SME (Swanson Motorsports Engineering)

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American Performance has no compromise. Located in Atlanta, GA, USA.

Grandfather Swanson started a small garage in 1946 after coming home from WWII service. He learned engine mechanics in the Navy and found a passion for engines. His father told him, find what you love, and learn how to get paid for it, which he did. His granddaughter shared this passion, and learned early in life how to build, repair, and upgrade the engines of the 1960’s. She would relocate from that small shop in Oklahoma City to the big city of Atlanta before opening Swanson Motorsports Engineering. She had a dream, and was going to make her grandfather proud! By the time he had passed away in 1988, he had been fully amazed by the talent of his granddaughter, and was indeed proud of her accomplishments.

SME began in 1969 as a humble performance shop, specializing in performance enhancements and tuning for busy motor-heads to make high-speed, low-ET passes at local drag strips using Small Block Chevy motors. SME quickly became a dominant force on the quarter-mile tracks across the Southeastern US, and eventually reached as far as California for it’s customer base. Since that time, we have expanded to car manufacturing our own designs beginning in 1981. Heavy inspiration from 1960s American muscle cars and European Grand Tourer models, a blend of aggressive styling and high performance engines collide in a sport road car blend. Swanson Motorsports Engineering is dedicated to horsepower, the rumble of big overhead valve V8s, and smokey burnouts. We can provide CNC machining, Forge-works, and even Carbon Fiber work for all of your automotive needs. It doesn’t matter if it is a weekend track car, a daily driver, or a fully functional racing machine: American Performance has no compromise!

Z-Series Naturally Aspirated
5.0L RWD (421hp)
6.6L AWD (500hp)


ZX-Series Twin-Turbo
7.4L AWD (773hp)


ZX-Series GT1 (prototype)
Undisclosed data (*499hp)

Swanson Motorsports Engineering presents:

The 2014 ZX53GT Coupe.

As always with SME vehicles, it is powered by a 5.3L OHV V8 Naturally Aspirated. Boasting 450hp, from the factory this car will put down all of it’s comparably priced Euro competitors with ease and satisfaction. This is a drivers car for the ages. For comfort and control, the car is standard equipped ABS and Power Steering. There is no traction control or other electronic garbage to interfere with the purist experience you will receive in this luxury GT. Premium Interior and Entertainment combined with Safety ahead of it’s time, this car will get you there in comfort and style. Lightweight, powerful, agile, and guaranteed to turn heads and make your own head swim with the glory of it’s tuned exhaust. SME welcomes you to the new American driving experience.

Features:
Sport Tuned, Direct Injected, Naturally Aspirated OHV V8
6 Speed Manual Transmission with AWD
Double Wishbone FR and MultiLink Rear Suspension
Premium Natural Leather custom fit on the seats, dashboard, steering wheel, and console, complete with All-Natural Wood Grain inserts
High-End entertainment system featuring a 7 speaker system, 10.2" touchscreen display, MP3/CD/DVD/BlueRay player,In-Car Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Satellite Radio
Advanced ABS and Speed Sensitive Power Steering

And for a low price of only $91,000!

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That looks like a good rival for the 911 and the GT-R!

I like it’s big angry bulldogish front bar :slight_smile:

That is the market it is shooting for…higher end sports cars but not in GT3/2 territory just yet. The 5.0L is going to be supercharged at some point…when they are available. (I just love V8 superchargers!) Right now they are both naturally aspriated pushrod small block chevy motor replicas. Still working on tweaking them a bit for economy AND power. the 5.0L is tough to find both. The 6.6L is actually pretty economical already. I learn more about tuning the engines and chassis still, so it can only get better?

Introducing the ZX-Series (Twin-Turbo OHV V8)!

Visit OP for more information

Nice monsters you have there… I’d like to put one of these against my Chimaera my grand tourer from hell

Feel free to have a go at it! I only ask that you don’t use the components or the whole anywhere without credit to me (if you choose to do so that is). :open_mouth: If you tune one and make it better (there is a TypeR version included in the zip which I have not really made much progress with), please send it back to me so I can have fun with it too! (I think the problem is in the Aero, but have not figured it out yet) I had to recreate them because the originals were lost after Open Beta was closed. They are very close, better in some ways, and as original as I was able to recreate. The images below are created from the recreations, not the originals.

