ARM 22 - SETTING A PERSONAL REKORD
First ARM
Latest ARM
What is ARM?
THE CLIENT
This time, as a host, I don’t have any problems at all to roleplay the client. The client is simply going to be - me. Knugcab, or as my IRL acquaintances know me, Mattias Johansson. A 37 year old factory worker/forklift driver from the northern parts of Sweden. A fan of classic cars since I was old enough to stand up and stare into the hubcaps myself, I guess. More or less stuck in some midlife crisis where I feel old and grumpy as the same time as it feels like if I have the mind of an 11 year old at times. So, what’s my problem this time?
Almost 20 years ago I bought this 1968 Opel Rekord with the intentions of restomodding it, and since then nothing have happened. Of course, I am turning into a grumpy old man that “iS GoiNG To REstOrE iT sOMeDaY”. Now, don’t be like IRL Knug. IRL Knug is stupid. Such grumpy old men are only annoying. Be more like the improved, alternate history version of Knug, that this is going to be about. Now, alternate history me has realized that he will never going to start working on this, so now he is calling out all the restomod companies in the Automationverse. Can you save this stylish old pile of German rus…eh, pride?
Now, to be a bit nicer to both you and me OOC, this is how I will send the car in. I bothered to weld up the rust myself, as well as coating the body in primer (because I don’t want to put 30000 moss and rust fixtures there and you are not going to want to remove them). The car is going to roll into your workshop on some temporary wheels and with the most important trim pieces attached, in case you want to use them.
RULES
- 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.
- 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.
- Maximum price (as shown in the Testing tab, Detail Stats section): $45,000
- Maximum ET 140 trim, 175 engine
- No V16s or race parts (race intake, race tubular exhaust, semi-slicks).
- This car was made with no TP, and there (at 0) it should stay. It is 2020 anyway and everything is already unlocked. No positive TP allowed.
- You must post an ad with at least 1 picture of your car on this thread.
- Quality sliders should not be set above +4 or below -2.
- Interiors aren’t mandatory but encouraged (see priorities for further info)
CAR REQUIREMENTS
- The general rule of ARM is to not make a car worse. Now, a very marginal drop in one single stat if it really bumps up the others will not instabin the car, so this is a very soft rule indeed, but still, try to avoid it at all costs.
- Since this car is older than 1976, an engine swap does not have to keep the emissions equipment from the actual engine, so a cat is not needed. Still, I am not one of the tough guys that thinks that it is cool to not care about clean air…you can always keep that in mind.
- Allowed fuel types are unleaded of any type, or ethanol mix E85, since that is what we can get at the pump here, and I don’t want to have to bother with putting additives in the tank. E85 or Super will get a small penalty due to price and availability. Regular will not get any benefits since it is simply not available anymore.
- The car should still appear street legal and have all the major equipment needed for that. It is really lax on a 1968 model in Sweden. Just the regular stuff like headlamps, turn signals, wipers etc. - no side markers needed and rear turn signals can still be red.
ADVANCED TRIM SETTINGS
- Chassis tunnel size and firewall position can be changed freely.
- Tyre thread width, tyre wall curve and tyre thread curve allowed in moderation (OK for adjustments, not to make the tyres look like something they are not, if you’re unsure, ask, this has worked in earlier challenges so it should probably do it now too)
- A (+/-3) ride height adjustment is allowed
- Engine position is allowed in moderation. Pure silliness like making the engine poke out of the grille is not, though.
- Everything else is banned
BODY MODIFICATIONS
- A-Pillar and B-Pillar morphs should stay untouched. Other morphs allowed.
- Body swap allowed but will incur the heavy modifications penalty.
- Using 3D/Patch/morphs (the legal ones) to make the car look like something it is not, is only allowed if a similar bodystyle does not exist, and will incur the same price penalty as other extensive body mods.
EXTENSIVE MODIFICATIONS, RULES AND PENALTIES
- Chassis type can not be changed
- Chassis material can not be changed
- Panel material swap will give a $1000 penalty
- Changing engine orientation will give a $3000 penalty
- Suspension type swap will give a $1000 penalty per axle
- A complete engine swap will give a $2000 penalty. The only exception is if you change only the cylinder count to 6, that is free since that will be identical to the engine that was in the Opel Commodore, that shared the same bodyshell. Note that it is only allowed for 6 cylinders. A 5- or 3-cylinder engine on the same base does not exist and will be given the same penalty as any other engine swap. Also, using the margins available for bore and stroke already allowed inside the set engine family size is allowed (it is supposed to reflect the 2.4 litre variant bored to use oversize pistons).
