████████████
It’s the end of the road it seems to most.
How little people recognize that endings-
-are beginnings of new stories.
Fear not, people.
The end, is also the beginning.
…
Out in the parking area of the event, two suited men covered in thick coats and fedoras waited along and observed the cars being driven. One of them says something to another, but is barely audible from the sound of automobiles going about.
They seemed to be eyeing a certain green coupe, something about codenames.
Something metallic lurked within their thick coats.
An attendee from one of the car companies in the event saw the two and kindly approached them.
She kindly offered them a drink, and asked if the men perhaps were interested in any of the vehicles presented. The two looked at the woman in front of them, and with a few words muttered, the woman followed them somewhere.
Ol eua igt xkgj znoy.
Znoy oy tuz znk ktj.
Znk Lors ygey grr.
Ck yngrr skkz gmgot.
G
After sifting through what seemed to be dozens of cars, the two had finally come along to five cars they’d found. These five cars were all fortunately offering test drives at the event. Half of the complex’s outdoor parking area was dedicated to these five vehicles.
First up…
Legion Crocelle Eaglefire
@donutsnail
The Legion Crocelle had been continuously eyed by the Detective ever since they came into the event. The car’s fairly normal silhouette was found to be perfect for blending into other cars for those unexpected chases or visits.
Its hearty 312 cubic inch Eaglefire V8 equipped with two barrel carburettors making over 270* horsepower enough to launch the car to a standstill in under 9 seconds.
With the large engine, some difficulties were present with its handling characteristics, but it more than made up for it with its agility in turning.
Not having seen the other cars, this certainly seemed like a prospective buy for the Detective.
“Well dear, what are your thoughts on it?”
“Absolutely splendid! Comfortable enough, takes a bit of force to handle this hearty beast, but overall, I love it!”
“Well don’t fall in love too quickly, we’ve got more to look after.”
Chevillic Clairmont
@MisterRocketMan
This Chevillic was only sighted at the last minute, but its looks, while not good for blending in, certainly reminded the Detective of a friend ███ used to have.
“Certainly evokes memories.”
███ hopped into the blue coupe after being handed the keys by the attendant. Immediately the Detective noticed something was rather off. The sound of the engine intakes weren’t as noticeable on this car as it was on the other car.
Setting that aside, the Detective set off on the short run. The car’s acceleration was rather tame compared to the Crocelle. But its handling characteristics, being a smaller and lighter car were better praised. While not as agile around a turn over the Crocelle, the Clairmont certainly had easier recovery characteristics.
But the glaring thing about the coupe, was its sluggish acceleration over the Crocelle. Barely scraping under 10 seconds to 60, its 230* horsepower, 325 cubic inch engine and 3-speed gearbox not doing a lot of favours for the vehicle. Combined with smaller tyres, and being a smaller vehicle, made for a rather unappealing package.
Even after comparing their price tags with a flyer given to ███ by Grace, the Detective still had ███ sights on the Crocelle.
“Nope, doesn’t really seem better.”
Edelgard Dragoon 305
@Boiled_Steak & @Xepy
Another coupe that was really only brought in as a prospective buy to the Detective because of ███ own personal tastes and not at all for blending in.
███ hopped into the bright red coupe, and fired up the 305 cubic inch V8.
“This has got to be a treat!”
The Detective revved it up, while not as pure sounding as the Crocelle, it certainly still had a lot of grunt in it. Acceleration wise, it could almost match the larger coupe with its larger engine and larger power levels, and was definitely miles ahead of the Clairmont being able to accelerate under nine seconds despite only having a 260* horsepower engine thanks to its smaller body.
Handling wise is where the Dragoon’s flaws reared its ugly head, something was up with the way Edelgard decided to work its suspension geometry, or whatever that was. The car also lacked power steering, which was heavily noticeable as not only did ███ find it rather difficult to throw around corners, ███ also had to enter it at a lower speed, and so agility wise it didn’t exactly shine there either.
And with all its flaws in mind, the Dragoon wasn’t able to 1-up the Crocelle. Especially after seeing its expensive price tag. ███ really came to wonder what exactly you were paying for in this car?