ZX Platform Models
Z50di Coupe - 5.0L N/A - 779hp - Production ModelZ50diCoupe.zip (1.01 MB)
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Z66di Coupe - 6.6L N/A - 779hp - Production ModelZ66diCoupe.zip (1010 KB)
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ZX1 Platform Models
ZX74di Turbo Coupe - 7.4L Twin-Turbo - 779hp - Production ModelZX74di Turbo Coupe - Rev0.zip (1.06 MB)
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ZX74di Turbo Coupe - 7.4L Twin-Turbo - 909hp - Prototype Model
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My YCB Chimaera is at a performance similar to zx1

They’re all posted. I don’t mind sharing. After full release, I might feel differently, but for now, it is open source for all! :slight_smile:

I still have much to learn, so if you improve something, share it back to me please! :slight_smile:

[quote=“07CobaltGirl”]They’re all posted. I don’t mind sharing. After full release, I might feel differently, but for now, it is open source for all! :slight_smile:

I still have much to learn, so if you improve something, share it back to me please! :slight_smile:[/quote]

Check your mailbox

Swanson Motorsports Engineering presents:

The 2014 ZX53GT Coupe.

As always with SME vehicles, it is powered by a 5.3L OHV V8 Naturally Aspirated. Boasting 450hp, from the factory this car will put down all of it’s comparably priced Euro competitors with ease and satisfaction. This is a drivers car for the ages. For comfort and control, the car is standard equipped ABS and Power Steering. There is no traction control or other electronic garbage to interfere with the purist experience you will receive in this luxury GT. Premium Interior and Entertainment combined with Safety ahead of it’s time, this car will get you there in comfort and style. Lightweight, powerful, agile, and guaranteed to turn heads and make your own head swim with the glory of it’s tuned exhaust. SME welcomes you to the new American driving experience.

Features:
Sport Tuned, Direct Injected, Naturally Aspirated OHV V8
6 Speed Manual Transmission with AWD
Double Wishbone FR and MultiLink Rear Suspension
Premium Natural Leather custom fit on the seats, dashboard, steering wheel, and console, complete with All-Natural Wood Grain inserts
High-End entertainment system featuring a 7 speaker system, 10.2" touchscreen display, MP3/CD/DVD/BlueRay player,In-Car Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Satellite Radio
Advanced ABS and Speed Sensitive Power Steering

And for a low price of only $91,000!

That’s a nicely tuned car + engine! The track time is very impressive considering it has “only” 452hp. If only it looked a little bit better, especially the rear end. [size=85]Of course i can help you with the design if you want, just PM me[/size]

Hi there, 07CobaltGirl! I’m kind of a newbie here, but I’ve been browsing a lot of the Car Design threads over the past couple of months, and this is by far, one of my favorite companies. :smiley:

The one thing I have to ask is, why is the top speed for some of these cars so low? It seems kinda strange for a car with 900+ hp (the ZX74di) to have a top end of only ~212 mph, unless it’s got economy gearing or something, like we see with the newer Corvettes in particular(but the C4 + 5 as well). But other than that one nitpick, all of these cars seem really well put together overall, and the company’s backstory is rather fascinating at that. :sunglasses:

Thank you! Top speed isn’t really my main focus with cars. I want sporty style, and good performance. These are supposed to be Grand Tourer class automobiles. This means they are geared, at least somewhat, to highway driving over long distances. Although, 9 mpg isn’t really great, in the case of the ZX74di Turbo Coupe. I’m still learning, too, so they aren’t perfect yet. Also, some of these designs are from several versions ago.

Coming soon…

[size=200]化け猫[/size]

Wow! That must have been a ton of effort, and i’m assuming it’s gonna be fast because of all the grilles and air intakes :slight_smile:

Hm… I’m not sure what to think of that. Is it going to be a full on production sports(?) car or is it merely a concept? It would make more sense as a concept, because such extreme designs never usually get put into production.

It’s currently a concept vehicle. It is a little extreme for the GT markets, and not fast enough for the Supercar markets. I’ve been working on it since New Year’s.

That rear end though… I would keep a safe distance, just to make it won’t open up and swallow me. :open_mouth:

Visible that you put a lot of work into this!

I’ve been learning to use all of the new community mods available recently. :slight_smile: My cars so far had been rather ho-hum in both looks and performance. I had a tendancy to just replicate what already existed. cough E30 M3 cough The ZX53GT is fast and corners alright, but needs some improvements here and there and is not really great looking. This concept is powered by an LS3 or an optional LS7 (because we all know how much I love the LS motors) with surprisingly strong performance AND economy numbers. I’m also still trying to figure out suspension settings (wish someone could help me understand those better!) so I can get above 1.5g without using +15 quality and/or 395+ tires.

[size=50]Besides, I have to beat one of strop’s cars, dammit![/size]