I waited slightly longer to close things than I probably should have, but they are now closed. It’ll probably take me a bit to get the reviews done (mostly because CSR, but meh), but I plan to have them done by next weekend.
Stay tuned ! X3
November 26th, 1984. Midlands Corporate Headquarters, Main Atrium
Sitting patiently at a table out in the common area atrium of the offices, the CEO, chief engineer and head of design wondered why they were all called out here instead of into the boardroom as usual for meetings. Not that they were complaining, since the boardroom was a bit stuffy and oppressive, while the sounds of the fountain and crisp air in the atrium were quite invigorating. They suddenly heard the click of heels on tile and turned around to see the intern, Clara, who originally proposed that they do a write in contest for the design of their new youth market car, hurriedly crossing the floor, a huge bundle of papers in her arms.
“Sorry to keep you waiting” she panted, dropping the bundle of papers on the table with a colossal thud, “I thought you all would want a copy of each entry so we could all be looking at the same thing at the same time.”
“Lets see what all we have here,” said the head of design Rhys, dividing the pile up between them
“How many entries did we get overall?”
“Just 7” sighed Clara.
“I expected a few more than that”, chimed in the CEO.
“Well we did make the rules of this contest a bit strict for the average teen to handle”, said chief engineer Chris, “a full car design, technical specs, AND a mood board design document thingie”
“Yeah, that may have been a bit too much to ask of them,” Rhys responded, “sorry about that.”
“Well it’ll just make our job of choosing a winner that little bit easier,” the CEO said.
“I’ve found one we can rule out immediately due to not reading the engine rules,” Chris added, “look at what they tried to sneak in on their engine”
“Turbos!” the CEO shrieked “Burn it immediately!” He quickly wads the sheets showing the Medea into a ball and jettisons it into the nearest waste bin.
Rhys’s eyes narrow as he looks over the pamphlet for the Medea, " It’s probably a good thing we’ve ruled this one out, since I can see some direct styling cue rip offs from other brands…like why would anyone put the wing from a Countach on a small two door coupe like that and, wait a minute…yeah this has the marks of a foreign company all over it. Thought they could be sneaky eh."
“Yeah that’s just rude”, Clara remarked, “A bigger company trying to usurp a competition aimed at kids…”
“You get used to stuff like this when you’ve been in the industry long enough,” the CEO sighed, finally recovered from his anger at having to see some infernal turbochargers, “That’s why we keep all of our manufacturing in house. Kept us from suffering the same quality issues so many brands did in the past decade. No Leyland qc issues for us. Hopefully the next one is a bit better?”
(The Medea is binned for using turbos when the rules called specifically for a naturally aspirated engine to be used. Even if it had been N/A, it would’ve scored poorly due to what is a very lack luster design. It’s very flat feeling and the rear wing is totally out of place in terms of era and target market of car. Nice job on the advert and lore bit of a company trying to sneak their design into the competition though.)
“Here’s the next one on the list, the Ale,” Clara holds up a relatively blocky and angular red notch back coupe.
“That looks eerily similar to the last one,” Rhys chimed in, “it even has the same roof line and bumper placement”
“At least it doesn’t have any turbos”, quips Chris.
“Turbos! Where???” the CEO yelped.
“Calm down Boss, there aren’t any more of those on any of the other cars in the list” Clara said calmly. “Would you please stop using the T word?” she quietly hissed at Chris, “it sets the Boss off and that makes me jumpy, so it would be best to not poke the bear, ok?”
“Fine…”
“Hey do you guys think the rear end styling on this is as weird as I do?” Rhys interjected
Chris nodded in agreement, " Yeah it looks like they just threw some triangles at it, and judging by the placement of those lights that would be hell to produce. Angles like that just don’t translate to mass production well."
“Doesn’t this presentation feel like it’s missing something?” the CEO said, sitting back down with a cocktail in hand. He needed something to take the edge off after being bombarded with the T word twice in such a short period.
“Yeah this entrant didn’t end up sending in a mood board like the others,” Clara stated, “I thought there might’ve just been a mail mix up and it didn’t get here in time, but it’s over a week past the deadline and even then their pictures came in just at the end, so I don’t think one is coming.”
