Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 253: Of Warriors and Warlords

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 253: Of Warriors and Warlords

Reimagining the Wolfram Warrior and Warlord in 1984 for the sixth iteration of the Automation (or should that be Aragan?) Legacy Challenge wasn't the work of an afternoon - but I made it look like it did by repurposing some of my preexisting designs. By taking my earlier WM Warrior and revamping it to align with the Wolfram brand philosophy, I ensured that I could create two trims of it: the GT (with 275 horsepower and a premium interior) and the GTS (with 300 horsepower and a sports interior, plus forged wheels and wider tires, in addition to a hood-mounted scoop fixture, a taller rear wing, and dual exhaust tips on each side in place of single items). Positioned further above the two was the Warlord, whose mid-mounted 48-valve V12 displaced six liters and cranked out 550 horsepower - good for 218 mph (almost 40 more than the Warrior GTS) thanks to a ground-effect undertray. Having a luxury interior helped justify its upmarket positioning even further, which was justified considering its whopping $80,000 AMU base price (nearly three times as much as a base model Warrior).

Above, from top: While the 1984 Wolfram Warrior GT (red) and its track-focused GTS sibling (yellow) were great sports cars in their own right, thanks to a high-displacement V8, neither of them had the true supercar status and presence of the larger, mid-mounted V12-powered Warlord (black).

All in all, this sports car and supercar blitz, despite being a necessary evil to compensate for the fact that their earlier iterations were based on deprecated or less desirable bodies, was an enjoyable experience for me, as it tied into the company's later history more easily.