Dominion Raven
@thecarlover
Seeing this car up close, the Detective couldn’t help but mutter a few comments about it.
“Well Grace…”
“Yes?” She pondered as to what the Detective’s comment would be this time.
“This car reminds me a lot of the first time I met you. I could say it’s love at first sight.” ███ smiled as Grace flustered up slightly.
“Oh… you…”
███ closely observed the car. It was slightly smaller, but being smaller gave off the slightly more sportier and energetic vibe than the Crocelle. But it didn’t have the more aggressive and sportier lines of the Clairmont or the Dragoon. It gave off elegance, and refinement. It wasn’t shouty, it was subtle and could probably blend into traffic well, yet still stand out when presented standalone.
Hopping in, and test driving it, the lack of power over the Dragoon and Crocelle didn’t exactly matter here, as it managed to accelerate to 60 in just under 9 seconds.
It was more comfortable too, the suspension’s smoothness and its surprising roominess more than made up for its rather normal interior fittings.
Handling wise, it was slightly ahead of the Crocelle and the Dragoon in terms of easiness to drive, but not exactly enough to match that of the Clairmont, but it also was just as agile as the two other cars.
This certainly seemed more of a prospective buy over the Crocelle, especially after seeing its price tag and how the attendees bragged on about its easiness of ownership.
“Love at first, second, and as many times as you see it.”
AHSI Dextralis 293
@Tzuyu_main & @chiefzach2018
They came up to this final red roadster. Its side exhaust pipes were certainly kicking something into the Detective. Once again, it was a more shouty vehicle. With its curvy lines to its aggressive front, it certainly evoked those youth feels.
One thing the Detective felt skeptical about, was its 290-cubic inch straight six. While those engines certainly won ASCAR, the Detective still has ███ biases against them.
Hopping in, the seats and interior trimmings weren’t really anything special. Starting the car gave way to the more common inline-6 engine sound, slightly more amplified with the exhaust pipes towards the driver’s area.
Driving it, ███ found the car was marginally slower to accelerate than all of the other cars, excluding the Clairmont, not that it was very noticeable unless when you really put your foot down. Handling wise, it was a fairly easy car to drive, though you can’t exactly go too fast around a corner with it.
And with that, the Detective was about to hop out of the red roadster, but found that because of the proximity of the exhaust pipes to the driver’s door panel, ███ almost ended up burning ███ legs from the hot exhaust.
“Well that’s another minus point, isn’t that?”
…
The Detective then moved ███ legs to clear the exhaust and was about to hop out of the car.
However…
Two coated figures came from the shadows, a girl was in the other man’s arm, and a gun was pointed straight to her head.
“Stay away and stay still! Or this young maiden shall lose her life today!”
Immediate chaos filled the area. Some fled, some hid, some stood completely still at the sight of a hostage. The Detective immediately got out of the red Dextralis and went over to Grace, who had fear and anxiety visible in her eyes. ███ immediately grabbed her into ███ arms and hid behind the red convertible.
The other coated man took out his gun as well, and fired a bullet into the sky before pointing it at a man who was standing next to the green Dominion. The man stood there frightened.
“Keys, sir. Now.” He said menacingly as he pulled the hammer of his six shooter.
The man threw the keys and put his hands in the air.
Moments later, with a loud bang, the man’s lifeless body fell to the floor, blood trickling from a hole in his chest and staining his white shirt in a deep red. Panic yet again ensued, and people were left mortified at the sight of a dead man before them.
The other man let go of the girl, and the two coated men hopped into the green Dominion, and ran through the crowd as they all moved away.
The Detective was quick to act, standing up from their cover and taking out ███ own revolver, firing two shots into the cabin of the runaway car that somehow had missed and instead gone straight into the dashboard.
With the car now running away, ███ immediately ran over to the man that was shot, and after evaluating he’d been a lost cause, ran back to the red AHSI and showed ███ police badge to the man in charge. The keys were promptly handed over, and Grace climbed into the passenger seat after the Detective.
“Wait, what are you doing?” The Detective said with a worried and confused look on ███ face.
“Helping, now would you fucking go already?” Grace said without hesitation, and with a stern glare towards the Detective.
