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The City of New York is one where owning a car is entirely optional. Between buses, subways, cabs, and feet, a denizen can get just about anywhere without too much difficulty. This has been fortunate for one Greer Nelson, but she's starting to think that having a set of wheels would be, well, if not necessary, at least useful. After all, it'd be a little embarrassing to have trouble getting to an ACT-F meeting due to a lack of transportation. And so she's been looking around at used cars. Not vigorously, and not necessarily seriously, but curiously. A look at classifieds, a question to a friend at a police station, and so on. One thing led to another, and those things have led her here.
*
She's currently in human form, dressed fairly casually with loose brown slacks, cream blouse and white jacket worn over it. Her hair's pulled back in a loose ponytail and a small purse is under her arm as she steps inside curiously.
*
Julie is sitting by one of the side bars with a few others of her age group, a couple of girls and a guy in largely-similar attire to herself, there's a pitcher of some yellow beer there and some surf instrumental playing on the jukebox behind, while some other kids shoot pool and otherwise mingle.
*
If Greer were Tigra right now, her tail would be in motion with doubt. This doesn't seem the best place to be for this. Sure, lots of people aorund are into cars, she thinks as she enters and steps towards a bar to order a drink. Awfully, young, though, she thinks from her lofty height of 26. Maybe not entirely reputable, she also thinks, as she gets handed a bottle of beer. She takes a small sip and steps over to the jukebox to see what's playing. Has a good soudn to it.
*
Julie might seem a pretty unlikely mechanic, in these days, but is presently actually talking shop to one of the taller boys there. Well, helpfully the back of her jacket is decorated with an angel-winged logo, with a cartoonish military helicopter smoking large tires. "Angelo's Speed & Aviation, San Bernadino," the stencil-painted letters say. She turns a bit as the tall lady makes her way in, saying, "Well, Mikey, I did bring along a tri-power setup just in case, but so far so good with 'that fancy fuel injection.'"
*
It's an era for challenging and defying stereotypes, and noone would know that better than Greer, herself. She studies the jukebox for a moment, listening to the music, the occassional clack of pool balls, and catches a bit of conversation that sounds like it might belong to her target. Another sip of her beer, and Greer turns away from the music machine and towards the woman in the jacket. She stands at that slightly awkward distance of someone who wants to be noticed, but is trying to not interrupt rudely.
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Julie can't really help but noticing, perhaps, so just smiles. "How ya doing?" she says, accent all Brooklyn-Italian, and she gives a ready smile, raising a glass. "New around here?" she questions a bit.
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Greer returns the smile with one of her own, and lifts her bottle slightly in a return toast. "That obvious?" she asks, knowing that it certainly is. "You sound like someone that I was told to look up. Dizzy?" she asks, then looks to the boy Julie's speaking to. "I don't want to interrupt, though."
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Julie ahs, "Yeah, that's me. Well, pull up a beer or something, what can we do for ya? Ah, this is my cousin Mikey, and Joanie and Jenny."
*
At the invitation to pull up a beer, Greer waggles her bottle. "Step ahead of you," she says. "And me, I'm thinking about looking for a used car, and friend of a friend suggested you might be someone to talk to. I'll be honest with you, I don't know how serious I am, yet, but I wanted to get a feel for what my options might look like."
*
Julie ahs, nods. "Oh, well, we got some here and there, depends what you're looking for. Know what you're looking for? Mikey and some of the boys got a real nice Golden Hawk about ready for paint, if you're looking for something nice and pretty fast." Eyes Mikey on that and he nods. "Otherwise, what's in front of the shops or whatnot. Kind of a family operation, you see."
*
"Not entirely sure," Greer answers with an apologetic look. "I don't think that I need anything 'fast,' fun as it might be to have," she adds. "Something in a sedan or wagon most likely. Dependable and reliable. I don't expect to drive a -lot-, but when i do I want to know that I can count on whatever I have."
*
Julie nods, there. "Well, Studebakers qualify as dependable, for sure, one reason there's always so many in the family. But sedans and wagons, what we got around…"
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"Do they?" Greer asks with genuine curiosity. "I honestly don't know a lot about cars. I know a good looking one when I see it, but that's it. Kid I knew growing up called them 'Stupidbakers,' but never had a good reason why."
