Thank you for this 2nd place! I took great pleasure in documenting myself on the cars of that era. I tried to design a vehicle that came as close to it as possible. Thanks Lanson.
I won’t be able to host the next round, the holidays are over and I prefer to devote free time I have left to modding. Maybe @S_U_C_C_U_L_E_N_T ?
My greatest regret is not being able to compete along with you all. Next time!
It is paying off at times. But I still havent figured out how to get my vehicles out the “nothing special” category numbers wise. Im not sure if my tuning sucks or if its a quality issue.
review the spreadsheet, I think it will help. You can mod your car and compare the changes, and repeat until you optimize. All my competitions are run on a relative rank scale. So if the era penalizes drivability or whatever, then everyone is on the same playing field.
Thank you for hosting. This round was well-run and the reviews for each car were very detailed.
I’ll see if I can come up with and in a few hours I’ll either post the next round or pass it on yet again.
Florida, July 1984.
Kenneth Bower is now 49 years old. A lot has happened in the past 13 years. Kenneth used to be a test pilot but one thing led to another and by 1976, after many years of training, Kenneth had become an astronaut at NASA. Despite being new at the time, he was entrusted with many important missions including some of the first Space Shuttle test flights. Kenneth truly can get much higher (so high) (oh, oh, oh).
By 1984, Kenneth still worked for NASA. He still gets selected for missions into space but his age is starting to affect his otherwise good physical health. He is no longer in his prime. And with that, Kenneth started to doubt himself and his identity. A mid-life crisis, if you will.
The solution to all this? Run away! As fast as he could until he can’t run from it no more. And what exactly will Kenneth run away with? In addition to massive rockets, planes, and space shuttles, well, he doesn’t know yet. Should it fully embrace his all-American identity? Or should he embrace a new continental or oriental style? Is he attracted to women after all? Or should he Go West where the opposite is… acceptable? Besides, as great of a car as the the Cabirou Rosson was, it is already quite old at this point so it needed to be replaced… or at least put into storage while the new car takes over its role.
Priorities
Styling. What kind of person making bank doing the things they love would settle for an ugly car?
Drivability. Kenneth wants to be in control of his car. Driving aids like power steering or an automatic transmission could help but are obviously not required. Kenneth still likes rowing his own gears though he also likes the convenience of the automatic.
Sportiness. After driving one of his friend’s sports cars, Kenneth has developed a taste for cars that can turn as well as it can accelerate.
Performance. Kenneth is used to being strapped onto machines with tens of thousands of horsepower. He wants good power but is now also aware that horsepower numbers aren’t everything.
Comfort. He wants to go fast, but he doesn’t want to break his back while doing so. That being said, he doesn’t need a car that’s super cushy as the Armor does that job for him.
Safety. Kenneth probably has more days behind him than ahead, but he doesn’t want to die in a vehicle that is going very fast on January 28, 1986.
Fuel Economy. Gas may be cheaper nowadays but Kenneth remembered how things were right after he bought the Armor in '71. He knows that sports cars will definitely drink a lot of gas but it shouldn’t be as bad as his two boats.
Reliability. Your problems will catch up to you if you stop for repairs.
Environmental Resistance. Kenneth still lives near the coast and could do with rust protection.
Practicality. Kenneth might have a big and spacious wagon but his new car should still be able to carry some luggage.
Purchase/Service Costs. As long as it isn’t overpriced, it’s good.
Prestige. The badge doesn’t matter as long as it delivers. Kenneth prefers a good old V8 but with the fuel crisis in recent memory and technological advancements, Kenneth now hold six cylinders in high regard as well. Four cylinders? But with a little tomfoolery, maybe.
Rules:
Engine
Trim
Naming Convention
Additional Rules
Realism Notes
It goes without saying that unrealistic styling and/or engineering will result in a bin. Automobile-Catalog is a helpful website that provides all kinds of information from a car’s tyre diameter down to the type of carburettor an engine uses. From my experience, however, the website does not have much information on certain brands (including Toyota) but a quick search on the search engine of your choice should give you the information you need regardless.
TRX tyres (tyre sizes that end in “0”) are allowed for this round though I will penalize them slightly if you use them on your entry. Entries that mix TRX and non-TRX tyres on the same car will be binned on sight.
Since it is literally 1984, sealed beams are no longer a requirement so you can use composite headlights. Use whichever that suits your design best.
Kenneth is open to many different kinds of cars. Working with people from all over the country and even abroad, Kenneth has had the pleasure to try all sorts of different cars from the traditional big American V8 that he’d been driving all his life to rear-engined sports cars and cars with turbocharged engines. Still, he holds the V8 near and dear to his heart so he will have a slight bias to what’s familiar to him. But then again, maybe something new is just what he needs…
Engines with four valves per cylinder will be put under more scrutiny as the technology had only begun to trickle down to normal, consumer cars down from race cars and very high-end sports cars. If you are unsure what configuration to use, do some research and/or ask others.
TLDR; you can do whatever you want but make sure you know what you’re doing
Extra Notes
Inspirations
Chevrolet Camaro
Ford Mustang
BMW 6-Series
Porsche 911
Alpine A310
Jaguar XJ-S
Toyota Soarer
Nissan Leopard
Submissions
Submissions will open on Sunday, January 8th at 23.59 (UTC+7). The rules will be open to deliberation and subject to change until then.
Submissions will close on Tuesday, January 24th at 23.59 (UTC+7).
Changelog
Added notes regarding valvetrain
Added notes regarding Kenneth’s preferences
That is all
In the meantime, enjoy some early 90s J-pop.
