Komodo Motors - Roviro

[koolkei]

Original post below

so i thought that this storyline thing is not gonne be sustainable for long, so now i decided just to reverted back to the format that everybody else uses. just post random cars and the story behind the particular car.

This thread is about the story and legacy of how the Komodo Motors came to be today.
this thread is meant for more of a story telling thread of our past.

original post below

[quote] [size=135]we are a small engine manufacturer from japan and are looking for a partner to make our first car[/size]
[size=85]about our history and how we started can be read here
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=8476
[/size]
[size=150]**1955
**[/size]

we are a small and developing company, and this is our first big stride to go forth into the automotive industry
but, we don’t have the resources or time to fully design and develop a whole new car by ourselves for the moment.

for this purpose we are trying to get a partnership to help us produce our very first car.
with our to be partner providing the platform, and us fitting our engine and do the final tuning.

what we are looking for (not rules but guidelines of preferences)
[ul]
]a body with a lot of trim option going forward/:m]
]weight of 700kg or lower (with an engine roughly 110Kgs)/:m]
]total cost of around 3500/:m]
]production units less than 68/:m]
]Release year between 1955-1958/:m][/ul]
this is meant to be a car for the Japanese Domestic Market (we’re not going multinational yet)

we are looking forward to the option we would have to pick

update: news, we finally have finished our prototype engine are very happy with the results
this is our engine that we will be producing and putting in the car.
KoM.zip (74.3 KB)[/quote]

[squidhead]

Well… we are up to designing a car in 1955, but the company dictates we do sportscars, and usually we are very limited in resources so building it all is not really possible for us in 1955.

[koolkei]

it’s really just ‘hitchhiking’ the production line

[oppositelock]

How’s this?

glhs386 - Komodo Alpha.zip (88.5 KB)

[koolkei]

that’s good option right there will look into it.

also i noticed quite the tech for a low cost small car, and the engine output is quite high for it’s time (not that this matters, we’ll be using our engine)

btw, which car company designed this?

[oppositelock]

GSI = Grey-Skies Industries. Glad you like it. I can also help optimize it for whatever engine you want to use if you send me the file.

[Oskiinus]

hmm… Airborne Motor Company (name of Airborne Automotive before 1973) can be interested into launching Komodo Motoring into the market, but with 10% profits at least to end of production of the car if it’s chosen and having 10% of actions. (the actions you can consider by yourself - I won’t force to anything personally, just having some hand on this thing). What type of car do you want? 50s mini?

[Spitfire599]

Spitfire is a budding American car company started in 1948, and in 1955 have expanded by creating their own luxury division. However, they’re not inexperienced building cars such as that, and their design studio cranks out some pretty futuristic looking cars, so I’d be willing to partner up!

[koolkei]

@Oskiinus

hmm… Airborne Motor Company (name of Airborne Automotive before 1973) can be interested into launching Komodo Motoring into the market, but with 10% profits at least to end of production of the car if it’s chosen and having 10% of actions. (the actions you can consider by yourself - I won’t force to anything personally, just having some hand on this thing). What type of car do you want? 50s mini?

giving 10% of the action will be taken is perfectly fine. and for only 10% of the profits of each car, it’s a bargain for us, considering we only put the engine in. also getting help with more the experienced company would be a huge help anyway. we would totally agree to the condition asked if you were to be picked as our chose partner.

@Spitfire599

Spitfire is a budding American car company started in 1948, and in 1955 have expanded by creating their own luxury division. However, they’re not inexperienced building cars such as that, and their design studio cranks out some pretty futuristic looking cars, so I’d be willing to partner up!

if you are willing to share the expenses and get some of the profit, while helping the Japan-US connection back up.
it would be a plus to all sides

so try your luck and post your prototype here

[koolkei]

bump.
we are still looking for partner and the proposed designs

[koolkei]

[size=150]1956[/size]

it was around the mid of october 1956. we only received 2 proposal after asking lot of companies.
a lot of japanese manufacturers just plainly said no, and quickly at that. although we understand it’s because of the nation economy, japan just have started waking up again after the war. as it turns out, both to be the non-japanese companies that are finally interested, which was also looking to get into the market here anyway, or so we were told.

