The Full Prelude
Madison Square Garden, September 24 1979
It’s a battle of wits, wills and raw power, witnessed by thousands and broadcasted to hundreds of thousands more. A brave and hopeful warrior on one side; an overbearing, impregnable mountain of a man on the other. For twenty-four minutes, the two had been locked in this grudge match, striking, pummeling and throwing one another around their personal battlefield.
A well-placed kick staggers the larger of the adversaries, and the hero capitalizes with a stunning finisher, flooring his enemy. The crowd erupts into cheers as the beast’s shoulders are driven into the canvas… One. Two. Three.
The battle - a wrestling match between bread-and-butter midcarder Mike Maverick and industry veteran and ex-champion Hans Kaiser, was scripted and decided in advance, as it had been with all bouts in the sport. The two had completed a theatrical, played-up storyline where the Mike Maverick character sought to get revenge on Kaiser for having ganged up on him with another adversary at a show several months prior - a story angle that, due to Kaiser’s (real name: Henry Joseph Mayer) status as a long-time headline performer, had lended Mike Maverick (real name: Anthony Michael Johnson) a shot of sorely-needed credibility. This well-executed victory on New York’s prime stage, after a quarter of a year’s worth of buildup, means that ‘Mike’ now has the star power and the backlog to move up in the sport: Hans had just ‘put him over’.
Outskirts of Jackson, NJ, September 25 1979
Less than 12 hours after “Mike Maverick”'s momentous victory in New York, Tony Johnson - the same guy - was turning red from swearing at his once again stalled Volaré. Though just 4 years old - a MY1976 model - the car had been a lemon, not entirely fixed by any of the recalls he’d followed, and - in addition to smothering the engine sometimes when stopping - was beginning to rust.
After arriving at home for a day off - his next booked appearance wouldn’t be 'till October, where he’d be cutting a promo about his victory and beating up some random jobber - he had come to a decision. The Volaré was a liability, and it would get him fired if it ever broke down as he was driving to some town or another to help with a show. Yes, fired, by the same grandiose, raspy-voiced asshole who did the play-by-play for his match on Monday. And seeing as how Mike Maverick himself wasn’t willing to allow that to happen, he set himself a goal: Get a new car by October 1, and make it a good one - one he wouldn’t have to worry about replacing for a good 7 to 9 years at the very least.
That being said, while reliability was king, Tony was not a poor, hungry jobber struggling to get by via stretching a 20-dollar bill to last a week, not anymore. While he would be looking for a reliable and preferably economical car to make his long drives less of a headache, he realized he was also in the market for some luxury and glamour. Hello, rising star here!
TL;DR: moderately-successful pro wrestler needs car for lots of driving around the Northeast. Needs to not die and not kill him, mostly.
- Years: Model Year - 1975 or newer; Trim Year - 1980.
- Body: Sedan, Coupe, Hatchback, Wagon all allowed. 2 doors or more.
- No Legacy Car Bodies - if you mouse over a body and it says “Legacy Car Bodies” in the Mod Name tab, it’s banned.
- Wheelbase: Only 100in (2.54m) or larger. Subcompacts need not apply.
- Suspension: For balance reasons, I am prohibiting the use of Rear Double Wishbone once again.
- Wheels: Radials required. This is 1979, and even America has switched over to this technology by now. No racing slicks.
- Interior: 5 full seats or more. Carpooling happens a bunch among wrestlers.
- Safety: 70s or newer, any grade.
- Price (as per Detailed Stats): No more than AM$18,000
Engine
- Years: Family Year - unrestricted; Variant Year - 1980.
- Architecture: No V16s.
- Fuel System: No Race intake. Octane 86 AKI/91 RON regular
- Exhaust: Catalytic converter (any) required. At least one muffler required. No Racing Tubular or Turbo Racing headers.
- Loudness: 50 or less.
Techpool
All entries start with 3 techpool in each area, except for turbo - where you start with zero. This makes for 45 points in total. You may add 20 points on top of that, for a total of 65 techpool. Each techpool area is limited to a maximum total of 6 points. I advise every entrant to double-check their techpool before submitting. I will allow entrants to send in a file asking to “check their techpool” up to twice per entry. These are nonbinding, and if the techpool ends up being incorrect in that instance, you will not be penalized. A final submission with incorrect techpool, however, will be binned without mercy.
Advanced Trim Settings
- Visibility: Unrestricted
-
Wheels: Wheel Offset, Width, Diameter, Camber banned due to the fact you can change those in the car’s actual engineering. The rest of the settings are allowed in reason and moderation; if the car looks straight out of Wacky Races, God rest your soul.
Tyre diameter, tread width banned; sidewall and tread curve allowed in moderation - whether to make them more period-correct or to make one of Aruna’s dang whitewall/writing tires look good. -
Body: Front & Rear Ride Height must sum up to a value between -4 and 4. This means you can have, say, 2 on each side to raise the body up a bit, or -1 and 5 the front and rear respectively - either to correct unwanted rake or to make some of your own… But do go easy on that prospect. Visual bins may well be a thing otherwise.
Chassis tunnel size unrestricted.
Body Z offset banned. Track width banned. Wheelbase offsets allowed to correct wheel arch fitment, but will not count as a “wheelbase extension” of noncompliant bodies. - Engine: Allowed to fix clearance, not allowed to make the drivetrain look like something it isn’t.
Design (IMPORTANT)
You are making a car for the United States Domestic Market in 1979. At that time, the government mandated the use of sealed-beam headlights - that is, lamps which were sold as a single, easily-replaceable and adjustable bulb. This hurt design diversity and aerodynamics - along with sealed-beam bulbs of the time not being all too bright - but increased the ease of replacement. There were four configurations permitted varying in shape (round or rectangle) and number (one large bulb per side combining high and low beam, or two smaller ones per side with each being used for one function). Cover glass that was not part of the bulb itself had been allowed before 1969, but banned thereafter.
