Copperhead Road - RPG Luxury

Type: Luxury, Chassis: Xhvy, Suspension: OR-Active, Engine: 450 cid IC engine (Tubular headers, Blueprinting, VP Turbo), 17 Gallon Duelling tank (272 lbs. 2 sp., 8 DP), Tires: 4 OR Solids, Crew: driver (BA, FP suit, PFE); Weaponry: HMG (20/HD) in 1 sp. UM turret, Weighted Accessories: Active suspension, HD shocks, safety seat, brushcutter, spoiler & airdam, 2 armored min-safes, Unweighted Accessories: HRSWC, HD-Antilock brakes, autopilot software, Voice-control software, tinted no paint windshield, radar & detector & jammer, 4 bumper triggers, Dischargers: 7 smoke/oil, Component Armor: 10 pts of FP each for (a) driver (2 sp), (b) engine, (c) gas tank; Vehicle Armor: 170 pts plastic F(35) B(30) (R35) L(35) T(20) U(15); HC 3 (OR 3) +1 over 60 mph, Acc. 20, Top 147.5, Weight: 6600 lbs. Cost: $65,495

• Lower Power Option - 300 cid IC engine (Tub/Blue/VP), replace HMG with a VMG (20/reg) in 2 space UM turret, add rollcage, 2 cans NOX, & 7 pts armor; Acc. 15, Top 110, $58,930


• Lower Power Cargo Hauler - Like low-power but remove mini-safes & 1 Nox & 7 pts armor to make 3 cargo spaces of 130 lbs; 6470 lbs unloaded, $57,990
  
  

Design Notes - I want to start applying the "new" technology of gas engines to my designs. If you recall, I was heavy into Car Wars in 2035-7 and I didn't own many books. So gas engines were exotic and isolated to "Chassis & Crossbow." As such I thought gas motors and metal armor were cheats and/or against the spirit of the game. Only recently, when I acquired the CWC2, did I accept that gas and metal became official and OK. It still feels wrong to the whole back story of the Car Wars world. I'll try to design these cars, but understand that I've never played with gas and I don't have a natural feel for their advantages and dis.

Anyway, I felt that once I'm designing with gas, I'll combine the two best gas cars I know about. The car name comes from the song Copperhead Road by Steve Earle, which is about a Vietnam vet who becomes a modern era (1970s) moonshine smuggler (like his father & grandfather before him). The modern touches are: 1. an application of Viet Cong guerrilla warfare to backwoods driving, 2. instead of moonshine, he's smuggling marijuana.

The second stanza of the song describes his daddy's car:

Now Daddy ran the whiskey in a big block Dodge
Bought it at an auction at the Mason's Lodge
Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side
Just shot a coat of primer then he looked inside
Well him and my uncle tore that engine down
I still remember that rumblin' sound
Well the sheriff came around in the middle of the night
Heard mama cryin', knew something wasn't right
He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load
You could smell the whiskey burnin' down Copperhead Road

But why such a huge engine? Because when Earle describes the Dodge disguised as a cop-car, I thought of the first true Superhero of cars: The Bluesmobile.


The Bluesmobile (according to Wiki) is "a 1974 Dodge Monaco sedan ... a used Mount Prospect, Illinois police car ... equipped with the Magnum 440 squad car package that was offered by Dodge for the Monaco." And to quote Elwood: "It's got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant. It's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas."

The better design is the one with the smaller engine, roll cage, larger gun, and 2 cans of Nitrous. The cargo space in the first two cars is consigned to high-value stuff to be put in the armored safes.