ROUND 2
FIGHT
undisclosed location somewhere in Semyonovia, near Seydotzt
April, 1955 - PROVING GROUNDS
The Honorable General and Chairman Akulov arrived at the proving grounds early in the afternoon, their transport, an old Zenith 150 kept in the country after its failed trials years earlier, only coming close to overheating once or twice as it made its way through the spring heat. The two, who had become fast friends, had a quick and uneventful ride, but were then instructed to wait at a certain location for someone. While they waited, they looked over all four vehicles.
The General, of course, stood near the Federal Avtozavod, while Yanovikch took a liking to the Rhino, now that he had gotten over its decidedly Western appearance. They waited for the good part of an hour, before the special guest they had been told to wait for arrived. King Gevketovt II’s limousine pulled up next to the Avtozavod, and the cheery King of Semyonovia stepped out. “Gavula! Nice to see you again!” he exclaimed, giving the General a firm handshake. He turned to Yanovikch, embracing him warmly. “It’s great to see you both again!” he said, and the three, after a brief chat, turned to the subject at hand. “I’ve heard about the four you picked - shall we go for a drive?” The King, who had become more and more of a gearhead since the first Petrov SEMs arrived in Semyonovia, turned to Gavula. “Which one has the V8?”
FEDERAL AVTOZAVOD Виктор Мк.II
The Victor’s V8 roared to life as the King twisted the key in the ignition. Gavula, in the passenger seat, and the King immediately began chatting about the truck. “It’s got a 2.6 liter V8, pushrods, overbuilt block from what I’ve seen,” the General told him. “Ah, tiny engine. How much power?”
“Enough, I suppose. Sixty or seventy, manufacturer says seventy-five at the crank.”
The King upshifted to third.
“Four speed, that’s certainly a rare one.”
Gavula nodded. “Most had three. Name certainly adds to it, too - the Victor. Not bad.”
“How much can it tow, Yanovikch?”
“Enough, the men say the test loads they brought here were no trouble for it. That’s including the one-ton. It carried the boxes they were given just fine inside, as well. A bit slow with all that weight, but it managed.”
The King downshifted, going uphill. “Seems quite nice to drive. Much better than those older trucks we use.”
“It is a few decades newer,” Gavula reminded him. “But I do admit, it’s quite good anyhow.”
“How long have we been going, Yanovikch?” the King queried.
“About fifteen minutes, I’d say about six or seven miles,” came the reply.
“Not excellent in the realm of fuel consumption, then, is it?”
“It does have a V8,” Gavula reminded him. “No matter how small it is.”
“Let’s go off-road, then,” the King said, pulling off the hill and up a small embankment. “Plenty of torque, I see.”
After several minutes, the trio had crossed quite a bit of terrain, arriving to a river bank.
“Gentlemen,” the King said, “I think this one could be a very solid vehicle. What’s the price, Yanovikch?”
“They said it’s just under twelve hundred Dakotz. Projected service costs are a bit on the high side, but not too much more costly than two of the other three, cheaper than one.”
“Let’s head back then, shall we?” Gavula said. “I think the V8’s just a bonus for this one - though who knows what that means for reliability.”
“What’s next, then?” the King asked. “One of you have a preference?”
“The Rhino,” Yanovikch quickly replied.
“Let’s get to it, then,” Gavula said, opening the driver’s door.
FRANKLIN RHINO PERSKTOKT
“It’s automatic,” he quickly exclaimed, a mixed expression on his face. Still, he stepped in and turned the key in the truck’s ignition, and with a sputter, the four cylinder started up.
“Sounds much weaker than the Avtozavod, although it’s not a V8,” the King observed, stepping in and taking the passenger’s seat - leaving Yanovikch sandwiched in the middle.
“Still works quite well for the task at hand, according to the men - towed everything no sweat, but it had trouble with the weights we put in the bed.”
“That’s odd,” Yanovikch said. “I thought this one could carry the most.”
“Well, it does have an open back. Could be a benefit or a drawback in several ways,” Gavula chimed in.
