The Full Prelude
Atlanta, Georgia; January 1993
The corpulent yet energetic booker rocketed out of his chair to extend his hand to Mike. The soon-to-be-ex-lawman, for his part, looked stoic as he approached the jubilant old legend, but inside he was all but dancing. The 80s had been wild for Mike Maverick, the once-rising star in the Northern pro wrestling scene - who, sometime in 1983, got on the wrong side of that territory’s golden boy and paid the ultimate price.
Maverick was slandered and smeared by his own employer and, for a time, ended up essentially blacklisted from the industry. In the intervening decade, he ended up working as a bail enforcement agent - essentially a modern and typically non-lethal version of a bounty hunter - and accrued a fair amount of money and infamy from the gig, being named on multiple occasions one of the toughest S.O.Bs in all of America.
“Aw, sure did, but I ain’t lissen to ‘im. An’ even Eric, scat-fer-brain he may be, ain’t lissen either - he wants anyone with a rep from up North to git down ‘eer an’ show ‘im how real *rasslin’*s dun. 'Speshly given yer Irish tor-mentor’s gunna be in jail a year from now, we do believe.”
If the words of the rotund “Dream” sound a bit too incomprehensible to your ear, here’s what he’s going on about: after Mav was kicked out of the Northern wrestling scene, that place underwent a serious business boom. The golden boy that got Mike Maverick erased from the big time took that spot for himself and ran with it for ten long years with only minor detours - but now that guy was getting old, grumpy and too big for his britches, with Hollywood aspirations and the like.
After willingly shooting up steroids for years to preserve his, uh, hulking physique, the golden boy turned on his benefactors as the steroid culture in the company came under scrutiny - and as that controversy bloomed rapidly into a trial, he was likely to testify against the hand that fed him. A side effect of this controversy, which first surfaced in 1991 and had been brewing for over a year at this point, was that the Northern promoter no longer had the vigilance to blackmail other promoters into blacklisting Mike Maverick.
“It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Well, Dream, there’s just one more matter. I’m happy just to get back in the business and all, but I gotta keep earning, too. Didn’t pack my savings shoving skips behind bars just to charity-wrestle.”
“Well, daddeh, you ain’t gotta worry. Scat-fer-brain that Eric may be, he got that Billionaire Ted moolah. We’re thinkin’ of signin’ yer cowboy ass for three hunnit fiddy grand downside.”
Now, if your jaw dropped at that figure, it dropped the wrong way. A wrestling career in the 1990s is kind of the opposite of a military career in that nothing’s paid for: You need to hole up in your own hotel, pay for your own gas, pay one-time fees at gyms when you pass through a town, and use tanning beds so that the promoter won’t tell you you look bad on TV. And with all the stress, you’re bound to at least be drinking a lot. So while the $350,000 a year Maverick is being offered here is a substantial amount, it’s not crazy or all-liberating for this manner of profession - the top stars back then were earning up to triple that. That said, it’s still a fair bit more than the no-downside, per-night income Mav was working on in the 1980s
“It’s something, alright. Deal me in.”
“Now I got one mo’ thang too, bebbeh. As I been sayin’, Eric’s a scat-fer-brain, and ya report to him now. He plays the tuff guy, he’s got that biker jacket, but he ain’t no son of a plummer, no way. Ya gotta be profeshnul wit’im; Ya gotta be respectful wit’ im, no lip or nuthin’; and ya gotta look like a million bucks, even if he pay ya tree fiddy an’ no mo. Maybe git yerself sum new wheels now that yer in da big time, bebbeh.”
“So he’s a pencil pusher who just acts tough? Damn, it’s just like the North all over again.” - this is what Mike thought, but did not say, as he shook on it with Dream and left. That said, the prospect of getting a new car was not an unwelcome one. In his Northern years, Mav would putter around in a funky Swanson hatchback - which fit his needs well enough initially, but turned out problematic towards the end of his run when the promotion started hiring bigger wrestlers and he promptly ran out of people who’d been paying his gas costs. Mike’s next vehicle, one he used in his later years as an enforcer, was a half-ton Bowie crew cab. Neither of the two looked nice by 1993. Mav recognized, too, that at 38 years of age he was tired of vehicles with only “adequate” comfort levels; with his life’s profession restored and much vigorous touring likely to commence soon, he wanted a ride that would involve and disturb him less. On top of it all, it could furnish him with the reputation of a good road partner - and thus good friend to have - in the locker room.