- Only a cylinder head change will give a $500 penalty, the 6 cylinder was after all available with a 24 valve alloy head in its last years of production, and it is sometimes being cut down to a 4 cylinder head too. It should also be said that yes, I know that this engine is not a true OHC like I have set it to, but the weird hybrid between OHC and OHV used in the Opel CIH engine can’t really be replicated in game, so…
- Patch/3D/Morphs that radically is altering the looks of the car will give a $3000 penalty (if you’re unsure, just ask)
- Changing from RWD to FWD/AWD/4x4 will give a $4000 penalty.
PRIORITIES
EXTERIOR DESIGN
I bought this because IMO it is the best looking car Opel has ever built, and I expect it to stay that way.
COMFORT
It is supposed to be a car I can use for long trips in the summertime, I don’t expect them to be a painful experience.
RELIABILITY
And painful is something they will be if the car breaks down, so I would rather have the reliability sorted out.
VALUE
I admit that I can be a bit frugal at times. The better, alternate reality version of me is probably not as frugal, but…max out the budget and you better have a good reason for it!
AUTHENTICITY
Well, you might give the worse, IRL version of me some ideas about how to do stuff and that could always be welcome.
PERFORMANCE
The Commodore GS/E was a fast car in its era. The Rekord not so much. I would expect it to at least beat its faster siblings, if not I could as well use the money to buy a Commodore, right?
DRIVEABILITY
As stated when it came to comfort, I want this to be a rather relaxed experience. With that said, I know how to drive a car and I have owned my fair share of painful shitboxes…though I don’t want this to be yet another one of them!
SERVICE COSTS
The fun will turn into a nightmare rather quickly if parts are gold plated. I don’t want this to become a garden ornament again because I can’t afford service and repairs.
FUEL ECONOMY
I want to be able to afford to drive it, that’s more or less it.
SPORTINESS
As the coupé version, this car had an aura of sportiness even if it wasn’t the fastest or most inspiring to drive. I don’t expect you to make it into an Ariel Atom but at least slight improvements could be nice. If I only wanted speed and comfort, I could get a commercial airline ticket, right?
INTERIOR DESIGN
An interior is not required. A shitty interior will not be a disadvantage compared to no interior at all, a good interior might get a small bonus.
WORTH KEEPING IN MIND: This car has no B-pillar IRL, so no interior trim pieces etc. can attach to what is supposed to be the door/window frames.
SAFETY
I have owned way worse deathtraps than a 60s Rekord, it’s old but it was probably one of the safer cars of its era. Keep it on at least that level.
OFFROAD
If I want to do actual offroading, I have a Nissan King Cab more suited for that type of driving anyway. Though, the roads of northern Sweden are rough sometimes so an asphalt carver is not a good thing.
MISC STUFF WORTH MENTIONING
- Yes, the car uses mods. Honestly, since the game tells you which mods to download, I don’t see it as a problem anymore.
- Unfortunately, I run Automation on a potato system. Try to keep that in mind before you’re overdetailing a car. I will judge the overall look rather than how impressive your detailwork is. I have tried to load some cars with extreme file sizes and it only results in a bugsplat. Try to keep file sizes down, I will try to take time to test-load cars before judging, so you will at least not get a bin without a chance to fix it. As a hint, I was able to load Texaslav’s 200+ K file last time, an earlier experience with loading a 400K file showed that it was probably impossible.
- I have copied this whole text from ARM20 and just changed stuff, so if you see some irrelevant remains of ARM20 being left, please tell me.
SUBMISSIONS
Submission start: 16th of april 2023, 6 PM CEST (rules deliberation until that)
Submission deadline: 7th of may 2023, 6 PM CEST
Set Car Model and Engine Family names to “ARM22 - [Your Forum Username Here]”
Send in the .car file via DM in the forums.
Also, you’re allowed to ask alternate history me three personal questions via DM. Vague questions might get vague answers so ask them wisely, no second chance here. You can also ask IRL me an unlimited number of questions regarding the actuall challenge, but IRL me will not give any answers how you should build the car.
FILE
ARM22_-YOURNAMEHERE-PLEASECLONE-_Opel_Rekord.car|attachment (55.1 KB)
