Journey of ownership 1 - Discount Elvis - Part 1D (finals)

Based on an idea by @BannedByAndroid

I thought that since some people seemed to like this idea, I could as well host the pilot round. I had thought out a ruleset but as usual, I thought too much and overcomplicated things so I decided to mainly use Banned’s ruleset, though I have an idea of a couple of additions.

  1. Each character must be played for at least 3 rounds. That’s because I feel like it won’t be any “journey” with less than 3. One round would only be a CSR ripoff, two rounds not enough to build a story. Three rounds feels like the absolute minimum needed to build up a story about someone’s car life. Of course, more rounds are both allowed and encouraged.

  2. About threads and naming. My thought is that all the parts of JOC1 can be held in one thread, then when moving to a new character we post a new thread for JOC2 etc. About naming, my idea for a standard is that we name the first entries for JOC1 “JOC1A-yourname”, then for the next round “JOC1B-yourname”, “JOC1C-yourname” etc. and then when we change character it becomes “JOC2A”, and so on.

  3. Of course we don’t need to start with a teenager with a fresh license. Some people might have taken their drivers license later in life, some might have bought their first car many years after their license etc. - be creative there, just keep in mind that there should be room for at least three vehicle purchases in that person’s life.

  4. Turnaround times. I don’t think that they should be so heavily regulated, but I feel that many people buy new cars after between 3 and 10 years. Sure, there is cars that are traded after six months, as well as ones that are being kept for 30 years, so all I can say is - if you are moving too far out of what could be considered “normal”, just have a believable reason for this, not “duhhh aliens confiscated his new ride after 2 months so now he needs a new one again”.

  5. Not a rule, but keep in mind that people change over time. If you don’t like the character’s current needs and personality, see it as a challenge to change him/her in a realistic way in the next round. Also, maybe the vehicle chosen may affect the brief next time? (For example: “I thought a sports car could be fun but the lack of practicality was so much of a hassle so the driving experience could not make up for that” - hence maybe a sedan in the next round?)

All of this (or if you want to add or remove something) is open for discussion until friday the 28th of may, 10 AM (GMT+2).


PART 1A
FARNHAM, SURREY, ENGLAND
MAY OF 1980

Meet Keith Phillips. 17 years old and obsessed with the 50s and early 60s culture as it was portrayed in the movie American Graffiti. With that in mind, he wants his first car to be an extension of his personality. He is very much into the custom and hot rod culture going on in the UK at the moment (which, ehm, was a little bit different and sometimes weird, OOC info), and also the bass player in the (at least at the moment far from famous, to say the least, but grandma has pretended to like what they are doing) rockabilly band “Howlin’ Coyotes” he has together with his friends. With that said, his dream car is at least at this time a 1957 Chevy Bel Air convertible. So probably that is what he well be getting, right?

Eh…not quite, since there’s some small details behind this. We’re in the UK and not in the US when you still can find them quite easily. If he found one, he would never be able to afford it. If he would be able to afford it, he would never afford to fill up the tank in a way that a gas guzzling V8 would be begging for. He’s a teenager, and like most of them, he has no money.

So, what he is looking for is something much more economical, that still has a style that would not make him laughing stock. Something that maybe could be made to look cooler with some small tweaks (though he is looking into a stock vehicle, he wants to do any modifications himself) since he has read a lot of motoring magazines and been inspired by the custom cars there. Something that would not be shameful in front of the…ehm, girls. Maybe not the most PC standpoint, but that does not take away the fact that it is what most 17 year old boys think of most of the time and it does not matter that the girls themselves are not as faschinated about their shitboxes as 17 year old boys think, because in their head it is the truth, haha. Something that would fit him and be a nice extension of his personality. That does not mean that it has to look like a shrunken 50s land barge (in fact, it can as well end up as silly in his eyes if it tries too hard), but it is still worth keeping in mind what he likes.

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THREE STAR PRIORITIES

Style - see above
Purchase price - yes, there is a limit but the lower the better since money is tight.
Fuel economy, service costs - being able to afford to run the thing is also a priority.

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TWO STAR PRIORITIES

Comfort, driveability, sportiness - This is going to be a daily driver and should also be pleasant as one. Should not either bounce, spin out or bore you to death.
Reliability - He does not want to spend the few pounds he have on a lemon that makes his life miserable.

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ONE STAR PRIORITIES

Practicality, safety - He is too young to think about such boring sensible things yet, but on the other hand, if it is a tie between two cars otherwise, being better in those areas still might be the dealbreaker.


