Goodluck with the eye operation!
Sounds like corrective laser surgery though. I only had real issues for about 8 hours after the operation. After that it’s just a matter of keeping your eyes hydrated and clean to ward of infections or to disturb the laser cuts. But apart from that, the next morning I was basically recovered, so I hope the same for you.
First of all, thanks!
Secondly, from what I’ve gathered after speaking to a few people, it doesn’t seem to be a laser-powered surgery. I am unaware if this is the correct English term, but the lenses I’m being given are intra-optical lenses. And presumably that type of surgery is not done with a laser…
Ah, the more serious one, I understand the increased recovery time for that!
Laser might be involved (clean, computer-steered cuts are a good thing in your eyes), but the introduction of lenses is more intrusive.
May everyhting go well!
Good luck with the surgery, hope you recover soon! In the plus side of things, this is going to be an improvement in your quality of life 
hope to see you back around soon!
And so am I, for that matter. After a week and few bits down in bed, the eyes are well recovered, and the doctor has given the go-ahead for my life to return to its usual paces.
So, what is this update about? My eye surgery and the adventures before as well as after it. Without further ado, have some pointers;
The surgery did not have the smoothest of starts. Once I was suited up, the first attempt at making a entry point for the serum resulted in a burst vessel. Talk about a hard knock before the right time! And finding another vessel still took a bit, mainly due to another reason…
…which was the fact one of my lenses was missing. Yep. I was in the waiting area with a botched drill and one lens was not even accounted for! Needles to say, the nurses and my operating doctor were in a craze trying to find it, whilst I turned to my anesthesiologist saying “if this is about to happen, it’ll be a very bad joke”. Considering my first attempt was cancelled due to lack of said anesthesiologist, I wasn’t feeling very hopeful at that moment.
However, after a while, the missing lens was discovered, and my surgeon didn’t even want to wait, as he took me to make markings on my eye for the surgery (which might prove this wasn’t done with a laser, @Private_Miros?). The nurse was still trying to find a spot on my left hand for the serum insertion, but screw it, markings first. And then I panicked a bit, because Mr. Surgeon said he wanted to use a needle for the markings. No can do, Doctor Nick. Needles are bad enough for me as-is, let alone on my god-forsaken eye! It may be childish on my part, but if I can avoid needles I’ll be a happier camper wagon.
And then, once the whole serum was finally done, onwards I went. Soon I was in the surgery room, the gas mask went on my face and the anesthesiologist gave the “order to sleep”. A couple of inhalations later, poof, knockout blow. Them anesthesia gas is good, could use some of that for rough patches of sleeping… I’d say the surgery took about two hours or so, but I can’t pinpoint the exact length. All I knew was that after waking up, I had an aviator-esque mask on my face (a fact my mother brought up quite frequently, haha), and thanked the anesthesiologist for his help whilst barely seeing anything.
The nurse was rather hopeful; she claimed I could watch TV and even get to the computer once I got back home! Psh, as if. Not when my eyes were like a late '90s WCW Pay-Per-View, because all I felt was Sting.* And to boot, my left eye was chock full of rheum, a fact which was further proven by a medical check next day. Fortunately, after one of the three drops I was taking was replaced with another to fix the rheum, the eyes felt better about three or four days. Still, screw this feeling in the chest with a mace. And then crush its crainum with it.
And, well, afterwards it was a lot of resting in bed, taking the visor off after three days and using sunglasses whenever I entered house divisions with more light. And watching Daniel Craig 007 movies. Some may say that’s not the safest thing to do with eyes, but I had already watched Spectre. As far as the bottom of the barrel goes, I had already gone through the dirt beneath the barrel. #sickburn
Not the world’s most exciting routine, but this is not a rule that I felt like breaking. Like Mr. Computah rightfully said, this was all about quality of life. It’s about finally ditching a near-quarter-century of glasses reliance, as well as ditching the very expensive-but-very-outdated pair of glasses I was wearing. Now I have nothing to wait for or be worried about with my eye health, and I can finally advance with all my personal projects.
Speaking of which, this “mysterious” black car will get its third and final appearance here somewhere next week. I still have some things to do this weekend, which is why I cannot reveal it straight away (if your memory somehow has forgotten the other car here with this body shape)… But once that’s done, Hugi and CSM will be fully back in biz. Hugi might even get a reasonable city car once this black beauty is revealed! gasp shock!