“well i guess we don’t have much choice. we just have to make do with what we have and work from there” is what i said to my employees. we are still a small company, i treat my employees like my family. we make the choices together, not me and “the board of directors”.

so this was the first proposed car that we received. this is the car from Grey-Skies Industries.
they Proposed the name [size=115]‘Komodo Alpha’[/size]
and this is the car.

now we wanted to put our own engine in the car. and that we insist on it to cut down on production time and cost.
so instead of arguing with us, they actually gives us advice and feedback about the engine. which was super helpful on our side.

so this was the setup and the stats with our originally designed engine

after months of re-tuning and revising the engine with the advice, the engine got quite a lot more optimal. but then it turns out the engine is getting heavier, and more expensive. so we were forced to dial back some of the tune to keep the production simple, it was a bit of compromise, but we can’t go too complex, otherwise it would be too expensive for us to make enough of if it actually sells better than expected.

so this was the end result.

it didn’t need much tweaking on the whole car part itself. really good job from GSI

the car, with the finalized engine was able to pull from 0 to 60 in 14.3 seconds thanks to it’s high and flat torque curve all along the powerband with peak of 105Nm@2k RPM. the car also manages a top speed of 139Km/h, more than you would ever do on a japanese road of the day.

as for the looks. we had to be honest with ourselves. it’s not ugly. it’s just… plain, really plain. in the front, there are 2 small headlights, an indicator for each side, and a grill, a REALLY small grille that was a bit tricky to work with. and on the back. just 2 brake lights on each side and a place for the license plate. but, somehow it actually looks good and fitting with the body.

but aside from the car, the company itself was really unbelievably friendly, giving priceless advice and tips just because for us. unheard of in a global industry of the size.

[oppositelock]

Great review, thanks. I’m curious, what changes did you end up making to the engine?

[koolkei]

I think like -1 quality on exhaust. And i forgot what else i did, but i made it slightly less efficient. Because cost

[Oskiinus]

Not to be offense, but I would like to see how would you review Ashin (Ashisuanto = Ashin, second name is just shortened for not killing people’s tongues xD)

[koolkei]

i will, i was planning to. haven’t got either the mood or the time to make it (i suck at writing prompt. the one above took like 1 hour or more…)

it will be coming tho

[koolkei]

about a month after we got the car from GSI, we got another one from Airborne Motor Company.

first up is the name they proposed.
[size=150]Komodo Motoring Ashisutanto[/size][size=50] *Ashisutanto = assistant in japanese kanji[/size]

this time around. the looks are pretty different. it gives the impression that the car is wider that it actually is.
and it look a bit more stylish and sporty, which was… totally different from how it actually handles. which was brilliant!

if we were to compare it to the ‘alpha’, every fixtures are bigger, more aggressive, and more pronounced. it wants to make a clear statement of “i’m here!”. and it’s quite good at it.

now for the engine. they proposed their lineup of commercial engine called the ‘worker’ lineup. it was a nice fit for the car itself. but we had our own plan, and while the engine fits the car, it doesn’t fit so well with our plan of making other variants of the car, which might include the wagon, pickup, or something else that we haven’t finalized yet. their engine just wasn’t making enough power for it, or at least, didn’t have much more room for easy future improvement.

these was the stats as they sent it.

but we chose to use our own engine after all. and these were the stats.

note that this was our original engine when the further improvement on the KoM engine with GSI help was just starting. and our judgement was done at that time, an not after the new engine design are finalized.

and the verdict.

the ashisutanto rides very firmly and planted. it feels really well designed. the interior also looks it’s made with better quality, nicely designed gauges, leatherette seats, and a VERY pretty shift knob to the point that some of the people here are trying to make the imitation of it and using it themselves. geez, those guys.

it’s also relatively safer than the alpha thanks to the safety concerned design, it’s using an advanced safety features for the time.

but there’s a downfall to all the ‘niceness’.

the safety features are nice and takes a long time to produce, but it’s a necessity for the market we’re aiming for yet.
but even when we take out all the safety features that we can, it’s still pretty safe because of the whole frame design. which brings it to the next point,

weight. it’s pretty significantly heavier than the alpha, which gave the car a planted and firm feeling. but at the cost of fuel efficiency and overall running costs for the customer.

