalluha - that is, most of the population - to go on roadtrips to these places, especially for couples. The cars got bigger, softer, more practical and reliable. So did their buyers, for that matter. They gained a few features, notably a hydropneumatic suspension with manual ride height adjustment, and AWD, though the very first ones were old-school part-time 4WD. They also gained their official type name. The idea was for the lone wolf - or a couple of them - to be able to go anywhere in comfort and style, and conquer any obstacle, come what may.

Mechanically, they’re closer to a typical SUV than a car, in part for durability on what Archana charitably referred to as their “roads”. The Sharriallat/Fenrir has reinforced and unusually long control arms, all three diffs manually lockable, and the aforementioned hydro suspension. Dual fuel tanks allow over 1000km range if you’re sparing with the happy pedal. In its home market, it comes standard with underbody armor and all-terrain tires."

“So this thing goes off-road?”

“Well, it’s no Land Crosser or Heep, but the Sharriallat is as capable as most SUVs while being a lot safer and more comfortable. The Norðwagen version, made for western markets with much better roads, has medium-compound tires and a full aero underbody. So you won’t be rock-crawling or mudbogging, but the adjustable hydro suspension and diff locks remain.”

from LHC

While the simplest explanation for a Personal Luxury Wagon (PLW) is a Personal Luxury Coupe (PLC) with extra cargo room, the concept was an independent development. The Business Coupe was a popular body style in the 1920s-1940s, a car intended for traveling salespeople and similar professions who needed substantial cargo room, and not much passenger room, but good ride comfort for long-distance trips. The groundbreaking 1947 DCMW Sharriallat featured a conceptually simple change that had important implications - the cargo and passenger areas were integrated, repurposing existing space hitherto reserved for cargo, and making it available for passenger use. This extended the vehicle’s role from mere transportation to being a mobile shelter, making it instantly popular for long road trips, and with the advent of 4wd versions, for cross-country expeditions as well.

from JOC3B

In ancient Dalluhan mythology, the Sharriallat are a race of beings known for their reclusiveness, independence, and practical competence. Often depicted with a large rucksack full of magical and mundane items to get into or out of seemingly any situation, they were the patron saints of explorers and seafarers - intrepid, self-sufficient, comfortable with venturing into the unknown. Brave, but prepared, not reckless.

The DCMW Sharriallat was from the beginning a shooting brake that found its strongest appeal among young, relatively well-off singles and couples. It became a bit of national caricature: the well-heeled lone wolf type at the helm of a Sharriallat, the back filled variously with their life’s possessions, a weekend’s worth of camping equipment, or just a bunch of booze, on their way from one adventure to the next. Now in its fourth generation, several important changes have been made to the Sharriallat, known in this market as the Norðwagen Fenrir (Mk. 1).

Tiny Dalluha has excellent roads that go nowhere interesting. In neighboring Archana, there are certainly places to go, but no way to get there until recently. Following yet another of their notorious Seven Year Plans, the Archanan road network now extends to such regions as the Sapphire Valley and Great Northern Forest, areas whose scenic beauty is legendary as much for its degree as for the difficulty of seeing it for oneself. Those Dalluhan lone wolves suddenly had somewhere to go, particularly - as many of them were no longer lone, or at least wished not to be - on romantic getaways. In addition to meeting premium esthetic and performance expectations, the vehicles also needed greater 1. Range, 2. Ride comfort, and 3. Reliability. The latter refers to both breakdowns and not getting stuck and stranded; Archana increased the quantity of what it charitably refers to as “roads”, but not their quality, and the areas remain remote, with supplies and services few and far between.

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I was planning for that as a future part, for now wanted to focus on the Coupe body model. Hence the coupe focused markets playing a part in the scoring

Why an open diff for the 60s when a clutched LSD is available in that era? To keep costs down?

Just a curve ball. I personally love open diffs and usually carry it to 80s even. I want to see how people try to keep the drivability up without the LSD

Eww, one-wheel peels from a car that’s supposed to be legendary? I’ll think up something.

I would like to suggest if you want participants to enter 3 cars for this, that you would consider either dividing the entrants into three stages to reflect the three eras of cars, or to extend the deadline. I am not going to speak for everyone here, and I am not trying to make assumption on your own situation, but I myself will be having at least 35 hours of work a week for the next few weeks, as well as other responsibilities that I will need to attend to outside of work.

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Yeah, the only way I’m at all hoping to have three cars ready is because at least two of them are substantially done. Even then, it’s ambitious.

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What if you just turned this into a team challenge— could be teams of three with one car each.

That already exists tbh

Judging in progress, and it’s not as if teamup-specific challenges should be the exclusive domain of the eponymous challenge series.

Technically nothing stopping you from teaming up with people to do just that, unless the host specifically says not too.

Does the three cars have to be competitive in a single market across all three decades? My 60s 2 door coupe is apparently a sedan as viewed by the came and is stronger in Pony than Muscle as a result.

Alright there seems to be a little rethinking on the rules and time frame for these that might be needed. I’ll be adjusting the rules and the idea and get back to you all, for the time being, this current challenge is cancelled. But I’ll make a better system and come back to you with a new challenge.

No worries - I found a litany of problems with the rule set as it was originally defined, leaving plenty of room for improvement. But I could take the idea of evolving a (light) sports/pony/muscle/GT/supercar model line over several decades, and expand it to cover every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s (and possibly beyond) - to be posted in one of my threads instead.

I like the idea though. There should be a way to make it work. Perhaps different rounds for each decade, with points given to continuity of design.

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Honestly, this is a great idea. This could be used to give people more time for creating what was originally three cars by giving people a month (?) for each decade, perhaps.

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Yeah, personally love the idea, just gonna cook up a better rule set with people on discord server.

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Yeah, this is a fantastic idea. Don’t give up on it.

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I just finished mine … Ah well. keep at it, maybe do a 60s then 80s then 00s with two or three weeks between them?

Ah man, why did this get cancelled.