Pony Car Mania (PCM) Challenge

xsneakyxsimx · 3 July 2025 02:49

(Formerly Pink Pony Car Club) (Formerly My Little Pony Car)

Late 1964, and ~~Ford~~Fjord has been making a killing with their ~~Mustang~~Mustard, garnering mass appeal among the youthful demographic. Now there are rumours that other manufacturers will be coming out with their own take on the compact sedan with a sporty body, and now you have to do the same to. You are tasked with preparing a competing Gasmean (i.e US) domestic model to be released for the 1967 model year that has to be sexy, sporty, and most of all, cheap!

RULES

The Cars Must:

be on the stable version of Automation
be model, trim, and variant year 1967. Engine family can be older
be no more than 2.8 m wheelbase rounded. (2.84 exactly)
be either a 2 or 3 door (coupe, sedan, and hatchback preferred). Can be a convertible but a solid roof is preferred
be road legal (i.e Headlights and Tail Lights, Wipers, Muffler, etc). These are for USDM/GDM
have a minimum of 2+2 seating arrangement
have a solid rear axle (can be leaf or coil spring)
have an all iron OHV V8 (block and heads)
use the default techpool (+5)
use either ladder or monocoque chassis
use Crossply tires
use Leaded 98 RON/93 AKI edit: and use only Carburetors
not exceed 400 CI (~6,600 cc) in engine capacity (if it says 400 CI in the engine designer, good. 401, bad)
not have any “Race” Parts on them (No Semi Slicks, No Race Intake or Exhaust)
not exceed an Approximate Cost of AM$22,000
not use any of the bodies from the Legacy Car Bodies Mod
not use ATS to change the wheelbase length. All other ATS settings are allowed

Breaking any of these will result in being binned: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

PRIORITIES

3 Star:

Appearance
Since a fair number of the buyers will be younger, there is likely to be a higher emphasis on what is in vouge and looks the part for this segment. (Also, I personally would prefer more period correct looks.)
Performance
These cars are made to appeal to the younger audiences that are into the current car culture, fuel economy and emissions be damned. (0 - 62 MPH and 1/4 Mile times will be mainly looked at, 1 Mile times and skidpad numbers will be used as any tie-breakers)

2 Star:

Drivability
Even though the majority of the buyers will be enthused about performance cars, many of them will be on the lower side of driving experience, so something that will be easier to handle and less likely to go off the road is preferred.
Sportiness/Comfort
This demographic may have some compromises with how sporty or comfy their new performance cars are, but they would like a good blend of both best

1 Star:

Practicality
Even though these cars will be mainly bought for the performance capabilities, they are also still going to need to have enough space for crusin’, carpoolin’ and any other major life events that will be bestowed on the owner, for better or worse
Safety
Killing this newly burgeoning market is likely not going to do well when the company wants to build lifelong customers

INSPIRATIONS

Chevolet Camaro/Pontiac Firebird

Ford Mustang/Mercury Cougar

Plymouth Barracuda

AMC Javelin/AMX

SUBMISSIONS

Submissions are to be done via Discourse DMs, and I am happy to allow resubmission. I will use the most recently sent file unless otherwise stated.

Please label your cars appropriately, using “PCM - username” for the model and family name. Trim and Variant names are not restricted

DEADLINES

Rule discussion as this is posted

Submission deadline TBD

FINAL NOTES

Some of these rules might seem a bit restrictive to some, but I would like to have a couple of extra restrictions to be based on what I have been looking up with regards to the ‘pony car’ market. These aren’t hard and fast rules for real life pony cars (there were Mustangs and 'Cudas that had engines up to 427 and 440 CI around this time respectively), but this what the majority of real world examples would have. And yes, I did copy some of the descriptions from one of my other challenges for the priorities, cause I’m lazy.

I’m not going to make this a super quick challenge either, just something in the background that people can work on if they feel like it, with no pressure about having as many entries as possible. It is going to be a little bit of a niche comp, and there wasn’t a lot of real world examples versus a straight up sports car, but that’s part of the fun of Automation is the ‘what if’ factor.

abg7 · 3 July 2025 07:23

The displacement cap makes sense given that larger engines could be ordered, but at a cost (and not always from the factory). And I’m sure this is a variant capacity cap, not a family capacity cap.

Also, with the next QFC yet to begin, this challenge would basically be a QFC in all but name… But I have one suggestion about a possible rule change. Namely, carburetors should be mandatory for realism’s sake - and they mustn’t be of the DCOE variety.

And there should be a minimum wheelbase limit of 2.65m as well - again for realism.

Other suggestions I would consider include a minimum tire profile of 60, and possibly a requirement for rear drum brakes.

I’d also make the use of steel wheels mandatory (given that magnesium and alloy wheels were not as commonly available as they would be in later decades), and limit front and rear downforce levels to a maximum 0 kg at both ends, as well as requiring gearboxes to have up to 4 forward speeds at most.

xsneakyxsimx · 3 July 2025 15:59

Yep, as long as the variant of the engine reads 400 CI or less, it will be good.

Already edited in the rule set

Technically the AMX had a 2.4m wheelbase, so no minimums thus far. I’ll gauge it under my ‘looks period correct’ ruling, same with most other grievances.

Currently I have no schedule for this to be completed, so it should give people plenty of time to do as much or as little research on the niche as they’d like. Nor would I expect people to give this comp additional attention over the more established and long standing ones.