QFC52 - I wanna burn the road [CLOSED, TOP3 REMAINS]

[karhgath]

by @Kyorg and @Karhgath

Chapter 1 - The Wheelman

Casino City, Gasmea - 1951

Valentino’s a beautiful but intimidating man. A sharp face, piercing eyes, well maintained body and callous, experienced hands. He’s certainly dressed for success.

He’s also a dangerous man. A lothario. The wheelman for the DiGiorno crime family of Vianta. And he has been promoted, time and time again - he’s got moxie. Ambition. Bark.

This time it’s different: new responsibilities means a new ride, a new crew.

While patrolling across the floor of the Sunset Desire’s gambling hall, he seemed focused. He’s meeting with a man, a procurer of things, with a rap sheet as long as Valentino’s chiseled arms.

He sits and nods a hello toward the man who’s sitting in a shadow.

“Look… I need an exciting ride, not a bucket. I want it to snap. I wanna burn the road, but it needs to handle well, fit everyone in there, and look nice enough to take mia madre into church here on Sunday. I do not mind if it’s custom, just needs to fit the bill.”

Valentino takes a sip of the man’s whisky and slams it down on the table.

“Capisce?”

THE BRIEF

You guessed it, you need to find a nice Premium (not sport, top end luxury or cheap) ride for a mob’s wheelman and his crew. Can be slightly modified or custom jobs, both engineering and styling-wise, but try to stay realistic.

THE RULES

Trim & Variant Year: 1951
Bodies: Sedan, Coupe, Wagon. No Convertible. No Legacy Bodies.
Wheelbase: Min 2.6m / 102in, Max 3.2m / 126in (rounded)
Seats: Minimum 5 full seats, the more the merrier

Price: maximum 14,000 AMU
Tech Pool: Default +5 (no career company, needs to be default SANDBOX)
No negative quality

Car Requirements:

• Realistic styling for the time - headlights, indicators, tail lights, wipers. Fuel filler can be hidden.
• Round headlights (e.g. 7in sealed beams) mandated, in whatever configuration. Secondary/extra lights are free.
• No race parts or semi-slicks
• Cross Ply required (no need for width to end with 5)
• Minimum tire profile 80
• Front or rear mounted engine only
• Front-Mounted Engine: Rear solid axle mandated
• Rear-Mounted Engine: No Double Wishbone allowed in the rear, +500 AMU for DW on the front
• No Toe adjustments on rear solid axles
• Minimum Standard '40 Safety
• No interior needed
• Limited ATS usage is acceptable when no engineering option is available, wheelbase must remain within legal limits if modified

Engine Requirements:

• Leaded 92 RON / 87 AKI fuel required
• Maximum 2 valves per cylinder
• Minimum 1 muffler
• V16 allowed
• No WES requirements
• Soft limit of 160hp / 120 kW - power was limited in that era and were gross numbers, so exercise your judgment if you want to push past this. You also do not have to max out power.

Submission Requirements:

• Model and Family names: QFC52 - forum username
• A forum post with at least one picture is required.
• All submissions must be sent in discourse DM to both @Karhgath and @Kyorg (in the same DM)
• Submissions open on December 8th, 2024
• Submissions close on 2024-12-16T04:59:00Z

THE PRIORITIES

   

Drive

Comfort

   

Style & Design
Simple and tasteful is as good as complex and impressive

Performance
Acceleration (0-60 mph / 0-100 kph), quarter mile, cornering

Prestige

   

Sportiness

Practicality

Service Costs

   

Purchase Price

Reliability

Fuel Economy

   
(tie breaking)

Utility

Safety

THE INSPIRATIONS

Show inspirations

Note that some inspos fit only on engineering or style and are not exactly in the class of car Valentino is looking for. Valentino wants a premium ride, not a sport car or top end luxury or cheap beater like some might be in the inspo.

Hirohata Merc, custom Mercury Eight Coupe Club

BMW 501

Buick Special

Cadillac Series 61

Chevy Fleetmaster

Dodge Coronet

Dodge Wayfarer

Ford Custom

Ford Super DeLuxe

Ford Tudor

Holden 48-215

Lincoln EL

Mercedes Benz 300

Morris Six Series MS

Nash 600 Super

Oldsmobile Rocket 88

Peugeot 203

Plymouth Suburban

Tatra T600 Tatraplan

Wolseley 6-80

THE CHANGELOG

• Clarified a bit more that we are expecting PREMIUM cars, not sports or luxury or cheap beaters.
• Clarified the rule about headlights - we mostly want round headlights (7in sealed beam) which were standard in US and EU at that time.
• Added Buick Special to inspirations
• V16 engines are now explicitly allowed
• Added forgotten mention of ATS in rules

[Texaslav]

Just a small immediate rule tip: Front solid axles are steering axles, so they would have adjustable toe. I’d say “just mandate no toe on rear suspension” but the RR entries still exist…

[karhgath]

The only mandated solid axle is in the rear but yeah, I guess if someone wants to have a front solid axle it could be clarified.

