For the Government vehicle, should the rear and side windows be covered up for the “privacy” of the esteemed travelers, or would that be too conspicuous; should we simply offer a mass market civilian vehicle and allow the Letaran authorities to make any additional modifications as they see fit?
The government won’t make any modifications to the vehicles; they want something ready made and ready to go. As for what kind of safety features are on the vehicle, they want to give the manufacturers carte blance, and let them decide for themselves what security features they implement. Let the best ideas win!
That’s why my company who’ll provide them with the vehicles are developing a correspondence with them to see what they’d want or don’t want on their vehicles. You have my promise that my vehicle that is provided to them will be made to order and ready to go.
BENETSCH BURIE - The “Awkward Southpaw” of Executive Cars
Strange is fascinating. Boxers who fight all awkward to confound their opponents are a fan favorite. No horror movie is complete without something weird. Even on a national scale, the out-of-line mavericks end up being tourist and historian fan favorites. One such oddball nation is the Kingdom of Soresia, an anomaly of almost cosmic proportions lounging on the Baltic coast. Currently an Edwardian-style constitutional monarchy presiding over 42 million members of a unique Slavo-Germanic culture, Soresia was scarred by the religious wars of the Renaissance, built up a fearsome military force to defend themselves - only to end up never, ever using it. Yes, not even in the first half of the 20th Century did Soresia draw its mighty sword. This means that this country spent the 1940s not fighting for its life, but basically fooling about and complaining that some import resources were getting annoyingly scarce - and it shows in its cars.
As unusual as the country itself, the Benetsch Buhrie - Soresia’s prime executive car in the post-war era - is a rear-engined, air-cooled V8 temple of aluminum. Armed with a long-stroke, pushrod powerplant with a mountain of torque, good interior amenities and a forward-looking, sleek design, the Buhrie - or “Storm” in Soresian - was the first car that Benetsch marketed worldwide. And why not? Why not show yourself at your most glamorous?
Among the several thousand sold in the debut model year, 1951, over 60% were black. Over 50%, too, were sold in the upmarket Fierst trim, with a 3.7-liter engine, a four-speed(!) column manual and 15-inch rims, with the most advanced radio of the time as the cherry on top.
Obviously, less expensive versions did exist, but none were cheap. If you were buying a 3.2-liter Kombi Buhrie, it meant you were racing towards the top - you just hadn’t arrived yet. And you could take any 5 people in the world along with you - the Buhrie, in any bodystyle, came with wide dual benches as standard - bucket seats and a storage console were an extra.
While not totally faultless in their road behavior, the rear-heavy Buhries were nonetheless some of the tamest cars in the hind-engined posse: A novel strut front suspension with a steel girder for a swaybar and uneven tires took care of business on that front. While the less expensive of the cars were by no means fast, all Buhries gained the reputation of planted, agile vehicles, especially for their size.
That’s not to say you had to satisfy yourself with “good enough” in terms of performance. The Benetsch Buhrie GK, a version with a much more potent 3.9-liter, triple-carbureted sports V8, was entered in road rallies everywhere. Based on the radical coupe version of the Soresian machine, this stripped-down two-seat special was sold at a discount to whoever wanted to make Benetsch famous - or infamous. Or you could shell out to have the interior put back in and have just as much power and most of the comfort in the roadgoing SK version.
A car for gentlemen with a wallet and an attitude, then - and one thoroughly determined to take the world by storm.
14 Likes
Do you want the trims as separate models?
You can make the trims in the same model, just change the model name when exporting them individually. Unless the importer got borked, they will import as separate models on my end.
Edit: I should add that I in fact recommend that you make the trims in the same model on your end. That way you know that the model settings are all the same and the chance of mistakes is reduced.
Walkenhorst Autohaus
Model Line Up: 1950
Model Group 3
Left to Right: Walkenhorst 3s2, Walkenhorst3p2 Roadster, Walkenhorst 3p2
Walkenhorst presents the refreshed for 1950 Model Group 3, featuring 3 updated trim specifications. The 3p2 and 3p2 Roadster are the premium, luxury coupe models designed for the new business man. The 3s2 is the sporty and fast model, with a lighter weight interior and motorsport style suspension.
All trims feature the same 62ps Walkenhorst Six Two, a 2 Litre inline Six.
