South Carolina, USA, 1964
It’s been five years since we last checked in on Earl Bauers, who was searching for a truck to use on his family farm in JOC6A - An American Dream. Now 22, Earl is recently married to Wendy, whose longtime friendship evolved into something more, helped along by drive-in movie dates on his truck’s bench seat. Earl still works the family farm, and business has been good. He was even able to buy another 50 acres and invest in a new-fangled combine for harvesting that has even brought in income from helping neighbors with their harvests. Earl and Wendy bought a small house not too far from the family farm, and Earl still uses his pickup truck daily on the farm.
Things are also changing in town. A new supermarket and shopping center has opened on the outside of town, and Wendy likes to go there to shop for her and Earl. But with only the one truck between them, it’s a hassle finding times when Wendy can either take the truck or the two of them can find time to go together.
So while Earl and Wendy aren’t exactly flush with cash, they’ve set aside some money to buy a modest new car. They also recently found out that they are expecting their first child together, so they agree that they would like to have a second car for taking their future child around town.
But Earl and Wendy don’t quite see eye-to-eye on what they want in their next car…
“OK, Wendy, if we’re going to get a second car, let’s head down to the Flint dealership and see what they have. You know, my Flint pickup has been rock-solid.”
“Earl, it’s rock-solid but feels like sitting on a rock! I know you wanted something practical, but how did you find something so uncomfortable? No, we are not getting another Flint. I want something more comfortable.”
“You’re not wrong that having something more comfortable could be nice,” says Earl. “We could also go with something a lot sportier than a truck. I saw a new car recently that had nice, sleek styling, looked sporty, and even had a second row of seats. I also heard it didn’t exactly break the bank…I think it was called a Mustang?”
“But what about our baby on the way? I think we might want something more practical than a coupe for our child. And what if we have more kids? Maybe something like a sedan or wagon would be more practical. But I don’t want some massive land yacht. My uncle has one of those that I drove recently, and it was just too big and ungainly to drive.”
“You can still put a few kids in as long as it has a second row! I know some of the big American manufacturers have been selling some new ‘compact’ cars lately. And over in the city, I’ve heard there are even some dealerships for foreign cars that are supposed to be small and great on gas. I’ve heard these days you can get a German, British, French, Italian, or even Japanese car if you know where to look. A lot of them are little hatchbacks.”
“I’m OK with a hatchback as long as it has enough space inside. It would probably be roomier than a sports coupe! And if it’s great on gas and doesn’t spend a lot of time in the shop, that wouldn’t hurt either! But it had better not be a total tin can–small and inexpensive is good, but I don’t want something ‘cheap’.”
Rules
Trim and Variant Year: 1964
Fuel: 87 AKI/92 RON leaded
Techpool: Default +5
Wheelbase: 116 in/2.95 m max (there are two bodies that are 116.14 in wheelbase, the 53 US sedan and the 60s sedan, that will be permitted)
Seats: 4 minimum, 2+2 is acceptable
Body style: sedan, coupe, wagon, or hatchback
Price: $15,000 maximum, but lower-priced cars will receive a scoring advantage.
Tires: cross-ply only
Negative quality no more than -3
As an American market vehicle of this era, must have round headlights without any coverings and should also have wipers, fuel cap, etc.
No race parts.
Interiors are not required and will not be judged, but at least a basic interior is encouraged.
Deadline/Submissions
Submissions open until July 26, 11:59 p.m., GMT -11 (basically, I will plan on checking for submissions on the morning of July 27, so as long as you submit the night of the 26th, your submission will be on time)
Post an ad with at least one picture of your car and send me a direct message with your .car file attached. If you are a new forum user, you will need to engage in enough activity on the forum (e.g. reading posts) to unlock the messages function.
Car model and engine family names should be “JOC6B - yourusername”. Car trim and engine variant should be the actual name of your car and engine.
Priorities
High
-
Drivability. (Wendy will be driving most of the time and doesn’t want a land yacht. Earl is confident in his own driving but recognizes the importance of this issue to Wendy)
-
Cost to own. (Combination of purchase price, fuel economy, and service costs. Earl and Wendy are doing pretty well financially but aren’t flush with cash and don’t want to break the bank.)
Medium
-
Sportiness. (Earl wants something sporty, but Wendy is not sold on this as a priority. That said, he’s not looking for some extreme sports car.)
-
Comfort. (Earl and Wendy agree they want something more comfortable than their truck, but Wendy would really like a very cushy ride. Since Earl would rather kick up some gravel and carve corners, he doesn’t care as much and would rather not have something too softly sprung)
-
Reliability. (Wendy doesn’t want Earl to just get the most durable thing he can find like he’s done before, but it shouldn’t need too many expensive repairs)
Low
-
Prestige. (Just because they are looking for a small car doesn’t mean they want something “cheap,” and a number of smaller offerings in the 50s crashed and burned for being perceived as too “cheap.”)
-
Offroad. (There are a lot of dirt/gravel roads in their area, so while they don’t need a true offroader, it should be able to handle some rough roads)
-
Practicality. (Wendy would like this to be higher to accommodate a family, but Earl is happy as long as there’s a second row of some sort. And since this stat can be sort of broken in the game, it will not be over-emphasized).
-
Safety. (It’s the 60s, so safety features are pretty basic, but they want something that still feels safe on the road, especially if it’s a smaller car)
Realism/design coherence will serve as a discretionary factor. I frankly do not have deep knowledge about things like the exact tire sizes these different cars had, but if you do something outlandish, it will count against you, potentially significantly. Also try to build something with overall consistency with the brief, which I reserve the right to use as a discretionary scoring factor. For example, if you build an extremely drivable sports car with rock-bottom comfort, that car likely would not win regardless of how the numbers come out because comfort is a priority.
Clarification on realism [added 7/9]. Basically, make something that looks at least approximately like it could exist in the early 1960s, and don’t make any crazy engineering choices. For example, don’t try to shoehorn a V8 into a tiny hatchback or put something on 20-inch rims with low profile tires. The purpose of including realism/design coherence as a scoring factor is to provide a basis to (1) be able to severely penalize totally unrealistic designs and (2) reward entries that pay particular attention to detail and are particularly well designed. I am not going to be “gotcha” binning or penalizing anyone for having headlights that aren’t the exact right size for US regulations at the time or anything like that.
Inspirations
Chevy Corvair
Plymouth Valiant
Ford Falcon
Ford Fairlane
Chevy Chevelle
Ford Mustang
Plymouth Barracuda
Toyota Corona
Renault Dauphine
VW Beetle
Inspirations Gallery
