Late August, 1988, Sinistra Motors HQ, Nevada.
“Sunbolt didn’t do too well.” Andrea said, looking at the magazine.
“We’ve not bothered to change it since 1985. Of course it didn’t do well.” Luke said. “So, Jeff, how are the snails coming along? Do keep in mind that I want a turbo Sunbolt by 1990, so that it can have three years as a last great hurrah.”
“Wait, the Sunbolt stops in '93?” Andrea asked.
“No point in beating it to death. Sports cars live fast and die young. We’re not refreshing the rear-engine design, and so we need to focus on other things.” Luke said.
“So, what’s the point of getting turbos on the Sunbolt?” Jeff asked.
Andrea, however, turned and glared at Jeff. “You’re drunk! I can’t believe it, Jeff! No wonder nothing got done regarding the turbo Sunbolt!”
Luke stalked off to Jeff’s office, and within minutes, found proof of Jeff’s drinking on the job, in a locked filing cabinet… One that Luke had the master keys for. He walked back up, stopped in his own office long enough to call the police, then confronted Jeff.
“Oh, shit.” Jeff muttered, before Luke said, “Jeff, you know as well as I do what this means. Don’t bother cleaning out your desk, I’ve called the police to escort you from the premises. Your belongings will be mailed to you, postage due, along with your final paycheck.”
October, 1988, Sinistra Motors HQ.
Andrea sat at her desk, something she’d grown accustomed to since Jeff was walked out in handcuffs two months ago. Luke had offered her the job of Engine Team Lead, and she’d jumped at the chance. As a result, she was looking over one of Luke’s inventory listings, which had notes scribbled in the margins. More irritating, however, was that Luke had fully adopted having a local network, complete with a slowly-growing server farm in the basement, and looking anything up required logging in and fighting through Luke’s seemingly-random files, scattered everywhere with what seemed like no organizational order.
And so she looked at the paper notes more than the digital ones. But this was sheer madness, what Luke was proposing. She’d known that in the 60’s and 70’s, they were cutting V8’s in half, lopping two cylinders off, and welding them back together, and that they’d dared to call this ‘creation’ a V6. Hell, she’d driven one of those V6-powered Senators in a publicity stunt, coast-to-coast-and-back. But this… This was crazy. Taking the same cutting jig, lopping a cast-iron 5.2 liter V8 in half, but instead of then lopping two more cylinders off, Luke wanted to add a two-cylinder segment, specifically the off-cuts from the V6 production. The result would make a terrifying 6.5 liter V10, yes, but at what cost?
Then there was another of Luke’s crazy schemes, wanting to flatten the Sunbolt’s V6 into a flat engine, 180-degrees instead of 60 or 90. Why on Earth he wanted a flat engine, Andrea couldn’t tell, but Luke had said something about ‘Lowered center-of-gravity’ and ‘better overall handling’ when she’d asked. Still didn’t make sense why that was needed, when they were already gearing up for aluminum engines.
And then the Rebadge project… Oh, that promised to drive her crazy. All of the engines built on the 5.2’s bore and stroke were now the “L-Series” engines. And then all of the engines derived from the Sunbolt’s 3 liter V6 were “S-Series” engines.
But Andrea felt good about Luke’s crazy projects, because without them, it just wouldn’t be Sinistra.
1993, Sinistra Motors HQ.
Andrea looked ready to cry as the last Turbo Sunbolt rolled out the door, the paint still glowing vividly in the fading sunlight. She’d managed to save the project Jeff nearly killed with incompetance, and the Sunbolt got pressurized early in 1990. But it still hurt to see the quirky rear-engined car leaving the factory for good. Sure, they still had the Swift Sport, and last year, they’d created something new for them, though the powertrain still was quirky as all hell when they built the Sinistra Stampede, but even though they both carried her new project, the V10, it just wasn’t the same. And she knew this damnable flat-6 was going to be her nightmare for the next year. Worse still, Luke didn’t really care about the 6-cylinder version, he just wanted to downsize to a four-cylinder, though he’d make use of the 6, provided she could build the damn thing in the first place.
Luke joined Andrea as they watched the last Sunbolt roll out into the parking lot. After a few moments of silence, Luke handed Andrea a set of keys. “It was truly your project all along. You deserve to have the last one. Your own little piece of history. Paperwork’s all taken care of.”
Andrea took the keys, then walked out to where the Sunbolt - her Sunbolt - sat waiting for her. She took in the brilliant silver tone of Frost, their silver-white metallic, a color the Sunbolt never tended to sell well in, but one she liked regardless, and smiled. She decided, as Luke had given this gift to her, she’d return the favor. All of the problems with the flat-6 could be solved with a modified crankshaft anyway. And they were so close to solving the SinCam problem, too. Luke had pointed her in the right direction, but she was certain now, it needed another year, and would need oil pressure to work. And then they’d have something special brewing for everyone else to fear.
(Yeah, long lore post. Let’s just say that now everyone knows Sinistra’s little Engine Plot, and the setup is there for engines needed in the future. And technologies. After all, while Sinistra isn’t always on the bleeding-edge of tech, there are certain things we’re going for as soon as possible…)