“I can sum up what probably was on their board,” Rhys smirked and held up their fingers with thumbs and pointers touching, “Triangles! That’s literally the easiest way to sum up the Ale”
“The specs they’ve given us don’t hold up that well either,” Chris remarked, “and I guess if they didn’t give us all the materials we asked for we’ll have to put it on the no pile as well”
(The Ale is binned due to never receiving a moodboard for it. It fairs only a little better than the Medea in terms of looks, with the odd design scheme of just going ham on triangular fixtures in the rear, which feels really disconnected from that more tame front end design. It’s stats were also quite below the rest of the field, with the weakest interior quality out of the whole lot. A good attempt was made, but better design cohesion would’ve helped massively.)
“These next few look interesting”, Rhys said, pointing at a pale green coupe, “This one looks especially concept like”
“Yeah that one comes from a guy who’s well known in the car community around here. He always tends to make some quite out there stuff. Particularly with his affinity for painting things mint.”
“Actually that looks like more of a sage green to me,” Clara said, correcting Chris, “It’s too dusty to be mint.”
“Well it definitely holds up to being a concept car, just look at that proposed price. $33k. Where has all that money gone into?” Rhys asked.
“It seems to have gone into aero testing,” Chris replied, “Just look at these mpg figures. No wonder it has bicycle thin tyres. Oh and they’re in even numbered width and 17 inch wheels on such a small car. This is so far from being production ready that we’d have to push back launch another year or so.”
"So this one is another no?
A chorus of assent went around the table and they all placed their packets for the Era LX in a no pile, not in the bin like the previous two they had looked at.
(The Era LX is just out there as a car from the '80s. It feels a bit more suited to possibly something from '93 or so. It also suffers from the under detailing syndrome. Honestly the two biggest downfalls with this car are the price and the wheels. 17 inch rims on this size of a car look absolutely huge and the fact that they’re so narrow and placed so far into the body gives it a sort of odd stance, like a goat balancing on a mountain top(also tyres ending in 0 is mostly a no for this era). For the price it underdelivers on performance and prestige compared to the rest of the field, with the only notable stats being quite good driveability and mpg. The Era LX is nice and a typical example of Corydon can put out, but it’s just not what Midlands is looking for)
“This next submission at least has some detail to it,” quipped Rhys, looking at the documents for the Eos B170 SE.
"True, and it’s no slouch in the performance or interior department. A premium cassette deck as standard, that’s a first.
“That’s all well and good,” interjected Clara, “but doesn’t it feel rather…safe?..design wise?”
“You do have a point there. It does seem a bit tame compared to the others. You were hoping for a bit more pizazz I take it?” asked the CEO.
“Yeah, this just feels tame and belies what’s inside it. I thought from the images we gave them we’d get something a bit more exciting.”
Rhys chortled a bit, “You mean like the Era LX?”
“No, that one’s a bit too out there. I was hoping for something slightly aggressive.”
“They’re also implying that this would take over as the next generation of Eos,” Chris chimed in, “so no wonder you were expecting something a bit more aggressive.”
“Names can change, but it just feels a bit average. And I guess I was expecting something with decent stats like this to have a bit more punch visually.”
“Another one for the no pile then,” Clara said reluctantly.
(The Eos B107 SE is a decent car. It’s well designed, has good stats overall, and would probably do well in another challenge. However design wise it just feels average. It takes little risks in terms of design, going for a plain Japanese feeling pop up light coupe. It just doesn’t fit with the styling of the Midlands brand well enough to do better. It’s still a nice car, but a case of nothing ventured nothing gained design wise.)
“These last three look quite promising,” said Rhys, taking one of the remaining packets off the top of the stack, “I’m surprised two of them went for beige on a car aimed at college students though.”
“Hey I like beige,” retorted Clara, “It can look quite good and almost sporty in the right shades. See.” She points at the picture of the Crios SE in her hand, “like this.”
“I guess you’re right, but wow is this thing a lot to take in,” Chris chimed in, “I could almost make technical sketches off of what they’ve given us. And it has decent stats, but I’m worried about the price they’ve put it at. $25k feels a bit low don’t you guys think?”
