Tales From the Garage

Rodney Kemerer’s Tales From the Garage, designed with the look and feel of an automotive owner’s manual, is far more than just a “car book.” As car enthusiasts Jay Leno and Wall Street Journal columnist Dan Neil have observed, Rodney’s warm and personal tales resonate deeply because everyone has a car story to tell, even if the car is just a springboard for a memory of a certain person or a certain place or even a certain feeling. These thirty stories, originating as essays in a host of publications and now reformattedwith entirely new and colorful artwork, are filled with familiar moments that chronicle everything from finding just the right car for your wife (She wants a what? Really? What’s wrong with her?), to an ancient St. Christopher medal hiding at the back of a glove box, to a father’s deathbed pronouncement: “I should have bought Cadillacs.”Author Rodney Kemerer understands that car stories can be the gateway to every aspect of our lives. His heartfelt book – half memoir, half the memories of others – is truly a pop culture snapshot of modern society told through the lens of the automobile. These tales might appear to be about cars, but they are also tales of an American life and the many objects that embody and reflect it. So pull up a chair and your favorite beverage as you meet a new friend who is happy to share his favorite Tales From the Garage.JAY LENO: “I have said I bought some of my cars as much for the stories behind those cars as for the cars themselves. Rodney Kemerer’s Tales From the Garage is full of those kinds of stories – funny ones, suspenseful ones, moving ones, even practical ones. If you’ve ever loved a car, or loved a person who loved a car, this book is for you. And it’s much cheaper than actually buying a car.”DAN NEIL, WALL STREET JOURNAL: “Car enthusiasts love cars, sort of. In many cases it's not the machine but the people and stories behind them that we love. [Rodney Kemerer’s] Tales From the Garagechauffeurs us through American automotive culture, mile after charming mile.”CHARLES FLEMING, FORMER LOS ANGELES TIMES AUTOMOTIVE WRITER: "Tales From the Garageis that rare thing in the motoring world - an engaging, literate collection of car stories, told by an automobile fan who is also a writer with a sharp eye and a deft way with words.”MARK MCCOURT, SENIOR EDITOR, HEMMINGS MOTOR NEWS: “[Rodney’s] topics are varied… fascinating people, sentimental keepsakes, life-altering experiences… and all are written with a sunlit warmth and casual ease that engages readers, making us want to keep turning pages, to dive into the next tale and the one after that.”LARAINE NEWMAN, WRITER-PERFORMER: “…one of the reasons I love [this] book so much [is that Rodney] helps us recognize our emotional attachment to cars. They carry our experiences, our joys, our sorrows, and in many cases, our youth. You don’t have to be a car lover to enjoy this book. And it would be a really bitchen gift.”TERRY KARGES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PETERSEN AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM: “These tales are not only of the cars themselves but of the owners who prize them, the children who adore them, the garages that protect them, the gas stations that fuel them, the toys that echo them, and the junkyards where some are laid to rest. Any reader… cannot help but walk away feeling privileged to have been invited to into Rodney’s garage.”BILL WARNER, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN EMERITUS, THE AMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE: “Rodney Kemerer’s Tales From the Garage is not what the title suggests. In reality it is about life… Rodney is a marvelous story teller and observer of life… This is a must have book…”ANGELO VAN BOGART, EDITOR, OLD CARS: “These stories in Tales From the Garage introduce readers to a wide variety of vehicles and personalities, making the book certain to delight and impress all who open its pages.” Read more