Now, I’m not actually going to take a ruler fixture to all headlights to ensure that they’re all entirely size-correct, but the general shape guidelines need to be followed. If you are unsure if your headlight setup is acceptable, send (PM) me a screenshot along with the name of your body, and I will tell you if anything needs to be changed. I reserve the right to penalize or outright bin entries that are not in compliance.
Your best bet is to look up for USDM cars in the 70s and early 80s looked. Note that aside from the actual headlight, indicators, fog lamps, parking lights etc. could be arranged in any way you wanted around the headlights. The inspirations at the end of the posts as well as the examples directly below should give you an understanding of how this works. An alternative path to take is to present your car as having either hide-away or pop-up headlights; all of those are ‘legal’, and if you are submitting the car with the headlights “hidden” you don’t even need lamp fixtures. If the headlights are “exposed”/“open”, they still have to comply.
The twin 7-inch round light configuration was introduced in 1940; by 1980 it was mostly used by imports, as circular headlights remained in vogue there. In Automation, most round headlights are 5.75 inches by default (and would thus need to be upsized by a factor around 1.2) though some are 7 inches from the start.
The quad 5.75-inch round lights were first permitted in 1957. They, too, were mostly used by imports by 1980 - notably ones which were replacing relatively tall composite-headlight units used in their home countries, though some used such lights natively as well. Lots of round headlight fixtures are the right size by default; in particular, all of the vanilla “double headlight” fixtures without cover glass are legal. Another user of this headlamp style was the Chevrolet Corvette - from 1963 until 1982, all in hide-away guises.
Use case and example
1980 Mercedes 280SL (as you can see, the lamps are mounted inside what was clearly meant to be a composite headlamp setup)
The quad 165x100mm rectangular light configuration was introduced in 1975; it was used mostly by American cars of all shapes and sizes, as well as Japanese cars. There are three clear go-to vanilla fixtures to go to in this case - a single rectangle that’s useful if you want to space out the lights, as well as both a horizontal and vertical “set” of lights; all are sized correctly by default, but make sure that the versions you’re using don’t feature a glass cover.
Use case and example
This is legal…
…And this isn’t. Because America, I guess.
1977 Cadillac Coupe De Ville. Note all of the extra lights (turn signals etc) around the headlights; there are no restrictions on them.
The twin 200x142mm rectangular light configuration was introduced in 1979; it was used mostly by American cars of less esteem, as well as many sports cars with pop-up headlights. The default rectangular sealed-beam fixture is just a single version of the dual-light setup above; to make it the correct size, set its scaling to 1.21 on the X axis and 1.42 on the Z axis, or thereabouts.
Interiors are not required and will not be judged in this CSR, in keeping with the recent trend.
THE CRITERIA
Reliability
Tony is looking for a car that will serve him without fail as his job takes him from town to town within his promotion’s ever-growing territory. He does not with to deal with constant failures and warning lights, and he might not be able to afford such a thing.
Drivability
Crashing, likewise, would be fatal to a traveling in-ring performer’s career. The car needs to not be very demanding to drive. This is especially important since, the promotion being a Northern one, roads can ice over in winter.
Fuel Economy
Tony might have moved up his promotion’s hierarchy of talent, but he doesn’t want to be blowing all his purse driving. Remember: wrestlers are independent contractors, so - just like room and board - travel expenses are not paid.
Comfort
Tony is in great shape and a hardy individual, but it would not hurt to be comfortable during his travels - seeing as some gigs will see him drive in excess of 5 hours.
Value
Tony understandably doesn’t want to blow too much money of a car, and will appreciate a cheaper (or at least more value-conscious) proposition.
Prestige
Tony does not want to be laughed at for having something all cheap and no-frills. As a potential main-eventer, his car needs to be worthy.
Design
Likewise, Tony does not want an eyesore. However, this desire is more personal: he’s always admired vehicles with flair and style, and now that he has a fatter budget, he will more readily pay attention to potential visual bombshells.
Safety
The risk of injury in the business is already high, and consequences - catastrophic. If Tony has any say at all in this - and he does - he would prefer not to drive a deathtrap that’ll crush his knees in a 15mph collision.
Service Costs
While service costs are not as much of a concern as out-and-out reliability, Tony still would rather his yearly repair bills not match his fuel bills.
Sportiness/Performance
Tony doesn’t need a sports car. But he wouldn’t mind the car being a bit more muscular.
HINT FROM THE HOST: While this is a one-star priority, you still don’t want to submit something with numbers so poor they’d make driving dangerous or passing very difficult- even if it isn’t properly reflected on the other stats. 25 seconds to 60 mph? Straight to bin city, even if you fit a jacuzzi into the budget at the same time.
INSPIRATIONS
BMW 525
Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
AMC Concord
Ford Granada
Toyota Chaser
SUBMISSION RULES
- Submissions open on April 1, 2023, 11:59 pm CDT (UTC-5)
- Submissions close on April 22, 2023, 7:59 pm CDT (UTC-5)
- The naming scheme is CSR154 - (forum username) for the car model and engine family. Trim and variant are free.
- A complete submission includes a .car file sent to me via Discourse PM between the opening and closing of submissions, as well as a post in this thread with at least one picture of the car no later than 12 hours after the round closing.
- 3/23/2023: Set octane requirement to 86 AKI
- 3/27/2023: Clarified that all seats must be full-sized; Inserted a section on Advanced Trim Settings
- 3/31/2023: Major relaxation of ATS rules
- 4/21/2023: Deadline pushed back by 20 hours
