[LHC] - Letara History Challenge - Rd 5 [Results being posted]

[conan]

Yanmex Import | Importer of Mitsushita Cars

Brand new for model year 1962 - The 2nd generation Mitsushita Kuruan - Perfect for any family wishing to have the best in performance, reliability, stability and comfort.
Available in 2 engine options, 2 body types and 3 different trims.
2-liter 4-cylinder or 2.6-liter 6-cylinder. Sedan or Station Wagon.
Offered in GX, DX and EX trim so hopefully it can serve the need of most Letaran.

This statement was written by the chief purchasing officer of Yanmex Import, Tim, he’s a great bloke.

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Sorta OCC: Due to various circumstances, there will be no submission for government car and racing car at this point from Mitsushita. Hopefully there’ll be one next time.

[GassTiresandOil]

*Sorry for the low-quality photos. Kessel’s Graphics Team (card) has quit, complaining that they’ve been overworked. They took the keys to the photo booth with them, so until Kessel hires a new Graphics Team I’m left with these crappy Polaroids…

1959 KESSEL LINEUP

1959 was a pretty big year for Kessel. Though their initial Sperling model was a flop in 1954, the changing government regulations led Kessel to the decision that they should refine the model instead of scrapping it for a new model. The lineup expanded to include the base model, an upscale 4-wheel-drive version called the Sperling A/M (Arbeitmacher), and a pickup version called the Sperling K-15. Kessel even decided to build a car to race on the Lerance circuit for its inaugural year, taking their 3.3 liter inline six and spicing it up for use in the Production Class.

SPERLING

Stats and other pics

• 2.2 liter inline 4 cylinder making 79 hp and 107 lb ft of torque
• Automatic transmission
• Premium interior
• Starting at $13,000

SPERLING A/M

Stats and other pics

• 3.3 liter inline 6 cylinder producing 124 hp and 152 lb ft of torque
• Premium interior
• Solid axles and 4-wheel-drive for rugged off-road duty
• Starting $15,300

KESSEL SPERLING K-15

Stats and other pics

• 3.3 liter inline 6 cylinder producing 124 hp and 152 lb ft of torque
• Over 4000 lbs of Loading capacity
• Starting at $12,400

SPERLING RACE CAR

Kessel has been reluctant to release stats on this car…

More pics

EDIT: We were finally able to break into the photo booth and start taking some proper pictures again (at least somewhat).

[Riley]

Zephorus Autos

Press Release For 1955

To go anywhere, and do anything. That’s real freedom.


Zephorus Hokkaidō

The dream vehicle for going anywhere you desire, the Hokkaidō gives the driver precision and ability to get past any obstacle.

The generous space in the rear as well as the double bench seats give this overlander the capability of doing serious missions successfully. The 4.5L V8 ensures that activities are completed swiftly. Front spotlights and rear loading lights allow operation in all conditions.

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Places to be, people to see
Zephorus Espion II, GT and Roadster

The roadster is the entry level sightseer car, the experience of smoothly driving this car down the coast with the roof down will impress, but what will really blow you away is the technology underneath. Newly revamped engine lifted straight from the racing car that famously won the 1952
Portunis Cannonball Run and had many other great finishes during the time which it ran.

The roadster is a two seater “romantic” getaway car, something to get out of the city and explore in.

Available for just $16200 + applicable importation fees.

The GT however is evermore the drivers car, impress your friends and colleagues, or maybe someone special? This practical 4 seater embodies the sportiness you would find in the real racecar, lighter, faster and more seats than the roadster for just $17200 + applicable importation fees.
Available in two-tone or solid colours.

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Heavy hitters
A successful racing career was created with the Silver Bullet, with second in 1951, a win in 1952 and another second in 1953 it was clear that Zephorus would need a fulltime race team to continue it’s streak of hard earned silverware.

Enter Zephorus Racing Design (ZRD) and their racecar for the 1959 Lerance racing series.

ZRD Silver Thunder

Pre release imagery shows the car is a very short wheelbase, potentially to save weight. Although it does seem there is room in the front for an engine, it looks like it may be situation behind the driver.
It’s also a new engine, sources say that the engineers fabricated two of the 3.6L straight six engines together to create a monstrus 7.2L V12. Power is roumered to be in the high 400 horsepower range. It’s a wonder they ever fitted it with mirrors, with the times it should be doing around the track we expect the driver to never have to look back.

[IDK158]

if I wanna add a car to this submission do I just edit the original post?

[GassTiresandOil]

I suppose you could do either. If it’s another version of the Ranier you could just edit your post. The only issue is that people may not scroll back up to see it.

[happyfireballman]

TL:DR : “Yo dawg, may I offer you some of my engineering expertise and cars for in exchange that you help me with production and lobbying?”

