Atlas Arizona

*"It's one of the signature seven vehicles of MotorStorm, and quite frankly one of the if not most brutal vehicles on the grid. Anyone who is unfortunate enough to get into its way better be ready for a violent thrashing, as this former school bus is anything but safe. Not a whole lot of Atlas Arizonas still exist, since many school districts and correctional facilities phased them out due to their massive unreliability, and because of how sluggish they felt on the highways. Eventually, seven Arizonas were sourced from scrapyards, as the M.R.A. saw potential into making these buses some of the most feared vehicles on the grid." - Return to the Wild Garage Description.*

*"While the clattery and low-revving six cylinder on this bus may only be a two-stroke, we've modified the engines to accept two superchargers and upped the redline to 5,000 RPM. Alongside that, we've given the buses a very beefy two-and-a-half inch lift kit with super single mud tires replacing the default dually all terrain tires. Anyways, after numerous tests with these modifications to face the harsh conditions of the tundra, we've deciphered this bus still has it in it to face the unforgiving tundra, and still packs a punch in the combat department." - Untamed Tundra Garage Description.*

*"It may have once been designed to haul humans to places where their rights as human beings were stripped from them, whether it's a public education institution, or a prison. Nowadays, this bus is purely repurposed to destroy the opposition, and take no prisoners. To up the performance even further, we've replaced the two default turbos with two compound turbos into the clattery engine to get as much boost as mechanically possible, to the point where if it had a tachometer, the gauge would read negative pressure, while fitting bigger pistons that increased the engine's displacement up to par with the displacement of actual big rigs, which is approximately twleve liters. Anyways, this bus is still slow and an easy target for bigger vehicles than itself, but it is virtually immune to head-on attacks and can easily wreck anything smaller than a mud plugger in one ram at sufficient speed." - Transylvania Unleashed Description*

*"If being unstoppable in the name of sacrificing speed and maneuverability for sheer strength and protection matters over everything else, now's your time to drive the fearsome Atlas Arizona. It has retained every modification it has recieved throughout its time in MotorStorm, and is now if not one of the toughest vehicles in MotorStorm that has yet to recieve four-wheel steering. Of course, we doubt we'll fit it with four-wheel steering due to the fact that it would have to be custom fabricated, and we don't have the man power for that. Yet. Anyways, the Arizona has become a very sought after vehicle within the festival, to the point where the off road pros have been dying to drive them." - King of the Hammers Garage Description*

*"Nowadays the Arizona couldn't possibly hold its own against anything in the gigantic weight division, and doesn't quite have the power and torque of the gigantic weight vehicles. It doesn't mean it can still outrun the gigantic vehicles, owing to the massive performance modifications our fleet has recieved. While it's still a fast bus, it can easily tip over and is definitely outmatched by anything smaller than a Racing Truck. However, what really matters is how competent of a driver you are, since there's been sightings of 'Stormers in big rigs beating rally cars on their own turf." - Off the Grid Garage Description.*

The **Atlas Arizona** is a canonical vehicle appearing in *MotorStorm*, *MotorStorm: Pacific Rift* and throughout The Cherrybomber's fanonical series.

Throughout the series, it fell under the Big Rig classification, but in *King of the Hammers*, it is reclassified as a Signature Seven vehicle with its own stats onwards.

## Details

The Arizona was built as a conventional school bus, from 1965 to 1979. It featured multiple configurations, as a prison bus, a short frame bus, and a conventional school bus. However, under the hood was a very sluggish and clattery two-stroke six-cylinder that was about 8.4 liters in displacement. It featured both a supercharger and two turbochargers, though the supercharger was not meant for aspirational purposes, only to suck in clean air and expunge combustion from the turbos, which caused it to constantly blow out black soot from its exhaust, at its redline of 2,500 RPM.

While the engine was very fuel efficient for its time, it was highly pollutant and also broke down easily mostly because the engine block and pistons being very prone to cracking due to a poor casting design. However, most RV enthusiasts who were looking to build school buses into RVs saw potential in the Arizona, and replaced the clattery six cylinder with a more efficient powerplant, usually being a Mullikin engine that was nine liters in displacement.

In terms of stock performance, the bus had a 0-60 time of 45 seconds, produced 380 horsepower and 900 lb-ft of torque.

Upon the MotorStorm Festival in 2006 coming to a close on its second day, the M.R.A. decided to forge a vehicle that no 'Stormer would ever stop fearing. About seven Atlas Arizonas were sourced from nearby junkyards after one of the local high schools phased them out. In the engine department, the Atlas eight-liter engine was removed and replaced with the more potent nine-liter Mullikin engine, which was a four-stroke engine instead of it being a-two stroke, while adding various *Manic Marty*-like decor to the bus in an attempt to make the bus look fearsome, and replacing the default G-major horn with a pair of diesel locomotive bells.

In the Untamed Tundra Festival, the Atlas Arizonas underwent radical weight stripping behind the drivers seat, a new custom-built twin supercharged and twin compound turbo aspiration setup with a displacement increase with cylinders from spare Atlas Bobtails, lifted the stock suspension by two and a half inches, and fitted super single mud tires to replace the aged dually all-terrain tires.