h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'd recommend Colonel Crock... I think that's what it was called. It was an old book that my dad had when he was young, and it was a collection of stories about this town where the inhabitants were all cars. There was one human resident who was the mechanic, and there were characters such as Colonel Crock, an old car with a pipe; Samuel Seven, a young and feisty car with a penchant for getting into trouble; Jake the Jeep, an American Army Jeep who smoked cigars and was very typically American; and loads of others. It was in a similar sort of vein to the Thomas The Tank Engine stories- the hidden moral messages in each short story, etc- but much older.

TK