Last ARM:
First ARM:
Martin Jakobson is a young estonian mechanical and electrical engineer. He grew up near Tartu and started his mechanical engineering studies at the prestigious University of Tartu before moving to the UK to get an electrical engineering degree, leaving his best buddy Dimitri behind.
One of the major reason he left was that his mother had passed away a few years after a long battle with cancer. He felt sad and unattached to his homeland, looking to leave for a breath of fresh air. The fact his relationship with his father was not great made this decision easier to take.
He stayed in touch with Dimitri, who studied in production design in Tartu, and throughout the years a project saw the light of day - starting their own signage company. They bickered a bit where to start it - Dimitri was still in Estonia. To pass time, Martin tinkered with cars in the UK and got himself into a few track day with university colleagues.
Then earlier this year, everything changed. His father passed away unexpectedly. With no brothers or sisters, he decided to come back home to handle the estate. He had not spoken to his father for years now, but he felt he needed to do this.
He reunited as well with Dimitri, and they decided to start their company here, in Estonia. They needed seed money, but Martinâs inheritance, while not a lot, was enough together with Dimitriâs family lending a hand.
They hammered out a lot of their details doing one of their favorite past-time - attending rally events. Their favorites? Truck rally! Often modified old soviet trucks with screaming engines, a rollcage and stock parts. Seeing those monsters drift and jump hills at 150km/h was always a thrill. Whatâs not to like?
One thing they would need for the business will be a truck - for deliveries, buying materials and probably advertising as well.
Also coming back home, Martin had no car, he relied on Dimitriâs car. His father stopped driving a few years, so he did not get anything there.
However, during a rainy afternoon doing inventory at his fatherâs farmhouse, he discovered a gem in one of the old barn - a 1963 Ford E-Series pickup!!!
That thing is already rare, but even more so in this part of the world. How did it end up here? How did his father acquired it? He asked around but never got an answer. Furthermore, he learned his father was a rally driver in his early 20 but stopped when he met his mother.
Martin is not sure what the plan for the truck was - it is rusted but seems to still have most stock parts and is in general good shape.
Now, he wondered if he could restore this old Ford truck instead of buying a brand new truck? What kind of restoration is he looking for? For fun, for business, for getting around? He did not know yet, but he knew it was the perfect thing.
1963 Ford Econoline Pickup Deluxe Cab - Thriftpower Six
âUnderpowered, ugly like only a mother would love and with all the aerodynamic efficiency of the Empire State Building, one factor has saved and will save the first-generation Econoline from the scrap-yard fate that every Aerostar will eventually meet - itâs just so cool.â - Hemmings
This it the original Econoline. The start of something special for sure, but the start itself was not special for the pickup variant. Letâs talk about the pickup version that Martin found in his fatherâs barn - Ford banked a lot on the pickup to lead sales, but it was the worst seller of the different variants and the sales were reverse of what they expected - the vans outsold the pickup nine-to-one! People did not like it. You never saw an Econoline pickup after this first gen.
In general, the Econoline was created to compete with the VW van that started being imported in the mid-50s. The big 3 all took notice - there was the corvair inspired Chevy, the falcon inspired Ford and the âLittle Red Wagonâ, the Dodge A-100.
It also had plenty of problems. Does it look unbalanced? Well, it was, the rear wheel could lose contact with the pavement. They added 165lbs of weight at the back to counter the fulcrum. Still, it was cheap to build and the cost difference between the van and the pickup was super low. It had around 30mpg, was light, had plenty of cargo, and it was dirt cheap.
This cabover unibody platform came with a choice of three inline-6 engines. Originally, the bay could not fit a V8, but with enough modifications, a V8 swap is a popular option now.
This is a very interesting find from Martin.
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YOU ARE USING THIS BODY AS A BASE.
ARM17_-YOURNAMEHERE_DO_NOT_FORGET_TO_CLONE-_Ford_Econoline_Pickup_Deluxe.car|attachment (34.2 KB) -
The car is using LCV4.2 Alpha branch on steam
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Clone both the imported model and engine family before you start modding. Nowadays this can all be done with one button of the Car Designer tab in Automation - the one circled red in the photo below.
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Mods are not used in the base body, as far as I know.
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Set all dates (model year, trim year, engine family/variant year) to 2020. It is highly recommended to exit the game and reopen it after cloning it and before updating the dates.
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Maximum engine ET: 135.
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Maximum trim ET : 145.
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Maximum price (as shown in the Testing tab, Detail Stats section): $52,000
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No V16s or race parts (race intake, race tubular exhaust, semi-slicks).
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You must post an ad with at least 1 picture of your car on this thread.
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Be reasonable with minmax; negative quality spam is a ticket to Bin City.
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Golden Rule : Do not make the car worse, in general, than the original
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Interiors are highly recommended, but it doesnât need to be the most detailed thing in the world. Exterior is still the lionâs share of your styling grade.
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You get 3 questions to Martin in terms of his likes and preferences; donât be vague unless you want to receive an equally vague answer. You also get as many rule questions (such as âDoes this incur the body modification costâ) as you need.
