Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 21: Driving Through Time

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 21: Driving Through Time

CSR rounds 49 through to 51 have all been period pieces, but not in the relatively modern eras of the '80s and '90s, which doesn't seem surprising considering that there have been enough rounds set in those decades, especially the more recent ones. So, the hosts of their respective rounds (CSR49-51) decided to step back even further in time than in more recent rounds. Given that there hadn't been many classic-themed CSR rounds of late, it seemed like a welcome change of pace and tone for this long-running series.

First up was CSR49, whose premise revolved around an affordable fun car to be sold in the 1974 model year - right in the middle of the first oil crisis. As such, the production unit and engineering time limits were low, but not to the point of taxing even the best Automationeers. There was, however, no upper limit on price, although fuel consumption and emissions both had to be kept to a minimum, in keeping with the economy-minded focus of the round. This inevitably resulted in the entry list becoming a disparate bunch of vehicles, from compacts to SUVs.

My response, the Kramer K23 Sprint, was very reminiscent of a Ford Capri - a two-door, four-seat, rear-drive coupe with simple underpinnings and a low price. Finished in a period-correct shade of orange, it seemed to look the part. And with a gutsy overhead-cam inline-six, it also had performance to match. Or did it?

This orange isn't quite as sweet as it seems...

Well, not exactly. It was slated for its wayward handling and thus immediately rejected, although its bland side profile and incongruously boxy lights on an otherwise well-proportioned shape didn't help. Equally unfortunate was that many other entries showed promise, only to be quickly discounted - with a dishonorable mention going to the otherwise attractive mid-engined sports coupe with an anemic inline-four under its engine cover. Certainly the client never wanted to buy anything other than an actual passenger car, and as such none of the SUVs and trucks entered in that round warranted a second look.

Nor did anything that provided insufficient performance, economy, comfort, or aesthetics for the client's needs. Ultimately, of the dozens of cars that were entered, only six finalists emerged, and each one balanced all four of those attributes better than the others.

The six finalists of CSR49: proof that the Malaise Era wasn't quite as bad as most people thought it was.

Of these six finalists, the Civera was the first to go - for something so comfortable and attractive, it was also an average performer with mediocre efficiency. The Kestrel was next to be cut; it was faster than the Civera, but too thirsty for the client, and the Comet suffered a similar fate. So that left third place to be claimed by the 2700C - a looker for sure, but still more expensive to run than anticipated. That left the Vindicator and Gladius; while the former was quite efficient (largely because it was front-wheel-drive), the rear-drive, targa-topped Gladius was even more economical and affordable, as well as being more fun to drive, thus giving it the win.

And so, after a trip back in time to the Seventies, it was time to go back even further for CSR50 - specifically, the first half of the 1950s. This time the client was looking for a car made during that era with a set of unique attributes to take on a dream cruise. Again the rule set was very open to interpretation, and being the car enthusiast that I am, I chose to build another two-door, four-seat sports coupe. As part of my plan to give some lore to a brand I had never used it before, I called it the Macale Madeira.

Stylish, innovative and fast - the Macale Madeira in a nutshell.

Unfortunately, the new client found it to be a bit too complicated for his tastes. Its dual-overhead-cam, 24-valve inline-six - a very advanced engine configuration for its time, and one that would not become commonplace for a few decades - was less reliable than anticipated, and the whole car was quite expensive too, especially since it had plenty of standard equipment for a car more than 60 years old. So he reluctantly passed it up, and continued his search for something that would suit him more.

One by one he reviewed the remaining cars, just as he had promised earlier. Some of them were, like the Madeira, unnecessarily complicated just for the sake of it, and would thus also be discounted - this was also true of any entries that didn't stand out from the crowd enough for his liking, or simply weren't fast enough. Others, thanks to the "uniqueness factor", would remain in the running for the time being. And so, once again, I waited with bated breath for the final results.

When they finally came I was pleasantly surprised. None of the dozens of sports cars featured in this round were shortlisted as finalists. Instead, the top three consisted of a much more diverse collection of vehicles. The Land Roamer Touring, a boxy off-roader, came in third place, behind the Znopresk Z1753. But even this stylish front-drive sedan was pipped to the post by the Canada Motors Yukon Luxoliner. This large, practical van had a 4x4 drivetrain for better capabilities over rough terrain, and as such would have been a great daily driver for those who did have an actual sports car for weekend drives. The jaw-dropping, chrome-laden styling was just icing on the cake. Whether or not it was pure coincidence that the round after this one involved building modern off-road passenger vans is still up for debate, though.

The finalists of CSR50: Uniqueness Above All. From top to bottom: Land Roamer Touring, Znopresk Z1753 and Canada Motors Yukon Luxoliner.

After the dust settled from the judging process, the next round's rule set came up very quickly. This time the client was looking for a muscle car - preferably with a big engine, lots of power and enough torque to do big, smoky burnouts - but most importantly it had to look good as well as be fast. Once again, I wasted no time building my entry, and to tie in with a later incarnation I had made for a previous round, it was called the Arrowhead GTX.

The Arrowhead GTX: Blending Brute Force with Refinement

Over the next week the entries kept piling in, and inevitably it was time to deliver a verdict on each one. Before the results were confirmed, though, any cars which did not follow the naming scheme strictly were immediately disqualified. As for the cars that weren't, anything that was too undrivable, uncomfortable, unreliable, impractical and/or unnecessarily complex was discounted right off the bat, and sadly my Arrowhead was among them. And as time went on, more cars also fell by the wayside, leaving just eight finalists. It is worth noting that the entry list contained three 4x4 trucks, but considering that the client wanted an actual muscle car, none of the off-roaders made the cut.

And what about the eight finalists still in the running? To be honest, determining a winner from this lot was the toughest part of the round. Or so it seemed, until the client applied the same formula for making the shortlist to the process of determining a winner. Once again, cars with insufficient performance, drivability, comfort or mechanical simplicity would have to be eliminated.

The finalists of CSR51 - can you spot the winner of that round? (Hint: it's the purple one)

After a while, three of the finalists remained in contention - the stripy, big, boxy and bright blue Boyd Solaris GP, the even stripier and mostly black NCC Zephyr, and the deep purple Contender +P. The latter fit the client's needs the most, and was thus chosen as the winner. It was an unsurprising decision, given that the Contender was more comfortable than the Solaris, and harder-edged than the Zephyr. And with that, CSR's trip back through time came to an end in a cloud of tire smoke.