My passion in life is cars, mostly older ones from the '80s, '90s and early '00s. My first published work was in car magazines, and I can't quite leave this behind in my novel writing! I've dabbled in novels before, and I always find my character's choice of car is important to me. My MC is somebody who gained HUGE financial success in late '80s. My book is a "slice of life" type novel, set in the present day, during his rapid midlife crisis. After getting his first massive windfall in 1987 he went out and bought a Mercedes 500SEC. Quite a statement car in its day, and a staple mode of transport for any half-decent, pastel suit-wearing Miami drug dealer. Today he drives an old Jaguar XJ-S identical to this: There's a bit of me creeping in there, as I run a 1997 Jag for occasional use (it breaks to much to use everyday) so I can feed my narcissistic personality by driving it... To me, cars are a huge indicator of who we want to be, where we want to go in life and how we want others to see us. The British crime writer, Peter James uses cars in his books to similar effect, and puts in quite a lot of details about the cars his characters drive (his main protag had a rusty, care worn Alfa Romeo 155). Ian Flemming took this one step further, and often wrote about the technical details of the cars in his books - to the extent he'd talk about cylinder configuration, and the type of supercharger Bond's Bentley. I can't see that working today... I'm curious: is there anyone doing anything similar - or am I alone? EDIT: To those with slow connections, sorry about the M A S S I V E picture of an old Mercedes.
Nope. Not anything remotely similar since my setting isn't Earth and the tech is circa 16th century. Did have to giggle a little at your mention of "older" vehicles, though. To me, older is this: That's me on the right with the glasses in my early/mid 30's. This was the day the motor was ready to go back into the little girl you see up top.
I love the Skulduggery Pleasant series and its emphasis on the cars which he drives. Really puts his personality across and cars are even used to develop the main characters. Valkyrie Cain despises the courtesy car (the Canary Car) he gets when his Bentley is in for repair but later adores the same car when her parents get it for her as a birthday present. I guess if you can use a car to project wealth or a personality then I'm all for it.
Wreybies - cool! I love the originality of that Mustang. Most that you see here in the UK have aftermarket period alloys - never seen one with the genuine Ford wheel trims. And I approve of the engine being painted Ford Corporate Blue To be honest, anything from the early '00s or earlier is considered "old" in this part of the UK - too many people kill off old stuff rather than fix it these days, but not me...My Jag is being worked on as we speak in fact! Oooh I've not read the Skulduggery Pleasant books. I think I might have to.
They're brilliant - kid/young adult books without being condescending - plenty of gore and dark humour. 9 books in series 1, series 2 has just started though I've not had the chance to read the first book yet.
Nah, a 1965 Shelby Cobra is more mid-life crisis. But if your MC wants to blow some serious coinage. '63 Ferrari GTO Though he probably drives one of these. It is made by Mercedes.
In my current work there are cars, but they aren't that popular as most people use public transport instead. Boats and ships feature more prominently and are more apropos to the title.
I'm not much of a car guy (it extends about as far as "hey, that one looks cool"), but in a project with sort of a road trip segment I did feel the need to insert the car my mom had when I was a kid (not my pic): Loved that car. I was so sad when my parents sold it before I was old enough to drive it, so now I get to vicariously through my mc I also gave an old character my then dream car when I designed him. It's all about wish fulfillment with me and fictional cars apparently.
I can't comment too much about other authors and their car-centric protagonists, but in movies, and TV this happens all the time, with often-distinctive vehicles - Stallone drove a hotted-up ancient something-or-other with "disc" wheels when he played a police detective who was of course, a maverick; the late Roger Moore drove a somewhat weird-looking car that was a Volvo P1800 in the early Saint series; more recently in Republic of Doyle there was a smartish (Pontiac?) GTO or similar. But these were all defining parts of the character, rather than central to the story. Memory tells me Leslie Charteris when he wrote the Saint novels originally, he went into detail about Simon Templar's car - I believe it was a Daimler/Roller/Bentley square-rigger. The only novel I recall that gave great depth of detail to the car was one which featured a campaign to Le Mans, with a supercharged Bentley. The detail in this case was central to the story's success so was warranted. As always, if the detail doesn't add to the story or reveal something essential about the protagonist (or antagonist, as the case may be), it shouldn't be there. It's been decades since I last read Fleming, but the movies all featured technical gimmickry and I guess the cars would have come in for their fair share of enhancement.
