Wheels for the Redneck Godfather

In the dark winter days, I had cars on the brain. The characters in my current manuscript had places to go and no wheels to take them. I tried out some generic cars—a blue Ford, a brown Buick—but like bad-fitting jeans, nobody was comfortable. This was especially true of my villain, Lamar West, the Redneck Godfather.

Cars became my obsession. As I scanned the streets for vehicles, I also reflected on fictional characters and the cars they drive. Kinsey Millhone (Sue Grafton) came to mind first with her '68 VW. Like Kinsey, the VW is a little worse for the wear and needs a tune up. But also like Kinsey, the VW is doggedly persistent and loyal to a fault. In Kinsey's case, the VW is more than just a car. The bug takes on a secondary character role, the trusty side-kick, the confidant and the comforter.

Are cars an outward manifestation of the character? You betcha'. Sara Paretsky's Chicago-based PI, V.I. Warshawski, is one tough cookie. She'd got a smart mouth, an insatiable curiosity, and sense of justice that lands her in trouble. V.I. likes speed and she has just the car to prove it, a Trans Am. The Trans AM is an American racing car and back when V.I. bought hers it was a tough, sexy machine with lots of power. Just like V.I.

The Trans Am is an effective metaphor for V.I.'s excursion into the male dominated world of law enforcement and investigation and in both arenas the speed and danger are a heady mixture for this hard-living and hard-loving character.

This research showed me that if you plop your character into any old car, you miss an opportunity. Cars can provide readers deeper and more nuanced insight into a character's personality. So what kind of car does the Redneck Godfather need?

Well, here's a few facts about Lamar: He's a self-made man with working class origins who today wears Italian suits, brings home an easy million-dollars a year (tax-free!), flaunts his wealth, and has no interest in being green (sorry Prius). He controls a vast criminal organization along Georgia and South Carolina's I95 corridor with interests in drugs, prostitution, extortion, gambling and other vices.

Back in the '80s, Lamar would have driven a hot-rod Camaro, but today he demands a luxury car. But not, he told me, one of those candy-ass European imports. No, Lamar wanted something with some bite. Try typing that in a Car Max search.

Then one day, I saw it: the new Dodge Charger, a beauty of a car with a shark-like silhouette and cocky lift to the rear. It has all the trappings of luxury: shiny chrome, sleek metallic finishes, and a silver grill like a steel-trap. But under all that polish  is an old fashion muscle car with a high performance engine rarin' to go.

With the right adjectives, the Charger can help convey the menacing attributes I want the reader to absorb about Lamar: barely controlled violence under a thin veneer of civility. Next time you see a Charger on the street, imagine the Redneck Godfather at the wheel. He'll be smiling—in a scary way.

So, what's your character driving?