Honestly I could’ve taken more time to write this but it is what it is so please report any flaws with the ruleset before the round begins
The safety comment was dark, but I still laugh at it (and feel bad for doing so) 
As a proud space nerd, I am sooo glad my little comment in the 1st round materialized for Kenneth!
I did cry a little inside at that safety comment… but also laughed and also felt bad as well
holy damn that was fast
You should also allow the use of 91 RON/87 AKI regular unleaded in addition to 95 RON/90 AKI premium unleaded.
Also, given that environmental resistance is of moderate importance, I am considering using partial aluminum panels and a corrosion-resistant steel chassis - treated steel bodywork is not available until 1994, and would therefore require too many tech pool points to unlock with the current rule set. And the tech pool distribution for this round (30 in all, in what is effectively a 2:1 ratio for trim and engine, with a maximum of 4 in any area) makes perfect sense.
And should there be a price cap, and if so, how much will it be?
1984 Globus Phoenix LT
The Phoenix is the flagship of the Globus program since '82. However, the retro design with round taillights wasn’t that appreciated by the buyers, so an early facelift arrived for '84.
Despite being a classic muscle car with good comfort and an engine that causes an earthquake when flooring it, the handling is crisp and absolutely competetive with regular sports cars (a supercar with similar engine power however will leave the Phoenix behind, yes).
I am a little late with reacting to the results, because I didn’t have time before today, was a hard week in the office.
Obviously I am a milder twin of @Vento , because my cars are always good at engineering (unless I missed the ruleset) but the design is mostly disliked. However, Vento might be even better at engineering and worse at styling.
The interior color critic is something I would not consider, because it’s the 70s where the wildest things were possble and actually bought in real life. However, this is something I’d definitely try and I consider it as valuable:
I think if the parts were aligned to horizon, it might have turned out better.
In general, there is not much to complain here. The reviews came quick and there was great effort in judging and writing. Judging a design is always a subjective thing and I might have been falling down not because my car was bad, but because most others just did better and really raised the bar in this round that had truly exceptional quality there.
Especially if @S_U_C_C_U_L_E_N_T enters a challenge, you know who wins the design part. All of his creations I saw were excellent. I guess the car would have won with absoulte ease if Vento made the engineering part.
@Lanson
So, I took your advice and you were right. This is now an updated '72 Imperator in contrast to the '67 model, as considered for LHC. It does look more pleasant if aligned to horizon and if the lines roughly point into similar directions, so I changed it for all post-72 Imperator cars. However, I’ll keep the old design in the 67-72 because the older car has a lower front and does look more quirky/aggressive with the old grille as intended by me. But on the facelift I should have done what you proposed because the grille did not work anymore in that configuration, but overlooked that.
Kenneth can afford 95 RON so no.
I will not introduce a price cap, but my test builds’ prices came out roughly between 20,000 and 30,000 without quality so a price around that give or take a few (or many) thousand dollars would be good.
Thanks! I usually don’t make big American land yachts but I’m glad that the Mayflower turned out really well.
I have also added some info on the main post regarding valvetrains. I hosted a challenge similar to this before and I received entries with valvetrains that may be a little too advanced for its time (including a SOHC 4v V8). Hopefully, with some more research, y’all can make more informed decisions about your car’s engineering.
On that note, many cars in 1984 had a generally boxy look - the aero trend, which brought a more curvaceous look, would not really take off until later in the decade. As such, I’m not expecting too many entrants to choose any of the Bean body sets, which are available from 1983 onwards (without tech pool), but whose more rounded shapes seem somewhat out of place in 1984.
Also, I know practicality is only of minor importance this time around, but given that reliability is of moderate importance, does Kenneth have any prejudice against new-fangled stuff like turbochargers, mid- and rear-engined configurations, and AWD? Especially since some (but not all) of the cars you cited as inspiration have at least one of those.
Kenneth may have only had big American V8 cars with an FR layout, but seeing that he works at NASA it is likely that he has encountered all sorts of different cars from people all across the country (or even abroad) since the Kennedy Space Center is NASA’s primary launch site and people from all over go there to do space stuff.
That being said, Kenneth probably doesn’t think much of AWD since rallying isn’t popular in the US and the AWD cars available in the market either came from AMC or Subaru, which were not considered sporty. Audi did start selling the Quattro around 1983/1984 though so a sporty AWD car isn’t out of the question either.
Introducing the FMC Colibri SC.
The SC (short for Super Coupe) is a voracious eater of miles. Riding on a widebody version of the Colibri fastback platform, the SC receives luxurious interior appointments, state-of-the-art safety and driver assists, as well as the requisite wheel, brake, and suspension upgrades to keep up with the engine we managed to stuff in it.
Interior shown: Nautical Blue leather
A smooth, responsive 4.0L SOHC V8 is the SC’s powerplant.
The limited edition Colibri SC. Not for everyone. For you (Kenneth)
Wolfe is proud to announce the new '84 facelift of the E320 series and the exclusive, performance driven GT model.
Built on proven Wolfe technology, this two-seater GT is all about performance and provides independent suspensions all around, the latest safety features and a sporty but luxurious interior.
A powerful high-tech 305ci OHC V8 powers this special edition. Driven by a 5-speed manual with geared LSD, you will always be in control of the 300hp-plus generated by the powerplant.
Once again, Wolfe provides the latest tech out of Europe on a North American-built car. And you won’t have to break the bank to acquire one today.
Protip: you only have to pay a standard eighties low 15% interest rate to finance your own dream car.
Wolfe - Excitement Driven
