What’s My Ride?

Finished working for the day, I was goofing around on Facebook a little bit ago doing a little “First Five Cars I Owned” application. After looking at my list — ‘71 Cutlass Supreme, ‘82 Chevette, ‘85 Dodge Charger, ‘88 Subaru DL wagon, and a ‘92 Taurus — I became absolutely convinced that every hero and heroine from my books had been blessed with much cooler wheels, or at least with vehicles more indicative of their personalities. In fact, choosing characters’ cars was one of the perks when I started writing romantic suspense (although picking out horses for the historicals had its charms, too).

The choice of a character’s car tells a great deal about the person. An outdoorsy heroine who loved to hike had a nifty little red Jeep. Another heroine still grieving for her long-dead father owned an old muscle car he admired (though it was always breaking down and costing her a fortune). Because my books are set in Texas, several characters – heroes and one horse-loving heroine – had pickups (Fords and Chevys, thank you very much). And one poor, down-on-her-luck heroine drove a decrepit van (which she could live in in a pinch) after her cute little Mini Cooper was repo’ed.

The choice of a vehicle can show a character’s cool (classic Mustang), cool-and-loaded (Lamborghini), stoked on power (Hummer, black Mercedes), or unrightly uptight (perhaps a Prius, though I love these cars personally). You can read a lot into foreign or domestic, sensible or sporty, economical or gas guzzling, brown versus black, white, red, or silver. Even the options speak to us. Is the vehicle chromed out (trying too hard) or understated (subtle or deliberately nondescript)? Urban (Smartcar), suburban (SUV), or rural (back to pick up trucks again). You can choose to play against type or simply leave the vehicles to work on the reader’s subconscious, just one more trick in the author’s arsenal.

From James Bonds’ exotic sportscars to Mr. Bean’s tiny British Leyland Mini, cars have really made some characters. Can you think of any perfect character-vehicle combinations, either on the screen or on the pages?