Denver resident Mary-Katherine Fleming’s husband bought her an ugly white van.
A recent job promotion would soon put Alex Fleming on the road and away from home, and that threw a wrench into the Denver couple’s well-oiled carpool plan, upon which about a dozen kids — including four of their own — depend.
By trading his wife’s minivan for an industrial, nondescript 2020 Chevy Express 3500 “airport” van with a 6.1L V8 engine, Alex felt he had solved the problem, enabling his bride to cover both carpool shifts with a single vehicle.
Mary-Katherine was not amused.
“The kids were screaming,” she said. “They refused to ride in it.”
The neighbors looked on with curiosity and caution, and the van even caught the eye of a passing local police cruiser.
Determined to make the new ride work, Fleming knew it would need a significant makeover.
She called a local car wrap vendor.
“And, and I tell him like, ‘I’ve got this huge airport van, and it’s a cop magnet. I can’t have this,’” Fleming said. “How soon can you get me in to make it look like my kids covered the car in Taylor Swift stickers?’”
By the next day, Trailer Swift, the van, was born.
Call it Mary-Katherine’s version.
Other possible names for the van included Trolley Parton and Bruno Mars Rover.
Custom color lights make the van’s interior more inviting for children at night, and over the next five months, Fleming would bejewel the dash, doors, bumpers and rims with a seemingly endless supply of glitter, glue and crystals.
Later additions would include custom seat covers, a disco ball, a custom Taylor Swift horn, a flat-panel TV, and an Xbox gaming station.
Fleming said getting the kids in the van now is no problem, and the transformation has been “magical.”
“Her (Swift’s) people made the right woman famous,” opined Fleming, who was first introduced to the megastar’s music through a producer friend who gave her an early debut CD. “She just attracts the best fans and the coolest people. Everywhere I go, people are so nice, and they come up to me with tears in their eyes like, ‘Oh my God, This is so amazing!’”
The van even has its own Instagram account: @the.trailer.swift
Along with transporting a dozen kids to and from school, Trailer Swift also serves as Fleming’s platform for voter engagement and often deploys its magic when canvassing neighborhoods.
Fleming said as Election Day draws near, she and Trailer Swift will be on the road wherever she is needed, canvassing, carrying ballots or otherwise.
“It’s all gas and no brakes,” she said. “All the way to the finish line.”