Cars • by George Bowering and Ryan Knighton

Some of my cars I named and some I didn’t. Some of the names I can remember and some I can’t. Our cream and red 1954 Austin was named Brünhilde. Our maroon 1965 Chevy Bel Air was Arnold. That is just what he was. It’s not where you’re going but how you get there…

Everyone’s got a good story to tell about cars: a funny fender-bender, a bad cab ride, awkward amorous acrobatics. But the stories we tell about cars tell even more about ourselves. You’ll see what we mean in Cars.

George Bowering, one of Canada’s Grand Prix writers, and Ryan Knighton, a young writer just entering the race, realized that they could tell the stories of their lives and friendship through the automobiles that have driven them.

Now, these aren’t your ordinary boys-and-cars stories. There’s no drag racing or cruising for chicks. In fact, George likes to drive pretty slowly, and Ryan, who is now blind, doesn’t drive at all. But they take turns in the literary driver’s seat, bantering and fender-nudging so their stories curve and tangle like a BC highway, until what emerges is a poignant, hilarious conversation.

Boiling fish in the radiator, jousting with a forklift, cabbing with Doris Lessing: in one hundred panels (that’s fifty each), George and Ryan tell the tales of their friendship, families, friends and loves – all illuminated by the dashboard light. Cars is an auto biography that’ll chauffeur you through the intersection of the lives of two of Canada’s most interesting writers.

"When the image breaks down, I feel safest of all... It's the only way to live. In Cars."   Christian Bok