ARM Chapter 11: Renewing the Edge
Welcome back to Automation RestoMod, or ARM, a challenge series originally devised by @cake_ape . The aim of each ARM challenge is to take a (preferably real-life) old car and you modify it with modern technology and unique styling to make something truly fascinating.
This eleventh iteration of ARM is the first to feature a 21st Century car, but don’t you worry: The platform dates back to 1977, so it’s still ancient enough for a restomod. The scoring and rules this time around are geared towards a game of trade-offs - there is no perfect car.
Last ARM:
First ARM:
When this 2002 Ford Mustang GT rolled off the assembly line, it looked relatively fresh with its New Edge styling - but its platform was 25 years old and officially retired for a decade for the rest of Ford. A new platform for the Mustang had been considered for the 1990s, but as we all know, that ended up becoming the FWD Probe and was by then also dead.
Sporting a ‘primitive’ live rear axle and a softish, low-revving V8 engine, the Mustang’s main draw was being cheap and unpretentious - and even then, there were better options. Following 2002, the Ford Mustang would be left as the last pony car standing as the rival (and more capable) Chevrolet Camaro finally kicked the bucket. So, the 2002 Ford Mustang: an old warrior overdue for discontinuation. Who would buy such a thing?
Fast forward 20 years. Mr. Butler, now a respected engineer, lives with his family in Fort Worth, Texas. The Mustang, which had helped him pick up the woman who is now his wife, is still by his side, stock and in decent shape. Darrell appreciates the Mustang’s playful character and the fact that even though it’s his fun car, it’s still very much daily-drivable. That being said, its age and lack of power have become a hindrance to his fun and a subject of friends and neighbors’ mockery, and even his wife’s Callahan Condor, a front-drive large family sedan, is more powerful than the old GT. Darrell can’t let go of his baby, so he’s decided to put up some money towards making his Mustang special again.
The Challenge
Darrell Butler is soliciting design proposals to turn his New Edge-style Ford Mustang into a fun and unique car that he can proudly use as a weekend cruiser. This means improving not only its performance and amenities, but also its cool factor as the now-middle aged owner seeks to go from “there are many like it, but this one is mine” to “it’s one of a kind, and it’s mine”. He is okay with blowing up to $30,000 on the job - which, added to the car’s cost way back when, makes $57,000.
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YOU ARE USING THIS BODY AS A BASE. ARM11_-YourForumName-Ford_Mustang-_GT.car (103.9 KB)
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Clone both the imported model and engine - Watch cake_ape’s tutorial to learn how.
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Set all dates (model year, trim year, engine family/variant year) to 2020.
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Maximum engine ET: 160.
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Maximum trim ET : 150.
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No V16s or race parts (race intake, race tubular exhaust, semi-slicks).
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No changing chassis type or chassis material
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At least 3-way catalytic converters are mandatory.
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At least Standard 00s safety is mandatory: No Basic 00s or 10s, and no ‘None’.
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Maximum engine loudness: 45.
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Maximum octane: 93 AKI/98 RON.
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Minimum fuel economy: 12 mpg/19.6 L/100km (To be clear: If you use the latter measurement, your consumption must be less than 19.6 to qualify).
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Full engine swaps cost $5000. Changing engine orientation is a full engine swap regardless of the engine.
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Head swaps cost $2000.
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Suspension swaps cost $3000.
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Body style swaps cost $3000.
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Panel material swaps cost $3000.
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Morphs are free and unlimited. Until 4.2 lets us properly track them, no use punishing people over it.
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Maximum price (as shown in the Testing tab, Markets section): $57,000
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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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Interiors are optional, but a good one can boost your styling grade.
Notes on Priced Swaps
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 your panels to aluminum and put in your own bespoke V10 - so instead of $57,000, your maximum price is (57000-(3000+5000)=$49,000. Choose your swaps wisely.
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Body style swaps are when you change to one of the other three bodies in the base car’s body family.
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Head swaps are when you keep the same engine block as the base engine (that means keeping the cast-iron V8 with the orignal family bore and stroke) while changing the head type, increasing the valve count and/or adding VVT/VVL/both. This simulates putting new heads onto the actual block in Darrell’s V8.
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Anything that isn’t unchangeable (like the chassis) or a priced change is free - yes, including maxing out the variant displacement.
Darrell has spent 20 years with a ‘slow’ Mustang, and he wants it faster. No more being out-torqued by family cars.The Mustang should be able to back up its styling. Speaking of…
Your client first bought the Mustang GT partly because he loved the look, but now it just looks unremarkable. If you make a design striking and unique enough to make Darrell fall back in love with the car, your chances will be drastically higher.
Darrell is now a middle-aged family man; while he has handled the unruly Mustang in the past without any issues, he doesn’t want his car to kill him and orphan his children.
A good personal car doesn’t torture the person inside it, and Darrell has had it “up to here” with cheap plastic. Make sure the revamped Mustang isn’t a lawn chair.
The worst headache you can have with a heavily-modified car is have it break down with you, because the dealer is useless in such a situation. Darrell wants his pony to be dependable, as it mostly has been in the past.
The client obviously doesn’t want any journey of his to end at the Pearly Gates, so same issue as with Drivability, really.
The Butler family lives in a nice neighborhood and is friends with respectable people. The renewed Mustang doesn’t have to be a Maybach, but God forbid it’s an embarrassment.
Finally, it wouldn’t do to erase literally erase every trace of Mustang from the mustang. Shapes, lines and edges a long way, even if modernized.
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Most of my judging will go along the lines of the above priorities, but I would like to stress that the end result should be cohesive. If your entry doesn’t make sense, I reserve the right to penalize it. On the other hand, you can get away with a lot of silliness as long as it all comes together well. If you think you have a really good “special” or “unusual” idea, do go for it.
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All results are final and no amount of salt will change that - so please avoid being disrespectful even if you are unhappy with your result. That being said, as this is my first time hosting, I will take judging advice and corrections for any future competitions I might host.
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MAKE SURE YOU’VE CLONED THE MODEL AND TRIM PROPERLY.
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Set Car Model and Engine Family names to “ARM11 - [Your Forum Username Here]”
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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 won’t affect judging, I would love to see more photos and a bit of lore, too.
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Send me a direct message in this forum with your .car file attached. Discord DMs/mentions will be ignored.
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Submissions open on Tuesday - October 19, 2021, 12:01 AM CST
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Submissions close on Friday - October 29, 2021, 11:59 PM CST
As for now, please give me feedback and/or tell me if I've missed anything. May God have mercy on us all.