“Let’s get moving,” the King said.
Gavula put the Rhino in gear, and pressed his foot onto the gas. Very little response. “It’s quite slow.”
“Hmm.” Yanovikch watched the revs climb slowly. “The two-speed and a tiny engine aren’t a great combination.”
“Gevketovt, what’s the engine like?” Gavula asked, foot still to the floor.
“It’s a small one. 1.8 liter four cylinder. Fifty horsepower.”
Once the heavy truck hit sixty, after forty seconds, Gavula twisted the wheel and took it down an embankment. “This can’t be good for going up hills,” he observed. “We won’t be able to tow too much.”
Yanovikch chimed in again. “Doesn’t seem to be as good as the - ouch!” Just as Gavula went over a rock. “Doesn’t seem to be as good as the Avtozavod off road, and how much does it cost?”
“Twelve-fifty,” the King said, reading from a spec sheet. “Somewhat more than the Avtozavod. Predicted maintenance is… Also more.”
Gavula, turning back onto a main road, remarked, “Seems better to drive than the Avtozavod on the road, though. Simpler. Goes where you want it a bit more.”
“No matter, though - I don’t think this’ll do quite as well,” the King said.
“It just seems to be a bit worse than the Avtozavod in most ways,” Yanovikch agreed.
Gavula brought the Rhino back to the strip of road where the two remaining trucks were parked, and hopped out.
“What now, gentlemen?” the General shouted.
“Next in line, of course,” the King replied with a chuckle. “I’d have to say the frowny one.”
“Alright, then.”
MAURUS
Gavula, again, hopped into the driver’s seat of the beige vehicle. Noticing the four-speed manual, he let out a sigh of relief. “Hopefully this one’ll be a bit faster,” he said, which resulted in resounding agreement from the two others. Yanovikch in the back and the King in the passenger seat yet again, the three set off, immediately noticing the difference in speed.
“It’s much faster than the Rhino. Much faster,” the Foreign Minister exclaimed from the rear seat.
“Still seems slower than the Avtozavod, though,” the King replied.
“Seems to be, yes.”
“Engine?” Gavula asked.
“Overhead cam? Fancy - oh, 2.2 liter 4 cylinder. Less power than the V8, of course. About twenty horses more than the Rhino, twenty torques,” Yanovikch said, reading off the vehicle’s specifications.
“Seems a bit worse to drive than the other two, but not a remarkable amount,” Gavula observed.
“The men say this one had the most trouble towing, but was okay in regard to equipment in back. Towing estimation by the manufacturer isn’t even half a ton.” Yanovikch continued reading. “Rear suspension is soft - hey, try taking it off-road.”
“Doesn’t sound very enthusiastic,” Gavula said, describing the exhaust note, before pulling off and climbing up an embankment. “This is quite capable, it feels like. More so than the other two. Much more than the Rhino.”
“It certainly seems to have little trouble. Makes me wonder how good a rear-drive truck would be at this,” Yanovikch added. “So, it seems to be capable - it’s a little better offroad than the other two, but it can’t tow. I think the Avtozavod is still in the lead for now - any thoughts?”
Gevketovt and Gavula simply agreed, the latter beginning to drive back to the strip of land where the other three vehicles were parked.
The three disembarked and moved on to the last vehicle, another boxy brute, with less of a frown.
PERSKTOKT EMPIRE I
“Looks quite the part, like the Avtozavod, doesn’t it?” King Gevketovt spoke first, taking in the Empire. “And it’s got quite a good name, the Empire. I like it. Let’s go for a drive, shall we?”
The trio piled in, yet again, to the Empire, with Yanovikch in the driver’s seat. Twisting the key in the ignition, the Foreign Minister took note of the rough idle and lazy sound. “King, do you have the spec sheet?”
“Right here. Engine?”
“Of course.”
“About eighty horses, one-twenty torques. Most powerful thus far, isn’t it?”
Gavula chimed in to correct him from the back seat. “Still the Victor, it’s got more than one-twenty torques if I remember correctly.”
