The official AMW thread

[TheTom]

Thank you for the thumbs up! what's so distracting about the headlights? I thought you liked them, based on what you said a few posts back. If you meant to say taillights then i think it might be caused by the little gap between two of the white lights. That's because there is a small area right there which doesn't allow us to put any fixtures there. I didn't find a proper way to compensate that so i just left the gap. The shape of the red lights is supposed to look futuristic and it would look a lot better if there were no chrome outlines (or any outlines, just the red lights like on real world cars).
And what does TL:DR mean?

[SeriousSimon]

Oh, you're right, I meant the taillights. My bad. They are just not symmetrical and I like symmetry.. that's why looking at them makes me uncomfortable.

And TL;DR is an internet term (i had to look it up before too) standing for: too long; didn't read.

[TheTom]

Oh, too long didn't read. Haha, how could i not know that one. Well, i thought it would be a good idea to share the infos because firstly, i prefer having 1 post that one can go to if they want to know the details on all the models of a specific car, rather than having a seperate post for each model (that would also be spamming). And secondly, i always assume that one day, someone will "order" a car and this post was to prevent people from saying "Yo, a few posts back you said the engines didn't change, why are the stats so different from the previous generation?!"

This thread is turning into a dialogue between me and Vroomvroom. I appreciate his feedback and enjoy explaining my point of view, but i would be interested to know what others think about my cars too.

[Pleb]

I'm just lost as to how you create so many completely unique light designs. Surely you must run out of ideas soon?
Some of the lights may not be to my taste, but some look really futuristic and fitting for the kind of car on which the lights are placed. You are doing a great job!

[TheTom]

Thank you I probably won't run out of ideas any time soon because if i can't think of anything new myself, i look for inspiration in real world cars that i like

Do you guys actually know why the official AMW history starts in 2014? It's because some of AMW's designers used to work for an unimportant design house which helped other companies design their cars. They were like Pininfarina, just not as famous.
The thing is though, in 1965, they tried to build a car all on their own. The Ford Mustang had just been launched, and they saw their opportunity to build a big full-size muscle car which they called the Raptor. 45 years later, Ford stole this name to use it for its fastest Pick-up truck.




It was supposed to be the fastest muscle car of its time, so they developed this monster of an engine, a 9.0L V8.



The result was a car that could do the quarter mile in 13.6 seconds and reach over 300km/h. At the same time, it got premium interior and entertainment along with power steering and advanced safety options.



On paper, it was brilliant. The tests in the real world were great too. The only problem is that the government didn't approve. Government said the exterior was fine, but they weren't allowed to put this crazy american engine (by which they meant the V8 layout) into a european road car and that they were only allowed to use a maximum of 6 cylinders.
That was a huge shock for the young designers. The dream popped like a bubble. But they decided to try and make a decent I6 engine instead. Unfortunately, that meant they had to make due with less than half the capacity and power of the original V8 engine.



For this concept version, as it was for the european market, they even used luxurious interior and entertainment. That, along with the smooth I6 engine, made for a pretty comfortable car with okay tameness and better fuel economy than before.



But as you can see, performance suffered massively. So much in fact, that the designers chose not to build it and abandoned their dream of building the fastest muscle car in 1965.


Greets,
Tom

[Jakgoe]

Great look into the past of AMW!

[TheTom]

Thanks Jak!

Now for part two of the story

Of course, the '65 Raptor had drawn attention, mostly because it was displayed at the 1965 Geneva Autoshow. More important than the design award for the best looking full-size car was the attention of a couple of austrian engineers who were currently working for various different american car companies. They liked the car and saw the problem with it, so they decided to try making this car come to life in America instead.

They changed the looks slightly, but kept the original style.



The 9.0L engine was slightly revised and modernised, giving it a bit more power as well as more torque, and the maximum torque was now reached 700RPM earlier than before.



That meant even more acceleration and speed, and it still kept the Premium interior, premium entertainment and advanced safety that it already had before.



