Maine Motors Co - The car you deserve (UE4 Thread)

[Radster]

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Story of the company.

Maine Motors is an American automobile company, which evolved from a car workshop in south Maine, in 1951.

The workshop the car company evolved from was opened in 1932 by Bill Powell, who mainly modified cars and turned them into hot rods, and as his business grew, he started designing his first parts. After the Pearl Harbor attack, his workshop was given the job of designing engines for light military vehicles.

It was during that time that Powell learned all about mass designing and engineering, and, after the end of the war, in 1947, he started selling custom engines on request. The growing hot rod scene, along with the repair orders he received, allowed him to hire a bunch of engineers and, in 1951, buy their first factory.

Since that moment, Maine motors mainly centered in luxury cars, and later during the 60s, muscle cars. They’ve recently entered the compact (in American standards) market as well.

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Racing pedigree and notable race drivers.

American LeMans Series: from 2002 to 2005. Prototype 2 category, car driven by Erika Schulze.
Nascar: 1960 - Nowadays. Sprint Cup Series, car driven by Aaron Coleman until the 2008 season, and Gregory López up to nowadays.
IMSA GTO: 1988 - 1992. GTO category, car driven by Kuro Nakahara.

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Car models.

1970 Imperator 440 GT.
1970 Guayota GT 415.
2007 Scorcher 2.0 GT.
1976 Convict Liberator 380.

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Notable race cars.

Coming soon.

[Radster]

'70 Imperator 440 GT.

The late 60s and early 70s saw the muscle car fights take place. Car companies fought each other in an attempt to squeeze more power out of iconic, high-torque, intimidating v8s. Offering sports car performance for an affordable price, these cars would soon dominate the street racing scene and root themselves in the American culture. And did Maine Motors take part in that muscle car war? Of course.

Their interpretation of the muscle car was born as the third generation of the Imperator. Previously just a luxury car powered by a slant-six (1st generation) and a ‘modest’ 5 liter v8 (2nd generation), this generation was powered by a big block 440ci (7.2L) v8, fed by triple twin barrel carburetors. The valvetrain was OHV, and this engine was rated at 400hp.

The body rested on a ladder chassis made out of galvanized steel, and the body panels were made out of galvanized steel as well. The suspension system consisted of double wishbones at the front and a live rear axle. The car did not mount sway bars. Despite a poor cornering performance and high weight, the car managed a 1/4 mile of 13.1 seconds.

And last, but not least, the car could be acquired for 3400$.

[bastormonger]

400 hp is a BIG number - I think it would have outgunned pretty much everything bar a couple of VERY limited production freak models…

Also, I really like the grille design

[abg7]

Now that is a proper muscle car - big, grunty and imposing. I must admit that the whole lineup should look even better in UE4 - and on the evidence I’ve seen so far, it certainly does!

[Radster]

Maine Motors Guayota GT 415 '70

Muscle cars and luxury cars were not the only thing Maine Motors produced.

In the Guanche mythology, Guayota was a demon that lived under Mount Teide (a nowadays dormant volcano in the Canary Islands); it is said that the natives feared his might.

This legend inspired the engineers of Maine Motors to make a sports car that would fill the competition with fear. And thus, the Guayota GT 415 was born.

The construction was simple but effective. Ladder chassis made out of galvanized steel, steel panels, front double wishbones and - a then novelty in the Maine Motors lineup - independent rear suspension in the shape of a semi trailing arm.

The interior was composed by two comfortable, sporty leather semi buckets, an AM radio and advanced (for the era) safety tech.

The engine powering this machine was a 415CI V8, a variant of the engine used by the Imperator, and tuned to make 390hp. Even if it has a poor 0-62 time of 6.1 seconds, it could outrun the competition in the standing kilometre thanks to a higher-than-average top speed of 150 mph. It completed the kilometre in 24.70 seconds. And thanks to the independent rear suspension, its performance at the track was superior as well; 0.89Gs at the 20M test and 0.86Gs at the 250M test.

The car was purchaseable for 2900$ in 1970.

[Radster]

Maine Motors Scorcher 2.0 GT '07

And of course, Maine Motors joined the practical compact car market, with their hatchback/compact sedan, the Scorcher, in the oil crisis of the 70s.

But the early generations are a subject for another day. We’ll be talking about the 2007 model today.

Originally launched in 2003, the 00’s Scorcher aimed to be a comfortable, affordable compact. Offered in the shape of a hatchback or a sedan, it offered comfort, fuel economy and easy driving. However, with the hot hatch segment starting, Maine Motors needed to an affordable yet sporty offering. Thus, the Scorcher 2.0 GT was born in 2007.