“I think I’ve found why it’s so cheap,” the CEO answered, “They decided to go with completely cast internals and barely made them in stress tolerances. Yet they decided to spend money on a sport interior, but not on making sure their quirky i5 wouldn’t have stress issues after a while.”
“Talk about missed opportunities, and…oh no…I’ve just realized something horrible,” Rhys said before dashing off to go get something.
“What’s up with him?” Clara asked.
“He probably just found something with the design that doesn’t sit well with him and is off to go get some art supplies to correct it,” Chris replied, shaking her head.
“Well you’re half right there Chris,” Rhys said as he plunked himself back down at the table, “I did find a couple things that disturbed me about the design that I knew I had seen just recently. Look at this. This is what Mercury just released not too long ago.” Rhys pulled the rear three quarters view of the Crios in front of everyone at the table, and then slapped down a similar angle picture of a 1984 Mercury Cougar.
“That roof shape is almost identical!,” Clara exclaimed.
“And it’s horrible the way it just cuts off,” agreed Chris, “Thank you for pointing that out Rhys.”
“I also can’t figure out what these latches by the rear quarter window are for,” Rhys mused, “Given how interestingly the rest of the car is designed I can only assume it’s not something good.”
“I guess that’s another one for the no pile then,” the CEO said, placing his packet on the slowly growing pile.
“Agreed,” the rest said in unison and did the same.
(The Crios SE is a very intricately made car, has good overall stats and is almost what the team at Midlands is looking for from an engineering standpoint, minus the all cast internals on the engine that are 100 rpm away from starting to have stress issues. Unfortunately, design wise you inadvertently walked into one of my most hated trends in body shape that happened in the '80s: the swoopy smooth front that abruptly cuts short vertically at the rear of the cabin, as most easily seen in the aforementioned '84 Mercury Cougar. From your mood board I can see that this shaping is intentional, given the inclusion of what looks like a knock off '80s Buick Riviera and a Monte Carlo in your mood board. You couldn’t have known that this styling choice would’ve made me react this way, but overall there were a bunch of questionable design choices that made it not fit in so well with the Midlands design language, most notably the use of the full midlands name across the rear light bar and the rounded bottoms of the pop ups. The Crios is a very nicely made car and I can see the amount of effort that went into some the details, but it doesn’t hit the mark of what Midlands is seeking design wise. Good job though.)
“Well here’s the other beige entry, though I would say it’s a bit more on the cream side of things,” Clara said, picking up the packet for the Hermes S, “ooh the name sounds nice and lux too. 'Ermes S. I wonder if we could get a special edition trim collaboration deal with them so we could sell this in an even more upscale market.”
“It’s Hermes Clara, named after the messenger god,” Rhys replied," but I see your point. This design is wonderful and feels very much like a direction we could work on going with for styling in the future. I would’ve liked to see it on a slightly longer body, but it’s still sleek and premium none the less."
“It better be premium, since the projected price is $35k, all of their allotted budget,” Chris chimed in, “at least they seem to have put it to good use though, going for some very premium interior options. And look at that, they actually understand how to set up tyres on a rear engined car. No 40+ mm staggering here.”
“I hate to burst your bubble there Chris,” the CEO said looking at the Hermes’s engineering specs, “but they’ve opted to go for a heavy AWD system, so they were already at an advantage in tyre width due to the understeer than can cause. And it looks like they didn’t account for that extra weight in their engine specs though. It’s the slowest we’ve seen so far.”
“That is a shame,” Clara sighed, “I really like this design. It has some good Midlands dna in it. I think something got messed up in their interior views though. They’ve left almost no headroom and the bottoms of the seats are halfway up the doors.”
Chris smiled, “That does seem like a weird oversight, let’s put it aside and look at the last one. Hopefully it isn’t as underpowered.”
