The Brandenburg Reaper

CH.1 - A Humble Beginning

With a loud creak, the garage door shutters began to open, albeit with struggles. Light partially peeked inside the dusty garage as Lucas sighed, "C'mon, just a little... ngh... more..." He struggled with the garage door but managed to lift it up. "There we go!" Lucas exclaimed, stepping aside to let his friend gaze upon what he had just purchased, the garage had an old, nearly rustic smell to it. It was obvious that it hadn't been cleaned out for a long time.

Within the dusty garage rested paint cans, oil cans, jerry cans, old rims, and wheels next to wooden planks. However, the center of the garage had the most interesting thing.

The Mercedes-Benz hood ornament was hard to miss, nestled on the hood above the chrome grille. The boxy, yet elegant and aggressive design, along with a rear spoiler that looked slightly out of place, confirmed it was a Mercedes, a mass-production model or, at least, a sportier version.

Felix looked surprised at Lucas's find, letting out a low whistle as he walked in, stepping over the paint cans to the side of the car. "Damn, you found a really good-looking car... is this someone's project car? I mean, the bodywork, fenders, they don't look stock." Felix commented on Lucas's vehicle. Instead of nodding, Lucas shook his head. "No, it's all stock from the factory." Felix moved his attention away from the car, looking up at Lucas, definitely curious now. "Well, what model is this?" Felix asked, and Lucas finally stepped foot within the garage and came closer to his new car, trailing his fingers over the car's bodywork for just a moment. "It's a 1991 Mercedes-Benz E190 Evo 2... or you can say E190 2.5-16. Some websites list this car's name that way too."

It was then they both became a little bit more talkative with each other. Felix took a seat on the car's hood, as well as Lucas.

"That's a bit of a mouthful."

"Yeah, you don't say. I also had struggles remembering this thing's full name for the first few days of owning it."

"A few days?... How long did you have it for?"

"Well, technically a week and 3 days, but I only got it today. I got it online; some older man was selling their car, and I cannot believe the price I got it for."

"And... how much did it cost you then? Because I mean, this is an early '90s Mercedes; these things were probably very overpriced then and now."

"Yeah, they cost a lot. The cheapest one I found online was for 19,000 Euros, and it wasn't even functional. This one, on the other hand, I paid only 8,000 Euros. It was a bit of an investment, sure, but these things, functional, can cost up to 150 grand."

"Jesus Christ."

"Yeah, the guy selling it had genuinely no clue what this thing's market value was. It was a once-in-a-lifetime deal; I just couldn't pass up." Lucas paused, a look of guilt entering his face, followed by a deep sigh. "So my savings account is back to where I started. but I could do some interior detailing, deep cleaning; I'm sure I could flip this car for a good 40,000 if I wanted to."

"Yeah, from the surface, it looks like a really bad idea, but now that you mention it, I think anyone in your shoes would've done the same."

"Yeah, definitely... it has a 2,463cc inline 4 engine, which was... a bit of an odd design choice, I suppose. I mean, a lot of engines at that displacement are inline 6 or V6."

"How much power does it make, then?"

"Factory power is 232 Hp at 7,200 RPM, but I can definitely feel that it's not making that power. The internals should be okay; it has only 90,600 km on the odometer. It was definitely driven around through its lifetime; I just beg that the previous owner actually bothered with basic maintenance."