The 2 liter, naturally aspirated inline 4 used dual overhead cams, with 4 valves per cylinder. On 91 octane gas, the engine is rated at 150hp, and offers an unique sound thanks to individual throttle bodies. The power is sent to the front wheels, with an optional geared LSD for 500$ more.

The suspension system uses double wishbones at the front and a semi independent torsion beam at the rear. This allows for better cornering, one of the selling points of the car.

Even with these features, the car retains the practicality its non-sporty counterpart offered. 5 seats, lots of cargo space and a reasonable 26MPG makes this car daily drivable, while fun and sporty.

The car appeared in various videogames, but a remarkable appearance was in the 2007 racing game Need for Speed: Pro Street. It was a tier 1 car, acquirable for 19000 credits, and suitable for Grip events. Its FF layout prevented it from entering Drift events and its performance in the rest of events was average, not remarkable.

However, players use it as an early car, due to its low price and easy handling.

The car as it appears in the game.

[squidhead]

@Mr.Computah

The car appeared in various videogames, but a remarkable appearance was in the 2007 racing game Need for Speed: Pro Street. It was a tier 1 car, acquirable for 19000 credits, and suitable for Grip events. Its FF layout prevented it from entering Drift events and its performance in the rest of events was average, not remarkable.

This is gold, right there

[Oskiinus]

I’ve played NFS ProStreet like for 5 times, now 6th, and I’ve never noticed the Scorcher in-game…

But yeah, you’ve gone nuts with this idea.

[abg7]

Quite a nice car inside and out. Even though ProStreet is one of my least favorite NFS titles, it’s nice to see someone showing it some love!

[Awildgermanappears]

Pre-Order DLC for the PS2 version

[Sillyworld]

I guess the lack of side mirrors reduces drag

[Radster]

OAM and Maine Motors might be working on something together…stay tuned!

[Radster]

Maine Motors Convict Liberator 380 '76.

With the oil crisis being a bad memory of the past in 1976, the American carmakers got back to working on muscle and sports cars, with not-so-big block V8s and less power than before, but part of the essence was back.

In this context, Maine Motors decided to bring the Convict muscle pickup back.

First launched in 1958, the Maine Motors Convict soon became an ute with a fun twist: a big block V8 under the hood. With rear leaf springs and an unibody construction, the car was capable of carrying loads and towing, as well as some offroading, but what people craved the car for was the power.

After the oil crisis, most people didn’t want engines as big as before. So Maine Motors swapped the 440 ci engine from the Imperator with a new generation of the Starbanner: a 380 ci (6.2L), high torque unit producing 300hp. The 1976 model was the first one to see the six-pack carburetor (three two barrel carburetors) come back. Combined with a traditional OHV valvetrain, the engine produced 328 lb-ft of torque at 4300rpm and 300hp at 5000rpm.

This engine, which sent the power to the rear wheels through either a 3 speed automatic or a 4 speed manual, managed to propel the car from 0 to 62 mph in 5.8 seconds, as well as complete the 1/4 mile in 14.3 seconds. The car topped out at 135 mph.

The interior was composed of a single bench seat, covered in premium leather, a stereo radio with an 8 track player, and wood inserts.

This model could be acquired for $4600 in 1976.

[abg7]

Seriously, that is one beaut ute… How would it have fared in the Australian market, if it had been sold there? It would have given the Holden HX and Ford XC utes a run for their money at least!

[squidhead]

THAT attention to detail, is marvelous. NICE

[Radster]

An important announcement concerning Maine Motors.

It’s been 9 months without activity here. I did try to revive this company at some points, or get to work on it with the latest updates and I thought I had to the motivation to do so since I am about to, so to say, “finish” Caliban (meaning I’m a post away from a period of no new cars since as a low volume company with three cars, facelifting and redesigning is not a common thing). But every time I tried to get to it, I simply remade the Starbanner v8 for the 19821928912th time and cluttered my ingame engine repertoire even more.

I simply realized this is not what I want Maine Motors, or rather my American company, to be. I discovered that when I posted my first assorted car a few days ago, the Rivera Mondello. A single car in which I have invested more effort and minutes of design than any of the Maine cars you can see posted here, and also the car that began this dylemma of mine now.

What is going to happen to Maine Motors? The post will just sit here, so I can go back and see where I come from. Rivera will receive a post in some time, whenever I have everything ready (since I want to do something I’ve not done yet, fleshing out a lore instead of making it on the go) and good to go.

So thank you to everyone who enjoyed the few cars I posted here, this post won’t be updated further. No posts will be deleted, so you can enjoy some of my older designs, even if I personally don’t find them good for me anymore, and you’re free to mention Maine Motors as a lore element or competitor. Just imagine a stereotypical American company when it comes to lore I have not fleshed out here.