原標題：Rags To Riches: How A Dusty Mercedes 190 E Became The Latest NFS Hero?Car

原作者：Mark Riccioni

When a video game franchise decides to build its next in-game hero car in the real world, you’d assume this process would take many months, many meetings, and many buzzwords that in no way relate to car culture or gaming.

當一家視頻游戲特許經營商決定在現(xiàn)實世界中打造其下一輛游戲中的英雄汽車時，您可能會認為這個過程需要花費數(shù)月時間、召開許多會議以及使用許多與汽車文化或游戲毫無關系的流行語。

But this isn’t Need for Speed’s first rodeo. And when you gather a team of die-hard automotive enthusiasts together – including people from EA Games and Speedhunters – the end result isn’t always dictated by brand perception or OEM objectives. No, its main purpose is incredibly simple: to inspire gamers and car fans all around the world.

但這不是極品飛車第一次做這種事。當您將一群頑固的汽車愛好者聚集在一起時——包括來自 EA Games 和 Speedhunters 的人——最終結果往往并不總是由品牌認知或 OEM 目標決定。實際上，它的主要目的非常簡單：激勵全世界的游戲玩家和車迷。

Throw it all into a melting pot and this is the result – the Need for Speed: Unbound Mercedes-Benz 190 E. That’s a bit of a mouthful, but trust us, it’s absolutely worth it. Lurking under that wild exterior isn’t some clapped-out auto with stratospheric mileage; it’s a genuine 2.3-litre ‘Cosworth’ with a 5-speed manual.

上述競爭中把各方的意見全部扔進一個大熔爐，產物就是 – 極品飛車：不羈的梅賽德斯-奔馳 190 E。這有點令人費解，但請相信我們，這臺車絕對對得起這個名號。在那狂野的外表下潛伏著的不是一輛擁有高里程的破舊汽車；而是一款貨真價實的 2.3 升“Cosworth”，配備 5 速手動變速箱。

Before the purist rage starts boiling over, this was a car previously destined for a life of gathering dust right up until Speedhunters’ own Ben Chandler set eyes on it back in 2018, long before the latest Need for Speed game was even a concept.

之所以這款車并沒有如此聲名大振（比起那臺M3 GTR而言），是因為某種角度而言，在純粹主義者的憤怒開始沸騰之前，這輛汽車之前注定要終生塵封，直到 2018 年 Speedhunters 的本·錢德勒 (Ben Chandler) 才再次關注了它，而那時最新的《極品飛車》游戲概念甚至還沒有被提出。

Ben, who often has the willpower of a hungry child in the Reese’s factory, struck a deal for the car in his head well before its previous owner had even contemplated selling it.

在 Reese 的工廠里，Ben 被譽為“擁有饑餓的孩子般的意志力”，以至于在前任車主甚至還沒有考慮出售這輛車之前，就已經在腦海中達成了一筆交易。

Before we get into the how and why, first we need to give you a rundown on the who and what. This isn’t your bottom-of-the-barrel 190 E after all; it’s legit in every sense of the word.

在我們討論Ben為什么要造這樣一臺車，以及他是如何做到的之前，首先我們需要簡要介紹一下Ben和這臺奔馳。畢竟，這不只是一件夸張的藝術品；它在任何意義上都是合法并且可以上路的。

The aero? That’s inspiration taken straight from the 190 E 2.5-16 Evo II. Those wheels? Three-piece billet Dromo items from Livery Wheels with bespoke Dlng Designs turbofans. The interior hasn’t been spared of modification either, now featuring a pair of Recaro?seats, Hedgehog Tuning lightweight door cards and a 6-point roll cage. And yes, Hedgehog Tuning is a real name.