To Mara, 1955
“I would like to first mention the state of Letara and its citizens, they are in desperate need for a vehicle to haul and tow their belongings while being able to drive to the grocery store. We at Rhania have been developing a military vehicle for Letara which has now been posted to the government as a ranger vehicle. We are planning to produce a civilian model of our Hunter with the three trims; Type-T, Type-S, and the Type-F. The three in their respective naming scheme goes as follows; Tractor, Scout, and Family.”

“The one that we have sent to the government was the Type-M, military specification ,a secret project made with us and our collaborators in Japan. It is a hardy vehicle that can surpass most terrain without fail. In this proposal, I believe that you may benefit from such vehicle to reverse engineer and to re-engineer into a Mara. This vehicle could be yours along with our top secret race car that is being built at the moment. The only thing that we are asking are the following: Some help with manufacturing our cars and to help us lobby for some things.”

“Do not worry, the interest of the people is a common goal we have. I propose the next time that we place a need for education in the following groups: aerospace technology, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and chemistry.”

“Another thing we may lobby for is a stronger military force, shipping industries, and flight industries to help with the exporting and security of our goods.”

“For rules against vehicles, we could come to the agreement to raise the noise regulation to 80, allow radial tires, and to implement fuel standards up to 10 MPG.”

“Do not worry comrade, our vehicles can give the Letarians 15+ MPG without fail and so if we work together with each other’s interests in mind, we will be able to grow to help the citizens of Letara.”

" Mara has failed initially in Letara, however, if we collaborated together we can create a solution to each other’s problems, you get cars and engineered good while we get political help."

“The choice is your comrade, but be aware that this may be an opportunity you may miss out on. Until then, Мы продолжим наше дело”

From the Rhania Motor Company

[IDK158]

It’s a new 4x4 so ill just do a new post

[cake_ape]

Just a gentle reminder for everyone to follow the submission rules or risk your cars getting ignored. Read both the OP and Rd. 2 Prologue for DM thread and car naming conventions, and of course all other car rules and regulations.

[happyfireballman]

yo can someone show me how they named their cars to me?

[GassTiresandOil]

Mine were like this, just replace my screen name with yours:

Government vehicle, MODEL: LHC - 2G - GassTiresandOil
Government vehicle, TRIM: Kessel Otzelhauser Sperling
Government vehicle engine MODEL: LHC - 2G - GassTiresandOil
Government vehicle engine TRIM: 3.0 liter Inline 6 cyl.

Obviously, in the trim sections of both the vehicle and engine, you can name them whatever you want. It took me a couple challenges to get it right too.

[happyfireballman]

So basically the naming goes as this

Model and family are used by the challenge while trim and variant are free?

[TheYugo45GV]

1963 Mayland Mark V

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The Offerings

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New in Letara is the all new Mayland Mark V, a stylish American Muscle GT designed to look like the GTs of Europe but with a longer wheelbase. Powered by the 427 ci Superjet V8, with 270hp driving the rear wheels through a 3 speed automatic (Manual transmissions are unavailable on export models at this time.) Capable of seating 4 people, hand crafted aluminum superlight body paneling and trimmed with walnut and premium leather, a heater, air conditioning, and a phonograph are standard features, an AM radio is also fitted.

Available as a 2 door, 4 seater coupe

And a 2 seater Shooting Brake wagon variant.

More information to come…

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(ooc: The car file will come soon, I just need to sort out some engineering weirdness caused by the update.)

[GassTiresandOil]

Exactly

[TanksAreTryhards]

Full line-up reveal coming soon-ish!

[Petakabras]

SAETA Engineering

Pushing the limits of design

From front to rear, SAETA 2000, the all new SAETA Tronada and SAETA Albor viajante 4T

SAETA current state

While the first generation of the Albor was selling in decent numbers since it´s release, no one was completely satisfied at SAETA headquarters. They could never build enough cars to compete with the bigger companies, and as a premium manufacturer they hadn´t found a market niche yet.

Creating a whole new different product became the new priority of the company, and soon, the engineering department came up with something.

Front wheel drive architectures were dropped after trials of competitor cars. Understeer and lower powered engines meant that the ride would be rather lifeless, and at SAETA we believed cars should be exciting. So rear wheel drive was kept, but without that pesky solid rear axle that compromised handling so much. A novel independent rear suspension, based on the experience from the Albor Carrera Coupe design, was used.

And to power this we would no longer use that primitive pushrod unit. Now, in place of it, there was an all-alloy, twin cam engine. This rather exotic powertrain would be first installed in a small production sports car, so any teething problems could be fixed before using this technology in our mainstream products, which were started to be developed nontheless.