11 Likes
1948 KESSEL K20
Kessel Werks initially opened in West Germany as a supplier of light industrial and farm equipment. But, noticing that their country was now half the size it used to be, Kessel quickly decided to branch out in search of other markets. The K20 seemed like the perfect platform to accomplish this.
Taking their light pickup truck chassis, Kessel built a panel truck body specifically to cater to the Letaran government’s request for a transport vehicle. The carriers would be disguised as cargo wagons shipping Fronaco Secco (Kessel simultaneously submitted ACTUAL panel wagons to the wine company to complete the illusion). The only visual difference on the outside was the use of a hand-lock mechanism on the outside of the rear doors to keep passengers secured.
Inside, the rear passenger compartment was caged, the rear doors only opened from the outside, and the chassis was reinforced for adverse driving situations. Kessel hoped the K20 would establish themselves with the Letaran government.
1954 KESSEL SPERLING
In an effort to expand the company, Kessel also introduced the Sperling (German for Sparrow) in 1954. It rode on a 98 inch platform and was powered by Kessel’s new 2.2 liter inline 4 cylinder engine. Though the new engine made over 70 horsepower, Kessel’s focus was on reliability and affordability. Kessel felt that the success of this little newcomer might propel the company into a full-fledged automaker for decades to come, but those hopes hinged on the needs of the Letaran people.
P.S. those photos did NOT look that out-of-focus when I took them lol.
10 Likes
Yeah, you have to be mindful of the focal distance and aperture settings in camera mode. I tend to set it low enough that the rear of car is just in focus to help prevent this.
2 Likes
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: TECH POOL
Most of you probably already know that tech pool has been added to sandbox mode. This is a significant change to the way sandbox cars are built and necessitates the implementation of new rules for challenges. I will add tech pool as a fun mechanism to LHC, but not in the first round.
Therefore, all cars submitted to round one should have zero (0) tech pool points in all categories!
For those of you who have already started your cars before the patch dropped, tech pool should already be at 0. Just double check. For those of you who start your builds after the patch, your new cars will start with a default +5 in all tech categories - that’s just how the devs have set it up. You will have to go into the tech pool screen and set all values to 0. Please do not forget. If you don’t, I will reset your tech pool to 0, and whatever breaks, breaks - and you’ll be roasted in the reviews.
Here is how you access the tech pool interface:
-
Click the bottom quality box next to any quality slider.
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Which brings up the sandbox techpool box. Just set everything to 0.
Future rounds will use the tech pool mechanism, but I am still working out the details. Stay tuned until the preface and prologue of round 2 for the tech pool mechanism reveal!
10 Likes
Mitsushita Motors Corporation
Base : Yokohama, Japan
Mitsushita is a Japanese corporation founded in the 1800’s. They opened an automobile subsidiary in the 1930’s. As soon as the war was over and the company was allowed to, they went back to on a journey to start conquering the world with reliable and affordable machines.
One of the first destination being Letara, a market with likely potential.
Mitsushita T-SA
Simple, durable, affordable. Mitsushita T-SA series was one of the first post-war Mitsushita made. Designed during the war, it was finally introduced in 1947. 4-cylinder, 4-speed, simple chassis. First with 1,000cc then 1,500cc.
At first there was only 2 body type available. 4-door and 2-door. Then in 1949 they introduced the TS-T series which was a light truck.
Mitsushita Masterbox
Based on the Mitsushita Truck introduced in 1948, the Masterbox was a van variant available as both panelvan and passenger van variant. It is a medium size commercial vehicle designed to be tough and reliable. It’s available with 4 or 6 cylinder engine.
Mitsushita T-SA Rally
Made by the Letara importer of Mitsushita, the T-SA Rally is a combination of lightweight 2-door T-SA with the commercial Masterbox 6-cylinder engine. This hodgepodge abomination was created specifically to run in the Portunis Cannonball Run in 1948. 3 were made, one was ran by the official importer and two by independent racers.
12 Likes
Caption: 1949, Minerva’s “Meet the Fleet” advertisement.
In 1946, a new run of import cars showed up on the shores of Letara, created by a new company calling itself “Minerva”. Made by AMCW (Aetheriian Motor Carriage Works), these hardy not-so-little vehicles rolled onto the scene with singing inline-six engines and bellowing, rowdy V8’s.