To Miros and Mr. Computah and those who liked the announcement post, many, oh so many thanks for the extremely kind words. Here’s to a more lively future for this thread, both in car variety and comments about said cars. One of these days Eida, one of these days… Bam, zoom! A good front end design!
All series have a period of change, with that one final episode to ensure true proof of irreversible chance, whilst still delivering hope of a follow-up. For the Mark 4 Rioter, that episode came in 1993.
There was a quick teaser that things were setting up for a finale beforehand, mind; in early 1992, the Lion was swiftly retired from the Rioter lineup, with many quickly guessing the Mark 4 dynasty was about to wind down.
However, something else caught the attention of the car press a few months later. That being the image of a Rioter armed with camoflauge, packing a rear wing and larger rims. Needless to say, this mysterious Rioter began a stream of questions; was it a mule for a whole new Rioter? Was it a swan song for the current one? Was it a testing car for new technologies?
The answer was a combination of the two latter questions; the ultimate Mark 4 Rioter, dubbed the LRZ-1, as seen above. The most technological Rioter at the time, featuring a multitude of firsts for Hugi’s quintessential sports car. The design was one of those firsts, in a way; gone were the pop-up headlights, replaced by new, more aerodynamic units designed and made in Japan. Next to these lights were triangular-shaped front indicators, also a far cry from the Linkers of old. They were affectionately dubbed “Pepper’s Roni” by the elite enginneering team behind the LRZ-1, which may or may not bring to mind a certain type of food consumed during development…
Along with new headlights, a whole new set of front grills occupied the front bumper. Alongside these extra openings were side vents and a new hood vent, replacing the double vent units found in the Lion. The grills around the license plate were taken from the Fleuma B/R, only now the chrome stripes were automated, designed to angle at high speeds to feed more air to the engine. Between these larger grilles and the smaller ones lied the fog lights, which were an optional for the LRZ-1. Mainly due to the car’s main goal, but we’ll get to that later…
The LRZ-1’s rear also featured significant changes compared to the old Mark 4. Gone were the long light stripes and divided trim. In its place, a chrome trim surrounding the lights and rear license plate, which united with the latter’s frame at the middle. The taillights themselves were also changed, as they were now based on the headlight units, with the only difference being the additional reverse light/rear indicator unit, almost making the entire set feel like a pair of eyes staring your down…
The Rioter badge was placed betweent the two exhaust tips, another new aspect to this Rioter. The tips themselves had their respective single-striped vent, which did not angle like the front grilles. As well as all this, aerodynamics were enhanced by a set of additional parts. These parts being a new bodykit, featuring all-around lips, and a new active rear wing, adjustable with three different modes (modes being Street, Cruising, and Racing).
The LRZ-1 was anything but subtle, even in the shade of stealth black featured in this example. So many were the external changes, fans began calling the LRZ-1 the “Mk4.5 Rioter”, as a middle ground between two very different ideas…
But of course, this Rioter would hardly be known as a whole new breed of Rioter if it weren’t for the tech underneath all the facelifts. And in the LRZ-1’s case, there was enough new tech to make a year-old Mk4 feel dated by 10 years…
Beginning with the chassis, the LRZ-1 replaced the monocoque of previous models with a brand new spaceframe, the first ever in a Hugi car. Galvanised to protect the car from use and abuse, this light frame was made lighter by the use of aluminum panels, another unusually elegant solution for a people’s sports car like the Rioter. All this combined made the LRZ-1 only a fraction heavier than the Lion, ranking at 1381 kgs against the Lion’s 1372.
Suspension-wise, the advancements continued; while the front suspension was still the Mk4’s double wishbone setup, the rear suspension featured an all-new Pushrod design, based on the company’s GT racing cars. Nothing else could do for a Rioter as powerful as the LRZ-1, and boy was there a lot more power.
The V8, based on the Lion’s unit, was further enlarged to 5.5-liters. The extra size was complemented by the most talked about technological feature of the LRZ; at long last Hugi made good on the FRTX’s promise and then some, by using an aluminum double-overhead-cam, 32-valve head to power this new V8! Designed in England by Hugi’s Croft branch, this beast of a V8 could safely rev all the way to 7000 RPM, all whilst offering 514 horsepower on tap.