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SAETA Tronada

A rather stricking design on the outside, coupled with the new SAETA developments under the skin. Powered by a 1800cc engine, performance even in it´s base form was quite good. The interior was, in SAETA fashion, of a premium nature, with lots of leather around the two lucky people that could fit inside of this car.

But if you don´t have enough with the standard Tronada, we can offer you something too:

The convertible version was coupled with a 2 litre version of our twin cam engine, while we could have made it much more powerful, we decided to tune it for a more relaxed driving experience, which is what convertibles are about. It´s also tuned 91 fuel, since the bigger engine proved less sensible to lower octane fuel and this meant you could save some money.

And finally, the Tronada Sprint. Keeping the smaller engine for better handling but tuned for more power, thanks to a Weber carburettor and a less restricting exhaust. Coils and dampers were revised too so you could be untouchable in curvy roads, where the Sprint felt like at home.

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SAETA Albor Viajante 4T

The good old Albor Viajante, a commonly seen car here in Letara, has been turned a capable off-road machine. Featuring 4-wheel drive (not based at all on the locally produced Jeeps), raised ride and several changes to the bodywork, the Viajante 4T proves the adaptability of the design.

The engine is new too. While it´s not the twin cam engine recently developed, it has now a rework of the old pushrod engine, moving the cam from the block to the head. We kept the iron block, since most buyers in this segment prefer the dependability of this proven design, but the alloy OHC head has given a new life to the previously rather mundane engine.

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SAETA 2000

Arriving at Letara in 1959 (a year before the Tronada arrival), it would feature the mechanical bits of that car but covered with a much more racey body, designed with advanced aerodynamics in mind such as the recently discovered Kammback tail design.

The engine, while originally meant to be the twin cam, couldn´t be bored out to 2 liters (considered the mininum to be competitive at this racing division) and keep enough strenght. Basically, we couldn´t find anyone that could manufacture such engine block with the specs we wanted, and resigned to use an iron block. Hopefully, Letara´s high speed track won´t be mean to this understeery machine.

[TanksAreTryhards]

Saeta got a new fan here, the Tronada design is:
A B S O L U T E L Y M A R V E L O U S !
Can i…can i have one?

[abg7]

To replace the Wanderer, Wolfram introduced the Wyvern in 1959 as a more upmarket product. Powered by an all-new 3.5-liter I6 developing 200 bhp (on 98 RON super leaded) thanks to aluminum DOHC heads (with 2 valves per cylinder) and three carburetors, this was a far sleeker, faster and sportier machine than its predecessors.

In keeping with its upmarket positioning, the Wyvern was fitted with a premium interior, with genuine wood and leather trim, plus an AM radio to keep the two occupants entertained on the move, especially at its top speed of 134 mph - making it the fastest car the company had ever made at the time. And with a 0-60 time of 7.5 seconds, it was also their quickest yet.

(Note: The lore stated above is a retcon of previously written lore due to the unofficial abandonment of the Automation Legacy Challenge, for which the Wyvern had originally been designed).

[AndiD]

Mara goes (back to) Letara, Ep. 2-4

Previous post

6th September 1962
Office of Mara’s chief development engineer, Mara main factory grounds, just outside the town of Mara, Archana

Mara production engineer Mykhaylo Andov knocked on the door of the office of Fedor Piechov, Mara’s Comrade Director of Engineering, and entered after a gruff “Yes?” by Fedor.

“Is this about the production issues for the upcoming Irena?” Fedor did not waste time to get to the point.

Mykhaylo nodded.

“Then let’s call in Comrade Rodyn as well.” Fedor pressed a button on a device on his desk and spoke a few words into a microphone. After a short while, Rodyn Gumprov, leading development engineer for the new Irena project, joined them.

Getting ready for the launch of the new Mara Irena in 1963

Mykhaylo began his report. “The preparations to put the newly developed Irena into production for 1963 are going along well. However, we are still having issues getting the new engine factory for the new 2 litre Perspekt engine ready. We simply cannot find enough workers for both our new factories, and we are prioritising car production over engine production, obviously.”

The 4.3m length Irena was the next step up from the Tovarysh / Companion for Archanan family cars

“This means?” A hint of impatience entered Fedor’s voice.

“If we want to keep the January 1963 launch date, we will only be able to launch the Irena with the 1.3 litre Konyk engine carried over from the Tovarysh”, Mykhaylo answered. “We should have enough spare capacity in the Konyk engine plant, right?”

Rodyn nodded. “In the worst case, we will have to run a few extra shifts. When will the new engine plant be ready?”

“Early next year - so we can actually start producing on a larger scale in March or April or so the latest. That should work for the pre-orders of the 2.0 Irenas.”

