Erin’s vehicle, a van really, is a modified version of the enclosed carriage that you see everywhere. It doesn’t have a horse, obviously, but I happened to find these glorious porcelain equines that I mounted into the front hood of the entire thing. Because she wanted speed and stability–I suspect to transport heavy and illegal goods across town–I built it low to the ground on a modified GWF chassis. The wheels are only a half meter height, but there are three of them on each side. Solid rubber and brass wheel rims.

It corners beautifully and really accelerates once you engage the flywheel on the straight ways. Sadly, the flywheel does lock the steering column as part of the acceleration. We found out the hard way, you do not turn on the flywheel while turning.

That was the first time I hit a wall with that monstrosity, but not the last.

The driver’s seat is half-opened along with the passenger, but the rest of it is a very plain cabin with two benches. I found some lovely wrought iron railings and places them on the top and back. Not a place you’d like to ride on, but it gave Erin a little extra storage space.

Not entirely sure why I built it the way I did. I mean, I was young (um, younger) and thought I knew the answer to everything. Looking back, I probably wouldn’t have made that mistake with the flywheel and space out larger tires more. The second time Erin used it to jump the curb, I think it nearly flipped over. Now, she keeps on the streets, but that cobblestones are killer on the bladder.

Now, bet you are wondering why I’m talking about Erin’s van. I guess I could call it the Steam Pressure Accelerated Transportation. SPAT has a nice ring to it, but I feel self-conscious giving long names to something I created. Most of the time, I reall call it vehicle, van, or… splat (after the noise my head makes when I hit the dash).

Well, part of my “retainer” with Erin is maintaining her SPLAT. That makes sense since that is how I got hired when I was fifteen. (Note to others, when you are out on the street and someone offers you 5k to fix a GWT “real fast”, do it. Even if you have no clue how mechanical items actually work.)

It took me a few days to get the repairs done. I was disappointed since one of the equines was trashed and I couldn’t find a black one. I did manage to steal a brown one from an old merry-go-round across town, but the fade red rose looked… out of place with Erin’s obviously criminal intents.

Oh well. The engine itself didn’t take much. I’ve repaired that thing so often that I could almost do it blindfolded. I did find a crack manifold, but a few days later, it was belching smoke out like the day I finished it.

… I wasn’t very good at 20 at these things. I got much better after my first quarter century.