(I really like how the Hermes S is set up. It takes some design ques from past Midlands models, has a quite reasonable tyre set up, and has competitive automation stats with a wonderful amount of mpg. The perceived interior quality is the best out of the full lineup. It falls a bit short in two key areas however. It is the slowest of all the entries, despite having some of the thickest tyres and a strong AWD system that should’ve allowed the Hermes to have decent acceleration despite having only 130 hp. It is also the most expensive entry, which makes sense due to said AWD and the kinda questionable choices in quality distribution. Instead of going for things like power steering you just increased driver aids quality, which like many of your other choices, didn’t add much to your build’s stats. You’re very lucky that the overall design caught my attention as much as it did, though I have no clue why you placed the seats so high. You could’ve placed them at a normal height and told me to turn off the chassis. Still, I quite like the car overall.)
“I guess we just have this one left,” said Clara, reaching for the last packet that wasn’t already in one of the piles on the table, “Hopefully it can make a good impression on us.”
The entire table went silent as they flipped through the packets for the Peitho. They were all shocked and impressed at what they saw.
“This might just be the one,” Rhys said, finally breaking their stunned silence, “They absolutely nailed our design language. Just look at how aggressive yet elegant it looks.”
“And the performance figures read like I’m looking at a new 911, not a 4 seat grand tourer like this is set up to be,” Chris said incredulously, “Looks like they got there in a weird way though for some of it. They were definitely trying to keep costs down.”
“This almost feels too good for the market we’re aiming at,” Clara gasped, “it totally beats out the Hermes in everything except for fuel economy and comfort.”
“The lack of comfort is understandable,” Chris replied, “Their interior specs aren’t quite up to what the Hermes has, and they probably miscalculated the amount of heat shielding that their engine needed, especially since it sits so close to the rear seats.”
“As much as it pains me to say this,” the CEO said reluctantly, “but those two lads from America have made quite a great design. Youthful, aggressive, and not super expensive either.”
“It’s not without it’s flaws though,” Clara stated, “And the Hermes also has it’s fair share of good points too. Why don’t we take a vote to decide between the two?”
“That seems a bit redundant, but we might as well” sighs Rhys. They all picked up their packets for the Hermes S and the Peitho.
“We’ll close our eyes, and on the count of 3 put the packet of the car we’ve picked on the table and then open them,” Clara directed,"1…2…3!"There was the slap of four packets on the table as they all cast their votes.
“Just as I expected,” smirked Rhys, “I might as well get started getting this beast production ready.”
(The Peithos is almost exactly what I was hoping for in terms of external design. Nothing about it belies the fact that it’s rear engined, it looks like it would fit in well with similar Midlands stablemates, and it has plenty of drivebility and performance to keep the it relevant for years to come. It does have some engineering choices that bother me a little bit, primarily the choice to go SOHC even though DOHC isn’t that much more expensive, the low tyre profile and a bit high ride height, as well as a lot of tyre stagger. The biggest head scratch though in terms of engineering is why it uses the variant capacity siders to drop it from a 3.5L to a 3L instead of just doing a 3L and have the benefits of a smaller engine in terms of weight distribution. Still, the overall package of the Peitho and its phenomenal visual design were enough to put it in first place.)
1st: @kaybee and @66mazda
2nd: @azkaalfafa
3rd: @Riley
4th: @Arn38fr
5th: @rbiemer
I’m sorry I took longer than I said I would to get these results up. I forgot just how long writing can take. I had fun hosting this round though and hopefully you all had fun building cars for it. I look forward to seeing what the next round holds.
Excellent write up. Even with mylast place finish, I definitely enjoyed this round, thank you for hosting it!
I will admit to hoping to see every one’s mood boards, though. 
Here’s mine:
This was a great challenge mate! Thanks!
I should point out one source of confusion though: in one of the posts, when describing company lore, you mentioned the company’s non preference for turbos (among other things), then immediately clarified that it was okay (if not recommended) to do things that didn’t quite fit the company’s style. That combined with the fact that the naturally-aspirated requirement was never explicitly written (It was there, but written as an abbreviation “N/A” that I didn’t decipher until just now) is what made me think turbos were allowed.