“Makes sense - at least we don’t have to delay the Irena’s general market introduction, especially since we already started switching the Letaran plant from assembling Tovaryshs - or Companions - to Irenas.” Rodyn looked to Fedor whether he would have additional questions.

Fedor had a few. “The model range stays the same? Irena sedan, wagon and van? Just with 1.3 litre engines only?”

The wide rear doors for wagon and van necessitated different rear light clusters compared to the sedan. Here the versions for the Letaran market

Mykhaylo nodded. “No issues there. We might have to limit trim choice to Regular and Komfort as well as colours for the first year, and the build quality may be a bit sketchy on the earliest production models. It takes a surprising long time for the new workers to get to grips with modern car production.”

“I think we have been spoiled over the last years, having started with a set of experienced workers right after the war, and then having any new folks being trained by the old guard.” Fedor allows himself a thin smile. “The first new factory is always the hardest, I hear.” He had one more question, for Rodyn this time. “How is the plant conversion in Letara going on?”

“Quite well, actually”, Rodyn replied. “Inna reports that the slow past years only producing for export to Somunds were a blessing in disguise since they could take their time to iron out any issues with facilities and staff. Now the plant is a well-oiled machine, just gearing up to assemble something else again. We are only going to have slightly different rear light clusters, but everything else can stay unchanged between what we produce here and we can sell over there.” He also allows himself a thin smile. “The first assembly plant also seems to be the hardest.”

Fedor frowned. “Anything else from Letara? Haven’t even thought about that place for a while…”

“Only one thing, perhaps. As you recall, they started a new circuit racing series on their new racetrack a few years after we pulled out. There is one privateer entry who had bought Henri Nordhov’s yellow Cannonball Companion prototype car back then. For whatever reason, he seems to have given the car a complete internal overhaul to make it compliant with the series rules and has now been running that car in the series ever since.”

Fedor’s frown deepened for a short while as he pondered why anyone would want to rebuild a worn out ten year old Tovarysh prototype into a racecar. His own winning car was somewhere in storage in the main factory in Mara, and they had left Rodyn’s three-times winning car in a corner in the Letaran assembly plant after the last Cannonball event. “That chap might be a good contact if we ever decide to go racing again over there”, Fedor pondered while he drew a mental image of how that competition car had looked like back then.

The yellow Companion prototype at the hand of Mara’s Comrade Executive Director was the only one of Mara’s three Cannonball participants to never achieve victory

[happyfireballman]

When your letter to Mara was ignored despite being sent in 1955

[happyfireballman]

From Rhania, we introduce the new Hunter series!

Introducing the Hunter Type-T:

Stats:

HP: 110 HP
LB-FT: 118 Horsepower
MPG: 16.7 MPG
Top speed: 86.2 MPH
Towing capacity: 1731 LBS
Load capacity: 7031.3 LBS
Price: $12,700
Service costs: $529.6

This vehicle was made for those in the agricultural field. For the farmers that help feed all of the Letarians with their livestock and produce. This truck is made in mind to be able to go over bogs and overcome rough terrain while being able to hook up to a trailer, scraper, plow, or reapers.

While others produce their ideas of a “truck”; a car that was chopped up into a truck. We at Rhania have made a purpose built truck that can withstand the rough environment while being a useful truck. The design is masculine and speaks power with its bold presence filling the room allowing everyone else to know that this is a truck for both work and play.

Introducing the Hunter Type-S

Stats:

HP: 205 HP
LB-FT: 226 LB-FT
MPG: 16.2 MPG
Top speed: 118 MPH
Towing capacity: 2388 LBS
Load capacity: 5942.8 LBS
Price: $25,400
Service costs: $1046.2

This vehicle is made for those who need to scout the area with 4 seats well versed for 4 adults who are hunting, camping, or trailing. This vehicle allows a compromise between being a rugged vehicle and a comfortable vehicle. This SUV can traverse through the rough trails with ease and is made suitable for those who need a vehicle to go quickly through the woods hunting bucks, setting a camp, fishing for the market, or for those who live in the country and work in the city.

Introducing the Hunter Type-F

Stats:

HP: 267 HP
LB-FT: 260 LB-FT
MPG: 13.2 MPG
Top speed: 130 MPH
Towing capacity: 3225 LBS
Load capacity: 4888.5 LBS
Price: $30,900
Service costs: $1,174.7

This vehicle is made for the family of Letara for the rural areas and places that have been hit hard by the earthquake. This SUV is made to allow families to transport to different places with ease as it can seat 7 people comfortably while being able to carry lots of equipment on board.

This vehicle can be used by many companies to transport medical supplies, transport employees, carry important people, or even haul kids to school with its safety rating of 35.2.

The multitude of families would increase as the years go on, and so this would be the ideal vehicle for families to carry their children as it is safe, efficient, and useful in its design.