Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Sinistra Motors Built a Luxury Car! (Lore Link)
Sinistra Motors Corporate Headquarters
Early 1950
“Well, that’s just great.” Luke Sinistra said, throwing the newspaper in the bin.
“What’s wrong, Boss?” A man stepped into the room, Luke’s test driver, Mark Jasper.
“Got this place up and running, and another bloody war starts. They’re talkin’ about commandeering the rail-lines. Guess how we get all the steel we need out here, Mark. The damn railways. They take the rails from us, we sink.” Luke said.
Mark gave Luke a wicked grin, then said, “I’ll go convert some Swift Trucks. You’ll get your steel by road, not rail.”
“Not a bad idea. Gets us some more truck drivers, employs new people who might be coming back from this conflict. Gives me time to finish this project.” Luke said.
Late 1950
“The hell is that, Luke?” Mark asked, seeing Luke had recovered the old crashed Swift sedan from the storage room. “Looks like the one you crashed, but that one, you shifted the rear axle about two feet to the left and busted the driveshaft.”
“Same car. Just testing some things.” Luke said.
“Well, it ain’t gonna go anywhere with this mess under the back. No axle, no differential, no driveshaft.”
“Bet you $25 it’ll go around the factory twice, just as it is.” Luke replied back. Mark rolled his eyes, then said, “Never seen a car go around without the back end. Fine, I’ll take your bet.”
Luke got in the car, started the small inline 6, and sped around the parking lot in a cloud of tire smoke, the cross-ply tires screaming as Luke hustled the battered old Swift around the factory once. Mark was standing in the parking lot, his jaw dropped as he watched this battered old car racing around the factory, spinning a front tire and dragging the back end on a sled. The second lap was done, and Luke hustled the monsterous machine back over toward Mark.
“What witchcraft is this!?” he asked.
“None. This is a car of the Future. Take a look under the hood, you’ll see…”
“That’s a funny lookin’ oil pan.”
“That’s because it’s a transmission. And a differential.”
“So that’s your plan? Drive the front wheels?” Mark asked.
“It’s a good plan. Easy to recover from a slide or skid. Easy to drive in winter snow or while it’s chucking down rain. Trust me when I say, give it 30 years, this will be as common as rear wheel drives, and give it 50, you won’t find much other than these.” Luke said. “And I’ll take that $25.”