STORIES
If our lives are a book, the cars we drive define the chapters.
These are stories featuring cars, trucks, and even RVs that played a role in the lives of the people who owned or drove them. Many are set in Fort Stockton, Texas and involve a cast of characters in and around the dusty southwest Texas town. A lot of the stories are shared around the table at The Grounds for Divorce, where the ‘regulars’ meet.
Pull up a chair and let Lucinda pour you a hot cuppa joe and enjoy.
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FROM THE BACK OF THE BERMUDA, 9/23/2024
It’s time for a little colonoscopy talk. If that’s not your thing and you want to skip to Comment of the Week, feel free. But it was mentioned that this was on my horizon last week and I would be remiss if I didn’t follow through. Inquiring minds want to know. (Or maybe I just need to get it out of…
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THE CADDY IN MISS MADDIE’S GARAGE
Dang. I had been sitting in the booth in the back in the corner in the dark at the Grounds for Divorce for so long that I fell asleep face first on the Smith Corona and just about missed this one. Been working on something that’s taken up way too much time. Thank goodness @HAN2014 wandered in and…
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PASS THE PLATE AND DROP THE PANTIES
Back a few decades ago there was an evangelist preacher that came to town every spring named Cleetus Harker who drove a Cadillac almost exactly like this one. Call me crazy, maybe even Plum Crazy, but in all my ecclesiastical studies I never got the impression that this is what Jesus would drive. But every…
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WRITER’S BLOCK
Back in late ’61 or early ’62 a Cadillac coupe pulled into town in just this shade of Silver Topaz. Had New York plates. The owner checked into the Ramada Inn right off the highway. (That’s back before the place changed hands and eventually turned into the Naughty Pine Motel.) Didn’t take long for word…
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CADILLACS AND CALF FRIES
Preston Coltrain served his country in World War II and returned to Fort Stockton a hero. Lucky to be alive and blessed with good looks that matched or even exceeded his family fortune, he took over the ranch when his daddy retired and turned a good sized fortune into an even bigger one. He remained humble,…
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BURNING BRIDGES
I remember one of these in town when I was a small kid. By then it was a few years old, but no less opulent, and certainly no less storied. It was owned by a couple in town by the name of Bridges. First names escape me, but they are irrelevant. The couple owned the…
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THE EARL OF THE TAIL FIN
Ran into Will Lambert over at the Grounds for Divorce. He said he thought he might see me there and had something he wanted to show me. Thought I’d get a kick out of it. He said he found it amongst a bunch of old letters and yearbooks he found in his granddad’s attic while…
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RICHARD GRIPPER GETS PISSY
Richard Gripper was a man who found himself in an enviable position in early 1941. The ranch that had provided his family a steady income for generations didn’t provide much real satisfaction, despite its monetary value. But then, reports had come back from the geological lab at Texas A&M in 1937 that confirmed there were…
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FROM THE BACK OF THE BERMUDA, 9/15/2024
Attention turned from the Fairlane 500 towards more pressing matters over the last week or three. It was time to lift the massive hood and again address the issues keeping it from starting. Someone asked if I was sure the rocker arm was in the proper position when I installed the fuel pump. “You should feel it provide…
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GOOD LORD OLIVER DANKWORTH
Lord Oliver Dankworth relocated to Fort Stockton back in the early aughts. Would never really give any details on the circumstances of his departure from Britain, but led many of us to believe it may have had something to do with tax issues, or an incident involving a minor. “I should have known she was…