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Julie laughs a little. "Depends which ones, I guess, unless it's just brand loyalty. Company's kinda been falling behind the times a good bit, having money troubles half the time. Those little Larks, actually they're just bigger cars from somewhere in the Fourties they kinda shortened to make a smaller car. But there's still some good ones."
*
A small nod from Tigra, and then a small sip of her beer as she listens. "Well, what else ought I be thinking about, then? I mena, wht else might be a good option, price/performance/reliability wise?"
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Julie says, "Guess it depends what kind of performance you want and what kind of price you can pay. I been doing a lot with Chevy lately, but I ain't biased. Some of those new Dodges got one doozy of a smallblock you can get, still aren't a lot out there for used, though. If you need a wagon, whatever reason, we keep plenty around, you know, the family set and all. Doesn't take long to drop some kind of V-8 in, generally."
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Greer's eyebrows go up. "Drop a V-8? I wasn't even thinking about modifying whatever I did wid up choosing. Do I want to know how much something like that would -cost- though?" she asks warily.
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Julie says, "Kind of depends on the particular case, really, and what you got to work with. Not too uncommon we get pretty nice wagons with an overtaxed six in there, or someone cracks up a car with a nice engine. The right combination, not so hard to just put em together." Glances over to Mikey, "Speaking of which, we got anything across the river that's already got a decent mill in it?"
*
ROLL: Julie +rolls 1d100 for a result of: 81
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Greer shakes her head, not in disagreement, just in surprise at the thought of a modification like that. "Six? Oh, V-6?" she asks, seeing if she understands. "Is it just a case of taking out the engine and putting in a new one? They match up with what's there?" Now she looks over at Mikey when he's addressed. "Mill?"
*
Julie says, "Well, that's the part that depends, usually you gotta change mounts or crossmembers and such but if you don't get too weird it's usually just like you got the bigger engine option in the first, give or take a few details. Err, mill's an engine."
Mikey does interject. "Well, we got this '60 Falcon with a 273 in it, put a mild cam in it and ported it for a four barrel. It was for this girl, but, err, that didn't work out."
*
The not at all feline woman nods a little as Julie explains, following it somewhat better than she expected to, and pleased by it. WHen Mikey speaks, Greer turns her attention to him, and looks slightly puzzled. "Four barrel? And I know what a cam is, but I don't know what it means for one to be 'mild?'"
*
Julie laughs, a little bit. "Bigger carburetor, give you more power, and mild, well, that's a bit spicier than usual, but nothing unruly. A real hot one you might not find so practical or reliable. But a little eight, that's a good way to go, as long as you don't get too out of hand with it."
*
Greer starts to ask about spicy cams, and then decides she doesn't want to know, right now. "Right. Practical and reliable's more important than being 'hot,'" she agrees. "Can you give me a rough price on something like that?" she asks, looking from Mikey to Julie. "So I know what might or might not be doable for me."
*
Julie nods, looks to Mikey to give an asking figure, since it's his project, apparently. It may be a fair bit less than Tigra was imagining such engine swaps and all would cost, at least. And significantly less than buying new." She sips her beer, and says, "Course, it all depends if you like it. Can be a bit more to get the handling better, but we always upgrade the brake cylinders if they need em, …if you go fast, you gotta be able to stop."
*
Greer looks thoughtful for a moment, and then nods. "That gives me a general idea of what i'm looking at it, then," she says. "And that's what I was after. I need to sit down and do some numbers to see what might or might not be doable, and then I can look at this more seriously." She smiles around. "Thank you for you help, all of you. I expect I'll be seeing you again."
*
Julie smiles, and fusses in pockets, "Well, here's a card," she says, "We got a shop in Little Italy we could bring her around if Brooklyn's a pain for you to get to."
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Greer takes the card and looks over it, making sure she understands what's on it. "No, Brooklyn's not a problem. Not for me, at least." Especially not for someone who can take shortcuts across rooftops. "Thank you again," she says with a smile, tucking the card away, setting her bottle on the bar and turning to leave.
*
Julie nods, and says, "Awl right, then, give us a call, nice ta meetcha." She smirks to Mikey, then, and says, "You built that for some girl, what was it a marriage proposal or something?" There's various laughter as the taller guy holds out his hands like 'What can you do.'
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