I was backed into a conversational corner the other day and was forced to admit that, except for my first “steady” high school boyfriend, I’ve never dated a guy who didn’t drive a truck. Further poking at this character flaw revealed I always assume guys in cars are stuck with a company vehicle or their wives’ cars for the day, and I would never date a guy who drives a hybrid.

There are three exceptions to the truck rule: 1) A bad-ass SUV (Hummer-esque, not RAV-4-esque). 2) Any sports car commonly thought to be penile compensation and 3) classics, such as an MGA or an Aston Martin, etc. In the case of 2 or 3, though, the guy’s primary and/or bad weather vehicle is a truck.

So what do my guys drive? Well, my real life guy drives an extended cab Chevy pickup, but for my heroes:

Ethan from Twice Upon A Roadtrip: Much like my real life guys, my first hero didn’t drive a truck. He had an unidentified car (love those EC trademark requirements), easily mistaken for the heroine’s car. But he would have had to drive a truck to do what he’d done for a living, so I like to think his ex got it in the divorce.

Travis from Forever Again: When we first meet Travis, he’s driving a silver Mercedes, but it’s actually his fiance’s car. He drives a truck. While I never say what kind, in my head it’s a smaller truck, like a Dakota or a Colorado.

Alex from 72 Hours: The Devlin Group guys seem to run amok in rental cars, but I know Alex drives a wicked nice black Porsche (that scene was deleted) and we know he has a Hummer. And, of course, the red minivan.

Khail from Kiss Me Deadly: Yeah, he doesn’t have a car. This is a man who doesn’t even own any clothes. He does, however, have the distinction of being almost certainly the only hero I’ll ever write who is naked for the entire book.

Bryan from Interstellar Sparks: I don’t think we see his vehicle—when they head to Ris-K, it’s in his brother’s limo—but he’s an electrician, so he probably drives a van. A nice one, though.

Zach from In the Spirit: When he was alive, Zach drove an old, well-beaten, but much loved Jeep Wrangler, which counts under #1 because he was young.

Tony from On the Edge: We don’t get to see Tony’s truck because it’s back in Texas, but he drives a cherry red F-350 Super Duty. (Tony: *grunts like Tim “The Toolman” Taylor*)

And, of course, Will and Adam, being the heroes of historical westerns, don’t have vehicles. But if they did, Will’s would be a Chevy Silverado and Adam’s would be a big-ass, black Dodge Ram with chrome wheels, tinted windows and yes, he’d have a Hemi.