Loosely based on a real story, but with extra cheese on the burgers.
The turn to the 90’s were a vivid chapter in German history: It was November 9th 1989 when the curtains of concrete and iron between the West and East finally crumbled, and the reunification process of the Soviet occupied German Democratic Republic into the Federal Republic of Germany ensued. It was a hopeful time, for many a gained freedom of travel, a break away from control and oppression, or just the access to a more diverse range of products spawned by the free markets of the West. However, it wasn‘t actually going all smooth. While it was a huge political endeavour for the FRG, it was literally life changing for all of the former GDR‘s people.
The radio is blaring out a lot of the past decade’s music at “Janny’s Imbiss”, bands like a-ha, Alphaville, Modern Talking, singers like Sandra… It wouldn’t be so special if it wasn’t for the fact that that was missed out on unless you had some tricky friend who lived near the former border to West Germany and could pick up West German radio with a comically large antenna.
That’s a much bigger variety of songs than what the ministries would ever approve from PUHDYS and Karat. Even though Janny doesn’t quite understand what’s being sung in the new songs, schools taught Russian in place of English, but she likes to think that “Janny Janny Lady” is about her.
Janine, or Janny, has quite a lot to tell about her past, to whoever stops by and cares to ask. Most stop by just for a quick meal, but she had a few interesting people come and ask how it was to live under socialism, to which she usually just replies “Things were definitely different.”, just to not offend anyone, while stating an honest conclusion. “… but now there’s more choice! Ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise?”
What matters now is, she’s not only surviving in the “Wild East”, she’s unlike many actually thriving. She has somehow done the right move in this new situation of economical limbo by quitting her job and opening up a trailer diner. She’s gotten regular guests, some from nearby, but many afar from the West. Who would’ve known that any resemblance of fast food would be so popular to travellers? In the first year, she has already earned enough money to not only expand her diner beyond the construction trailer she started out with, but she could now afford a car for her own use. Her old Soviet produce would not do it for her anymore. Even though the hatchback had its use, it’s no longer presentable and the features of it also feel stale compared to most of the Western cars she seen come by. She is especially unnerved about the lack of a radio. But not only that, her husband has finally gotten a job, even though it’s measly paid. It’d be more practical for Janny if he’d drive himself instead of being brought to and picked up from work by her. But who knows how long it’ll run for until it gives up.
The Brief begins here:
As such, she fancies something more presentable, more economical, but still practical enough to replace their old car if needs be. So it might as well seat not only her, but her husband or even their future child, some friends of them or the big bags of supplies for her diner alongside an employee. With these plans in mind, it should be able to seat at the very least 3 people, which means it’d likely need a rear row of seats, and come with a radio or ideally cassette player… And Reminiscing her youth, she was quite well known in her town as “that Lady with the Simmy”, as she drove around with a Moped of that type. Not giving a damn about wearing any helmet, instead feeling the air flowing through her wavy brown hair as she cruised around on her Simmy. Nothing has quite brought that feeling back since her father traded it for a color TV without her approval. But a convertible, like quite some she’s seen, could. She believes she could still find one practical enough, and the mere presence of a convertible just might attract more customers to her diner. It mustn’t be a mule like her Sovhatch, but neither is she seeking a hot hatch, even though she’s not a slow driver. Down the line, It just needs to be a good reliable commuter with a carefree touch of convertible and its own character.
The Regulations:
ENGINE:
- Variant Year must be 1991. Family can be older.
- Engine Weight Limit: 150kg
- 95 RON (91 is not worth the price difference)
- Catalytic converter mandatory
- No louder than 45 (quieter is better)
- No race parts (even if you somehow made race headers fit into the budget)
- Engine PU/ET: 28/28
TRIM AND BODY:
- Trim Year must be 1991. Model can be older.
- Body must not be introduced before 1975.
→ Must be a convertible body type. If you take any other body to style into a convertible, targa or t-top, you need to add at least +1 quality to the Chassis. But mind that Janny prefers a properly open top. - Mod bodies and fixtures are allowed.
- Should at the minimum seat 3 people. Any rear seat setup must be either +2,+3 or 3, no 2.
- Safety: As long as it isn’t safety from the 70’s.
- No choices that are tagged “Limited Production” or “No Mass Production”
- Trim PU/ET 87/27
- Budget: 9000 ±0% (lower is better)
VALUED STATS:
- Fun Drivability - She can handle and is used to stick, but the car shouldn’t be unwieldy.
- Good Reliability - There really shouldn’t be too much that can go wrong on the car.
- Nice Economy - There is some leeway, but anything that drinks more than 12 liter per 100km (<19.6 US-MPG), she considers a “Benzinschlucker”.
- Reasonable Practicality - She’s not looking for just a fancy two seater for a reason, it’ll still see use beyond driving joy.
- Bearable Service Costs - Janny might have a friend who runs a garage now, but even with a slight rebate, she doesn’t think that the service costs should be unnecessarily high.
- A modesty of Comfort - She neither wants a too stiff ride and no more a bare interior.
Naming Convention:
- Model and Family: CSR89 - YourNameHere
- Trim: Car Name
- Variant: Engine Name/Code
Make sure to provide an advert in this thread and send me your .car file via PM!
Submit until: Thursday 22nd at 11pm GMT
Previous CSR: 88 - “Back to The Future”
General CSR ruleset: The Car Shopping Round rules and stats