all that boils down to COST and PRODUCTION TIME. on our calculation, we would be able to make around 9-10 car per day if we pick this car, but we could make around 12 of ‘alpha’. which might not sound much, but it helps when we need to be a ‘penny pincher’ to grow at this stage of the company.

overall. this is a nice car. but expensive and takes time to make. and the alpha are not as nice, but it’s a nice compromise for the cost

[Oskiinus]

Oh, so you didn’t choose my car just because it’s expensive to produce? I’m not surprised, however it’s nice that you reviewed it.
You could fit some info from Airborne’s thread review, I’ve explained the car pretty well with Worker engine. (Worker is also a name of the car and the name is a ridiculous pun of communism in Poland btw). This engine can reach even values around 60-70 hp if you would use dual carburettors. However, do what you want.

Is Komodo Motoring still keeping prototype Ashin? Because there are 12 ones officially made, for testing purposes.

EDIT. Do I need to say that if the company would base on Worker’s designs, they could easily make even panel vans?

[koolkei]

[quote=“Oskiinus”]Oh, so you didn’t choose my car just because it’s expensive to produce? I’m not surprised, however it’s nice that you reviewed it.
You could fit some info from Airborne’s thread review, I’ve explained the car pretty well with Worker engine. (Worker is also a name of the car and the name is a ridiculous pun of communism in Poland btw). This engine can reach even values around 60-70 hp if you would use dual carburettors. However, do what you want.

Is Komodo Motoring still keeping prototype Ashin? Because there are 12 ones officially made, for testing purposes.

EDIT. Do I need to say that if the company would base on Worker’s designs, they could easily make even panel vans? [/quote]

well not just expensive. but waaaayyy too many man hours. if it were a little closer to the main goal, like 70-72 production unit, you would’ve taken the trophy.

keeping it? more like using it. we love that car, we take turns using it it’s REALLY good from a car standpoint, quite a bit better than the alpha. but from the business standpoint, remember? small company? would like to spend as little as possible and not take too many risky steps on our first stride.

although… would it be still relevant, we would update it and possibly use it in some way.

the first plan was to make 1 car and lots of trim. but seeing the car just have untapable potential right now, depending on the sales, if we could afford it, maybe we would use both, but with a differentiation.

one for passenger and commuter car, the other more to the utility side.

[Oskiinus]

[quote=“koolkei”]

[quote=“Oskiinus”]Oh, so you didn’t choose my car just because it’s expensive to produce? I’m not surprised, however it’s nice that you reviewed it.
You could fit some info from Airborne’s thread review, I’ve explained the car pretty well with Worker engine. (Worker is also a name of the car and the name is a ridiculous pun of communism in Poland btw). This engine can reach even values around 60-70 hp if you would use dual carburettors. However, do what you want.

Is Komodo Motoring still keeping prototype Ashin? Because there are 12 ones officially made, for testing purposes.

EDIT. Do I need to say that if the company would base on Worker’s designs, they could easily make even panel vans? [/quote]

well not just expensive. but waaaayyy too many man hours. if it were a little closer to the main goal, like 70-72 production unit, you would’ve taken the trophy.

keeping it? more like using it. we love that car, we take turns using it it’s REALLY good from a car standpoint, quite a bit better than the alpha. but from the business standpoint, remember? small company? would like to spend as little as possible and not take too many risky steps on our first stride.

although… would it be still relevant, we would update it and possibly use it in some way.

the first plan was to make 1 car and lots of trim. but seeing the car just have untapable potential right now, depending on the sales, if we could afford it, maybe we would use both, but with a differentiation.

one for passenger and commuter car, the other more to the utility side.[/quote]

Okay. And about keeping it, I meant 2015 situation (if Komodo still exists), because it’s pretty obvious that in 1956 you would have it in-company. Airborne’s CEO is keeping one of 12 Ashisuantos in garage in Tarnów

[koolkei]

[quote=“Oskiinus”]
Okay. And about keeping it, I meant 2015 situation (if Komodo still exists), because it’s pretty obvious that in 1956 you would have it in-company. Airborne’s CEO is keeping one of 12 Ashisuantos in garage in Tarnów [/quote]

about keeping it. well it was used on a normal basis up to the 1970s. and then got too broken to use. but since it’a a piece of komodo motors history, back in 2010 we started the restoration project, alongside with it a replica. so now we have more than 1