The late 60’s; Planar doesn’t come to Araga?
The lore (aka my excuse for not doing Planar in ALC)
In the mid 60’s, P&A was in upheaval. Failed alliances and executive changes all culminated in a rebrand to Planar in 1965. In even more of an upheaval, however, was Planar’s Aragan division.
Following the Aragan government’s shock decision to replace ALL cars with newer, safer models come 1965, Planar was in a pickle. Aragan sales weren’t high enough to justify extensive re-engineering in-house while the company was in crisis, so they instead contracted Australian safety system manufacturer Minex to modify and sell their cars in Araga, thus introducing the Minex brand to the world at large.
Their initial cars were merely rebadged and modified P&A’s/Planars, but the company would soon grow to have its own styling cues.
Minex’s first car, the M3 Paceman was brought into Araga as a hire car. Being the P&A Paceman, it was essentially just a 1955 car modernised and brought up to safety standards, which left it as a cheap option that Minex felt was perfect for the hire market.
The interior was updated with newer materials and slightly more contemporary styling, with the intention that the car would be comfortable enough, but still cheap.
The engine, however, was where it was really cheapened. The Rotomax R4015 was very long in the tooth by 1965, and a measly 40kW from its 1500cc was never going to set the world on fire, but it was at least easy to access in the rear of the car!
The Minex Danazines, much like their Planar counterparts, were styling updates for the existing Sportsman Mk.III. The difference with the Minex examples, however, is the more advanced safety to satisfy Aragan design rules, as well as a mild tune to the engine giving it more performance.
A major difference in how Minex sold their cars, however, was that they wanted to be seen as a true luxury powerhouse from the start, so they imported the stretched F6L “Diplomatic Package” limousine as a regular car, complete with all their safety upgrades from the base car. All of their work resulted in a big price rise though, with the F6H costing $34,600 AMU, and the F6L a whopping $51,800 AMU!