Hello forum peeps, I am quite new here - although I have posted a few mods - and I have started a project involving facelifting the Burnside Special, using elements from cars of that era mainly focused on the Buick 8 / Roadmaster. Take a look : Apart from the Buick grille, I made up my own as an option too. Currently it only has body panel changes, and has very little parts. It is also undecided whether it will be a different model of the Special, a new car altogether, or just parts with no lore. It doesn't even have a name. If you like this car, I highly suggest reading "From A Buick 8" by Stephen King. You'll be surprised at how King has paid attention to all the lovely details of the car. That aside, if y'all got some ideas, suggestions (especially lore), or questions, don't be afraid to tell me. EDIT : MAJOR UPDATE It is now a Gavril, part of its upmarketing solution using Burnside parts. Name will prolly be Gavril Series 8 400, for example. Fortunately skins work on this thing. As it is a separate car now, I can go absolutely bonkers with the configs! Hurrah! EDIT 2 : Pics as of 8th June (lots of configs! 50 and some so far... 15 engines to choose from)
it looks quite good, you could make it be the lower end gavril version of the burnside, mabye with some i6s
The Burnside is a mid-level brand, so there should be a lower end version (gavril) and a top model (ultra luxury brand). If we look at it with a Chrysler corporation slant (6) (see what i did there?) the "Brand Building" looks like this: bottom plymouth, top imperial (the burnside compares to a desoto). If we look at it on a GM slant the building looks like this: bottom Chevrolet, top Cadillac. The burnside sits at the Oldsmobile level. so the author could take it in differnt directions: very low-end version (the beautiful jet-age styling of the ot doesn't make sense from a lore stand point). A higher-end version, like a Buick or a Chrysler, which makes a lot more sense lore wise. I know i kinda contradicted my other post but i gave it a little more thought. This is my stand. if you want we could talk about comparing it to the incredible stupidity of the Clipper brand for Packard but i don't want to make a post as long the script of a 3DS imported japanese RPG edit: i confused some gm brands, fixed now
DeSoto sat above Dodge, not below it. The Pontiac competitor was Dodge, not DeSoto, which fought against Oldsmobile.
Well, back in these days there was a wide gap between the low-price makes like Chevy or Plymouth and the higher-priced Oldsmobile/DeSoto crowd, both in wheelbase and in using (or not using) OHV V8s. It would make more sense to make it an in-between version, given that Pontiac was using the B-Body until 1951. Or a Chrysler/Buick-like version, as both brands shared their cheaper counterparts' bodies.
What !?, now hang on a minute... WHAT !?, Buick and Chrysler most certainly did not share bodies with each other !
Mind that in the 50s some brands had brand specific engines: cadillac had inly cadillac engines. Considering that the Burnside has the name of the brand written on the valve covers it would suggest that is is a brand specific engine. Mabye try an inline 8 engine for the gavril (like Buick or Packard in the early 50s)
Rubbish, they two completely different companys owned by also two different companys, imagine that an Olds body with Desoto trims, engines and fascias. I wanna see proof
But I have some scenarios in which the Beamverse would be divergent from reality to justify a Beam version of a Chevy B-Body in 1953: - Gavril's parent company decided to be faster than real-life GM or Chrysler in bringing brands closer together, and just had the bodies shared a few years earlier. (Although I'm not sure how realistic that would be, because it would likely make Gavrils more expensive than the competitors.) - The corporation had no brand between Gavril and Burnside, so they decided to sell higher-priced Gavril models (and maybe also cheaper, smaller Burnsides) to close the gap. - The corporation pulled a reverse of Mopar's lower-priced Dodge line of the late 50s, and decided to make fancier Gavrils to appeal to a wider range of buyers. - Gavril wasn't a low-price make, and was simply brought downwards over the years, like Dodge with the Dart range and subsequent relatively cheap cars. --- Post updated --- Pontiac sets a precedent in that, as they had their own straight eight (and IIRC it sold better than the six).
A straight 8 engine! That would be exciting! Definitely on the to-do list. I also think the scenario of Gavril using a body from Burnside's lineup to have a higher-range model sounds nice and realistic to me.
'53 was the comeback of GM (motorama and all that stuff). having a new body but with a late 40s reverse-flow head inline engine (6 or 8) would be quite fitting. This is quite plausible: look at Chrysler, in the 50s it was a luxury car (Imperial was, like Cadillac, an ultra luxury car) and look at the in the 90s...
Pontiac sets a precedent in that A reverse Dodge, or a Ford-branded Edsel of sorts? --- Post updated --- As for the straight-eight, maybe Gavril parent corporation was having a bad period, like Chrysler in that era, and didn't have the money to make a V8, but just added two cylinders to their six?