YEAR, CAR TRIM: 1946-1970
YEAR, CAR MODEL, ENGINE FAMILY, ENGINE VARIANT: Car trim year or older
NAMING CONVENTION: Car model/trim: JOC1A-yourname / Make and model. Engine family/variant: JOC1A-yourname/ Name of engine
MAXIMUM PRICE: $12000 AMU (yes, this is used cars but old enough to have lost so much value that I don’t bother to have any used car calculations, they probably will have lost a similar amount anyway)
MAXIMUM ENGINE ET: 70
MAXIMUM TRIM ET: 70
FUEL: Regular leaded
INTERIORS: Not needed and won’t be judged, they were never exciting in cheap cars from the era anyway
REALISM: Unrealistic engineering or styling might result in a bin, that includes, but is not limited to, race parts, semi slick tyres etc.
ADVANCED TRIM SETTINGS: Allowed for resizing transmission tunnel to make a better interior.

SUBMISSIONS OPEN: Friday the 28th of may, 10 AM (GMT+2).

SUBMISSIONS CLOSE: Friday the 10th of june, 5 PM (GMT+2). PM me the .car-file and put an ad/description in the thread before that.


Also, sorry if this is too unrealistic in some way, but I didn’t want to do yet ANOTHER Swedish round so this is kind of outside my comfort zone.

Here is a video that could serve as a little inspiration.

Also car inspirations

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11 Likes

What about seat count and arrangement? Can he get away with owning a 2-seater, or does he need more than just a pair of full-size seats in the front row?

Young, wild and free, and for…ehm…teen activities, there is always a way if there is a will, so I’d say that a 2-seater is enough. With that said, if we end up with a close tie between two cars, one of them having back seats won’t be a drawback.

2 Likes

-snerk- Somehow I feel oddly called out on this. Probably because of this. (Bit of a read, car’s not lore friendly, the reference is near the end.)

Might give this a try, even if I know nothing about British cars…

Well, it’s not stated that it needs to be british either, so…

3 Likes

I think the ET cap could be raised somewhat. After all, some cars IRL did come with V6s between 1960 and 1970 (Like the Taunus and Essex units) and by this point even some of those cars would be depreciated enough to buy

2 Likes

You may have a point there. True, we’re talking shitboxes but on the other hand, if someone manages to squeeze a less shitty car into the pricepoint and also manages to make it somewhat economical to run it might be tempting for him. I guess I’ll try to build a test engine later to decide…

I’m interested in this, Maybe i might attend this one or Round 2.

Don’t know why I wrote “custom vans” in the magazine part. Corrected to custom cars. Including, but not limited to vans.

So, I raised the engine ET to 70 to allow for more exciting configurations.
Also, what are your thoughts on tyres? I am leaning towards to only allow crossplies which might be a bit backwards, but…

In 1980, a 10+ year old car would probably not have its original tyres. Most likely is that any car would have radials retrofitted. BUT…

Automation stats favour radials - which is in order, they do improve driving dynamics a lot. But what you can’t do is to fit radials on an old car in Automation. Hence, it feels a bit unfair that older cars should be punished for tyre technology when they probably would have more or less the same tyres as a slightly newer car.

The only remaining choice is to only allow crossplies to even things out - and that would also have been the most likely equipment on any car in this class when new, even in 1970. Maybe not so accurate for the round in itself, but still…

What’s your opinion on that?

3 Likes

I wouldn’t fit cross Plies to every car, just let people use whatever tyre type. More than likely not that many people will make an early 50’s car. When does radial unlock?

OK, might have been me overthinking things as usual then.

Are East Bloc and Soviet cars allowed, and how does he view them?

Nationality does not matter, it’s how the car looks and performs that is important, as usual in Automation challenges if nothing else is stated.

I love the idea of this challenge, I’m in!

OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Rules that has not been subject for discussion until now are nailed.

5 Likes

I really enjoyed the spirit of this one.

Spotted! A 1966 FMC Kestrel!

These Kestrels came in all sorts of configurations and interesting color combinations. This one is is painted in metallic blue called "Wolf. You know, it has been said Elvis’ favorite color was Blue, inferenced by how many songs referenced the color. Some argue it was pink and black, since his performances were often in those colors…but I digress.


This one packs the smallest engine they come with, but its still a Overhead Cam V6 so it at least sounds sporty. Sized 1.9L, it makes 91HP, and 102 lb/ft TQ. This would be disappointing except for the fact that, true to its name of being a small bird, it is extremely light at under 2300lbs, and it comes with a fully-independent suspension and disc front brakes, so it has great bones for future upgrades.


It can do a bit over 100mph, takes 11.6 sec to 62, and can do about 18sec in the 1/4 mile. Higher-spec Kestrels come with bigger displacement 6’s, and you can even get a V8 in the later years but it really stuffs up the engine bay.


They came with 15" radial tires so the traction is really good, and the swing-arm rear and strut front combo is really comfortable compared with solid axle cars.

They have 2+2 seating, despite the diminutive size. And the best part about a Kestrel with the base engine is they only run 11,800!

5 Likes

Reminder: A little over a week until deadline. :slight_smile:

am i allowed to submit a vehicle from another challenge in a similar era?? i am sorry for this question.

As long as it fulfills the rules, I don’t care if it has been in 200 different challenges before, just reuse it if you want to.

2 Likes