There was a couple who moved to Fort Stockton back in the mid-sixties that had one of these. They made quite an impression back in the day, but then everyone always said if you could tip Texas on its side everything that was loose would roll into Fort Stockton.

First thing that set them apart was that she kept her maiden name, Daniels, and that just was not done back then. But then we all knew she came from money and San Francisco and folks said that was always a dangerous combination. There were rumors about her and the time she spent in Bodega Bay, but people decided it best not to air her dirty laundry and risk their own being hung out for public display as well. Despite her sordid past, Melanie was a looker, to be sure.

Her husband, Jimmy, had been in some type of foreign service although he was always tight lipped about the whole thing. He wore a tailored suit everywhere he went, which most folks thought was kind of weird; Fort Stockton is more of an overalls and Wranglers kind of town. You could see Prudence over at the Piggly Wiggly go all weak-kneed when he spoke in that low British accent. Rusty at the hardware store bristled every time Jimmy came in to buy something; said he could barely understand him. Guess you could say Prudence was shaken but Rusty was stirred by ol’ Jimmy.

They had a couple good lookin’ kids, which was natural for such a handsome pair. Most folks said they were spoiled, but pretty good kids, “Thanks more to the British nanny that raises them than the efforts of Melanie or her husband,” Trixie used to say under her breath whenever the subject came up at the Klip-N-Dye Salon, but then Trixie often claimed a talent for things she’d never even tried.

It made quite a stir in town when the Deep Carriage Green Aston was pulled over by Sheriff Bodine for doing over a hundred on State Highway 385 south of town. When the sheriff asked to see his license, Jimmy said, “To drive or to kill?” Sheriff Bodine just chalked it up to deer season starting soon, but it raised a few eyebrows.

Being the only Aston Martin DB2/4 Mark II in town, Scoops over at the Stockton-Telegram Dispatch wanted to do a feature story on it for the Automotive section of the newspaper. Jimmy mentioned in the interview that he’d always driven Aston Martins, as had his wife. “In fact, this ’57 doesn’t have near the features of my old silver one,” Jimmy told Scoops, “But Melanie and I fell in love with the color when we saw it and had to have it.” Apparently the one Melanie had before they were married was a ragtop.

“Give me protection from the elements, whatever they may be, over wind blowing through your hair,” she told Scoops when asked about it.

“Oh Honey,” Jimmy told her, “You only live twice.”

“I don’t care, Darling,” Melanie told him. “Convertibles are for the birds.” She seemed a little upset when she said it.

Maybe someone from here in town will buy this one. It’d be good to see the beautiful lines of a ’57 Aston in the parking lot of the Dairy Twin again and hear the throaty rumble of that 2.9-litre DOHC six being fired up. Be nice if it was someone local that bought it; there’s always so much drama with these out-of-towners.