[Final results!] The Car Shopping Round 66: A car for a hero

Update:

The deadline has been extended to March 11, 23:59

The Car Shopping Round 66

A car for a hero

General CSR rules
Previous thread


The Dilemma

Somewhere in southern England, 1975
Richard “Dick” Brown, TV producer and employee of Super Eight Entertainment, is working on his next big project; a TV-series called “Fuzz Boys”. The show features hard-boiled detective Spencer Steele (played by Daniel McMillan), fighting organized crime in Britain in the most flamboyant and exuberant way possible. It’ll have girls in bikinis, explosions, shootouts, awesome car chases - everything that makes a show good.

Unfortunately, they’ve hit a bit of a snag. Issues with staffing and logistics have set back the schedule by several weeks, and with less than two weeks before the filming is supposed to start Dick has found out that the company that’s supposed to supply Spencer’s car has gone into liquidation. This is a problem because both Dick and Daniel, who also does his own stunts, are quite picky about what car they want. Because of this, the production team is currently in a crisis meeting, trying to solve the situation.

Dick is the first to speak.

“Alright boys, I think most of you understand why we’re here, but for those that don’t, I’ll give you a brief. Long story short, the car we chose for Spencer, that isn’t happening. The company just went bust, and we’re not gonna get any cars from them.”

He clears his throat, and continues: “Since we’re already short on time, we’re gonna need a replacement ASAP. This is priority number one, and I need everybody here to pitch in. I need something that looks cool, something with style - and make sure it’s decently fast; slow cars don’t look good on film.”

Daniel, who is sitting at the opposite corner in the room, interrupts: “And no clunkers either, yeah? I don’t want some bloody death trap that wants to send me through a brick wall arse-end first or self-destructs as soon as you give her some gas, innit?”

“Yeah, that too. Look wherever you can: newspaper ads, car mags, posters in the tube, pictures of cars you found outside your flat - I don’t care, as long as they’re on my desk by Friday morning. Everybody got that?”

He’s met by a series of nods and “yeah”s. He smiles.

“Alright, that’s great. Meeting’s over, everybody, get to work!”


And that’s were you, dear competitor, comes in. You’re going to build a car that’ll meet both Dicks and Daniels demands. For those of you unfamiliar with what kind of show they’re making, here’s a few examples:

And who could forget this lovely piece by the Top Gear crew?


The Judging

The cars will be judged on the following criteria:

  • Styling: A cool character like Spencer needs an equally cool and stylish car. Make something sporty with sex appeal, maybe a coupe or a fastback?
  • Performance: As Dick said, slow cars don’t look good on film. The car should have decent performance both in a straight line and in the corners.
  • Handling: Being fast isn’t enough; the car must also be controllable when driven on the edge. Can’t powerslide it through every corner if it just plows straight on or wants to spin out, you know? This will be a combination of Drivability and Sportiness.
  • Reliability: With the schedule being so tight, the crew can’t have a car that doesn’t start or blows up during filming.
  • Purchase price: Their previous car was supposed to be supplied to them at a discount price in return for exposure; with no time for such negotiations, the company has to buy the cars at list price. The suggested maximum is $10,000 total cost with no markup (in the markets tab), but the lower the better, since it means they can afford more cars for stunts.
  • Service costs: While not hugely important, the cars shouldn’t require specialist technicians for repairs or too exotic tyre sizes, since they’ll go through a lot of them. The suggested maximum is $1,000/year for the trim, but lower is of course better.

The Restrictions

  • Trim year must be 1975: The car must be available to buy new. The model year may be older if you wish to make the car lore-friendly.
  • Body unlock year no older than 1960: You can’t have a car that looks like a dinosaur.
    The car must be street legal: This means at least basic 60s safety and a maximum loudness of 60.
  • Competitiveness must be at least 80 in at least three markets in Fruinia: Dick doesn’t want a repeat of the current disaster, so he wants a car from a company that isn’t going to go bust in a month’s time or that he can’t find easily.
  • Use Super Leaded fuel: Unleaded won’t even be available in the UK for another ten years, and the price difference between 2-star (92 RON) and 4-star (98 RON) is neglegible. I won’t fail your car for using a different fuel, but you have nothing to gain from it.
  • The contest will be held using the open beta of the UE4 build
  • All workshop mods are allowed
  • Use common sense: I reserve the right to fail cars that employ insane engineering decisions, like using -15 quality safety.

The Naming Conventions

Car Model name: CSR66 - <username>
Car Trim name: Full name of car
Engine Family name: CSR66 - <username>
Engine Variant name: Engine name or whatever, idc


The deadline is on March 9th 07:00 AM GMT, like Dick said.

By then I want the .car file in my inbox and a ad of the car posted in the thread.

I also suggest you don’t send in your car immediately, in case there are any rule changes.

Oh and here are some groovy tunes to get you in the mood:

Now get cracking!

24 Likes

Sounds like fun. I’ll wait until the bugs are fixed before I send something in.

Anyway, are there any limits on PU/ET? And must the car be fitted with a catalytic converter, and required to run on regular unleaded?

1 Like

Teaser as I continue to refine it.

The Pulsar D-3970

10 Likes

There was no leaded fuel ban or catalytic converter requirement in the UK back in 1975, so I’d say that it would be an unrealistic requirement. At least in Sweden, only some US cars had catalytic converters back then and people removed them since they were destroyed by the leaded gasoline anyway… (Unleaded appeared in 1986 and the ban on leaded fuel in 1994, don’t know about UK but I think Sweden was a bit quicker in introducing cats and unleaded)

4 Likes

What Knugcab said; unleaded wouldn’t even be a thing in the UK until ten years later, and the difference in price between 2-star (Regular Leaded) and 4-star (Super Leaded) was neglegible.

