Years ago, I bought a copy of CHRISTINE, and while I enjoyed the book, and the movie, I was
chagrined to see that, although the book is about a 1958 Plymouth Fury, the car pictured on the
book jacket was actually a 1957 Plymouth. Now, as a car guy, I was able to live with this error,
assuming that someone had simply misled our author, who was posed in front of the '57 model,
or that the picture was done in a hurry, with the hope that no one would notice.
I couldn't imagine that Stephen King was never made aware of this oversight, before, but now, I have new misgivings...
My book club (I'm a librarian) is just now reading FROM A BUICK 8, at my insistence, amidst a
bit of resistance from non-horror readers, who recognized your name as a horror writer. Now, you've done it again--or somebody has. This book repeatedly states that the Buick in question
is a 1954 model. Unfortunately, the blue Buick pictured on the cover is, in fact, a 1953 model.
Unlike the Plymouths, where confusion between 57s and 58s is fairly common, and only a true car
guy could spot the differences, the 53 and 54 Buicks have almost nothing in common, save the
headlight rims, both of which (years) enclose the parking lamp lens below. The 54 Buick was a brand new design, while the 53 Buick was a very slight re-design (trim differences only) of the
same body that was introduced in 1950. The engines were different--53 and 54 both had OHV V8s, Buick's first, while the 50 thru 52s had the historic inline or straight 8. Coincidentally, the straight 8 Buick was the first Buick product to be called a "Buick 8", a tern synonymous with OHV and inline engines, not V8s, and were introduced in 1931 (Buick's first 8 cyl engines, 3 of them in 1931, were all straight 8s).
What are we readers to think? Is Stephen in the dark about old cars, or is he just fooling around with us? I for one, am a bit embarrassed that he twice has written about a specific car, and then pictures a different one on the covers. Please help me to understand...
chagrined to see that, although the book is about a 1958 Plymouth Fury, the car pictured on the
book jacket was actually a 1957 Plymouth. Now, as a car guy, I was able to live with this error,
assuming that someone had simply misled our author, who was posed in front of the '57 model,
or that the picture was done in a hurry, with the hope that no one would notice.
I couldn't imagine that Stephen King was never made aware of this oversight, before, but now, I have new misgivings...
My book club (I'm a librarian) is just now reading FROM A BUICK 8, at my insistence, amidst a
bit of resistance from non-horror readers, who recognized your name as a horror writer. Now, you've done it again--or somebody has. This book repeatedly states that the Buick in question
is a 1954 model. Unfortunately, the blue Buick pictured on the cover is, in fact, a 1953 model.
Unlike the Plymouths, where confusion between 57s and 58s is fairly common, and only a true car
guy could spot the differences, the 53 and 54 Buicks have almost nothing in common, save the
headlight rims, both of which (years) enclose the parking lamp lens below. The 54 Buick was a brand new design, while the 53 Buick was a very slight re-design (trim differences only) of the
same body that was introduced in 1950. The engines were different--53 and 54 both had OHV V8s, Buick's first, while the 50 thru 52s had the historic inline or straight 8. Coincidentally, the straight 8 Buick was the first Buick product to be called a "Buick 8", a tern synonymous with OHV and inline engines, not V8s, and were introduced in 1931 (Buick's first 8 cyl engines, 3 of them in 1931, were all straight 8s).
What are we readers to think? Is Stephen in the dark about old cars, or is he just fooling around with us? I for one, am a bit embarrassed that he twice has written about a specific car, and then pictures a different one on the covers. Please help me to understand...
