Magazine Clippings
Stubbing out a cheap cigarette, Murphy cleared his throat. The rough skin on his hands made a sort of scuffing noise as he leafed through the initial magazine clippings.
“We got a few options, Bronson,” he explained, laying them out. All in all, twenty-two cars had caught his sharp eye. “Bear with me.”
@ldub0775 and @moroza
“The new Edgewater twins! I had no idea an Edgewater was in y- uh, our budget.” Bronson clasped his hands in front of his bushy mustache apologetically.
“Absolutely. And get this, they’re actually some kinda European type sports car. Not so big in the muscle department, but the way they handle…”
Bronson pinned the photo to his corkboard. His dark eyes looked over the plethora of offerings enthusiastically.
“Alright, Murph. Strong start- what’s next?”
@mart1n2005
“Well, to be honest, I had no idea Knightwick did sports cars.”
“Are these sports cars? They look more like… old-man cruisers.”
Murphy grinned, showing yellowed teeth, and thumbed the hood of the cars.
“Yeah, not super intimidating, but under that skin is a lively heart- six or eight cylinders- and the handling to back it up. And on a solid axle, too!”
Bronson nodded, rubbing his clean, dark chin as though he understood what that meant.
“Alright. Guess we can check 'em out.”
He pinned the Knightwicks to his corkboard, folding his arms.
“Am I gonna be impressed with the next one?”
“Probably not,” Murphy admitted.
@Ch_Flash
“Huh. They look a lot sportier than those Knightwicks- look at the extra lights and the crazy hood.”
“Well, that’s actually the cheaper trim.”
Bronson harrumphed.
“That… and they are sorta just not as good as the Knightwicks. They took that idea of low tech, high quality… but it didn’t hit. Saw 'em first, and saved the ad, but…”
[OOC] - The Malva Betula 1600 is not a bad car, and it’s one that braves the solid axle. Unfortunately, despite having a much smaller engine than the Knightwicks, they also do not handle as well. Good stats might have made up for this, but poor performance and unimpressive reliability box them out. That said, they are good looking.
Bronson balled up the copy, feeling a little sad about it. He liked that cream car.
“Well, what’s next?”
@the-chowi
“Wow! Are these Italian?”
“More than you know. They’re not at all reliable, they’re expensive, and they have a high upkeep.”
“Are they fast?”
“…well, yeah. The Sprint 3000 is actually pretty nuts. It’s the fastest car here: to sixty, to the quarter mile, and around corners. It’s a real, proper sports car.”
“We’re test driving them,” Bronson said, snatching the ad out of Murphy’s hands over his protests. He pinned it excitedly to the corkboard. “Next.”
Disgruntled, Murphy pulled out another page.
@Ludvig
“Hey, look at that. Reminds me of those old streamliner type cars.”
“Yeah, for sure.”
“Well, I’m a little mixed about that. What’s under the hood?”
“Real quick acceleration, that’s what. The 3000 is only beaten by… the 3000. But it’s a hell of a lot more reliable.”
“Yeah, but… what would make me buy it, besides that?”
“Not much,” Murphy admitted. “It’s not a comfortable car, and it’s rough around the edges: that acceleration doesn’t mean it’s got a good top speed, and it doesn’t handle well.”
Bronson tossed the ad into the trash.
[OOC] - This is another case of almost, but not quite. The RENNER twins compromise just a bit too much in their chase to do it all. They have above average reliability and acceleration, but flag in handling, comfort, and every other category.
@Danicoptero
“Hm. Well, not the prettiest cars I’ve ever seen.”
“No,” Murphy agreed, “But they’re really sporty-looking, and far from the worst. And that’s a pattern.”
“Huh?” Bronson took a sip of his coffee, curious what Murphy meant.
“Well, they’re on the lower end of the price bracket, but they don’t perform like it. Matter of fact, the 418M is the cheapest car here, and it’s more agile than some cars, and faster than others.”
“Everybody wins? My kind of compromise.”
Bronson pinned the Schultz Pheren pair to the corkboard.
“Let’s grab some air and check the rest of these out later.”
Murphy nodded, patting his shirt pocket and fishing out the red and white box from within.
“Got a lot of good stuff coming.”
Sorry for the delay, folks. Consider this part one of the initial reviews: anyone who can't quite make the cut is getting passed on from here, and we're going through them in alphabetical order. I try to offer a summary of where you came up short for those who do; I will say though, it's a closer race than I expected, and most of you are faster than a minivan!