The top speed may have been hurt by the aerodynamics (being rated at 300km/h), however don’t let that fool you. The LRZ-1 was designed to tackle corners with the grip and poise American sports cars were mocked for not having. It was made with the Rioter racing cars in mind, and nothing else. Most of the changes were made to ensure ability to cope with every track, in every spec, to the best of the driver’s abilities.
Yes, it was hard as a rock and hardly fuel conscious, but if that was your wish for a performance Rioter, you were not in line for the 250 LRZ-1s that were made. Under the tagline “One of a kind, last of its kind”, the LRZ-1 was a bombastic farewell to the beloved Mark 4, designed with only the most refined techologies on the market. Not only did it train Hugi to further develop these technologies for road and racing cars alike, it gave newcomers to the Rioter story one hell of a reason to watch the previous episodes. And it gave people a reason to stay tuned for a new season, too…
Specs:
Oh, don’t change threads just yet. There is something else you need to take before you go. The LRZ-1!
That’s right, the LRZ-1’s car file is right here, as a celebration of both being the last Mk4 and my successful recovery from eye surgery. Enjoy, and let know if the experience was one of a kind! 
Hugi Rioter Mk4.5 - LRZ-1.car (33.6 KB)
Not a bad front at all! I think you need to add more detail on the rear (specially the lower part), but the ideas are there. If there’s something I need to say though, perhaps it’s a bit too boxy and edgy for what the 90s had in store, specially in '93 when a lot of these boxy designs started looking outdated.
As seen in the Malaise Of Glory challenge, minus one design mishap that will be explained
The Fleuma was Hugi’s North-American attempt at filling the gap left by the Mk.3 Rioter, creating a small cheap sports car for those who couldn’t afford the larger Mk.4. And in a way, the whole project had great potential; by using wind tunnels and studying the Mk.4 Rioter’s design carefully, Hugi Motors had created a very sharp, very aerodynamic body, which would provide great boosts to speed and fuel consumption. Plus, it lent the design a Mk.4-esque feel, which would help sales as future owners would feel like they owned a tinier Rioter.
Sadly, the promise fell apart during the first years of production. But we’ll get to that point later. For now, design; the Fleuma Mk.1’s front end used pop-up headlights, a staple of the era. While the front design itself was not complex, it still gave the sporty vibe required to sell a sports car in the '80s.
As for the rear, the design is vastly different from what EHSC did to the Fleuma Formula BR. The taillight setup doesn’t feature the angled stripe design of the BR, instead opting for a long stoplight strip that ended on two triangular prisma-shaped taillights. The bottom units housed the rear indicators and reverse lights, whilst keeping a small portion as a stoplight. The plastic trim inbetween these lower lights was inspired by the Japanese small sports cars of the era, proudly displaying the Fleuma name right on its center.
All around the car, the plastic trim tied the car together, whilst the side vents offered additional cooling to the mid-mounted engine. Also, this particular Fleuma, a 1984 model, was actually the car used by Hugi for marketing materials. But there was one minor mishap that went oddly uncorrected; the rear bumpers were missing, and the car’s ad displays a Fleuma without the bumpers that were featured on the front end. Here is the original ad for reference;
And yes, while the MS4 features two rear vents at the bottom, it only has a single exhaust tip. This ties into the “broken promises” feel that hampered the Fleuma’s debut. But above all else, there is one culprit that shines the most…
The MS4’s mid-mounted engine. At first engineers planned to release the Fleuma with a V6 engine, tuned to several degrees to match the car’s different trims, but Hugi Aleixo himself vetoed the choice, claiming high development costs. Needless to say, this was a lie; Hugi feared the sharp technology of the Fleuma would lure most of the Rioter’s fanbase to double down and opt for the cheaper Fleuma.
Thus the MS4 was stuck with the engine you see above; a 2.2-liter inline-4, all-iron engine powered by a 2-barrel carburettor, Hugi Motors’s “Steel Severn” engine. Hardly an engine fit for a sports car, the Steel Severn was used on several Hugi family cars throughout the '80s, but it wasn’t built with the Fleuma in mind. The engine suffered from component strain at high RPMs due to its cast iron parts, which in turn caused several reliability issues and two recalls to tweak the design.
