BELFAST - I followed this van once. It was all red, apart from some detailing along the sides and a sign on the front reading, “Coca-Cola Chicks.”

A branded ride on a whistle stop tour of Coastal Maine wouldn’t have been especially notable by itself. But the word “chicks” suggested some old-school sex appeal marketing.

I imagined the van rolling down Main Street and parking — no, double parking — and the doors opening all at once, then folding outward into an elaborate sound system.

There would be frosty beverages for everyone and other swag courtesy of Coca-Cola. The company’s ambassadors would emerge from the van, as numerous as clowns, in red bikinis.

None of this happened, of course. The van hooked a right just before downtown and headed out toward the bypass. After following for just long enough to feel like a creep, I turned around and headed back into town.

I forgot about the Coca-Cola Chicks until a few months later when I stopped at Joan’s Treehouse on Tufts Road in Belfast on a tip that it was a good place to find used furniture.

Joan Smith, who runs the business out of her home, does indeed have a lot of used furniture. She also has around 40 free-ranging rabbits, and parked between one of many barns and outbuildings a red cargo van with a familiar sign on the hood.

Smith said it all started with an offhand comment about six years ago.

“I was at Hannaford, and a guy that works there said, ‘Do you advertise for the Coca-Cola Company?’ I said, ‘Why?’ and he said, ‘Because your van looks like a Coke can.’”

Smith said she’d never thought of it that way before. She told her friend Florine Small, one of around 10 friends who regularly carpool with Smith for social outings.

“Next thing I know, I have this sign on my van,” she said.

We are the Coca-Cola Chicks and happy to say,
You’ll see us on the road any time, any day.

Mention a party and the van hits the road,
Loaded up with chicks and away we go!

The pretty red color and Coca-Cola sign
Have gotten us stares wherever we dine.

So, from 50s to 90s our ages don’t matter
As we’re laughing inside with the stares and chatter.

- 2011, Flo S. 

The Coca-Cola Chicks range in age from 67 to 98. As the tongue-in-cheek name suggests, they have a healthy sense of humor.

I caught up with them at the Olde Mill Diner in Searsmont, where they have lunch every Tuesday.

Small said she’d had the sign made in Rockport. On close inspection, it was revealed to have a magnetic backing, though it was unclear whether it had ever been removed.

“We figured Coca-Cola might at least send a case of Coke for us, but they haven’t yet,” she said.

“I myself like Pepsi,” said fellow “Chick” Sandy Nickels. Someone else in the group agreed. Maybe there would have to be another van. A blue one.

Smith’s sister, Jean Bucklin, was among those who came out for the weekly lunch. Most in the group are old friends. Some have connections going back to childhood. 

“We do other things, too,” Smith said. “Like play poker.” 

Hazel Bryant, who had been standing quietly while more talkative women held the floor, gave Smith a jab with her elbow. Smith stopped talking and feigned embarrassment.

“My Sunday school teacher,” she said.

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com