Back in late summer of ’56 Big Jim Tuttlebaum sent his only daughter, Talia, off to college at Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos.  She was a beautiful girl, Texas born and bred with every advantage a man of wealth can offer a child, the spitting image of her gorgeous mother but with her father’s wicked sense of humor and ability to own any room she walked into.

Of course, Big Jim knew from the get-go that Talia would never step foot into a classroom once she graduated.  Attaining a degree to do so was just a justification for her departure from town.  The true, if unspoken, task she was to perform was to find a suitable husband.  While Big Jim was second generation Fort Stockton, he still considered it to be the shallow end of the gene pool.  He’d gone off to College Station to find his wife, Mitzi, and had plans for his progeny to do the same.

She did not disappoint.  When she moved back to Fort Stockton in May of 1960 she brought back with her not only a degree, but the husband Big Jim had hoped for.  A tall, handsome strapping young buck, Thad Gladstone was everything Big Jim wanted in a son-in-law.  Plans had been made for the two to wed only a couple weeks after they graduated.  Brother Bob performed the ceremony at Second Baptist and the reception that followed was held under a giant tent at the Tuttlebaum hacienda overlooking Lake Leon.  No expense was spared.

The highlight of the whole day took place right after the cake was cut when a brand new Ford Starliner Club Victoria was pulled up in front of the tent, fresh from the Make-Ready Department over at Frontier Ford (“Home of the Straight Shooting’ Deal”), a bodacious red bow on top.  The darn thing was stunning, white with a red and white interior.  Long, low, and sculpted so that every angle was just as attractive as Talia in her wedding dress.  Well, nearly, anyway.

Big Jim made quite a show of presenting Thad the keys as a wedding gift.  Talia looked on smiling as her dad said he now had the son he’d always wanted, and “By God, he’d drive in style!”  In a move that shocked all in attendance, he went even further, although his words were slurred just a bit, no doubt a result of his exuberance as well as the open bar he’d made repeated trips to.  “I’m making you a 50/50 partner in Tuttlebaum Sprocket,” he proclaimed.  “When you get back from your honeymoon in San Antonio, you’ll come to work with me!”

Thad had won the lottery.  A beautiful wife, a gorgeous new Ford (“The Finest Fords of a Lifetime”) and a career.  He was certainly ready to begin enjoying the first two of those.  He opened the long passenger door for Talia, ran around the finned rear end of the Ford, hopped in, and drove off east towards San Antonio, spinning gravel and counting the minutes till they checked into the Crocket Hotel.

Two weeks later they were back in Fort Stockton, Thad still smiling, Talia worn out, and the Starliner freshly washed and waxed.  “Show up at the factory tomorrow and start learning the operation,” Big Jim told Thad over cocktails on the patio.”

“Won’t work, Jim,” Thad told him.  “I couldn’t stand the noise.”

Taken aback, Big Jim said, “Well, come into the office and we’ll look at parts of the operation you can take over.”

“No way I could be stuck behind a desk!” Thad replied.  “I hate office work.”

“I made you half owner of a profitable company and you don’t like factories or office work?”  Big Jim asked him.  “What am I s’posed to do with you?”

“Buy me out.”

Any of the local boys would have been happy with the Starliner and Talia.  Or just the Starliner, for that matter.