Trafikjournalen: Cars that influenced Swedish car culture (The end!)

[AndiD]

1995 Mara Kavaler 2.3i Prakty

The early 1990s were a busy time for Mara. The fall of the Closed Curtain and the opening of world markets to Archana and vice-versa required them to play catch up to contemporary car technology very quickly if they wanted to stay in business In the long term, especially beyond the ADM (Archanan Domestic Market).

First, the stalwart Irena got a quick facelift to meet tightened emissions regulations in international markets. Mara also concurrently developed successors (the Zvezda - ‘star’ - as the new mainstream compact entry) and replacements (for the larger Kavaler) for their existing products. The Zvezda debuted in 1993 and its revenue helped Mara complete the more ambitious Kavaler Mk2 project in 1995 which incorporated a number of advanced technologies such as ABS or a computer-controlled automatic gearbox.

The Mk2 Kavaler: plenty of car (and space), but quite a subdued appearance

Due to the popularity of the Irena wagon in Archana, the second generation Kavaler was also available in a wagon variant (‘Prakty’), positioned as a more premium counterpart to the no-frills Zvezda wagon (and at more than twice the price of the also still produced Irena wagon).

The base Kavalers were powered by an enlarged 2.3l variant of the Zvezda’s all-new Progress I4 2.0l engine. Initially, the 2nd gen Kavalers were regarded by many Archanans as an aspirational domestic product, as it was one of the few larger cars on the market that was realistically affordable to them with a bit of a stretch.

A higher-spec variant - often driven by lower ranking Archanan state officials in the 1990s - was also available with the Blyz (‘twin’) Progress V8 4.0 engine. This V8 essentially consisted of two Progress I4 blocks mated together but was tuned more for manners than for outright performance (at least until Mara’s newly formed performance division AMM - not to be confused with the renowned Swedish car manufacturer - got their hands on it). The V8 variants, however, were out of reach for most Archanans in the 1990s and were thus quite rare.

It is said that the 2nd gen Kavaler wagon helped many newly well-off Archanans discover their fondness for caravanning with their ‘mobile dacha’

In export markets, the base Kavalers was often sold at a further discounted price due to a lack of brand image, whereas the V8 Kavalers were essentially limited to the ADM for the same reason.

[Knugcab]

The last part, the one below the picture of the purple 500 and black 400, is something I don’t really like, and I would be happy if you removed it. That part of the history is something participants is not supposed to write since it feels like an attempt to influence the results. I hope you understand, thanks.

[conan]

I’d think it didn’t matter all that much to the result because not only that I’ve already made a reference to this matter in Round 3, it was also something that did not really influence sales but more like rumour or diss people said after the car is unveil so you don’t really have to taken into account, or, just mention it like Round 3. But that’s okay I’ve removed it.

[cake_ape]

Mons Customs

Introducing the

Mons Albatros II

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Mons Customs you say??

Yep, Mons Customs. Following a few decades of success in both the mass-produced consumer market (Mons Automotive) and racing circuit (Mons Racing), Mons was ready to expand in the early 90s. A prospective growth area was in the custom-built luxury market targeted at the ever growing list of multi-millionaires and multi-billionaires of the world. We’re talking the Waltons, the Gates, and of course the Rausing brothers… but everyone who could afford the utmost luxury was welcome. Not that Mons endorses income inequality and wealth hoarding, but are also not above making a profit off of it. Mons Customs follows Cadillac’s modus operandi of the 30s: custom built cars individually tailored to each customer’s needs and wants. As such, no two Mons Customs cars are alike. This kind of unique build does not come cheap of course, but for the elite only the best will do!

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Presented here is just one example of what a Mons Albatros II could look like. Each one was built tailor made to the customer, and no two are alike. If you are seen driving one of these (or rather, you’re probably being driven), then you know that you are the only person on the planet in your unique Mons Albatros II. The specs of the example car are:

It provided blistering road performance (e.g. 5.1s 0-100!), while pampering the occupants in utmost luxury and safety. The interior has all of the latest of luxury amenities, all surfaces covered in the most plush and opulent materials, and everything carefully hand built by the best craftspeople Canada has to offer. In the rear you can even follow your investments in real-time on the built-in centre screen! All of this can be yours for the price of $75,000 - which includes start-to-finish personalized communication regarding the custom design criteria, regular status updates on the build progress, and final delivery to your doorstep.

Lots of eye candy!

[Restomod]

@Knugcab

Two outside mirrors required

awww, my shity econobox needs TWO now?

[interior]

Alright, game on, i’m gonna rival you with it /s

[Edsel]

@Knugcab

Turn signals required front and rear, as well as at least one side mounted turn signal.