It was well recepted by almost everyone on the 1967 Geneva Autoshow, but it had two problems. The first was the price of 12.500$ which was a lot of money for that time, and the second had a name: Dodge Charger.
The Charger had been launched the year before, and despite costing less than half as much, it would beat the Raptor from 0-100km/h as well as over the quarter mile. That was mainly because the Charger was quite a lot lighter.
Production was intended to start in fall 1967, but there were no customers because they went for the Charger instead. So unfortunately, the second (and last) generation of the Raptor failed.


That, on the other hand, had been noticed by the designers who built the first Raptor. So they decided to join the team of engineers who built the second one, and they discussed what kind of car they should do next. Since this was the "golden era" of the Pony Cars, they decided to try and make the fastest pony car this time. So in 1969, they came up with a car named the Stallion which, again, was publicly displayed at the Geneva Autoshow.
The styling was new, yet the front kept the old spirit from the Raptor. There was some more chrome to emphasize this car's luxury ambitions, and it got some new headlights.



The rear was not only fancy and futuristic for 1969, it was also a great advertisement for the clothing brand which had provided the workers' overalls. Adidas
There was also the huge wing that everyone remembered from the Raptor, to show that this was intended to be a seriously fast car.




Somehow, the engineers managed to squeeze a revised version of the 9.0L V8 into the Stallion. It had 3hp more, quite a bit more torque and it had a smoother torque curve thanks to revised cam profile.



As mentioned, this was supposed to be a luxury car. As such, it came with luxury interior and entertainment, as well as power steering and advanced safety options. But of course, the thing that defined this car most of all was the engine. Because this car was almost 200kg lighter than the Raptor, as well as a bit more aerodynamic, it managed to hit 200mph (long before the F40). It was also able to complete the Quarter Mile in 13.1 seconds.



All these stats were really impressive, and car magazines agreed with that. But of course, people complained about the high price (11.000$), the insurance costs and the handling which was (as opposed to all the other pony cars) slightly understeering.
But more importantly, 1969 was a bad year to launch this car because 1969 was also the Dodge Challenger's debut year. The Challenger 426 Hemi was significantly cheaper than the Stallion and despite the smaller and less powerful engine, it would take only 0.1 seconds more to complete the Quarter Mile, compared to the Stallion. That being said, the Stallion was obviously more capable in terms of both luxury and top speed, both of which were not something average people would care about, though. They argued that nobody would ever get close to 200mph top speed on the public roads, and they have a point. But that's not a valid argument against the Stallion because a 426 Hemi isn't really the kind of engine you want for everyday driving either. Then, the question of price came into play again, making the Stallion overly expensive and thus, finally, unappealing.
For the next project, they would have to think of something cheaper.


Greets,
Tom

[TheTom]

In order to have even a slight chance of success, the next car they built did not only have to be cheaper, but also lighter and faster accelerating. And, it had to go into production because people had recognized the austrian team as “the brand that builds great concepts which never make it into production”. It was time to prove people wrong.

In 1970, the ordered Aluminium for the engine finally arrived. The engineers also reduced the stroke of the engine drastically and the engine size went down to 7.3L which is still pretty big. Next, they sharpened the cam profile a bit, threw away the quad carbs to use DCOE instead and increased the rev limit to 5500RPM. The result was an engine that was almost 150kg lighter, waaaay more responsive than before, and only 23hp down on power.


They put this engine into a new version of the Stallion which they called the Stallion QM. QM stands for Quarter Mile.
The looks only changed slightly on this model. There's a bonnet hump and a lip on the front to make it stand out, and the lip made for a bit more downforce as well.


Now, because the engine was so much lighter, that meant the weight distribution would be better than with the 9.0L. Besides that, the QM also came on Semi Slicks and it only had premium interior, standard entertainment and standard safety equipment. It was also limited to 265km/h to maximise acceleration. All that resulted in a car that would not only beat, but annihilate the Dodge Challenger over the Quarter Mile.




