Stephen King has a longstanding history with killer cars. From the possessed Plymouth Fury in Christine to his one and only foray into movie directing, Maximum Overdrive, King has an infatuation with vehicular manslaughter. Here is every killer car in Stephen King’s books and short stories, some obvious and others much more subtle.
Deadly vehicles have been a part of Stephen King’s work since he began publishing. Even before Carrie, his first novel, was published in 1974, King had already seeded the world with short stories about possessed cars that turn deadly. For example, his short story, “Trucks”, was first published in Cavalier magazine in 1973, a year before his novels began to invade reader’s imaginations and bring horror to the forefront. Of course, that same story would later be published in his first story collection, Night Shift, in 1978, and then serve as the basis for Maximum Overdrive in 1986.
The very fact that Stephen King chose to focus on vehicular manslaughter for his one and only directorial effort, Maximum Overdrive, is telling. Out of all of his novels and short stories that he could have chosen, why decide to make a movie about trucks coming to life to kill people? Nevertheless, even after the critical failure of Maximum Overdrive, King continued to feature cars in much of his work. Here is every killer car in Stephen King’s books and short stories.
Christine’s 1958 Plymouth Fury
Christine, King’s 1983 novel, is about a possessed car that forever changes nerdy teenager Arnie Cunningham’s life in a big way. After he buys the car, he cleans up his outward appearance, stops letting bullies push him around, and scores a date with the prettiest girl in school. The problem is, the car also begins to change his personality in a bad way. He becomes angry, temperamental, and, ultimately, pushes his family and friends away.
Of course, it turns out that Christine is possessed by the vengeful spirit of its former owner. Throughout the course of the novel, the 1958 Plymouth Fury kills more than a few people. It’s also able to repair itself and proves to be pretty much unkillable. On one hand, Christine is about poor Arnie’s tumultuous growth from adolescence to manhood. However, on the other hand, King revels in a car killing people.
Maximum Overdrive’s Green Goblin Big Rig
As mentioned earlier, Maximum Overdrive is Stephen King’s one and only venture into directing. After a mysterious comet passes by the Earth, all inanimate, human-made objects come to life and turn against humanity. While this includes lawnmowers, ATMs, and an automated toll bridge, it proves especially deadly for a group trapped at the Dixie Boy truck stop surrounded by homicidal 18-wheelers.
Overall, Maximum Overdrive is a campy and silly movie. It was made from a script by Sai King and based on his short story, “Trucks”, from his Night Shift collection (1978). Although the Green Goblin Big Rig is not the only truck featured in Maximum Overdrive, it is the most iconic. It’s a particularly wild and over-the-top design choice, but one that proves to be unforgettable.
Riding The Bullet’s Ghost Car
Of course, cars in Stephen King’s work aren’t always so overtly deadly as Christine or the Green Goblin Big Rig. They don’t always simply come to life and drive over people. Sometimes, they function more as transport from a safe location to a more sinister one. Such is the case with the ghost car in Riding the Bullet.
After college student Alan Parker’s mother has a stroke, he’s forced to hitchhike home from school. He soon finds himself alone at night on an empty stretch of road. That is, until he’s picked up in a ghost car with a deadly purpose.
From A Buick 8’s 1953 Buick Roadmaster
Another of Stephen King’s killer car stories that features a vehicle not as overtly deadly as Christine or the trucks in Maximum Overdrive is From a Buick 8. King’s 2002 novel is about a strange traveler (one of the Crimson King’s “Low Men”) abandons a vehicle that looks a lot like a 1953 Buick Roadmaster at a gas station in western Pennsylvania. The locals store the Buick in a nearby shed and, from there, it begins to do some strange things. It shoots silent, purple light and alien creatures spill from its trunk. Then, people begin to go missing.
Eventually, the Buick is discovered to be a portal of sorts. It transports people and things to other worlds. In the end, no one is able to stop it or solve its mysteries, but the Buick’s shenanigans do seem to slow down. All in all, From a Buick 8 proves to be an odd addition to King’s body of work featuring killer vehicles.
Mr. Mercedes’ Killer Mercedes
Mr. Mercedes is Stephen King’s venture into hard-boiled detective fiction. It is about a killer who calls himself “Mr. Mercedes” because he drove a Mercedes into a crowd, killing several people and injuring others. Despite a lack of supernatural elements, King’s 2014 novel does revolve around a killer car, even if it is just a regular Mercedes driven by an actual human being.
King’s Killer Car Cameos & Short Stories
Killer cars also feature in many of Stephen King’s short stories and make appearances in some of his novels even if they aren’t at the center of the story. In “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut”, a short story from King’s Skeleton Crew collection (1985), a woman is obsessed with finding the shortest route between two points and discovers a way to use her car to fold reality like a map. Using this technique, she is able to drive out of this world and through another to reach her destination, growing younger with each trip, until it is implied that she drives into another world and never returns.
Other killer cars in King’s work include the truck that runs down Gage Creed in Pet Sematary and the Ford Pinto that is the main setting for Cujo. The fact that the truck that kills Gage is deadly in a far more pedestrian way than Christine or the Green Goblin Big Rig makes it no less horrific. And the Ford Pinto in Cujo, while not deadly itself, serves as a prison of sorts that certainly becomes deadly for the unfortunate Trenton family.
A 1985 Dodge Caravan Nearly Killed Stephen King
On June 19, 1999, Stephen King was out on one of his normal walks near his home in Maine when he was hit by a 1985 Dodge Caravan. He sustained multiple injuries and nearly lost his life. Following the accident, he went through a long period of pain and recovery in which, at one point, he was ready to retire from writing altogether. Fortunately, he was able to pull through and has since continued to be a prolific writer. To this day, Stephen King attributes his humble perspective on life to his accident, although it’s unlikely the experience has helped to quiet his fear of killer vehicles.
