Hunting for something to read, instead of a shop manual, I pulled down a copy of Stephen King’s collection of short stories, Skeleton Crew, and turned to my favorite, Mrs. Todd’s Short Cut.
http://singular--points.blogspot.com/2008/04/mrs-todds-shortcut.html
King might not be a grease under the nails sort of car “guy” but he has a love for automobiles that surpasses that of the public, heck he wrote a whole novel about an evil Plymouth. (As far as I know none of my cars are evil, some have ADD and some are just bad tempered).
This is a great car or better yet driving story that had always stuck with me. The story is about finding a short cut through the back roads of Maine. Things take a turn for the weird when the short cuts are less than the distance between towns as the crow flies. It is also hinted that the short cuts take the driver and passenger to alternate worlds or timelines.
The title itself is evocative, the name Todd summons up images of Wind in the Willows, Mr. Toads’ Wild Ride and tod is also German for death. Oh and Mrs. Todd drives a Mercedes roadster. King pegs the car as a mid sixties model, making it a Pagoda but I think he meant to make it a 300SL as he describes its torpedo shape near the end of the story.
This story is always in the back of my mind as my current drive to work is primarily through the countryside and there are at least two dozen different routes. I quickly worked out the fastest and least radar infested of them and have stuck to it for years….perhaps it is time to do a little exploring.
http://singular--points.blogspot.com/2008/04/mrs-todds-shortcut.html
King might not be a grease under the nails sort of car “guy” but he has a love for automobiles that surpasses that of the public, heck he wrote a whole novel about an evil Plymouth. (As far as I know none of my cars are evil, some have ADD and some are just bad tempered).
This is a great car or better yet driving story that had always stuck with me. The story is about finding a short cut through the back roads of Maine. Things take a turn for the weird when the short cuts are less than the distance between towns as the crow flies. It is also hinted that the short cuts take the driver and passenger to alternate worlds or timelines.
The title itself is evocative, the name Todd summons up images of Wind in the Willows, Mr. Toads’ Wild Ride and tod is also German for death. Oh and Mrs. Todd drives a Mercedes roadster. King pegs the car as a mid sixties model, making it a Pagoda but I think he meant to make it a 300SL as he describes its torpedo shape near the end of the story.
This story is always in the back of my mind as my current drive to work is primarily through the countryside and there are at least two dozen different routes. I quickly worked out the fastest and least radar infested of them and have stuck to it for years….perhaps it is time to do a little exploring.
The photos are taken at a rest stop on The Highway of the Sun, on my own wild ride from Stuttgart to the Mediterranean in a SL55 AMG.
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