空氣動力學？這是直接從 190 E 2.5-16 Evo II 中汲取的靈感。那些輪子？來自 Livery Wheels 的三件式方坯 Dromo 物品，帶有定制的 Dlng Designs 渦輪風扇。內飾也不例外：現(xiàn)在配備了一對 Recaro 座椅、Hedgehog Tuning 輕型車門卡和一個 6 點式防滾架。是的，Hedgehog Tuning 是一個真實存在的名字。

Hip hop and car culture have long been intertwined with the style, attitude and wealth of artists elevated by the?vehicles they drive. Rocky is no exception to this, and in the world of hip hop there’s one car brand which remains more referenced than any other in history: Mercedes-Benz.

長期以來，嘻哈和汽車文化一直與藝術家的風格、態(tài)度和財富交織在一起，這些藝術家因所駕駛的車輛而得到提升。Rocky 也不例外。在嘻哈世界中，恰恰有一個汽車品牌在歷史上比任何其他品牌都更受關注——梅賽德斯 - 奔馳。

As the main protagonist in Need for Speed: Unbound,?it only seemed right to get Rocky’s input while designing (and building) the 190 E Benz he drives in the game. Especially when you?learn that?Rocky collaborated with Mercedes on his AWGE capsule collection earlier this year.

作為《極品飛車：無界》的主角，在設計（和建造）他在游戲中駕駛的 190 E Benz 時聽取 Rocky 的意見似乎是正確的。尤其是當你了解到 Rocky 今年早些時候與 Mercedes 合作推出了他的 AWGE 膠囊系列時。

So while the physical building and parts selection would be taken care of by Speedhunters’ technical editor Ryan Stewart, it was Rocky – along with EA and Criterion Games Vehicle Art Director (and the car’s designer) Bryn Alban – who created the outrageous style you see here. All from a car originally found tucked away in a Chicago garage…

因此，雖然實體建筑和零部件的選擇將由Speedshunters的技術編輯Ryan Stewart負責，但Rocky與EA和Criteria Games車輛藝術總監(jiān)（以及汽車設計師）Bryn Alban一起創(chuàng)造了你在這里看到的“令人憤怒的風格”。而所有這些都來自一輛最初藏在芝加哥車庫里的汽車…

THE CHICAGO TOYBOX COLLECTION

Richard ‘Fish’ Fisher is a brilliant human being. He has one of the greatest and most obscure car collections of anyone we know and – being a car dealer by trade – when he says everything is for sale, he genuinely means it.

Richard 'Fish' Fisher 是一個才華橫溢的人。在我們所知道的任何人中，他擁有最偉大而又最鮮為人知的汽車收藏，而且作為一名汽車經銷商，當他說一切這些藏品都在出售時，他是認真的。

You don’t visit Chicago without popping in to see Uncle Fish, and during a visit for Speedhunters back in 2018, Ben clocked the 190 E tucked right at the back of Fish’s ‘Toybox’ – an apt name for his incredible car collection. At that time it was wearing the factory 16V bodykit, larger OEM wheels and had a load of track goodies fitted.

如果您到訪芝加哥，一定要順道拜訪一下 Fish 叔。在 2018 年訪問 Speedhunters 期間，Ben 偶然找到了藏在Fish叔的“玩具箱”——這是他令人難以置信的汽車收藏的恰當名稱——的190E。當時它配備了原廠 16V 車身套件、更大的 OEM 車輪，并安裝了大量的賽道配件。

The problem was, Fish didn’t fit too comfortably in it. Ben, on the other hand, did. And in the moments that immediately followed – namely Ben sitting in it, wrestling the wheel and shouting “how sick is this” – the car was bought before Fish had even been asked.

問題是，F(xiàn)ish的體格使他在190E里坐著并不舒服。然而，Ben做到了。很快——也就是本坐在車里，緊緊握住方向盤并大喊“這有多迷人”——這輛車甚至在Ben向Fish問價前就被買下了。

There was now just?3256-miles of Atlantic Ocean between the US and UK to contend with.

現(xiàn)在，需要克服的只有美國和英國之間 3256 英里的大西洋。

That process is a story in itself, and one Ben has already shared on Speedhunters. But for anyone not up to speed, this simple car purchase escalated to an all-night dash across multiple states to get it loaded into a container before the ship set sail. We’ve been reassured many trees were planted to offset this particular car-buyng experience.