Yanovikch shifted the truck into first, with another four-speed manual.
On the first corner, he noticed something. “Not very easy to drive, is it? Doesn’t handle too well.”
“It is a truck,” the King chimed in, with some agreement from Gavula.
“I heard you two complimenting the other three - this just seems more like our old trucks.”
“Take it off-road,” Gavula advised. “Try it there - it must be compromise.”
Yanovikch complied with the advice, turning off and beginning to climb up through the foothills.
“It is quite good at this, but it seems to have about as easy of a time as the Maurus.”
The King shrugged. “How’s the towing and load rated by the men?”
“They say it’s able to tow, load is worrying,” Gavula answered.
“And price? You two remember the others’?”
“The Avtozavod - Victor, was it? - was the cheapest, Maurus was second, and I believe these two are even - hold on.” Gavula thumbed through the papers he’d been given. “Yes, they’re about the same.”
“And they’re all about as easy-to load, aren’t they? No big issues there…” Yanovikch stated.
“Should we head back, gentlemen?”
The King’s suggestion was met with an agreeable reaction.
THE FINAL DECISION
The three stepped out of the Empire, Yanovikch killing the engine as he did so. With all four trucks lined up, they had to make a decision - only one would do.
“So, gentlemen.”
Gavula began with a firm tone.
“We have to eliminate. Which first?”
“The Rhino is expensive, both in purchase and estimated maintenance. Can’t haul too much in the bed, only slightly better on-road, seemed a bit more economical than the rest but still used regular fuel.” Yanovikch took a breath. “While I do enjoy the styling - looks quite odd, maybe British? - I don’t think it’s justifiable when we could buy more of another model that performs better for less or the same.”
“Well, that’s one out,” the King said, pausing for a moment to listen as the whistle of a jet engine cracked the silence of the desert. Gavula waved to the sky as an inverted MiG passed overhead.
“One out, as I said,” the King repeated. “What’s next?”
“The Maurus is just slightly worse than the other two - it is, admittedly, cheaper than the Empire, but the Victor is even less. It’s got worse economy - and that’s rated, so it might be biased - it’s a bit harder to drive, but it does still have the cheapest maintenance, our men say. It’s still worse at going offroad than the Empire, and more expensive than the Victor, so I’d say it’s out.” Gavula delivered his statement concisely.
“Alright, we’ve got two left.” Yanovikch gestured to the Empire and, then, to the Avtozavod.
“Which will it be?” Gavula asked his final question
“The Victor,” the King said. “It’s cheaper, almost as economical, easier to drive, and only slightly less capable off-road - while it’s able to tow and haul a hell of a lot more. Sure, it’s got very slightly higher projected maintenance costs - but it costs so much less that it doesn’t matter. We’d be spending that amount anyway by the time it caught up. And from what I’ve seen so far from our evaluations, it’s not even unreliable no matter the V8.”
Yanovikch asked one question. “What’s the price difference?”
“77 Dakotz.”
Gavula, of course, agreed heartily with the decision.
CONGRATULATIONS @Caligo - 1st Place with the Federal Avtozavod Victor Mk.II!
4th @Jaimz - Franklin Rhino Persktokt
APRIL 1955 - ROYAL SEMYONOVIAN GROUND ARMED FORCES ADOPT VICTOR MK.II
AS GENERAL PURPOSE UTILITY VEHICLE AND TACTICAL TRANSPORT AFTER EVALUATION
MAY 1955 - ROYAL SEMYONOVIAN AIR DEFENSE FORCE ADOPTS VICTOR MK.II
AS ALL PURPOSE UTILITY VEHICLE AFTER EVALUATION
AUGUST 1955 - FIRST 195 AVTOZAVOD VICTORS ARRIVE IN SEMYONOVIA
price difference was really 67 but gotta go for that throwback
, but I had leaf springs in the rear. My engine turned out 65hp and 112 Nm of torque, any more and I would have imminent piston and conrod failure. I would sure like to study your mules when this is over, make me a better designer.
, but overall good round.