[Portalkat42]

@karhgath

Rear-Mounted Engine: No Double Wishbone allowed in the rear, +500 AMU for DW on the front

Very curious about this rule. We don’t have a good analogue for the rear engine suspension types commonly used at the time(swing axels, De Dion, etc), and Mac Struts were barely a thing in 1951, only really being used on the Ford Consul, I know that double wishbone is very powerful, but removing it as one of two options for rear suspension seems a bit much.

[Texaslav]

It’s not outside the box. The early postwar era was full of “continuation” prewar cars with solid fronts

@Portalkat42

Very curious about this rule. We don’t have a good analogue for the rear engine suspension types commonly used at the time(swing axels, De Dion, etc), and Mac Struts were barely a thing in 1951, only really being used on the Ford Consul, I know that double wishbone is very powerful, but removing it as one of two options for rear suspension seems a bit much.

I think the point is “we don’t have literally any of the IRL RR suspensions, so using MacStrut as Generic RR shitspension #219 makes sense”

[karhgath]

Yes, we are not super happy with the need for this rule. However, after extensive testing, it was either that or disallowing RR car altogether and we’d rather open it up as much as possible and let people go crazy. DW in the rear, regardless of the engine placement, is way too strong in automation unfortunately.

See the MacP as generic rear suspension in this case.

[abg7]

Most of the inspirations shown in the OP were built on a ladder frame, so why isn’t it mandatory? Also, for anyone using a front-engined setup with a solid rear axle, must that rear axle also have leaf springs?

[moroza]

Let’s bump wheelbase cap to 3.3 to allow the…whatever that swanky '46 body is (I don’t have Auto on this machine).

Scrap the headlight cap? Tucker and Tatra are just two examples of middle headlights, and quite a few cars of the era had four. Or call any extras “driving lamps” and ignore them, just like US federal law did at the time.

Can we allow semi-trailing arm rears on front-engined cars, and radial tires, both at a significant cost penalty?

Speaking of cost, 14k seems rather low for this class.

160hp was competitive in '51, but a few cars were doing a good bit over that. 200, perhaps?

[Knugcab]

I guess because there were still unibody cars around, like Nash, Hudson, as well as a fair amount of Europeans etc. so why make ladder frames mandatory?

Also, Buicks used coils in the rear already in the 30s.

[abg7]

You have a point - it may be worthwhile to allow their use. Coil-sprung live rear axles and monocoque chassis should both receive a cost penalty, though, for balancing reasons.

[karhgath]

@abg7

You have a point - it may be worthwhile to allow their use. Coil-sprung live rear axles and monocoque chassis should both receive a cost penalty, though, for balancing reasons.

We tried to limit the rules/penalties as much as possible. RR is a specific case we had to handle to make viable.

It is QFC, it is not about being 100% realistic either, we want to allow a lot of different types of cars, but within a fair framework. We’ve set it in Las Vegas fictional Casino City in Gasmea for that reason as well, so we might end up with most people going coil but thus is life. It is not like leaf is unusable either.

[karhgath]

@abg7

Most of the inspirations shown in the OP were built on a ladder frame, so why isn’t it mandatory? Also, for anyone using a front-engined setup with a solid rear axle, must that rear axle also have leaf springs?

As mentioned by Knug, a lot of cars, even in the US, used unibody back then, it was not rare. We’ve also included europe in the inspo since this is set in Gasmea.

No price penalty either since both ladder and monocoque have advantages and disadvantages in that era.

[karhgath]

@moroza

Let’s bump wheelbase cap to 3.3 to allow the…whatever that swanky '46 body is (I don’t have Auto on this machine).

I assume you are talking about the Dream Rocket. We’ll deliberate and circle back. It is a bit big and there is a few balance things to look over. It could def fit right in if it was not that big.

@moroza

Scrap the headlight cap? Tucker and Tatra are just two examples of middle headlights, and quite a few cars of the era had four. Or call any extras “driving lamps” and ignore them, just like US federal law did at the time.

It was not a cap, we mostly wanted to make people use 7in sealed beam-ish lights, I’ll clarify.

@moroza

Can we allow semi-trailing arm rears on front-engined cars, and radial tires, both at a significant cost penalty?

No, sorry. Budget was already a pain to balance that way the playing field is more leveled, see below.

@moroza

Speaking of cost, 14k seems rather low for this class.

Yes, it seems like that at first glance. However, you might realize later that it is both tight… and plenty. There is a limited set of options and with +5 TP default it just means a lower overall budget. We decided to lower it instead of touching default TP since this is QFC but also because the +5 TP allows some interesting early unlocks. Also a lot of cheap but also a lot of very expensive options and choices, so build your car carefully.

@moroza

160hp was competitive in '51, but a few cars were doing a good bit over that. 200, perhaps?

