The Car Shopping Round 67
Old and Wise
The Buyer
Meet Barry Dorman. World War II US Army veteran. Retired professor of electronic engineering. Married for 41 years to Eve, who worked for Boeing during the war, and as a community advocate and housewife after their kids were born. Barry is an avid fisherman and an outdoorsman, Eve a gardener who is still very involved in their community. A few years back, the last of the Dorman children graduated from college and moved out of the house. Barry and Eve are now settling down again at home after traveling Europe and South America, and Barry is back to spending time fishing and camping.
The Dormans have two older cars, but don’t really need two any more. Their home only has a single car garage and driveway, and some limited street parking. Eve is a social butterfly, and both hosts (necessitating the extra parking space) and often visits friends or travels to visit family for a weekend. When Barry is gone, Eve has more than enough of a support structure in place to justify eliminating the second car.
There is a third family member in the mix. Buck. Buck is Barry’s big, lovable, and dumb Black Lab. All heart and stomach and no brain, Buck accompanies Barry on his outdoor excursions, but otherwise rarely leaves home (or at least walking distance).
Barry is looking forward to consolidating and upgrading. While his '66 Townsend Trinidad has been a good car, it is more than showing its age; it’s falling apart. Eve, on the other hand, is not thrilled to be parting with her '74 Ardent Chancellor. Despite being a little over a decade old, Eve’s car still gets looks, and there are those in her gardening circle that would kill to have it.
Barry had to concede something in order to get Eve to give up her car. Thus, they both have to agree on the car.
Barry’s criteria: Must be able to hold his camping gear and also carry either an inflatable raft and pump or a canoe, depending on where he’s going. Needs to have enough ground clearance and off-road ability to handle forest service roads and the margins thereof where he may have to park. Has to be dependable and should be affordable. It would be nice if it was adaptable to whatever he needs it to do at the time.
Eve’s criteria: Doesn’t want anything super-bland or super-edgy. Elegant, if not erring on the side of conservative. She also may demand power steering on a larger vehicle; her Chancellor had it, and as she gets older, it gets harder for her to drive large cars without it.
Buck’s criteria: WHERE ARE WE GOING? ARE WE GOING IN THE CAR? CAN I GO IN THE CAR? WHERE ARE WE GOING? OOH, SQUIRREL! HI! I LOVE YOU. ARE WE GOING SOMEWHERE?
The Judging
The cars will be judged on the following criteria (in order of importance):
Flexibility: This is going to be Barry’s wilderness retreat partner (along with his dog, Buck). It is also the around-town runabout for both Barry and Eve. A pure off-road beast isn’t going to cut it, nor will a low-riding sport sedan. It needs to be balanced between the two.
Reliability: This is the last car that Barry intends to buy. Ever. It’s got to be a stalwart machine.
Styling: While Barry doesn’t care much about this, his wife does. She is used to driving a swanky car. She’s not going to have one of her own anymore, so she’d prefer not to drive around in a bland, rusty jalopy. On the other hand, she’s also fairly conservative, so won’t like anything overly radical.
Cost of Ownership: Barry has set a budget of $11000 for the new car (at 0% markup). Eve has some savings squirreled away as well, and she will contribute up to $2000 more for a car she really likes, even if it exceeds Barry’s original budget (again, 0 markup). But that extra money’s not a given; you have to cater pretty heavily to her (see Styling above), while not souring Barry on the vehicle. And since Barry likes to do his own basic maintenance, it’s possible to do just that through excessive cost.
Economy: Barry can afford to fill up his car, but he has a natural preference to consume less. Premium unleaded is available, but has a 10% price premium, so bear that in mind if you decide to use it.
Accessories: You may optionally wish to advertise factory and dealer accessories for your model when you make your pitch. While it’s not required, as the host, I appreciate the ingenuity… and it MIGHT help sway Barry your way in a close battle.
An ad is required for all submissions. Also, while not required, it would be nice if your advertisement was priced in 1986 dollars, with an appropriate markup.
The Restrictions
Trim year must be 1986. Older models are fine as long as it’s been updated for the year they’re buying.
Car must meet all applicable US Federal safety and emission standards. That means unleaded fuel and a cat, and Standard 70’s or higher safety equipment. For fixtures that also means at least a driver’s side mirror and front/rear bumpers of some sort. Also, passenger cars (NOT including trucks) are required to have a “Center High Mount Stop Lamp” starting this year, the latest safety regulation.
Open beta UE4 for this round.
All workshop mods are allowed.
The Naming Conventions
Car model name: CSR67 - < username >
Car Trim Name: Full name of car
Engine Family Name: CSR67 - < username >
Engine Variant Name: Engine name
Deadline Sunday, March 25th, 16:00 Pacific Daylight Time (UTC -8)
Note: During creation of study models, I found potential issues with rear suspension setups. If there are calculation changes after you submit, I will allow a resubmission, as long as it’s not more than 24 hours after the close of the round. Current build as of the start of this thread: 180315