That’s one small note on an otherwise awesome challenge though. The story and writeups were really entertaining, and yet gave a clear picture of each car’s strengths and weaknesses. Nice work! (:
I was mostly referring to engine type with that, since I knew that I would be limiting creativity if I said no to stuff like boxer motors and longer inline engines. The turbo preference was a hard and fast rule since Midlands only recently, aka 2018 ish, started using turbos, hence why I put it as a hard rule that the engine had to be naturally aspirated. And I can totally see not everyone reading N/A and knowing that it’s shorthand for naturally aspirated.
Ahh, had no idea I could do that… Still, glad I could participate in the challenge, definitely had good fun 
now to get back to my hidey hole and work on my thesis
edit: oh no the side trims are gone… oh well
Any update regarding the next CSC round? It’s been over a week by now.
We’re finalizing the writing, hopefully I can send kaybee the final ruleset so it can be posted tonight or tomorrow
Thank you for your continued patience : )
Toyota City, Japan
The CEO of Kaizen sat as his desk, mortified, as the ticking and the droning of the grey-hued computer box in front of him did its work. There was a poster of the upcoming spy movie “Collective Ransom” hung across from him, the chiseled eyes of Robert Michael Shock cutting into the sweaty worried face of the CEO like putty. He had received an instant direct message from his head engineer - the concept for their compact executive car had fallen through, the hired design team calling it quits amid arguments with the engineering team over the unusually low hood line and poor engine fitment. The CEO massaged his temples. This wasn’t part of the agenda for today, he mumbled to himself as he began angrily fumbling around for his mobile cell phone. He mashed out a number on the device, then his brash, loud voice filled the room.
“It’s me. Get the word out, we need to scout design proposals for our upcoming compact luxury. If we don’t get one soon, we’re losing the rights, and advertising, for the car showing up in that god-forsaken spy flick. And make sure they have a powertrain setup in written detail, the engineers we have can’t make all the magic happen. You got a paper and pen? Good. Here’s what I need you to paraphrase…”
HERITAGE
As a 4-door sedan, 2-door coupe, or 5-door wagon, the Kaizen F series has historically served as the entry-level model to Kaizen’s main automotive lineup, excluding the compact TR series. First introduced in 1965 as a direct response to the Ford Mustang and BMW 02 series, it would serve as a smaller, more affordable, and sportier alternative to the 1966 5th generation Kaizen S series it was based on.
Throughout the fuel and economic crises of the following decades, the smaller, efficient, and sportier model was instrumental in keeping the brand afloat. Now nearly 30 years strong, the F series will see a much-anticipated remake, with a revolutionary shift towards new, innovative technologies, a new focus on aerodynamics, and a more luxurious sporting experience, a notable departure from simpler predecessors.
Christened K404, the 4th generation F series will still retain the traditional sedan, coupe, and wagon configurations, along with potential convertible variations. Also carried over are the two main trims. one being a standard, luxury-oriented trim, and the other being the performance-oriented sport (s) trim.
TRIM RULES
KAIZEN CRATE ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS [TOP SECRET]
OTHER RULES
Submission messages regulations
Please submit your car simultaneously to me, @kaybee and @66mazda, by creating a DM here. Discourse only! (NO DISCORD) After submission, please do not edit or otherwise replace the file, or create duplicate submissions without initial confirmation of the file being received.
Naming convention
Car model/engine family: CSC44 - (discourse username)
NOTE: Please check that your username is written correctly, submitting a car with an untaggable username will render such submission invalid.
NO RESUBMISSIONS WILL BE ALLOWED
(Ask this question: if you copied your username from the .car in game name, and pasted it in discourse with the @ function, would discourse suggest your name and your name only?)
Car trim: Your car name
Engine variant: Engine name
Interior design is optional. An interior that suits the car well will be considered superior to an identical car without it.
Forum post
You must post at minimum a picture of your car and the car name. Ads and photoshops will be much loved.
IF THERE IS NO ACCEPTABLE POST IN THIS FORUM FROM THE CREATOR, THEN THEY WILL GET DISQUALIFIED
Other notes
Everything not specified in this rulebook is fair game. However we reserve the right to change rules at any time, with clear notifications on this forum.
When submissions start, changes will be minimized.
We will notify and try to help you to the best of our ability if any rules are broken before the submission due date. Do not hesitate to ask questions.