The Detective tossed ███ gun towards Grace and slammed on the gas to take off after the stolen car. Grace looked at the six shooter, slamming the side of it to release the cylinder, four shots remained and the Detective didn’t seem to have carried any extra ammunition.
“So, why’d you bring this along on our date?” Grace asked the Detective, still inspecting the revolver.
“I’ve brought it along on many dates, my love. I only wanted to keep us safe.”
Turning into the corner, the AHSI found itself to have entered it at a slower speed than the Dominion. Pulling away from the straits, and despite the difference in power, the Dominion managed to gap the AHSI even more.
Swerving through traffic on the freeway, the Detective found it difficult to turn in quick enough, while it was certainly easy to correct, swerving was needed to be done at a lower speed than the green coupe up ahead, its driver seemingly not breaking a sweat as it continued to pull away from the red roadster.
From the car ahead, the other man pulled out a shotgun, and promptly began firing at the red AHSI, trying to disable either it or its passengers. Luckily they weren’t hit, and all shots seemed to have missed.
Back into the city, the driver of the green coupe had somehow made a mistake on exiting the freeway, and the AHSI had managed to keep up slightly.
Onto a corner, the green getaway car had slowed down too much, and the Detective was about to perform a pit maneuver to stop the car from getting away, yet-
As the pit maneuver was attempted, the Raven’s longer overhangs, and its slightly heavier weight combined with the drivers and their seemingly heavy weaponry, managed to be unaffected by the maneuver. Instead, the lighter roadster slammed its front right quarter panel into it and it simply deflected off the other car.
The Detective, having exceeded the car’s grip limits, was unable to recover, but fortunately didn’t end up slamming into a wall.
Before the getaway car could make it away however, Grace had skillfully managed to pull her upper body out through the window as the car she was in came to a skidding halt, and quickly managed to fire off all four rounds in quick succession, one seemingly managed to hit the driver’s left arm as the large calibre bullet penetrated the roof and go through into the cabin.
The driver of the green coupe was disabled and unable to maneuver away from another car up ahead, the coupe ended up veering off and slammed onto the oncoming car.
Grace, like one of those cowboys in movies she had seen, spun the unloaded revolver around her finger and blew the smoke away from the hot barrel. The Detective just stared in awe.
“So when did you learn to shoot?” ███ said as ███ stared at Grace, sitting on the door panel of the red convertible, she very clearly had a smug grin upon her.
The Detective got out of the car, walking towards the wreck. Police from the city came to surround the green Dominion as well. ███ showed ███ badge to the rest of the police force that came, and they all acknowledged the Detective as well.
The police managed to ID the two men, infamous criminals that were responsible for a shooting not too long ago, and apparently minions of a certain Archanan spy.
“Well Detective, you really pulled off one of your techniques even with a car that wasn’t assigned to you, huh?” One of the officers approached ███, chuckling.
“It’s almost my signature at this point, isn’t it? But I’m afraid I’m bound to lose it!” ███ looked at the damaged coupe, before looking back at the red roadster as Grace began getting out.
And with that, ███ decision was more or less settled.
████████████
Congratulations to @thecarlover for winning CSR 133!
With a combination of ease of maintenance, sportiness, great value for money and relative realism, the 1959 Dominion Raven now has made it into the hands of our Detective here! Here's more to come with the investigations ███'ll be performing!
The Top Five ranking:
1 - @thecarlover
2 - @Tzuyu_main & @chiefzach2018
3 - @donutsnail
4 - @Boiled_Steak & @Xepy
5 - @MisterRocketMan
Apologies if I took too long, or if there were a lot of controversies with this round! I tried my best with being a first-time CSR host, combined with an era that both me and a lot of people aren’t very familliar with, as well as attempting to ████████ an ███, I wanted to shake things up a bit for my first round, but that gave me quite a bit too much for me to put onto my plate and well…
The course of True Love never did run smooth, did it?
I’ll try to release the spreadsheet when I can.
*Signifies engine power levels were shown in gross. (Rough estimation, or literally just me adding 50 more horsepower.)
Jgy oyz toinz jgy Ktjk jkx Mkyinoinzk.
Ghkx ky quttzk onxky ykot.
Once again, Deo Auctore.
I’ll be seeing you.
