Flamers Motor Company - A Plotted History
Founders:
Matthew Flamers (b.1899 - d.1968)
Thomas Flamers (b.1904 - d.1979)
Prior to Founding the Company
Born 5 year apart both Matthew and Thomas were gifted children, they both had an interest in how things worked which persisted, much to their mothers dismay and their fathers joy, throughout their childhood.
During school they were both very able students in maths and sciences, both left school with exemplary grades and both went to attend top universities. Both of them graduated from university with first class degrees, Matthew in mechanical engineering and Thomas in electrical engineering.
After leaving university they choose to join the armed forces, with both of them serving as engineers to the 14th Squadron of the Gasmea air force. During their time serving in the air force Mathew was tasked with maintaining the boxer 6 engines that were installed within the majority of the fleet., whilst Thomas was responsible for the maintenance of the radio communications both within the planes as well as on the ground.
During the advent of the Great War in 1933 both Matthew and Thomas were deployed to the same front line airbase in Gasmea due to there outstanding capabilities in their respective fields. This lead them to have an accelerated career path, with Matthew progressing to Wing Commander and Thomas progressing to Squadron Leader.
After the war had finished in 1942 there was a mass exodus of personnel from the armed forces, of which Matthew and Thomas were part, which caused a mass shortage of jobs within the private sector.
Using the money that they had saved up during the war and working odd jobs during peacetime Matt and Thomas set up the foundations for the Flamers Motor Company in 1944, with help from Frederick Walker, who they had met whilst serving for the air force, they started to design their first car.
1946-1954 - Early Years
After designing there first car the brothers managed to secure funding to bring their project to life, it was on the 9th June 1946 that the Flamers Motor Company Limited was founded.
Based off of the same boxer 6 engine that was found in the planes that Matthew had been working on, they managed to secure a reliable and get punchy power unit for their first vehicle. With this the Flamers Motor Company’s first vehicle, the Azure, was born.
The company made their name producing some of the most luxurious and fast cars of the day.
1955-1960 - The Depression
In 1954 there was a huge amount of financial turmoil, whilst the reputation of the Flamers Motor Company allowed it to keep selling premium vehicles the decision was made to make the company’s first truly mass market car.
The Mikro was released in 1955, built on a much smaller platform with a far more simple inline engine the Feino was seen as a car that everyone can afford. The car was seen as a revolution for the company, providing a new commuter car and helping fuel the economic recovery to the heyday of the late 1940’s.
During this period there was a change in the premium and sports lines to move away from the boxer engine layout to using V6 and V8 engines allowing the company to move towards smaller and much more nimble chassis’ in order to be able to compete in other markets outside of Gasmea.
1961-1980 - Global Expansion
After the depression of 1954 the economy in Gasmea, and globally, didn’t recover until 1961 and even at this time the economy was fragile at best. However after having a successful few years breaking into new markets with the Feino the Flamers Motor Company were ready to start global expansion.
The initial expansion was into Fruinia, moving the majority of the production of the new models of more nimble sports cars across. This allowed reinvestment into the existing facilities to produce a far larger volume of the new coupes that came out during this era.
In 1968 there was the passing of Matthew at the age of 69, he was heavily involved with the company until his last days, upon his death Thomas decided that it was time for him to step down from managing the company. In 1969 the company became listed on the Gasmea stock exchange under the ticker FMC with the Flamers family trust keeping a 15% stake in the company. At the time it was the largest public offering ever, valuing the company at $58.7bn. In 1979 Thomas passed away at the age of 75, during his later years it was not unusual for Thomas to be consulted as to what direction the company should move in.
In 1980 the business was restructured to reduce risk the the parent entity, Flamers Motor Company was rebranded to Flamers Holding Incorporated. All car production was moved to local subsidiaries which were created in Gasmea, Frunina and Archana.
1981-1989 - Flamers Rally Racing
In 1981 the decision was made to produce a car to compete in the World Rally Championship and in the process a new subsidiary was formed, Flamers Rally Racing.
In order to compete Flamers Rally Racing produced the AllRoad. Over the course of the decade the team never won a drivers championship, coming close in 1983. Coming into the final event Marcus Bjornsson was 23 points into front but a mechanical failure 2 stages to the end saw him drop to 11th, 2 places short of taking the championship.
After the last stage of the 1989 season Flamers Rally Racing confirmed that they would not be completing in the next season of the World Rally Championship.
1990-1999 - Economic Success
The ‘90’s saw a huge economic boom which allowed for a return of the some of the luxury vehicles that the company had been known for early in it’s life.
The first of these was a homage to the 1966 World Roamer, the Voluptas. Built to suit the requirements of the new age of successful businessmen who had made their money trading stocks or promoted to positions of importance it provided the performance, comfort and practicality they were looking for.
2000-2011 - Julio MkI and MkII
The turn of the 21st century saw a shift in how Flamers Motor Company went to market, rather than targeting through traditional advertising they started the move to become a more digital marketing company. These new platforms were web based ads, celebrity endorsements and YouVid, YouVid was a new platform where users could upload videos which were indexed and shared across the world, free of charge.
The first vehicle to be marketed in this way was the Julio Mk1, released in the year 2000 the marketing team heavily used YouVid as a promotional platform. This new platform was the first attempt from the company to bring the high performance normally reserved for the premium and sports modelled into a more affordable platform for younger drivers. After a successful product placement deal in the Agile and Angry films sales of the Julio sky rocketed.
In 2005 a special edition limited run of the Mikro was produced, keeping with the original platform but fitting a modern V6 engine and fishing the interior to the highest standard a modern classic was created. A limited run of 3,000 cars were made with 500 of these being given to long standing employees of the Flamers Motor Company as a gesture of thanks for their loyalty.
2012-2015 - Flamers Racing
After the success of the Julio Mk 1 and 2 providing high performance motoring for a smaller budget it was decided to revive the Flamers Rally Racing division and rebrand it to Flamers Racing. Now focused on tack racing, the new division set out to build a car that could be used by beginner racers with less experience.
At the end of 2011 an agreement was reached with VitiaCo to start a single specification racing series. The inaugural season started in 2010 using the Polus as a base car with 6 rounds on various circuits around Gasmea, finishing with the final round at the Automation Track. The champion of this first season was, a then 20 year old, Jeremy Stanley.
2016-2019 - World Series Tourers
In 2016 there was the opportunity to setup from the single specification series into the World Series Tourers. Unfortunately the decision to make this move was made late into 2015 which left little time to modify the newly released Julio Mk3 which had been used in the VitiaCo series in 2015. The newly formed team entered under the banner of Flamers VitiaCo Racing, cementing the relationship between Flamers Motor Company and VitiaCo.
Whilst the team were competing in the 2016 season the design department worked with the design team in Frunia to build a car designed to be able to complete more effectively in the World Series Tourers, releasing the Polus Mk2. The Polus Mk2 was the base platform that was used for competition until the end of the championship in 2019.
2020-Future - World Endurance Championship
After getting a taste for worldwide racing the Flamers VitiaCo Racing team decided that the next challenge would be the World Endurance Championship. The rules prior to 2020 had not been overly attractive for manufacturers entering, however in 2020 the design parameters of the cars were changed to be more representative to road going hypercars.
Car details to follow
Post Links
1946-1954 - Early Years
1955-1960 - The Depression
1961-1980 - Global Expansion