這個過程本身就是一個故事。Ben 已經在 Speedhunters 上分享過了這段旅程。在返回英國之前，單單為汽車購買升級套件就成了跨越多個州的通宵沖刺，以便在船啟航之前將車裝入集裝箱。我們甚至已經種植了許多樹木來抵消這種特殊的購車體驗帶來的污染。

A Welshman In Berkshire With A Keen Eye For Design

That chapter title is not the start to a?very obscure joke, but before we delve into Bryn’s brain it’s worth noting that, upon its arrival in the UK, the 190 E had no aspirations of being an in-game hero car. In fact, it quickly underwent a whole load of work with?Ben’s aim to track it at the Nürburgring.

該章節(jié)的標題并不是一個非常晦澀的笑話，但在我們深入研究 這位名叫Bryn 的設計師的大腦之前，值得一提的是，190 E 在到達英國后并沒有成為游戲中的英雄汽車的愿望。事實上，Ben 的目標是在 Nürburgring 用它刷圈，因此很快就完成了所有的改裝工作。

The?190 E had already been chosen as?a car in?Need for Speed: Unbound?by this point, but the introduction of a global pandemic had delayed various aspects of the game’s development. So, to help claw back some time, Ben’s Mercedes was used for both the visual and audio capture, which involved taking thousands of images in the studio and plastering it with microphones.

后來，190 E 已被選為《極品飛車：不羈》的封面車，但全球疫情的引到來從各個方面推遲了游戲的開發(fā)。因此，為了幫助挽回一些時間，Ben 的梅賽德斯被用于視覺和音頻捕捉，這涉及在工作室拍攝數(shù)千張圖像并用麥克風武裝整臺車。

That process understandably takes time, but it’s one that’s required for every single car that appears in a Need for Speed title. There’s no quick or easy solution around it.

可以理解，這個過程需要時間，但這是出現(xiàn)在極品飛車中的每輛汽車都需要響應的步驟，對此沒有快速或簡單的解決方案

Need for Speed: Unbound?has a varied car list, but in terms of Speedhunters classics think BMW M1, Buick GNX, C10?Skyline and even a Volvo 242. Sounds cool, right? Although selling a new game with a Volvo 242 on the cover might be tricky, even for Need for Speed.

我們談談游戲本身吧。極品飛車：不羈 有各種各一張完整而全面的汽車清單，其中包括了不少 Speedhunters 報道過的經典車型，比如 BMW M1、別克 GNX、C10 Skyline， 甚至沃爾沃 242。聽起來很酷，對吧？然而一款以沃爾沃 242為封面 的新游戲銷售起來可能會很棘手，即使是《極品飛車》也是如此。

Thankfully, EA’s Bryn Alban is a proper car guy. As one of Need for Speed’s art directors, he’s also integral to the overall feel and direction of the car choice too. If something can be made more interesting – or it doesn’t feel right – Bryn’s not about to waste hundreds of hours modelling it without double checking first.

值得慶幸的是，EA 的 Bryn Alban 是一個合格的汽車專家。作為《極品飛車》的藝術總監(jiān)之一，他也是游戲對于汽車選擇的整體感覺和方向不可或缺的一部分。如果某些東西可以變得更有趣——或者它讓人看著不爽——Bryn 不會在沒有先仔細檢查的情況下浪費數(shù)百小時為它建模。

With the car selection phase having so many hurdles, you’d assume it’d be even more taxing while trying to decide on a lead hero car. Do you go for the latest, most expensive supercar available? Or do you go for a ‘traditional’ tuner car like the Skyline or NSX? The reality turned out to be far less work.