If a front or rear signal is visible from the side, does this satisfy the side-mounted requirement? Or is yet a 3rd side-signal required regardless?

[Knugcab]

The extra side mounted signal is required no matter what.

[abg7]

1995 KAI K3 RS-T

Built as a homologation special for Group A rallying, the K3 RS-T was the company’s first transverse-engined AWD car. Utilizing a development of the K180/K200’s turbocharged inline-four, now developing 250 horsepower thanks to variable valve timing, it also received a six-speed manual gearbox, high-performance tires and a mechanical LSD to make optimal use of all that power. Dual-wishbone front and multilink rear suspension gave it the kind of handling and grip normally reserved for more expensive machinery, especially with a kerb weight of just 1280 kg. Speaking of price, at $30,000 AMU it was one of KAI’s more expensive offerings during the 1990s, but considering its 0-60 mph time of 5.8 seconds, a top speed of over 150 mph, and a 62-0 mph braking distance of 34.4 metres, anyone who bought this car got plenty of performance for their money.

As time went on, KAI would develop more powerful and harder-edged versions of the K3 RS-T, based on the sound underpinnings of the original design, but even so, the original 1995 version is still a formidable performer.

[Elizipeazie]

lol the unintentional leftover of the USDM side markers actually preserved the compliance with swedish DOT regulations then xD

[cake_ape]

Whoa, you basically replicated the GT-X mechanically, but 10 years later.

[interior]

MY1995 Schnell L50 Catalyser
Schnell was forced to be independent after their parent company, an oil and gas company “Rosetti’s Oil and Gas LTD” in 1990 after the parent company went bankrupt, Chapter 7. Investors and hedge funds bought shares of Schnell, but the largest shareholder was Hakumai, and that went onto a joint venture in 1995, and a full-on ownership in 2000.
The L50 was introduced, replacing the LX-6 Series in 1995 after years of research and development of their next-generation car. (EUDM Catalyser trim level shown)

Lore about the L50 itself

The L50 was designed as an global vehicle. It took 10 years to bring it to the market, whilst most of that time was spent in designing, prototypes and testing of pre-production examples and various test mules disguised as an LX-6 to think its just an next-generation LX-6. It featured partial aluminum panels and a Galvanised steel chassis, It also had an LSi trim, but the N50 LSi was a better seller. Like its economical competitors it handled well, had the sporty-style look like its competitors but in a base model suit. It had a kerb weight of 1134KG due to how barebones it was and sold for 19,600AMU and a stop distance of 37.1M and a top speed of 127MPH, It was an affordable model for those who just wanted a car with decent performance.

Pictures

[cake_ape]

I thought you’re going to bring a rival for the Albatros II, but I’m left a little confused after you brought a budget coupe with an I4 to the V12 luxury sedan arena?

[interior]

I was joking tbh, I was gonna submit an actual V12 Car but most of the design language at the time for my brand was the same and wouldn’t work for a prestige level car, uh atleast you can bring a heated pad into the budget coupe?

[abg7]

The difference is that whereas the GTX was inspired by Group B (a category that was abolished at the end of 1986), the '95 K3 RS-T was built for Group A homologation instead. The K3 RS-T, however, is front-engined, not mid-engined, and retains the rear seats present in lesser variants, making it a more practical proposition overall. And yes, it comes in multiple colors, including the bright yellow shown in the screenshot above.

[Tez]

1990 F&S Seax GTS (SP90)

Yeah yeah, I know. You wanted me to talk about the MKIV Rattler. Now that was a fine machine; V10, single turbo, 200mph plus. But no, I think this is a little more interesting…

See, the Seax was built for one thing - dominance in BTCC. Group C was doomed with the interference from Bernie Ecclestone so out went endurance racing and F&S threw down in Super Touring. And what a time to be racing tin tops. Ask anyone and they all remember with strong fondness the mid 90’s touring cars.

It was also our second vehicle for the US market, but that story has already been told. Despite running on hotter fuel the power output was nearly identical due to the noise restrictions relying on extra mufflers.

We were convinced we’d perform at the track and in the showrooms and we had the compact sports sedan market nearly to ourselves in the US. But this was the frontier of central Europe - pretty much all the big players had one. And barely a decade ago we were a shed operation and we were going through a strange period of identity crisis. Were we a bespoke British sports car manufacturer or a mass production OEM? All I will say is we couldn’t decide in time for the launch of the Seax.

[Edsel]

With Cade now being a private company, its story no longer remains directly tied to that of Spain’s larger politics; and considering that the Spain of this era has just about become the Spain of today, these forewords I’ve been adding at the beginning of every post are no longer nessecary.