If there is a technical issue right before the deadline, then due date extensions (grace periods) can be negotiated.
DESIGN INFLUENCES
MOST IMPORTANT PRIORITIES
The car must represent Kaizen’s ideals while not looking too out of place in the lineup. Design choices must also respect to a reasonable degree the feasibility for production and outright realism. Engineering implementation for certain features is very much appreciated, but would need an explanation.
Kaizen’s design is one of tense, aggressive style. Their cars often feel like there is a beast inside ready to be unleashed.
However, by any means, they avoid being a cacophony of varying styles.
The general design of a Kaizen should generally be considered “restrained muscular.” This is before Kaizen went all over the fist concept, but having an evolutionary steeping stone from the boxy 3rd generation to that philosophy may be helpful. But it still must punch through the air with authority.
After all, this is a svelte, sporty premium car for a flashy spy movie. It needs to have care and planning without being too cluttered or bulky.
Proper FR proportions will be key for this competition. Refer to CSC37.
SOME OTHER PRIORITIES TO NOTE
(Being considerate of this priority will net you an advantage over an identical or slightly better design.)
VERY MINOR CONSIDERATIONS
(These are very nitpicky and will only really come into effect if two designs with an incredibly identical level of positive reception are received. But don’t intentionally min-max this either.)
Coefficient of drag
Interior space
CLARIFICATIONS
ENTRIES OPEN
NOW!
ENTRIES CLOSE
AUGUST 16th, 2021, 11:59 pm
ALL TIMES ARE IN EST
Assuming this means “longitudinal rear wheel drive chassis” rather than “the body literally does not have a transverse option,” then I feel the wording should be “Chassis requirements - Longitudinal FR ONLY”
I’ve been digging into the body choices we have with this criteria and are suitably rounded for 1990s styling (per the example inspiration cars) are very few. The only ones I’ve found so far are the 2.5m and 2.6m wheelbases of the 80’s E90 body, the 2.7m wheelbase Sharyo 90’s body, and the 2.7m wheelbase Hanshin 90’s body. This is a really small pool of bodies to choose from and both the Hanshin and Sharyo have really pitiful morphs. This selection comes from the strictest reading of this rule.However, if the rule was broadened to include bodies that have 2 door sedan bodies in their line up to provide for the 2 door coupe variant, this would open up many more bodies for us to use, such as the entirety of the 88 EU series of bodies. Another consideration is that the Silvia body(90scoupe01 and 90scoupe01_Large) is also omitted by these rules despite having a coupe and wagon variant with 4 doors. Right now the body selection just feels really limited and will most likely end up with designs very similar to one of the Kaizen’s shown in the Design influences. Also currently you have the early '90s 3 series shown as inspiration, yet that body is excluded from the actual choices we can use(it’s the 88 EU body).
tbh…
I consider 2 door sedans as coupes. Maybe that’s something I should have noted.
Also those 2 door sedans are the kind of coupe I am looking for too.
Definitely. It’ll help remove any confusion about what bodies can actually be used. Idk your verdict on the Silvia body though, since it’s the reverse issue, with there being a 4 door coupe instead of a 2 door sedan.
Please excuse my ignorance but what does that even mean? The family and variant? Are we supposed to make an engine that falls within those parameters?
What I got out of that is that your car has to be able to fit this engine in it’s bay. The variant information really isn’t necessary. I just built an engine to the family specs and dropped it in my car to make sure it would fit. I didn’t bother downloading the template car. Just make sure it’s a 4-valve DOHC Inline 6 with a 92.5mm bore and an 89.8mm stroke.
Thats what I did as well, thanks for the insight.
Just a warning, it’s not recommended to submit your csc entry with the template engine installed.
Only exception being that you haven’t changed the name of the template engine at all.
This vehicle design can fit 5 passengers comfortably and 3 litre Inline-Six whilst maintaining a sleek and modern shape all around.
Is the badge a d/l or do we have to make it?
If it is a d/l can a link be posted?
It is a download. It’s in Delta’s collection of every mod (the badge is in a modpack of player made badges), so I’d assume you already have it if you have that, which you should. Look in your badge section for a big pack of colorized brand badges, you should see it