鑒于汽車選擇階段就有如此多的障礙，在嘗試決定封面車型會更加費力。您會選擇最新、最昂貴的超級跑車嗎？或者您會選擇像 Skyline 或 NSX 這樣的“傳統(tǒng)”改裝車嗎？事實證明，工作要少得多。

“The 190 E choice was surprisingly simple,” Bryn explains. “By this point of development we had Rocky on board as the main character, so we wanted a car that reflected his style and personality above all else. He’s got a good taste for some of the older German machines, so that helped weed out a lot of the other choices.”

“190 E 其實是個非常簡單的選擇，”Bryn 解釋道。“在這個開發(fā)階段，我們讓洛基成為主角，所以我們想要一輛能反映他的風格和個性的汽車。他對一些較舊的德國機器很有品味，所以這有助于淘汰很多其他選擇?！?/p>

“I know what you’re thinking – E30 M3. That was also a strong option, but we all felt this was a little bit obvious. The 190 E on the other hand? Well, that complements the E30 anyway when you look at its motorsport past. It’s a very cool car right now, and knowing Rocky’s past projects with Mercedes it quickly turned into a no-brainer.”

“我知道你在想什么——E30 M3。這也是一個很好的選擇，但我們都覺得這有點明顯。另一方面，190 E？好吧，當您回顧 E30 的賽車運動歷史時，它無論如何都是對 E30 的補充。它現(xiàn)在是一輛非?？岬能?，而且知道洛基過去與梅賽德斯的項目后，它很快就變成了最合適的選擇?！?/p>

Transforming?the stock car?into a rendered masterpiece sounds like another long, drawn-out process, but you can thank Bryn for the bulk of what you see here. The design went through numerous iterations before arriving at the final look, one that we agree is best of the bunch.

將庫存一臺實體車改造成渲染杰作聽起來又是一個無比漫長的過程，但您可以感謝 Bryn ——他提供了大多數(shù)點子。在達到最終外觀之前，該設計經歷了多次迭代，我們認為這是最好的。

“We wanted to delete parts off the car in-game for a raw, street-fighter look similar to some of those Pandem/Rocket Bunny cars of the past. The problem is, a 190 E chassis looks really bland without a rear bumper!” Bryn?adds.

“我們曾經想過拆除游戲中汽車的某些零件，甚至讓它的內部結構完全裸露，以獲得與過去的某些 Pandem/Rocket Bunny 汽車相似的原始街頭霸王外觀。問題是，沒有后保險杠的 190 E 底盤看起來真的很平淡！” Bryn補充道。

“I’m not entirely sure what triggered it, but I decided to replace the rear with a custom chassis as this not only looked neater, but it showcased both exhaust silencers without looking too busy. We did play around with custom LED headlights – and even WRC-style light pods – but they just overcomplicated the car with the Evo II kit fitted.”

“我不完全確定是什么觸發(fā)了它，但我決定用定制底盤更換后部，因為這不僅看起來更整潔，而且它展示了兩個排氣消音器，而且看起來不太忙。我們確實嘗試過定制 LED 大燈——甚至是 WRC 風格的燈箱——但它們只是讓裝有 Evo II 套件的汽車過于復雜?！?/p>

“The detail on the paint and the turbofans took a little longer, as Rocky’s involvement here led to specific tweaks and changes in order to make it feel like his car. After a bit of deliberating, we quickly reached a point where everyone was happy, and the car looked outrageous. But that was only on our screens. How do we go about making it real?”

“油漆和渦輪風扇的細節(jié)花費了更長的時間，因為洛基在這里的參與導致了特定的調整和變化，以使其感覺像他的車。經過一番深思熟慮，我們很快達到了一個大家都很高興的地步，這輛車看起來離譜。但這只是在我們的屏幕上。我們如何讓它成為現(xiàn)實？”

Layin’ Paint, Not Vinyl

What you wouldn’t do is try and paint it, especially considering the 30-plus-year-old car in question didn’t have the greatest paintwork to begin with. It’s not like you could save time by painting only one side of the car white.