Even so, the price went down to 7.000$ which meant the price gap between it and the Challenger was not too big any more. Plus, the 9.0L Stallion would make it into production as well, and it was now called Stallion GT. The name changed because that’s essentially what it was: a luxury cruiser with incredible top speed.
In 1970, about 5.000 Stallion QMs and 350 GTs were sold. In 1971, sales were even slightly better because they had now not only build up a reputation for being fast, but also good build quality. People realized that these cars were really worth their money.


These sales helped the engineers and designers develop a new car. By 1972, the hatchback body style was already well known from cars like the Renault 5, the Peugeot 204 or the Fiat 127. That was the reason for the Austrian team to try their luck on a hatchback which they called the Cheetah. Before the Golf (let alone the GTI) even existed, they would build a car that would set the pace for fast hatchbacks in the future.
For that, they took the 7.3L V8 from the Stallion QM, reduced the bore slightly to make the engine fit into the car, then they lowered the cam profile a bit to make for a nice and flat torque curve. The final engine was a 7.0L with 444hp.


At the Geneva Autoshow in 1972, people thought this car was a joke. Especially when someone started the engine. Nobody could believe that a 7.0L hatchback would ever make it into production.


It did. Again, there were two versions. But to put both of them into production at the same time, they had to make a little bit of a compromise which meant both versions would get the same engine and exterior. The Cheetah GT was the luxurious cruiser, similar to the Stallion GT but the Cheetah GT’s acceleration was faster because of the much lighter engine. It was limited to 280km/h though.


The Cheetah QM was limited to slightly above 250km/h for shorter gear ratios and therefore better acceleration. Also, it came with the same interior parts as the Stallion QM, meaning it would be 70kg lighter than the Cheetah GT. With the added grip from the semi slick tires and the shorter gear ratios, this car completed the quarter mile faster than any road-legal production hatchback in car history, even faster than the 2014 Mercedes A45 AMG which does it in 13.1 seconds. Here are its stats.



The prices were 6.500$ for the QM and 10.000$ for the GT. Only 50 GTs were sold, as well as about 2.000 QMs. Inevitably though, production of both the Stallion and the Cheetah had to stop the next year (1973) because of the global oil crisis. Today, rumour has it that only 20 Cheetah GT’s are still running and that collectors offer enormous amounts of money for them, starting at around 300.000$.


Greets,
Tom

[WizzyThaMan]

Nice story once again, mate! And nice cars too! Definetly fit the era they were made for!

[salen00b]

Now, make the cheetah front wheel drive!

[TheTom]

Thanks Wizzy
@salenoob: FWD cars will be coming a bit later, but in the early 70s it was still something very unusual, especially in America

[TheTom]

The oil crisis had hit car industries like an anvil. But recent sales had helped the austrian crew with developing a new, smaller car model in 1974.
Because they were no longer able to build huge V8s with tons of torque and ridiculous fuel consumption, they would have to think of a new name for the car. Since it was the smallest 2door available, they called it the Caterpillar. As we know, a caterpillar is a small and not-so-exciting animal, but it will evolve into a beautiful butterfly eventually. That's what this car stands for. A new foundation on which to build something great.



The exterior was nothing special because this was no top-of-the-line model. It was mid-range, as far as interior goes. As such, it had 4 seats, premium interior with standard 70s entertainment, power steering, ABS and advanced 70s safety. The engine was a 2.5L I6 with triple-carburettor DCOE, short cast exhaust headers and direct acting OHC. It made 133hp which is not amazing, but it helped the 850kg car accelerate nicely, at least for every day purposes.



One year later, there was a turbocharged version of this engine too. The 174hp made for better acceleration and slightly better fuel consumption as well.



Both of these versions sold really well. Despite not being equipped with all the luxury of previous models, its build quality was still high. The customers were very pleased with it, which is why they gave it the nickname “Cat” because the I6 ran smoothly and purred when you put your right foot down, and also because it was a pretty agile little car.
Because of how popular the “Cat” had become, the Austrian team decided to give it a facelift in 1978.



