The Story
British Columbia, Canada 1998
Earl walks into the house from mowing the yard and sees Wendy sitting in the kitchen, staring into space.“What’s wrong, hon?” He asks. She startles, as if just noticing her husband.
“I just got off the phone with my mother. My father is in the hospital…he had a heart attack last night.”
Earl gets down on on one knee and takes Wendy’s hand into his. “My god, is he alright?”
“Yes, it sounds like he is stable. But…Earl, they’re not getting any younger. I don’t know if ma can take care of him herself.I…I’ve been thinking.”
“What?”
“Perhaps that it’s time for us to move back home?”
Earl is taken back and takes a moment before answering. “Moving back to the states? Back to Carolina? I dunno hon, what of all that we’ve made for ourselves here? The reasons that we left in the first place?”
“Earl, it’s been 30 years It’s not like it was when we were younger, the world’s grown to be a better place. And I imagine most people have long since forgotten why we left back then. And what tensions we did have with folks have mostly been mended with our yearly visits with the RV. Besides, love, I miss home. Don’t you?”
Earl gets up and walks over to the sink, staring out the window. He watches the birds flitting through the trees in silence for a moment before sighing. “Yeah, I do miss it sometimes. As much as I love it here, there is always a little bit of me that always there. And as you said, our parents ain’t getting any younger. It did seem like my own ma was starting to slow down as well. Taking care of the homestead by herself does seem to be taking a toll on her. ”
Wendy walks up to Earl, placing her arm around his waist and leans her head on his shoulder. “Perhaps it’s time for us to start a new chapter? The kids are adults now, they get by fine. Perhaps it is time for us to get back to our roots?”
Earl bends and kisses the top of Wendy’s head. “Yeah, perhaps it is.”
Six months later, South Carolina, USA
Wendy and Earl’s old Waddser pulls up in front of an old farmhouse. An elderly woman is waiting for them on the porch. She comes down the steps as Wendy exits the RV and embraces her in a hug. “My, my, our baby girl has come home,” she weeps.
“Yes, mama, that we have. How’s pa doing?”
“Oh, the stubborn old fool is as ornery as an ox. Keeps trying to do things around the place even though doc says to take it easy,” she laughs and embraces Earl as he gets out, “And how is my favorite son-in-law?”
“Oh, can’t complain. It’s always good to see you.”
“How’s you’re ma? Did you stop in to say hi?”
"Oh, she’s a firecracker like always, " Earl laughs, “And yeah, we swung by her place for breakfast this morning. She told us to send your her love.”
“Aww, what a darling. I’ve always liked her. Be sure to send her my regards the next time you see her.”
Wendy’s mother squints at the old Waddser RV. “So, were you planning on staying in that old thing?”
“Oh, no mama, we wound up selling our house is BC and found us a farmstead the next town over. But we also figured it best to sell our SUV rather than haul that down here with us as well.”
“So ya’ll are just driving around in a motor-home?”
Earl replies a little defensively, “Just for the time being. We just figured a new start could do with a new car as well. I never did really like how rough our SUV rode. Would rather have something more car like. Remember that Ariete we used to have years ago? That thing served us pretty well until our son crashed it when he got his license. Was thinking something like that, but something that sits up higher like the SUV. Something a bit more environmentally friendly as well. But preferably one that still has some off road capabilities. We’ve been seeing adverts for these things they be calling “crossovers”. Was thinking of looking into one of those.”
In summary, Earl and Wendy are looking for one of the early wave of crossovers from the late 90’s.
- Engine variant and Trim year set to 1998 (Engine and body family may be older)
- SUV or estate/wagon body type
- +5 tech pool all around (Default tech pool)
- No negative quality
- At least two rows of seats with full seat per row
- No legacy bodies (labeled “DLC” in game), mod bodies allowed
- Ellisbury stable version only
- Must meet WES 8 emission standards
- Regular unleaded fuel (86 AKI/91 RON)
- No race parts (semi slicks fall under this category)
We the hosts reserve the right to penalize wildly unrealistic engineering choices or apparent attempts to “min-max” or exploit the rules. So please try to keep the engineering reasonably down to earth.
Recommendations but not hard rules
- Recommended wheelbase: About 2.4-2.7 meters or 95-105 inches
- Recommended price range: About $16,000-$22,000 AMU
- Naming scheme “JOC6E - YourForumName” for both engine and body family, trim and variant is free
- please send a car file via DM to both oldmanbuick and Maverick74 and post an ad in this thread
- submissions open April 12th, rule discussion until then
- submissions end May 2nd, anywhere in the world
- Design - A car’s looks are considered a must for Earl and Wendy.
Since this is a US-market vehicle, keep in mind US-market rules including reflectors (amber by front, red by rear) and at least a rear US-dimensioned license plate. Bonus points awarded for interiors. - Fuel Economy - Wendy and Earl become environmentally conscious during their time in Canada
- Drivability - Wendy has never liked land yachts (see JOC6B), and while Earl is confident in his driving skills (see JOC6A), he’s gotten a bit tired of trekking halfway across the continent driving an RV (see JOC6E)
- Comfort - Earl and Wendy are both well into middle age now and have enough aches and pains of their own that they don’t want their car to add to them–which is doubly true for their parents who might ride with them on occasion.
- Reliability/Environmental Resistance - Earl and Wendy have always considered reliability in a car important and have held onto their vehicles for a long time, so it needs to hold up under daily use.
- Price - While Wendy and Earl have cash on hand at the moment, they’d prefer to invest their money in their farm and hold onto savings so a bad harvest or two won’t ruin them.
- Safety - They want a reasonably safe car, but it doesn’t need to have top-of-class safety for them to consider it.
- Performance - Earl doesn’t have the need for speed he once did, but he doesn’t want a total dog.
- Offroad - Wendy and Earl have spent a lot of their lives in places with bad roads and/or bad weather, so they appreciate having that capability even though there are many more paved roads in the area than there used to be.
- Practicality - Wendy and Earl need enough space to carry cargo when running errands and maybe to give their parents a ride to the doctor from time-to-time.
- Utility - While a bigger truck came with the farm, it would be nice if they didn’t have to use the big truck every time they need to pick up some supplies for the farm.
- Sportiness - Sure, Earl has mellowed with time…but he wouldn’t mind something that offers a little bit of driving fun.
- Prestige - They’ve gotten used to dancing to the beat of their own drum, so they don’t need to keep up with the Joneses…but it also would be nice to not be the but of jokes around town.
) and could maybe be seen as a Terrano II / Vitara competitor.