However, no matter how smoother it became, it still didn’t stop the MS4 from being a 103-horsepower coupe, a far cry from the advanced import sports cars it was competing against. It also didn’t help that the MS4 was stuck with a 4-speed manual transmission, a choice more fitting for a family car…
Thus, the Fleuma MS4 was condemmed to live as a car that never truly upholded the promises set by Hugi marketing. To top all its issues off, the all-independent suspension could not stop the car from suffering of oversteer. Said oversteer wasn’t terminal mind you, but it prevented most owners from risking their limbs trying to drive the MS4 fast.
There was one silver lining in the Mk.1 Fleuma’s life that gave it a sliver of hope and produced the results owners clamored for, but that is a story for another day…
Specs:
The minivan. In the early ‘90s, this type of vehicle brought a new type of family motoring, one which Hugi Motors mostly overlooked. Despite the increasingly strong presence of minivans on American roads, the American company persisted with sedans and wagons, hoping to bank on variety and ease of parking.
This background only makes the existence of the Quarterback even more strange and whimsical. It all happened at the 2003 edition of the NAIAS, when the unannounced, unteased green minivan burst onto the scene wearing the Hugi badge. Much to the surprised of shocked bystanders, who couldn’t make heads or tails regarding the car’s entire conception…
Where to begin with the Quarterback? Perhaps the ungainly expression it wears design-wise. The outdated headlight units and extremely small, square-shaped grille lent the car an awkward first impression. The rear was slightly less offending, featuring one large stoplight strip, followed by two pairs of smaller strips on each side of the rear. One filled the role of additional stoplight and the other served as the rear indicators. Perhaps this section is the closest thing to the Quarterback’s image of American soccer minivan, aside from the “mad gainz” wheel arches, that is…
However, it was tough to see where Hugi’s design language fitted in the Quarterback. No angular front indicators, no coherency from front to rear… The overall design language was chock full of mishmash influences, none of which would sit well with conservative families. Their children would probably appreciate the juvenile simplicity of the Quarterback’s design, however. Its shark-wearing-dental-braces face is the stuff their drawings are made of, after all!
But the car’s ridiculously tiny rear wing and excessively wide wheel arches were only a warning shot of the insanity, awaiting those brave enough to peek into the Quarterback’s engine bay.
The most outlandish, norm-defying feature of the Quarterback; the all-aluminum, 2.9-litre turbocharged V10 engine with a redline of 8,700RPM and the horsepower rating of 340-horsepower. An engine which could’ve made the stuff of dreams for small sports car fans, but was instead thrown inside the ungainly body of a soccer mom minivan. Needless to say, the Quarterback’s maddening specs were dismissed by many as mere marketing fluff, and the engine producing them as a mere mock sculpture. Adding to this was Hugi’s self-imposed ban on turbocharging, and the company’s previous history of making non-turbocharged concept cars (i.e. the FRTX).
The car’s overall suspension setup was equally bold, going as far as using a multilink design for the rear suspension. And to top it all off, a spaceframe body constructed with aluminum panels, hardly anything suitable for family motoring. There was very little in the Quarterback which could predict Hugi’s future cars, and even less tying it to any future minivan design the company could be producing.
It was already tough enough to take the Quarterback seriously, from the basic-yet-exaggerated design to the futuristic sports car specs. But the final nail in this bright green coffin came from the ad produced for the car. An ad which does indeed prove this entire thing was made on a crazy whim, by people who weren’t exactly familiar with family advertising (or how to make advertising for that matter);
No, this was not made on April Fools’. Yes, it was presented alongside the car at NAIAS, next to products from the biggest car companies in the world. One notorious American car critic even brought up “special teams” regarding the innuendo-prone catchphrase of “Mom’s done being the reserve player”…
And also yes, this car was (presumably) capable of hitting 60mph in 5.5 seconds. A time which would make most muscle car owners tremble in fear of mommy kicking their backside on the I-95. Top speed was limited to a “mere” 250km/h, perhaps for the greater good of the 8 passengers the Quarterback could carry.
In reality, Hugi was not aware of this project at first. The Quarterback was created as an after-hours project by bored (and most likely drunk) members of the brand’s racing operations, mainly the younger members, inspired by the tuning craze sweeping the country. The car wasn’t intended to go public until a tuning convention in Detroit. But when spy photographers caught it during testing presuming the car to be a brand new MPV, Hugi had no choice but to bring the Quarterback out to light.