As mentioned, figures in this era are all gross. Impossible to know the exact SAE output here in most cases. Also it is a soft limit, feel free to play with it… a little. This is also a premium-car based setup, not sport cars or top luxury.

[oldmanbuick]

@karhgath

Clarified a bit more that we are expecting PREMIUM cars, not sports or luxury or cheap beaters.

There was obviously confusion on this point because in spite of the brief asking for a premium 50s car, the inspirations managed to include Dodge, Chevrolet, and Cadillac…but NO BUICKS.

This is heresy that shall not be forgiven.

So I present to you a 1951 Buick Special:

For obvious reasons, I felt it was necessary and appropriate that I point this out.

EDIT: Due to @karhgath’s extremely prompt retraction of this heresy, mercy shall be shown and forgiveness granted.

[karhgath]

Unacceptable! It has been promptly corrected.

[karhgath]

After deliberation, while the 3.3m dream rocket could fit style wise, it is def too big and does not fit well within the intent and ruleset. WB requirements will not be relaxed to include it unfortunately.

[AMuteCrypt]

In support of not relaxing the wheelbase… 3.3 gets you up to 60s Despot (3.27) and Plastic People’s Car (3.32).

Would these do well? No, but they’d be allowed by upping the limit, and that’s probably not ideal.

[karhgath]

QFC is now ready to accept submissions

Make sure you review the changelog and rules before submitting, you have slightly more than a week before sub closes.

Have fun!

[debonair0806]

Chambliss

With a new decade, comes new style! We know that every new man needs a new car.

Lore

Tristram Chambliss (1903-1981), founder of the Chambliss General Motor Company, was a lifelong native of Mechanicville, New York (Yes, this is a real place.) Fittingly, the small town derived the name from the occupations of early residents. Chambliss was never fond of the bustling city just a hundred miles south, which he believed was “rampant with unnecessary technology and just a silly bundle of complexity.”

Because he was so affectionate for the generations of master craftsmen that called his town home, Chambliss aspired to build his company from the ground up in Mechanicville himself. After jumpstarting his reputation by building motorcycles from scratch, Chambliss and his company had become a household name for the majority of Upstate New York residents by the late 1920s.

During the Great Depression, Chambliss seldom found struggle in maintaining his company. He found himself doing joint ventures with other auto mechanics in the area, and soon the first Chambliss car rolled off the assembly line. Not many residents in Mechanicville had a car at all, so the first Chambliss model immediately became a hit within the town - accompanied by all the basic necessities was its cheap asking price, allowing residents to extend their radius for job opportunities outside of town.

By the end of World War II, Chambliss knew that his town had fully adjusted to an automobile infrastructure. It was a must to expand outside of Mechanicville. By 1946, the company had factories all around the state of New York, but Chambliss insisted that he would still head it from Mechanicville. To garner appeal outside of New York, Chambliss and his executives stepped up to create a premium sedan, targeted for diligent workers that surely earned money fairly and lawfully. Debuting in 1951, the Chambliss Comet Series 81 is that premium sedan. This would be the first Chambliss automobile to be sold at a continental scale, boasting massive success.

Chambliss always described the Comet as being a car for the “hurly burly men”; a car that required a driver to operate with care and attention. With the absence of power steering and an automatic transmission, this statement sure was true. However, the Comet lived up to its name with its “lightning speed”, the reliant synchromesh 4-on-the-floor hurling itself to 60 mph in just 10 seconds flat - a full two seconds faster than the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 of the same year. Behind the fire-breathing 150-horsepower Comet V8 was a plush interior that headlined the newest of accommodations, including a state-of-the-art radio. One could conclude that aside from having to put a little bit of muscle and strategy into the driving experience, everything else was guaranteed luxury.

Specs

1951 Chambliss Comet Series 81

Made on the Rouen body with vanilla fixtures only

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304ci V8 making 150.1hp at 3900 RPM - 226.5lb-ft at 2900 RPM

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4-speed manual, RWD, 0-60mph in 9.93s, 1/4 mile in 17.3s

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Top speed of 106mph, dry weight of 3,058lbs.

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Color Gallery

Emerald Iridescent Green

Bronze Iridescent

Burgundy Poly

Dark Green Poly

[AMuteCrypt]

You want yourself a car?
Head down to a sleazy dealership, out in the industrial park, get ripped off by Honest John and buy the same car he sold to a dozen other people today.

You want a sweet ride?
Pick the right alley, bang on the right door, and you’ll meet “Slick” Mick, the mad scientist of the auto world. He can’t offer as much variety as the big dealerships, but he can offer something like no other.

Like a V16 engine, paired with 16 grille bars.
Like eight seats that won’t aggravate your madre’s bad back, paired with eight trim stripes up and down the sides.
Like going from still to 100 km/h in under 10 seconds, for when you need to get out of somewhere.