TL;DR: CSR154’s protagonist returns to his beloved wrestling business after years in exile. To re-establish himself as a professional to his corporate boss and a locker room leader to his colleagues, as well as to preserve his body on the road between events, this wrestler - the incomparable ex-bounty hunter Mike Maverick - needs a nice, modern, premium ride to depend on in his travels.
- Years: Model Year - unrestricted; Trim Year - 1993.
- Body Type: Sedan, Coupe, Hatchback, Wagon.
- Wheelbase: 104.3 inches (2.65m) minimum, 124.0 inches (3.15m) maximum.
- No Legacy Car Bodies - if you mouse over a body and it says “Legacy Car Bodies” in the Mod Name tab, it’s banned.
- Suspension: For balance reasons, certain rear suspension designs - Double Wishbone, Multilink, and Pushrod - are subject to a $1,400 price penalty. Thus (for example) $21,100 listed approximate cost is equal to $22,500 if any of those three suspension types are chosen. This applies both to front- and rear-engined vehicles.
- Wheels: Radials required. No race tires, no semi-slicks. Tread width must end in 5, never 0.
- Interior: 5 full seats or more
- Safety: Only Standard 80s/90s or Advanced 80s/90s allowed.
- Price (as per Detailed Stats): No more than AM$28,000
- Years: Family Year - unrestricted; Variant Year - 1993.
- Architecture: No V16s.
- Fuel System: No Race intake. Unleaded fuel required; Regular and Premium both allowed.
- Exhaust: WES 7 or better emissions standard required. At least one muffler required. No Race or Turbo Race headers.
- Loudness: 45 or less.
All entries are allowed $40M in techpool costs. This is the sum of total costs for car and engine, as illustrated above.
If your installation of automation has exported the wrong techpool values in the past, you may send a screenshot of your techpool screen alongside your entry, in the same DM. In all cases where such a screenshot is sent, I will double-check your submission’s values with those on the screenshot, and correct if necessary.
If you do not use this feature and the techpool ends up wrong - or if the techpool sum on your screenshot is invalid as well - you will be binned.
Negative techpool values are prohibited.
Make sure your car has lights (headlights, taillights, turn signals), wipers, side mirrors - you know, make sure it looks like a car that could exist. Given the following priorities, a pretty one is preferred.
You are not required to hook up every light properly with automation’s lighting feature.
A center-mounted third brake light will not be required to avoid a bin - but you will get points off for not having one.
Do not make the car look like something it isn’t, either via fixtures or advanced trim settings. If you lose the roof on a fixed-roof body, use ATS to raise the suspension by 10 whole inches, or somehow manage to have your car only have 2 visible doors when the body sports four - you’re out.
Interiors are not required and will not be judged in this CSR - as usual.
THE CRITERIA
Design
Let’s put it in plain text: Following his time away from the industry, Mike needs all the confidence he can get. Make sure his car looks good and tells him: “You’re still the man!”.
Prestige
If there’s anything Mike has learned as a bail enforcement officer, it’s that people’s cooperativeness is based entirely on appearances. He is convinced that if he drives something nice, problems on the road will be harder to come by. That, and he’s kind of a sucker for a household-brand car himself, as is his wife.
Realism
OOC: The 1990s saw many methods to make a premium/luxury highway car. You do not have to adhere to some rigid blueprint. However, if Maxbombe and I see a BMW S85 engine 10 years ahead of time nestled between the rear wheels of a body-on-frame barge, mercy will not be shown. In all seriousness, this is a CSR; you are expected to do your own research, and take only well-calculated risks. Not our fault if your “math” ends up being off. Also: in this challenge, you are able to submit several different types and classes of cars, and will be rewarded for cohesion and common sense in that class. For example, if you manage to make a V12 7-Series, maybe allow it the dignity of drinking premium gas.