The company went as far as to later issue a public apology for misleading information! A bit of a ridiculous overreaction, but it just proves the Quarterback’s insanity was contagious. Never would the world see a Hugi concept quite as class-breaking as this, nor an ad quite as ridiculous. But in a way, the notion of a V10-powered, road-going minivan would definitely mean the end of mom’s reserve player run… Wouldn’t it?
Specs:
Author’s Note: Yes, for those who know, this is the same Quarterback which was entered into the Automation Design Competition! My first ever Automation competition car, as well as its ad which was my first attempt at doing such.
Why did I post this now, you ask? Well today, September 30th, marks a special occasion in my life. My day of birth! Also yes, I celebrated it by tearing apart my own ridiculous ugly creation in third person. If YouTubers can do it, why shouldn’t we Automation designer-mechanics? Besides, this car is a benchmark. A benchmark which hopefully, a few years later, will make me say “man I was a terrible player back then… but at least dat catchprashe was good for a laugh”. Maybe one day I might even design a good MPV, who knows?
I promise my next real-life birthday Automation celebration won’t be as disastrous-looking as this… For now many thanks to those following Hugi’s steps, and see you around on the road!
I think this design needs to improve a whole lot. The fixtures do not flow together, the sealed beams are outdated (should be phased out in cars sometime in the early 90s) and the wheels are too inset. The rear is quite bare and the lights do not work. This is a design that needs rebuilding from the ground up in my opinion.
“thrash the dance floor…”
i see u r a man of culture as well
I agree, to a 100% rating. Like I said, this was posted as-is to show how badly incoherent and outdated my design knowledge was in Automation (and also 4 laffs 
). It’s a ‘90s concept design stuck on a Noughties’ body, complete with wheel arch extensions that would make Liberty Walk cringe.
From what I said in the text, I have nothing positive said about the Quarterback. If I ever design a Noughties MPV again, it will not be based on any of what the Quarterback is. It shall stay as a one-off piece of history. A ghastly-looking piece of history but hey, at least it’s more interesting to look at…
The muscle car only knows one kind of culture. The bruising kind…
I have not seen Hugi take such lunacy to new heights before… But the world would be a duller place without it!
Honestly, though, nothing about it makes sense in real life. Except maybe for that bright green exterior color… But it should be reserved for true high-performance cars.
Some men just want to watch the world do that Jackie Chan meme face
Thing is, that bright green is not even Hugi’s official sports car color. If you look closely at previous green Hugi cars (i.e. all Lion Rioters), the color used is a two-tone combination of dark green and black.
Not quite CSM’s own green, mind you… ahem
And now, time for something completely different.
Yep, this is something new, isn’t it? Not just this cover, but also the car which is a part of it. Consider it a prelude to a new Mark 2… 
And countless thanks to @Mr.Computah for creating this fantastic edit, after a car discussion turned into a manga discussion which wound up bringing this car into play!
The cover is based on the original third release of the Shades of Gray arc, part of Kenichi Sonoda’s 1993 Japanese manga Gunsmith Cats. Here is the original cover, if you want to see who stood before this mysterious red car…
Truly a picture that’s worth all the words I could use for it.
attached picture
And you too can meet it here! Say hello to the first, non-comic book look at the Fleuma Mark 2, courtesy of @Mr.Computah and his Motores Garcia company. Of course, time has done some changes to it, but the Hugi heart is still there…
The Fleuma… Truly a story which easily describes the “wasted potential” mindset of the '80s. In a bid to preserve big names through castration, most unique ideas were underdeveloped to avoid market clashes should their new technology prove successful.
For the Fleuma, its start was a rough one. Despite a futuristic-looking body and capable handling, both its engine and body designs leaved much to be desired. Between an outdated family I4 and cumbersome rear fascia, the Mark 1’s first impressions were hardly lasting ones.So, a new revamp was in order. A new design, new engines, refined handling… It all seemed fine and well for the Mark 2. Until Hugi Aleixo decided to stick his nose in. In 1985, Hugi marketing materials promoted a brand new V6 as part of a sports version package. However, only one month after said materials came out, they were recalled for corrections. And said corrections striked the V6 off the promotional text, as future owners looked on dumbfounded.
