Why You’ll Find Vintage Cars in So Many of My Books

I’m adding a new category to my website titled The Chrome and Coffee Car Series. Each short story will feature a vintage car, a favorite old song, and a sentimental journey down memory road.

People sometimes ask me why so many of my books, short stories, covers, and website categories feature old cars. The answer goes all the way back to my childhood.

I started out in Kentucky, where fast cars were the norm. It seemed as though every vehicle there was fast and I believe most of them still are. The exception was the old green pickup truck we piled into when we headed north for Michigan. That truck wasn’t fast, fancy, or covered in chrome, but it carried our family and everything we could take with us toward a different life.

Cars became part of the way I remembered things. A certain car could bring back a person, a place, or an entire stretch of my life. Add an old song playing on the radio, and the years could fall away in an instant.

That love for cars didn't fade when we reached Michigan. I grew up near Detroit during the great years of American automobile manufacturing. Back then, the industry wasn't just a business it was a way of life. Almost every family I knew had someone who worked for one of the Big Three, or for one of the countless companies that supplied them. Cars paid the mortgages, bought the groceries, and sent kids to school. They were woven into everyday life.

Every fall, the new models rolled off the assembly lines, and it was an event. People gathered around dealership windows just to get a glimpse of them. Everyone had an opinion. Some loved the long, sweeping fins. Others argued over chrome, horsepower, or which company had finally "gotten it right" that year. Colors mattered. Tail lights mattered. Hood ornaments mattered. Car bodies were made of steel and iron, not plastic.

As a teenage girl, I found myself surrounded by both cars and the boys who adored them. They proudly referred to their favorite rides as "chick magnets," convinced the right car could impress any girl. They could talk endlessly about cubic inches and carburetors.

But the girls liked cars too. If you had brothers, you learned to change a tire and knew exactly what a carburetor was. I’ll admit it with four brothers, I was impressed by both the cars and the boys. It was a lively, grease-stained, wonderful time to come of age.

Today, when I write or create a book cover for a car story, I often find myself searching for just the right classic car to become part of the narrative.

A car can tell you something about its driver before you ever open the book. That is what The Chrome and Coffee Car Series is really about. These stories aren't merely about automobiles. They are about the people who drove them, the roads they traveled, the songs they sang along with, and the memories that stayed long after the engines grew quiet.

To give you an example, look at how specific cars bring my characters to life:

• A turquoise 1959 Dodge Lancer for Geena.

• A green El Camino for Cowboy Johnson.

• A weathered Mercury for Mama.

• A rugged Jeep for Golden Haired Timmon.

• Normaine’s pink Cadillac convertible with fins so sharp they could split a hair in two.

These cars become characters in their own right, filled with personality and hope. Sometimes they're parked in front of an old desert store. Sometimes they're rolling down a lonely highway. And sometimes they're simply waiting for the next adventure.

Of course, not every story I write needs a car. In many of my books, they don't figure into the plot at all. But when they do appear, they are never accidental. They belong to the time, the setting, and the people who drive them.

Sometimes a car is just transportation. Other times, it is freedom, escape, or a treasured memory. And on the best days, it becomes almost as important as one of the characters themselves.

The boys grew up. The factories changed. Time rolled on.

But the roads are still out there, waiting to be traveled the old ones that still remember us.

So, pour yourself a cup of coffee, settle into the passenger seat, and come along.

We're taking the scenic route. If you love vintage cars, classic songs, and stories that stay with you long after the last page, you’ll feel right at home in The Chrome and Coffee Car Series.

Which classic car would you take on a road trip? I’d love to hear your stories drop a comment below and let’s get the conversation rolling.