Stallone drove a 1950 (or '51, the internet can't decide) Mercury, which was actually a fiberglass repro of the original body. I have it on authority that I trust (car nut friend) but can't verify that those cars became popular among hot-rodders because they had a habit of failing mechanically before they had a chance to rust out, leading to a lot of stylish bodies in good condition for people to customize.
Cars mean nothing to me. I find it pretty annoying when books go on about cars because I have no idea of the significance of a character driving an '82 Mustang or a something-Chevrolet or whatever. I can't picture it and it tells me nothing about their character. Simple and quick descriptions work much better for me. "He drove an Alfa Romeo 155" means zilch to me. "His car was old and rusty" tells me something about that character.
I'm pretty much the same. I mean, a character driving a Mercedes is different from one driving a Toyota, but the details mean nothing to me.
Because I write set pieces sometimes in the crime genre fiction, I have to say I always add a Lincoln that fits the time. Not a petrol head myself, I am not going to be able to tell you how the damn thing works. But I love looking at them and I love cars as show pieces
My MCs are up-and-coming drug dealers whose criteria for get-away cars are Flashy enough to impress others in the business Subtle enough not to draw the attention of the cops Cheap enough to afford on a budget Fast enough to be good as getaway cars My main character drives a blue Mustang (I'm thinking 2015 GT), and her best friend drives a red Charger (I'm thinking 2015 SE)
Cars can be like the "other boobs" of literature. Regular, actual boobs are the same to me as cars are to you. If they are to be made mention then large or small, high or low, new or old is pretty much all I need to know, and then lets move on, please. But "car boobs" I understand. Also, an Alfa Romeo 155 is an unpretty car. The face lacks balance and the hood is too pitched for what is essentially a grocery-getter from the firewall on back. Same thing with the 1980's Lagonda, exceptionally heinous in its estate version. Sorry Aston Martin, not your best show.
In The Darkest Storm my main character rents a Mustang GT on arrival in america, pretty much as part of his cover as a rich playboy .... it doesnt have much significance other than he needs a fast car for the scene four or so chapters later where he writes it off using it as a weapon during a car/bike chase.
That harness is... creative/unusual. I guess it's just a toy? I can't imagine a real horse harness without some sort of collar or at least breastplate... Oh, and there are no reins, either, so, yes, Bay, just a toy, stop being so uptight...
Stick with your cars. In fact I would make it a feature, if anything. There's a huge crowd of guys who live for cars, so...it might be a very very very popular read. However but, on the down side, Jags are definitely 'old guy/the retirement cars' and also they don't fit tall men, same with jet fighters. It's a fine line, very hard to call. I'm sorry you will have to sell your Jaguar.
I like cars as a literary tool where appropriate. Maybe for a gangster, rock star, athlete, playboy, or even one of those self proclaimed redneck heroes... you know, the ones that started showing up once redneck culture became cool. But for regular characters with regular jobs in regular stories? Nah. Doesn't seem terribly important and is as likely to turn a reader off as it is to pique their interest. I generally shy away from the specific models and gearhead statistics in favor of the classic vehicular archetypes like Italian sports car, classic convertible, dually truck, box sedan, etc. Then again, there are occasions where vehicular details become necessary, given the whole status symbol and obsessive level of interest that a lot of people (Americans in particular) devote to their cars. I've worked with a bunch of dudes in several places that talked about nothing but cars... so there's that, I guess.
No, but if he could write a series - like those car films [I've forgotten the series' name] - it would certainly have traction, a whole new market/a group that aren't typically book-readers, y'know like 50 Sh..
This is an example of what is a fairly common vehicle in mine. (This is only an approximation for reference) Spoiler: War-frame
In general i don't mind car descriptions if it adds something to the characterisation or plot ..... if the MC casually throws down an AMEX black to rent a mustang GT on open ended hire, then we know that he's rich , like wise if he pulls up in a puke green eldorado spewing oil fumes into the night we know he probably isnt