According to Hugi, the engine had been tested with wrongly-calibrated emission machines, and further testing showed it to be non-emission-compliant. According to reality, however? It was corporate fear. The new V6 engine would have put the Fleuma above the Rioter Mk.4 S, in terms of offering far more bang for your buck. The Rioter name was too strong for Hugi to allow such a clear “overtake”, so he ordered the V6 program’s cancellation and forced the Fleuma’s development team to rely on a different engine.
The result is what you see above; the Fleuma GT. Or, to be more exact, the Fleuma GT’s 2.3-litre, 163-horsepower inline-5 engine. Gone were the carburettors and hampered-down family tunes. All Mark 2 engines featured single electronic fuel injection, and the GT took that two steps further by pairing its SOHC, 20-valve head to aluminum materials, making the engine lighter than the new MS4’s. Plus its compact size suited the transverse setup within the (limited) engine bay. Above all else though, this meant the GT barely cleared the 1-tonne mark, making for a very zippy mid-engined runabout.
The suspension helped it zip better. Instead of the Mark 1’s MacPherson struts, the Mark 2 replaced all of them with a brand new double wishbone setup, which greatly improved the car’s road-holding abilities. And made for a far more connected driver-car pairing, a key improvement for a sports car.
Of course, the GT needed more than just engine pizzazz to stand out in an era of edge and excess. And the design provided the sharpness required out of a 1980’s sports car. Completely revamped from front to back, the Fleuma ditched its “edged arrows” rear fascia for a more elegant, straight-lined light arrangement. Additional cooling was provided by the new rear grille, and rubber bumpers replaced the Mark 1’s “rubber bumps” design.
Luxury touches were the GT’s staple, which furthered its status as the finest of Fleumas. All-around chrome trim was paired with color inserts in the rubber bumpers, while the colors themselves were an array of two-tone paintjobs, featuring black as the secondary color. Completing the set were the quad exhaust pipes… and a targa-top! Indeed, the GT offered the same T-top setup seen in the more expensive Rioter Mk.4s, albeit only as optional equipment. Still, it showed how hard the Fleuma’s team wanted to convey the car’s recently-changed stripes, to display it was finally the competent car it was meant to be.
Unfortunately, it was too late for the Fleuma to join the party. Hugi Aleixo was not happy with the Mark 1’s poor sales, and the GT was showing too many signs of improved competence. All the cars were against the Fleuma, and the Mark 2 only lasted a year and a half before being axed completely. EHSC tried to give it a fair farewell, buying unsold stocks to create the Formula BR as a run-off special. But the Formula BR was less powerful than the GT. Plus, its edgy design was too much for owners, even for the excessive '80s.
There was a happy silver lining in all this. On October 1st, 2018, a golden car graced the stands of Mexican engine parts manufacturer Motores Garcia. And wouldn’t you know it, there was a familiar shape beneath all the gold. None other than a heavily-modified Fleuma GT, used to promote Garcia’s newest performance cams, common rail fuel injection and exhaust headers. The gold paintjob and modern-day camber may be argued against, but the results are hardly something you argue with.
All 235 results, that is…
Specs:
Countless thanks have to go to @Mr.Computah and @Elizipeazie for their invaluable feedback on this car, as they helped me finally match the '80s to a decent design language. I must also thank Computah for loving the car so much, he went as far as to make a customized manga cover, from one of my favorite mangas of all time! As well as giving it quite a lot of go with Garcia’s input… 
Hey, thank you for checking all my 80s boxes, that’s a proper car you got there 
And now it’s time for something different, yet again…
In this case, a new more elegant first impression. Meet the new corporate Hugi logo, which will be featured in all new Hugi cars from this point onwards.
Originally created from a… shall we say, racy need of a more unique brand image, German designer E. Peazach designed a logo which encompasses Hugi’s desire to bridge any and all gaps, as well as display unity between designers and engineers. From this new first impression, Hugi promises to retain all signs of linking driver to machine, regardless of class or tone. Watch this space!
Many thanks to Elizipeazie for the original logo idea, whose true purpose you will see a bit later. And Mr. Computah, for designing a fancier version for PR purposes. Hopefully this is a step up from the remarkably MS Paint-y original logo from this guy! 