而你絕對不會做的就是嘗試給它上漆，尤其是考慮到這輛已有 30 多年車齡的車一開始就存在噴漆缺陷——只將汽車的一側涂成白色并不能節(jié)省時間

Clearly, that’s exactly what happened otherwise this chapter would be redundant. But as we’ve laid out several times in this feature already, this isn’t a quick build to be used in some marketing. It’s the?hero car; and the only one being built. If that car doesn’t stand up to scrutiny – regardless of what it physically looks like – what does it say about the rest of the product?

顯然，這正是發(fā)生的事情，否則本章將是多余的。雖然乙烯基不失為便捷的操作，但是正如我們已經在上文中的那樣，這并不適用于這個項目：這是一輛封面車，是一輛宣傳車；并且是唯一正在建造的。如果那輛車經不起審查——不管它的外觀如何——別人會怎么看這整個產品？

Spike’s Vintage Restorations have seen it all over the years; they’ve rectified countless others’ work and their attention to detail goes far beyond what you’d typically expect from a bodyshop. You won’t get a car back with an interior covered in filler dust; every detail matters.Andy, Jay and Chris at Spike’s lived and breathed this car (quite literally) during the transformation. Custom metalwork, fibreglass moulding and paintwork all had to be carried out in-house under complete secrecy to avoid any pre-game leaks of the visuals.

Spike負責噴漆工作。多年來，Spike 的 Vintage Restorations 見證了這一點；他們糾正了無數(shù)其他人的工作，他們對細節(jié)的關注遠遠超出了您通常對車身修理廠的期望。您不會得到一輛內部布滿填料灰塵的汽車；每一個細節(jié)都很重要。在改造過程中，Spike的安迪、杰伊和克里斯對這輛車的生活和呼吸（毫不夸張地說）。定制的金屬制品、玻璃纖維成型和油漆工作都必須在完全保密的情況下在內部進行，以避免任何視覺效果提前泄露。

“Black and white might seem like simple colours, but I can’t think of two colours more prone to showing up any overspray, leaks or defects than these two together. I dread to think how much time we spent on the masking alone.”

“黑色和白色似乎是簡單的顏色，但我想不出比這兩種顏色更容易出現(xiàn)任何過噴、泄漏或缺陷的顏色搭配。我不敢想我們光是在掩蔽上就花了多少時間?！?/p>

“Achieving a flawless finish on any paint is tough, so when you then have two opposing colours on the same panel it’s far from straightforward,” Andy explains.

“在任何油漆上實現(xiàn)完美的飾面都很難，尤其當您在同一面板上使用兩種相反的顏色時，這遠非簡單，”安迪解釋道。

“The black is always going to have more depth and punch to it, but one of the most obvious challenges is ensuring both colours get an even application between masking. It’s not just the bonnet either; this split goes through the bumper, roof, boot and spoiler, all without any pinstripe or graphics being used to hide the split.”

“黑色總是會給人更強烈的深度感和沖擊力，但最明顯的挑戰(zhàn)之一是確保兩種顏色在遮蔽之間得到均勻的應用。這不只是引擎蓋；這種分裂貫穿了保險杠、車頂、后備箱和擾流板，所有這些都沒有使用任何細條紋或圖形來隱藏?！?/p>

Speaking of pinstriping, see that text plastered either side of the car? That’s no decal; it?was all?hand-applied after paint to make the entire process that bit more terrifying. The team enlisted the expert help and steady hand of Simon Clark?to turn the Mercedes’ panels into art.

說到細條紋，看到貼在汽車兩側的文字了嗎？那不是貼花；而是上漆后全部手工涂抹，使整個過程更加“恐怖”。團隊獲得了西蒙·克拉克 (Simon Clark)專業(yè)而謹慎的幫助，將梅賽德斯的面板變成了藝術品。

Its main existence may be in the virtual world, but this is a real car designed and built by real people.