The new 2.8 meter wheelbase sedans and wagons were collectively known by the name “Solarian.” The Deluxe trim was meant to be a good mid-range model with premium features and a powerful inline six, the Ranger traded a little seat comfort for a rugged 4x4 system designed for rougher terrain, and the Elegance trim packed luxury accommodations and a powerful V8 engine.
In 1946, three teams took 3 Solarian Experimentals onto the Cannonball Run. The cars, labeled as “The Pride of Valraad,” “The Spirit of Crugandr,” and “The Hope of Altherys,” were painted in expensive metal flake paints, given powerful V8 engines that were tuned up even further than the production models, and three crazy drivers from each of their respective lands.
When the Government put out a call for some discreet passenger transports, a few “lightly modified” 1948 Solarian Crewman station wagons were trialed. Missing the interior door controls, they were deemed “secure enough” after testing with their own people, which admittedly did result in the destruction of one prototype, and a note to “Never again try capturing an angry Dyre in the back of a station wagon.”
(Yeah, sorry for just the one picture so far. Might add to this later, but for now, I’m letting the laptop rest after beating on it to make that 6 car image work.)
8 Likes
Does this mean they can be the same bulb, or that they should be separate bulbs in the same fixture?
Also, since it’s not mentioned, I assume 0-ending tires are fair game?
For this era the brake and tail light may be the same bulb, yes.
And yes, cross-plies may end in 0. Radials won’t in the next era.
1 Like
Weren’t radials measured with the same all-imperial scale as crossplies early on? I distinctly remember seeing an 11-inch-wide, or 280 profile, radial tire on an RR/MR Vette prototype from the late 1960s.
Yeah, but gameplay and muh administrashun headache - also Letara is alternate universe, so 
. All that to say, I’m simplifying.
Ok, cool.
Yeah, and in between there was sizes like FR78 etc. that was just pure headache…
RD 1 OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS
Well, it’s October 3, so that means that the rules are now locked and the round is open for submissions! There might still be some hotfixes coming our way in the next few weeks. If something significantly changes or borks your cars, then I will allow re-submissions - otherwise no re-submissions to preserve my sanity.
Edit: I’d also like to remind people of the very first rule in the OP:
- Put all of your communications to me (e.g. submissions/lobbying/questions etc.) into one DM thread with the topic “LHC - <YourForumName>” please.
If you don’t know how to find your previous messages, see the tutorial by @AMuteCrypt in the ALC OP.
So far I’ve had to ask over 50% of the participants to change the thread title. It really helps me to keep things organized in this large challenge if the threads and cars are appropriately named! It’s big bureaucracy at its finest.
Thank you - the Government of Letara
8 Likes
if you like to die buy our cars. Built Garland, Built Garland, Built Garland, Built Garland, Built Garland, Built Garland...
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/815353584769957911/981455975443755028/gvclogo1.png
Garland Auto Works
'Just your average american fullsize.'
1952 Garland AeroLuxe/AeroCruze
AeroLuxe Special in Cream/Marroon Two-tone.
.
AeroCruze Fordor in Carbono Black.
.
One of the very first attempts by Garland to punch up-market, The Aero-line had a contemporary design, classic and refined. While sales in America were great, in other places, specially Europe, it flopped relativeley.
A smooth I6 powers both versions, and as most american I6s from this era are, its supremely torque-y.
1952 Garland 358R
Originally a design study from Garland’s now head designer Paul B. the 358R is a lightweight, high power beast of a car, The 358R is powered by a 358 CI eight-cylinder making over 200hp, fitted with independent suspension and aluminum materials means that this thing isn’t just fast in a straight, but also in the corners.
.
Garland Auto Works
'Just your average american fullsize.'
1952 Garland AeroLuxe/AeroCruze
AeroLuxe Special in Cream/Marroon Two-tone.
.
AeroCruze Fordor in Carbono Black.
.
One of the very first attempts by Garland to punch up-market, The Aero-line had a contemporary design, classic and refined. While sales in America were great, in other places, specially Europe, it flopped relativeley.
A smooth I6 powers both versions, and as most american I6s from this era are, its supremely torque-y.
1952 Garland 358R
Originally a design study from Garland’s now head designer Paul B. the 358R is a lightweight, high power beast of a car, The 358R is powered by a 358 CI eight-cylinder making over 200hp, fitted with independent suspension and aluminum materials means that this thing isn’t just fast in a straight, but also in the corners.
.
15 Likes