Go play Dino Rex right now, I promise you that it's a very fun game that won't make your ears bleed or make you throw your controller at the screen in rage or scream or bawl your eyes out or suffer internally and externally or suffer RSI from doing constant quarter circle forwards or
It’s 2004, and there’s a bit of a retro revival going on. At the ABC’s offices they’re getting into the thick of it, with a new series of Doctor Who coming among other classics, and they want in on the whole action.
The idea is to make a 70’s cop show style drama, in the vein of the classics from the UK (think The Sweeney, The Professionals, etc) with a certain Australian flair, and of course a cool and iconic car is needed for it. Being a retro revival, it should go without saying that there’s something retro about the car too.
The twist, though, is that the protagonist is a rookie detective who looks up to his superintendent a bit too much, to the point of buying the same car as him once he becomes a detective. The superintendent, though, ends up being revealed as a crooked cop and quickly becomes the antagonist of the series, with the shared car between the two characters who are completely at odds being a key theme of the show.
TL;DR Summary
The ABC's making a retro style cop show in 2005, and they want a cool and iconic car to be the star of it, while also playing into the retro revival that's going on.
Rules
Trim and variant 2000-2005, older cars just aren’t as cool.
Sedans, coupes, and convertibles only, SUVs and the like just aren’t cool enough for this.
$40-45,000 limit (relatively soft, but that range preferred)
120ET trim limit.
Techpool limit of 20. Maximum in any one area of +4.
Up to 98 RON Unleaded fuel allowed.
No race parts allowed (race intakes/headers, semi slicks, etc)
Submissions
Send one car to me in a forum PM (although feel free to make both a hero and a villain car for your post if you want to)
Model and Family names: TMCC23 - [your username]
Trim and Variant names: [free]
Priorities
Coolness – Think The Interceptors from Top Gear, these cars are an integral part of the show, and need to be cool. Lore will help here, but is not necessary. (I realise this is a pretty subjective priority, so I’ll give examples of cars that I think are cool that may not necessarily be proper inspirations, but there’s nothing stopping you from making something you think is cool.)
Retro-ness – These can’t just be a cool car picked at random, there needs to be something retro about them to tie into the show. Could be anywhere from a retro nameplate to a full retro styled car.
Engineering realism – I’m no expert at engineering, but try to keep it reasonably realistic. I still know the broad strokes of what to look out for :^)
Performance – Goes without saying, a cop car needs to be able to catch crooks!
Comfort – Actors will be spending long days doing takes in these cars, so they can’t be too uncomfortable.
Cost – TV shows are expensive, and cars this sort of price won’t really dent the budget, but the ABC is a public broadcaster, cheaper will be favourable.
Noise – While engine sounds will be edited in, too loud a car will cause issues on set.
Inspirations
(Not all of these cars will be direct inspirations, but they'll give you an idea of what I want both style and coolness-wise.)
Rules will be up for discussion for a couple of days, and submissions will open on the 5th of December, 00:00 GMT, and will close 3 and a half weeks later, on the 29th of December, 23:59 GMT
Changelog
No I didn’t forget to include submission rules when I posted this what do you mean?
Added fuel requirements, race parts ban, and some clarifications.
12 days after I said I’d take a couple of days, here it is
Apologies for taking so long, almost had it up on the weekend after life happened then I managed to get sick! Will likely add more inspirations later, as there’s not a ton rn but I’m also still a bit sick and waning fast.
I am not sure that I agree there. I think that considering the price range of the cars, the ET is maybe set a bit lean. At this techpool I first built a car that was around 40K, but it exceeded trim ET by a fair margin. Now I have been removing as much stuff as I feel comfortable with (lore wise, that is), car is down to 30K (and being too much below budget is rarely a good thing in challenges) but ET still a bit too high.
My test mules came in at under 100, but they were based off Australian cars so they weren’t exactly super high tech so I could always give it a bit of a bump.
I think a game update may have done something to car prices since you posted the challenge. I started building a tester that fit right into the budget. Then I changed the rear suspension and it dropped to $38,000. I went to work on it the next day and it was down to $33,000. I don’t think any of your inspiration cars would hit $40k if they were built in Automation. I guess it all depends on what kind of cars you’re looking for, I’ll make mine fit either way.
Go play Dino Rex right now, I promise you that it's a very fun game that won't make your ears bleed or make you throw your controller at the screen in rage or scream or bawl your eyes out or suffer internally and externally or suffer RSI from doing constant quarter circle forwards or
Submissions open!
Rules seem to be hashed out and I managed to forget the date I’d written so it’s fair game for submissions as of ~14 hours ago!
Turning heads with a Flat-Plane V8 which is commonly found in a lot of shed built supercars, built in Australia, filled with Australian blood, and hey, the nameplate has been around since the late 90s.
As a native Australian automaker, Durendal is proud to submit the 2005 Nighthawk for consideration. Our car shares it’s architecture with the American Armor Hurricane ponycar, but adds refinement with an upgraded independent rear suspension and components. A 4.4 liter V8 provides more than enough power to run down criminals, and all of this is sold for only $37,900.