或許這臺車以后大多會在虛擬世界中出現(xiàn)，但我們應當知道：這是一臺由真人手工打造的，真實存在的車。

The Grand Reveal With A$AP Rocky

Two months, hundreds of hours and minimal sleep later, Ryan and the team had the 190 E complete and looking damn near identical to the original render. But looking right wasn’t enough; the Merc still had to drive properly. Because its end goal wasn’t to go and sit in a museum for the rest of its life; it was being handed to Rocky. Test driving a car in complete secrecy comes with its own complications,?so the cover of darkness was used to keep the build from being seen.

兩個月后，經過數(shù)百個小時和兩個月后，經過數(shù)百小時和每天極少的睡眠，Ryan 和團隊完成了 190 E，看起來與原始渲染幾乎一模一樣。但是光看是不夠的；190E?必須還能正常駕駛。因為它的最終目標不是去博物館度過余生；它被交給洛基。在完全保密的情況下試駕汽車本身就有其自身的復雜性，因此團隊使用黑暗作為掩護以防止車輛被發(fā)現(xiàn)。

With the car driving under its own power and looking the part, the final touches were applied. To put the effort into context, there was two days work in getting the exhaust system and diffuser mounted and aligned correct to the render. Measurements were taken and scaled up to ensure the accuracy.

隨著汽車靠自己的動力行駛，帶給團隊動態(tài)的感受，隨后接受了最后的潤色。為了將努力付諸實踐，我們花了兩天的時間來安裝排氣系統(tǒng)和擴散器并使其與渲染圖對標，并依此進行了測量，按比例放大。就這樣，Ryan 和團隊完成了 190 E，看起來與原始渲染幾乎一模一樣。

Last time we checked, Rocky’s residence isn’t in the Southeast of England. So just a few days after the 190 E’s completion, it was boxed up and loaded on a cargo plane, before being shipped back across the Atlantic to New York. There’s a level of irony here considering Ben did this journey two years earlier, but we promise you he planted even more trees this time.

洛基的住所位于英格蘭南部，因此在幾天前E190完工后，它很快就被運回大西洋彼岸的紐約。考慮到 Ben 在兩年前進行了這次旅行，這里有一定程度的諷刺意味，但我們向你保證他這次種了更多的樹。上次我們檢查時，Rocky 的住所不在英格蘭東南部。因此，就在 190 E 完工幾天后，它就被裝箱并裝上貨機，然后被運回大西洋彼岸的紐約。考慮到 Ben 兩年前就開始了這次旅行，這里有一定程度的諷刺意味，但我們向你保證，他這次種了更多的樹。

The goal? To unveil the car in front of Rocky, whose last visual on the 190 E was the original render created with Bryn all that time ago. No pressure, then.

目標？團隊最終在 Rocky 面前揭開這輛車的面紗。要知道，Rocky 在對190 E 上的最終印象還是很久以前與 Bryn 一起創(chuàng)建的原始渲染圖。當然，那時，大家都沒想到最終產品效果會這么好。

To ?say the 190 E went down well is a hell of an understatement, and as ?luck would have it, there just so happened to be a video team (and ?photographer) on standby to capture Rocky’s reaction. Check it out ?below.

這時候，再說 190 E 的效果很好就有些言不達意了。幸運的是，恰好有一個視頻團隊（和攝影師）待命以捕捉洛基的反應。

Cars are at their best when they have a good story behind them. This could’ve easily been a new car supplied by a manufacturer and built solely as a showpiece, but that simply doesn’t fit with the Need for Speed: Unbound ethos.

當汽車背后有一個好故事時，它們才會處于最佳狀態(tài)（就像那臺M3 GTR）。這本可以很容易地成為制造商提供的新車，并僅作為展示品制造，但這根本不符合《極品飛車：不羈》的精神。

This 190 E lived a hell of a life before its journey into a Need for Speed hero car, and with the keys now belonging to Rocky you can guarantee its journey is far from over.

這輛 190 E 在成為極品飛車封面車之前過著地獄般的生活，現(xiàn)在鑰匙屬于 Rocky，因此，您可以保證：它的旅程遠未結束。