They also reworked the engines quite significantly. Given the amount of sales, there was easily enough money to justify going for better and more expensive engine parts, such as double overhead cam with 5 valves per cylinder, or mechanical fuel injection. That buffed the NA version up to 176hp and the turbo version even made 200hp. And yet, fuel consumption went slightly down on both models. They now came with premium entertainment too, rather than standard entertainment.




Again, the car sold very well and customers were very satisfied with it. The Austrians were really starting to believe in their chances to build up a great company.


Greets,
Tom

[TheTom]

The historic timeline will be continued in the next post, so stay tuned for that

In the mean time i decided to give the Royal not only a facelift, but also an entirely new engine.

As we all know, not everyone will be able to afford a 500.000€ luxury saloon to begin with. And that's a good thing because of the sense of exclusivity it gives you if you are one of the lucky ones.


Let's begin with the styling. Now, the last Royal was admittedly not a very special looking car. So the headlights have been removed and replaced with something much more detailed and high-quality than before. It uses a new technique in which i take a big rectangular light, place a smaller one inside them, and then surround the smaller one with white indicators which will look like square angel-eyes as a result. I used two of these and some circular LEDs around them. Aside from the headlights, the main grille arrangement has changed too. The lower section has changed quite a lot to provide more cooling which the new engine will need.



On the back, there's basically only rectangular taillights, and the red ones have oval lights inside them as well. There's also a good amount of chrome and some LED braking lights, as well as 4 exhausts.




Now for the engine. If you're too lazy to look it up, that's not a big deal. It used to be a 7.0L I6T with just over 600hp and pretty good fuel economy. Fuel economy is no longer a priority because, as John Lennon said, "All we need is torque". People only misheard when they thought it was "All we need is love"



Again, as this is the top-of-the-line in terms of luxury, this car has luxury interior with 5 seats of the highest possible quality, then also high-quality luxury entertainment and the most advanced safety currently available, as well as all driver aids (except launch control).
That, of course, makes this car heavy. Despite being made from carbon fibre (chassis + panels), it weighs 2264kg. But with an engine like that, 4WD and an 8-speed double-clutch gearbox, this car will slingshot you to your destination. But it will do it in complete silence thanks to the reverse flow mufflers and the complete sound insulation.



The 5km long AMW testing straight takes just under a minute. This car is limited to 350km/h because... well because there has to be an end to this acceleration at some point. It's not a high-end dragster, and even on the german Autobahn, 350km/h is faster than pretty much any car you will encounter (unless someone with a Veyron or a Koenigsegg shows up).


The price is 500.000€ and only 750 will be made. I know i could theoretically add this to the Mille Cavalli Shootout, but firstly i think there are enough luxury rockets already. And secondly, i think the Peregrine deserves its place in that thread much more than the Royal.


Greets,
Tom

[nialloftara]

The Cheetah is the same idea as the 80's dodge omni glh, gotta love the crazy fast sleeper hatch. Though your's goes a bit deeper into the crazy pit than shelby did.

[TheTom]

With the Cat being very successful, in 1980 the Austrians decided to head back to their home country and continue producing cars there. Since most european car makers went with the trend of building FWD hatchbacks, so did they. They made a 3-door FWD hatchback which they called the Cricket.



Of course, they couldn't put a huge engine into this car so they built a 1.4L turbocharged I4 with a good balance between power and fuel economy.




This car was not meant to be luxurious, so it came with 4 seats, standard interior, standard 80's entertainment and premium 80's safety. But it was also a car with quite a few new features, such as traction control and a catalytic converter.



The price was slightly above average because of the new tech. Sales, however, were just enough to break even with the expenses. They had to think of something more attractive which, to most people, meant it had to be cheaper, or better equipped for the same money. The looks, while different from all other companies at the time, were not to everyone's likings, plus the engine was nothing too fancy. People just thought it wasn't worth the money.

Greets,
Tom