Author’s note: All cars featured in this thread have .car files available upon request. DM me if you’d like the .car to any Zayders. Additionally, a minor oversight has resulted in the Trek 1R being named the Trek.R in the BeamNG file.
1969: Triple Play
Trek 1R
Hot off the heels of the Duty’s demise, Zayder came out swinging to show that they would not let a commercial failure bring them to their knees. Their first order of business was to announce that the Trek would finally be receiving the performance upgrade the fans had been asking for over the past three years.
Dubbed the Trek 1R, the new “hot” version of the SUV brought the updated 3ZE-B.1R engine, bumping the power up to 305 HP and the torque up to 377 ft-lbs. It also brought a newer suspension build, a roof rack, twin exhausts, chrome bumper delete and arguably more importantly - a factory-standard tow-hook.
These updates propelled the Trek 1R from its already strong position in the market to being the dominant offroader of the era - as well as being the most powerful and fastest UV/SUV of the late 1960s. It was also lighter and held slightly more cargo than its predecessor, resulting in an incredible 7.7 second sprint to 60 and a top speed of 134 MPH.
Unfortunately, it only averaged 10.7 MPG when driven gently. To many in the Trek community, this wasn’t a significant downside and about 40,000 units were sold in 1969 alone.
BeamNG:
Zayder Australian Special
During the spring of 1969, Zayder announced plans to enter the Australian market with an exclusive limited-production ute - the Australian Special, informally known as the AS.
Sporting a high-revving variant of the 2ZE inline 6 churning out 238 HP, this 4WD ute tipped the scales at a relatively mild 3336 lbs. It was simple, rugged and certainly no slouch at the lights. It didn’t perform remotely as well as the Trek 1R released earlier in the year, but it was never intended to be a full performance model. The run of 1000 sold out over the next two years, and the car was met with somewhat positive praise. It just didn’t fare well in a market where domestic models had already taken a stronghold.
It was, however, successful enough for Zayder to enter the Australian market and paved the way for future success outside of America.
BeamNG:
Zayder Super - Spec II (Lavelle Studios)
(AN: A heartfelt thank you to @titleguy1 for the design work on this vehicle)
In Q3 of 1969, Zayder sent out a press release announcing a revival of the shuttered Super project, promising a “race car for the road”.
The Super Spec II underwent extensive design and engineering work in order to make it compliant with road use. During the process, Zayder outsourced the design to avant-garde designer Lavelle Studios after being impressed by LS’ design portfolio. The end result is a featherlight, 210 HP supercar that straddled the line between road car and race car. The car was indeed straddling the line - a few adjustments and part swaps would convert the vehicle from road to race version and vice versa.
Zayder announced a few weeks after initial press release that there would only be 10 units produced, and all ten had been reserved by the end of the month following the announcement.
The Spec II sports an up-tuned variant of the inline 4 that was in the original race prototype, updated with newer materials and tweaks to ensure consistent reliability in both road and competitive conditions. The gearbox was updated and the aerodynamic properties of the car was tweaked to maintain the downforce the car needed on the track.
Of the 10 Spec.II Zayders sold, three raced to modest success. The rest spent their time in garages or in everyday road use.
BeamNG:
