[ARM43] Lost Soul the Argon failure (Completed and Closed)

Welcome to ARM43

In this event we will see how far a chassis of the failed Argon Fennic can be pushed.

Lore

The Argon Fennic gt was a concept car that made waves in 1988 when it showed up as a RWD V6 compact performance sedan. It made promises of a return to fast fun sports cars the brand was known for in the 60s and 70s. Then Argons budget team decided to turn the Fennic into a commuter car, swapped out the performance for cheap components and sent it down the production line. The public was let down with the new lack luster body styling and the lack of a performance or even RWD option stunted sales. 1993 - 1995 before being replaced.

background

We will provide shops a stock Fennic gt from 1993 this neo retro car was built on a solid concept but the production unit was lack luster and do to budget cuts in the company lost its fanbase and its soul. Can your shop restore this car to something worthy of praise or did Argon go to far with the cut backs?

Expected customs

Let your personal flair show, the original concept was RWD, their was an AWD version so the chassis is ready for anything. We need a street legal car that has the heart of performance.

(Meaning what ever that means to you. Drag, Race, Ralli, Drift, Show car with wild stereo)

Score

5 STAR

Styling

Go big or go sleeper, just make sure it kills at the showcase!

4 Star

Respect to the original car.

We still want the car to be recognizable as the Fennic.

3 Star

Performance.
The Fennic lost all the performance from the concept car, it needs sorted to get people onboard

cohesiveness
The stats and engineering should match the type of build you are doing, well, at least as good as it can be represented within the limits of the game.

Drivability.
Its a street car at the end of the day and needs to be able to get between events with out a trailer.

2 Star

Safety.

It should be safe enough to not break ribs taking a corner.

Reliability.

Again we need the car to get to the events without having a service car on call.

Sportiness.

does it matter if its fast if its not fun to drive?

1 Star

Price.

MPG.

Rules.

TP +5 stock as OG

Price is a soft limit of 35,000 hard limit of 55,000 (wont get banned but will take a hit to score)

Must keep original chassis and hull material (Partial carbon or aluminium is ok)

ATS besides tyre width and excessive adjustments are allowed (if you want to do a sandrail or funny car I’ll allow the wheel base to be stretched at cost)

clone the chassis correctly (this is the only hard ban besides TP)

Quality sliders cant go above +10 and no negative sliders

98Ron or E85 only

Wes 11 required

No Race parts

Set all dates (model year, trim year, engine family/variant year) to 2020. **1

Cost modifiers

Chassis Length mods will be 5k

Engine orientation 1,500K

Complete engine swaps are 5K (no fee for orientation or heads related to new engine)

Head swaps are 2,000

Turbo/Supercharger are 1,000
**2

Suspension changes are 1,500 (front and rear not per axel)

brake changes are 1,000 (front and rear not per axel)

adding a rear diff will add 1,000

Changing panels are 1,000

Start and close dates

Submissions start
4/10/2026

Submissions close
4/24/2026

Naming
Car model/trim: ARM43 - Username / The name of your car

Engine family/variant: ARM43 - Username / The name of your engine.

extreme Inspirations

ARM Links

Basics
[ARM] Automation Restomod General Rules and Guidelines

Previous round

[ARM] Automation RestoMod Chapter 42: Octane and overdrive, season two (FINISHED!)

ARM_43_-Clone_chassis-Argon-_Fennic_gt.car|attachment (45.2 KB) * update available now*

(Update 1 made clear what years the cars trim should be set too)
(update 2 reworked engine fees, and charges for brakes/suspension)

4 Likes

I’m missing ;

  • 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.

otherwise it looks pretty complete imo

2 Likes

Good catch!

1 Like

Forcing potential entrants to wait until the commencement of the submission period to download a donor .car file? That’s not something I’ve seen in any ARM, in which the usual practice is to make that file available from the start - by posting it in the OP - and I suggest that you do the same.

I agree. People usually want to test out the car first to see if things like the price limits are sane, or if something seems wrong with the car.

Another advantage of immediately releasing the file: Entrants get more time to test their build ideas.

Fair enough, I’ve not been here for the pre start of an ARM event, .car available now.

The donor car had a regular (not galvanized, corrosion-resistant, or AHS) steel chassis, so I’m sure that the build must retain this feature, although its regular (not treated) steel panels can be substituted with partial aluminum or even partial carbon for an extra $1k. But is it possible to use treated steel bodywork? If not, I’m OK with settling on partial aluminum as a panel material.

So a complete engine swap or longitudinal engine conversion both cost $5k individually, as does implementing both changes at once? Also, head swaps should be included in the cost for complete engine swaps.

Do either (or both) of these refer to the cost per axle? If so, replacing the suspension and brakes with different types would incur a combined cost of $5,000.