(Since I am new to the forum, but have been lurking here for a while, I wonder if I get this right? I post an ad like this here, and then I can send you the .car-file via private messaging? But you would like us to wait for a while before sending it in? )

1975 IP Flaire 2600 GTV6

Yes, we know. You have always been wanting an exotic sports car, but you have never wanted to live with one? After all, acceleration times or cornering abilities won’t help you when your wallet is broken. As the well-mannered mamayans we are, we want to send an excuse to some of our italian, british and even german friends for harsh words like this, but get the facts straight now, high sticker prices, huge servicing costs and sometimes doubtful reliability, is flaws some buyers will accept for being the first one to leave the redlights. And we are fine with that. To be on top, you have to make sacrifices sometimes.

But if you are fine with just having things like four wheel disc brakes, fully independent suspension, a peppy 141 hp V6 that will send you to 100 km/h in way under 9 seconds (8.82 to be exact) and give you a top speed of 185 km/h (not that we suggest anyone to drive that fast on public roads), styled steel wheels that does look almost like the real thing, leather wrapped sports steering wheel, contoured bucket seats, tachometer, modern and vibrant colours, functional NACA ducts on the bonnet and much, much more, there is now a possibility to get it for a sticker price of $10 000. And you don’t have to worry about servicing costs either, a recent study by independent sources gave the IP Flaire a service cost index of 834.8, compared to the benchmark index of 1000!

Of course, if you are more interested in things like a rear hatchback, inertia reel 3-point seatbelts and quality Mamayan engineering, there is an alternative. The IP Flaire. All the qualities you have learned to know from our other cars, we also build into the Flaire. After all, a beautiful outside and a peppy heart is no excuse for leaving out a good head on the shoulders.

For 1975 we have made some tweaks on the outside of the Flaire. Not many, since there was hard to improve on the already beloved original, but the headlamps now are of the pop-up type (another feature you probably thought you had to buy an exotic supercar to get, huh?), so you can look like a star in the daytime and shine like a star in the nighttime. The new front bumper are integrated into the bodywork and molded into the same colour as the body. Yet it offers better protection against minor impacts than the old separate metal bumper, due to being made with a new polymer technology. Also, we have revised the classic IP grille, still true to its heritage but looking into the future more than ever. After all, we don’t think the little tweaks we have done will scare you away from the Flaire, right?

The new facelifted IP Flaire. When you want muscle without having to do the heavy workout.

6 Likes

The new facelifted HiWay. This is the GT2000.

7 Likes

Unleaded fuel was required in all cat-equipped cars in the US starting in 1974. So in '75 it would have been both available, and on most cars, required. Only a handful of new cars in 1975 were able to meet the emissions requirements without a cat (the Honda Civic being one).

(Just noting the history on that part, and how it differs from Europe at the time.)

2 Likes

Yes, for US unleaded and cat would have been correct for 1975.
However, european brands sold their cars with different engines in the US. Nobody wanted to sacrifice all the performance that got lost in the US versions when high octane leaded fuel still was available at the tap and emissions standards low.

This is a very UK-centric round as shown by the TV series videos.

Unleaded was introduced into the UK in 1986.

4 Likes

Good to know. Looks like it’s time to spend an hour or three updating all my lore files to include “world” engines once the US/Japan start offering Unleaded.

(and, of course, to get my entry ready)

3 Likes

Even though the suggested maximum pre-markup price is $10,000, I am having trouble getting under it. How come others don’t have the same problem? By using negative quality?

1 Like

Simply by choosing cheaper parts and materials. If you can’t get under 10 000 you’re just trying to make something too fancy. My car currently costs just a bit over 9000 but has decent market scores and even some +2 quality in some areas. No negative quality anywhere.

6 Likes

Twin barrel i4, 4 speed manual and no DW suspension. It makes the same power as an RS2000 and the same general setup.

13 Likes

'75 Morton M20 Twin Cam

Nippy, affordable and surprisingly quick for its modest engine size, the M20 Twin Cam provides all the thrills a young sporting driver on a budget could want, for just $9,500.

3 Likes

Remind me the 70’s opel :slight_smile:

When it comes to reducing the price by saving on tech, I like to think realistic. What would a car in this class have in this year? Sure, there was all the technology available to put a DOHC fuel injected V12 turbo in a family station wagon in 1980, but that did not mean that they existed. If I look at my 1985 pickup truck (IRL daily driver), it has a ladder chassis, leaf springs in the rear, pushrod cast iron engine (injected just because it is a diesel), rear drum brakes and no power steering. Really the kind of crude truck nobody is dreaming about making in Automation in 1985, but similar tech level to almost every 80s pickup in the real world…

4 Likes

Do you want a normal car? No, no you do not, and over at Pastijuni Motor Worx think it is time to re-think the personal budget sports car.

Why should a Mid mounted V12 be out of reach? Surely you do not need the best tech to make a great drivers car, right? That was our goal when we designed the M3-ME1800 sports car. A down to earth simple design which can be easily serviced by the owner. To keep costs down we simplified the car everywhere we could, Massive drums were used both front and back, the drums are full floating, and a single spindle nut keeps the wheels in place making removal a breeze.

With a small, low power V12, we were able to use a light weight 4-speed gear box featuring square cut gears for that authentic race car sound, and you might think with all this you would be riding in a tin can we bet? Wrong, the ME1800 is fully equipped with plush full support wool seats, they keep you in place when driving hard, warm in the winter, and cool in the summer.

On the room we feature two targa style removable windows, which can be easily stowed away in the trunk.

We aimed to make the ultimate drivers car as affordable as possible, and we think you’ll agree with us if you take one for a test drive.

Available as pictured for 9,999$

(WTF: A non LHE Lore car… The inside name for this one is Meme V12)

6 Likes