Comfort
It’s one thing to tolerate and stand up to punishment in the ring. That’s Mike’s job. Suffering on the road, though, is not his job; He wishes to spend that time in comfort. This would also earn much goodwill from his colleagues - having the cushiest ride in the locker room.
Reliability
What did all the promoters use to like about The Maverick? He always showed up when and where he was needed. This is because his Swanson hatchback didn’t take days off any more often than he did. Though Mike is a bit older now, he knows he can’t afford no-showing because of a catastrophic failure or something.
Practicality*
This one’s self-explanatory. You being on the road means you have all your gimmicks with you, and so does everybody in the back - and it can be all kinds of stuff. There was this one heel manager who used to carry around a tennis racket case fulled with bricks…
I will not purely judge the in-game stat; instead, this scoring area will be based on a holistic reckoning of the vehicle’s ability to carry several large individuals and their gear and beer - from the shape and size right down to the suspension bits.
Drivability
Mike knows how to handle a car, and he’s confident in himself as well as his judgement of possible replacement drivers. That being said, it’s always nice to have a vehicle that keeps itself straight and stable.
Fuel Economy
While Maverick is more comfortable in his wealth now, overhead is still overhead, and a wrestler covers a lot of miles on the road. Apparently some kid from Texas in the territories saved a whole lotta cash driving a Hyundai and offering to pay for gas if his friends paid for beer, and if that isn’t a hustle, Mike doesn’t know what is. So… Maybe do better than 10 mpg or something crazy like that.
Value
For what it’s worth, Mike has been a pretty good skip rustler. The budget he’s set himself for his own discipline doesn’t reach all the way down his pocket, so he’s fine buying a car that uses it all. He’ll be pleased to bits if he doesn’t have to, though - thrifty habits die hard.
Safety
The road is as hazardous a place as the ring. Should the an accident occur, it’d be up to the car to save Mike from a career-shortening injury. No tin cans, please.
Service Costs
It’s a reality of the luxury car sector that they’re more expensive to fix. Mike understands that he won’t be seeing the same repair bills as with an old Canadian sporty-ish hatch or his spartan truck this time around; still, it’d be nice not to break the bank with this stuff.
Performance and Sportiness
Mike isn’t a massive performance junkie - though he’d been a fan of how spry his Swanson felt, cars are faster as a rule now, and he’d found out quickly back in the early 80s that once up to speed on the highway, having a mammoth under the hood didn’t really help in many ways. As long as the car’s good enough for basic merging and evasion, he will be satisfied.
Environmental Resistance
The Maverick is not blind. He knows a war is coming eventually, between the currently-Southern promotion he works with and the people up North that threw him out - so he is not under the illusion that he will face no road salt. Give him a car that stands a chance.
Note: If a stat or aspect of the car is not listed here, that’s no reason to dump it to salvage the other stats. Eventually - and doubly so for the finals - the cars will be judged holistically, and any shortcomings your cars may have will bubble to the surface. You all have been warned.
INSPIRATIONS
Cadillac Seville
BMW 5-Series
Acura Legend
Lincoln Mark VIII
Citroen XM
Buick Roadmaster
Lexus SC
Audi 100 Avant
Chrysler Concorde
SUBMISSION RULES
- Submissions open on April 2, 2024, 11:59 pm CDT (UTC-5)
- Submissions close on April 21, 2024, 11:59 pm CDT (UTC-5)
- The naming scheme is CSR161 - (forum username) for the car model and engine family. Trim and variant are free.
- A complete submission includes a .car file sent to either of us - @Texaslav or @Maxbombe - via Discourse PM between the opening and closing of submissions, as well as a post in this thread with at least one picture of the car no later than 12 hours after the round closing.
CHANGELOG
- 04/01/24: Added Safety as a 2-star; clarified tread width rules.
- 04/02/24: Challenge open. Clarified the seat count rule.
