Short stories are my speciality! I am completing my last year in my B.A. English degree and creative writing is my favourite subject by far. With more information about your girlfriend's family I can create the story that you're after. This is the idea that I have so far:
The 1940 Ford pick up sits in the garage and the door remains closed. No one goes near it because the minute you walk into the room you can feel the presence of her father and you almost expect him to walk round it and tell you to help out. You try to encourage her to work on the car, but she doesn't want to know. Then something drastic happens, something the father couldn't have foreseen; for example the daughter gets into the college of her dreams, but her mother just doesn't have the money to pay for her. Angry and hurt, she goes near the Ford pick up and starts to work on it, to take her mind off the fact that he's no longer with her. She finds a startling surprise. Hidden inside the car, in parts that needed removing, are photos of her and her father encased in plastic covers. One for every year they had together. As she eagerly repairs the car to find them all, the last one has no photo. Two envelopes stare back at her, one is a letter from her father, the other is entitled "For Emergencies". He opened a bank account in her name with some extra money he had saved along the years.
This is just an idea! Please get in touch with me if you'd like to develop this fully. Thank you.