And the soft cap of $35k may well be too little - increasing it to $40k while leaving the hard cap of $55k as-is (and reducing the penalty for going over the soft cap) might be worth considering.

As for transmission swaps, how much extra cost (if any) will they incur for specific types? Considering that the donor car had a regular automatic gearbox, swapping it for a manual should not add any extra cost, although other types (advanced automatic, automated manual, dual-clutch, etc.) would be treated as extra-cost options.

Yes you can treat the body work, otherwise partials aluminium/Carbon only.

Yes I feel charging for a swap and orientation would be overkill since you’re already putting in a donor engine, trans/ Transaxle. yeah, the head swap should 100% be included in the swap fee.

(also I should add a upcharge for asperation change)

brake/ suspension upgrades count as both axels so 2,500 if both are swapped.

I’m not going to charge from trans changes even if advanced auto will probably get a bit of an advantage.

Thanks for clarifying.

So these costs apply no matter how many axles are affected? Otherwise they would’ve been doubled when applied to both axles.

1 Like

One week reminder, before this gets lost in the forums.
Happy building lads.

4 Likes

LMJ DESIGN PRESENTS:
THE ARGON FENNIC COUPÉ GT 16V


Believe it or not, but this is your old Fennic. Certainly not your grandmother’s Fennic though. To start with, we rebuilt the body into a coupé version, using the roof from a Ford Sierra, but we also added an eye-catching bodykit that makes it look like nothing else on the road. We won’t spoil this with talking, but let the pictures speak for themselves.


We also totally rebuilt the engine, adding a 16 valve aluminium head, bored it out to 2.4 litres, more or less changed out all the internals, and added a fuel injection with individual throttle bodies. This old slug is now a screamer, that redlines at 10 000 RPM and puts out 247 hp - without the help of forced induction.


The car is also now rear wheel drive, with a 6 speed ZF transmission and multilink rear end. Launch control and a torsen diff helps putting the power down to the ground. A big brake kit helps stopping it. Meaty semi slicks keeps it planted to the road.


The interior is also all refreshed, and is well matched to the new aesthetics as well as the new greasy bits.

THE ARGON FENNIC COUPÉ GT 16V. WHEN JUST GETTING THE SOUL BACK SIMPLY ISN’T ENOUGH.

5 Likes

Final Call is here. ARM43 will be closing at the end of the day.
I’ve got completed entry from
@Knugcab
and a .car with pending ad from
@Ananas
Thanks everyone for your time, effort, and entries.

Argon Fennic gt Evolusjon
The WRC homologation special it always deserved

Had Argon fielded a rally campaign in the mid 90’s it might have looked something like this.
Body modifications include aluminium bonnet and bumpers, and a body kit that provides both style and downforce; Up to 100 kg combined and perfectly split front to rear.

The drivetrain has been converted to AWD, with torsen limited slip differentials on the axles.
A manual 6-speed close ratio gearbox sends power where it needs to go.

The original engine was fitted with an aluminium DOHC-4 cylinder head, and de-stroked to 2.2L.
With all forged internals it can handle the 47.8mm twin scroll turbo boosting power to 267 hp.

We also gave the engine a coat of paint to match the exterior

It rides on brand new rubber fitted to a period correct set of 16" Enkei ES-Tarmac.
Stoppage is handled by four 300mm binted discs with cooling ducts.
Completing the handling setup are coilovers and a semi-automatic front sway bar.
The new control unit features stability control and variable power steering.

Evolusjon.

6 Likes

Wow, that is clean!

Beautiful. Were you inspired by the Evo 5/6, perchance?

Argon Fennic 3.5 GTS

What if the Argon Fennic was pitched as a RWD supersaloon, with an engine reminiscent of that found in the E34 M5, and packed into a body roughly as large as that of an E36 M3? Our 3.5 GTS proposal has the answer.

360 horsepower to the rear wheels, sent via a 6-speed gearbox and helical LSD, elevate it to true supersaloon status, with a 172-mph top speed and a 4.5-second 0-60mph time.

A complete suspension replacement (dual wishbone front/multilink rear) combined with large ABS-assisted vented disc brakes gives it the ride, handling, and braking a supersaloon deserves.

With a functional aero kit, 17-inch forged wheels wrapped in staggered high-performance tires, and a lighter, sportier interior, the Fennic is now ready to take on genuine sports cars on any road or track you can think of.

Our conversion package starts at $42,000 AMU after options, not counting the donor car.

3 Likes

Something sleepy this way comes…

4 Likes

Why thank you!

Indeed, Evo 3 and 4 as well. The base car somehow gave me Lancer sedan vibes, from there my path was set.

That’s a wrap, thanks for the entries
@moroza
@abg7
As well as earlier entries from
@Ananas
@Knugcab
Reviews coming soon, going by the ads alone this is going to be a tight field as they’re all quality entries.

5 Likes