El Cade 1400 “Cacao” (1986)

Lore Here

5 years ago, a set of new designers at Cade made a car that was very strange and stylized, and marketed it with material that was was ugly, confusing, and sometimes bordering on obscene even by the very-liberal standards of the day. This move completely alienated Cade’s already-limited customer base, and only really appealed to people exactly like the designers; as it turned out, these designers were some very unique people.

Now, nearly out of money and with no customer base, the people of Cade got together to figure out what on earth they could do to survive (or if they even could at all). After some panic, they looked back at Cade’s history and realized that, prior to their arrival, Cade had always made the same type of car; the cheapest car possible. Never as good as its competitors, but always cheaper and reliable. None of these youngsters wanted to build this kind of car, but they had already run out of options; the econobox was their only hope.

But fortunately, these young designers were still very bright people, and their failure of a sorts car hadn’t been for completely nothing. They were able to recycle some technologies; most notably, the old I4 engine design, complete with the modern fuel-injection technology, could be transplanted straight in with only some re-tuning; primarily by shrinking its size to 1.4L. While they eventually planned to add an even smaller 3-cylinder option, the I4 helped carry the team to a quicker launch date.

They were also able to appropriate the 5-speed manual from the sports car, with adjustments almost exclusively to the gear ratio, and their brake tuning came from the same research they’d done last time. That’s not to say this econobox was remotely sporty, with its thin economy tires and 10+ second 0-60; just that they were able to put some some nicer technologies in the car without as much of a jump in engineering time.

And the time that this recycling saved allowed for greater attention to detail elsewhere; While the designers still had to hurry to make the chassis and body design as basic and easy-to-manufacture as possible, they were afforded a bit of extra time to think about things like weight and safety. They had time to add additional cooling vents, and to figure out how to install a catalytic converter without sacrificing too much power from the engine. Most of all, they focused a lot of time on the interior, as although they made it very stripped-down feature-wise to keep the car cheap, they didn’t want the interior to feel cheap.

Throughout its production run, several “special editions” of the car were made, which commemorated a variety of different themes; culture groups, autonomies, sports teams, and more. Shown above is the “Euskadi” edition, and in the below photograph, the most common “España” special edition.

The resulting 1400 was, on the surface, exactly what Cade had been known for for decades; a bottom-barrel budget city car. But underneath, the car was no longer the backwards, lazily-made failure from years past; it displayed care, and attention to detail, with modern technologies and almost a sense of forward-thinkingness (minus its boxy visual design). Some elements did feel rushed, but improvements to quality and rust protection followed over the first few years of production that helped iron out the wrinkles

Advertisements (very sedate this time) often compared the 1400 to a piece of chocolate, calling it variations of a “simple, lovable little delight.” This earned it the nickname “Cacao” among those who liked it, a nickname Cade itself eventually informally adopted. Unfortunately, this also opened up an opportunity for those who didn’t like it to call it the “Caca” (literally, “poo poo” in Spanish); but outside of elementary schools this joke didn’t end up catching on in Spain, as the car wasn’t as ridiculously far behind everything else on the market as its predecessors had been. Some people liked it, some people didn’t, but to most people, the Cacao was just a car.

Next weekend, we’ll find out how this little car’s exports fared in northern Europe.

[Knugcab]

And, by the way. I have now decided that the next round will be the last. I am starting to lose the inspiration to do this and I feel that rather end this while I still can do good writeups than making one more, uninspiring, half-assed round.

[Maverick74]

1992 Moravia Gabriela DL 1.7

The late 80’s and early 90’s saw major change in Czechoslovakia, and indeed much of eastern Europe as well. The Velvet Revolution and the fall of communist rule meant the Czechs were no longer under Soviet occupation. This change allowed Moravia to release their first all new car design in over twenty years: The Gabriela.

Development had been done in secrecy for a number of years, it was to be the replacement for the ancient Jestrab line. Available only as a five door hatchback (though often mistaken for a sedan due to it’s design), the Gabriela featured a modern front wheel drive chassis with independent suspension, four wheel disc brakes, a reasonable amount of safety features, even power steering.

However, the Gabriela couldn’t really claim to be all new. Powertrain options were largely carry over from past Moravias, although updated. That meant inline fours for lower models and the inline five for the upper trims. Now displacing 1.7 liters, the DOHC five made use of multipoint fuel injection and variable valve timing for increased performance. Making 91.5 horsepower at 6000rpm and 98 pound feet of torque at 3100, a five speed equipped Gabriela can hit 100kph in under 12 seconds while returning 32mpg.

Moravia is hoping that the Gabriela’s contemporary styling and reasonable $17,100AMU price tag will allow the company to strive forward into this new era.

[interior]

I hope this isn’t a competition of budget cars after I submitted mine