Minimum requirements
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At least 3-way catalytic converters are mandatory.
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At least Standard 00s safety is mandatory (This means no ânoneâ, and no âBasic 00s/10sâ)
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Maximum engine loudness: 55.
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âMax Load Capacityâ: minimum of 900 kg.
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Maximum octane: 93 AKI/98 RON. Unleaded only. 95 RON is more common and would be considered less running costs.
You are prevented from modifying any of the below elements:
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You cannot change Chassis Type/Material, Engine Placement or Quality
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You cannot change Trim body quality
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Do not change Drive Type - it is RWD and changing it on such a chassis would require a complete rebuild.
You are allowed to make the following changes freely (these changes usually do not impact Authenticity):
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Any quality other than Chassis or Trim Body quality (sourcing better parts) up to +3 and down to -3.
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Changing suspensions to any Solid Axles is free
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The gearbox needs to be updated for 2020 - keeping it a Manual is free.
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Anything under Wheels, Brakes, Aerodynamics, Interior, Driver Aids/Safety and Suspension tabs are free.
The following changes have a cost associated with them (and most likely will affect Authenticity):
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Changing the Trim Body variant to the Van or Passenger Van costs 3,000 AMU - this one has no impact on Authenticity.
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Panel materials can be changed for 3,000 AMU
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Any other major change to the body shape than the above, including through morphs, is considered to cost an extra 2,000 AMU. Major change are right away identifiable - ask if unsure.
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Head Swap on the engine (any change to Head and Valve, Head Material, Quality) but keeping the original block and bore/stroke costs 2,000 AMU.
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Any engines of 6 cylinder or less can be swapped in for a cost of 5,000 AMU (Inline, Boxer, V). Any Family modification other than the Head is considered a swap. Beware Authenticity here.
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Swapping to a 8-cylinder engine (or more cylinders) needs extensive engine bay and cab modification and costs an additional 5,000 AMU (so 10,000 AMU total). Small-block V8 pushrod would be more authentic than a huge V12.
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Changing the front suspension to an independent type (Mac, DW) costs 5,000 AMU due to cab modification being required. Both this 5,000 AMU change and the additional 5,000 AMU above for the V-8 are considered the same cab modification and is only applied once.
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Changing the rear suspension to an independent type (anything not solid axle) costs 3,000 AMU.
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Changing the gearbox to anything other than a Manual is 2,000 AMU.
As seen in the above ruleset, some major design elements need extra money to be replaced. What this actually does is reduce your maximum listed price. For example, you swapped to a V8 and changed to a front DW, so instead of 52,000 AMU you are limited to 42,000 AMU (costs 5,000 for engine swap + 5,000 for cab modification for V8 + 0 for the cab modification for the DW as it is only applied once). Choose your swaps wisely.
There are very specific restrictions on ATS this round to prevent visual cheese; I have chosen to list them by category.
Engine Position is allowed but will unfortunately have to be judged as visual/asthetics only (e.g. moving the engine in front of the axle wonât give any malus or benefits).
Wheels are banned, but you may edit Tyre Tread Width, Tyre Wall Curve and Tyre Tread Curve. BEWARE: If you make the tire look much wider or much narrower than normal, I will not look kindly upon it. Slight discrepancies are totally fine. Just donât act silly
Suspension is limited to -5 to +5 on each end; Plus, the sum of Front and Rear Ride Height must be zero (If you have +3 front you must have -3 rear, etc).
Body advanced trim settings are limited. Body Z offset is limited to 3 either way (-3 to +3), Firewall Position and Chassis Tunnel Size are allowed; everything else (meaning wheelbase offsets, track width) is banned.
Martin is not set in his mind yet what heâs looking for exactly. It could become a work utility Van, a daily driver/minibus, an advertising platform, a hotrod or track or rally truck, or a combination of any or all of them, or something unexpected - you are in control here!
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MAKE SURE YOUâVE CLONED THE MODEL AND FAMILY PROPERLY.
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Set Car Model and Engine Family names to âARM17 - [Your Forum Username Here]â
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Post the ad for your restomod proposal in this thread. Remember: There must be at least one picture of your car in there; but while it wonât affect judging, I would love to see more photos and a bit of lore, too. A personnal letter to Martin is always a plus.
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Send me a direct message in this forum with your .car file attached. Discord DMs/mentions will be ignored.
Deadlines
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Submissions open on Wednesday - August 10th, 2022, 11:59 PM EDT (UTC -4)
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Submissions close on Sunday - September 11th, 2022, 11:59 PM EDT (UTC -4)
The period from the time this is posted until submissions open is a period of rules deliberation. Please give me any suggestions you might have in terms of rules refinement and clarification.
- Added a mention of minimum in âMax Load Capacityâ: minimum of 900 kg.
- Fixed the cost in the price swap example and expanded on a specific case: For example, you swapped to a V8 and changed to a front DW, so instead of 52,000 AMU you are limited to 42,000 AMU (costs 5,000 for engine swap + 5,000 for cab modification for V8 + 0 for the cab modification for the DW as it is only applied once)
