Photo from the Cohort by Colin.
This story will be about a man and his car.
The man was Cliff, he was a remarkable man to me as we had something in common, but in reverse.
I met Cliff when we hired him at our hardware store. He was a man who’d suffered from alcoholism for a long time, but he had been dry for many years by the time we met. He had gone through the 12 steps; the most important to him was asking for forgiveness from those he’d hurt. Three key people would be his ex-wife and his two sons.
Meanwhile, I am the child of an alcoholic, so that’s common in reverse threads.
So we went to meetings and spent many hours learning from each other. Cliff was also a car salesman for many years, which is another thing we had in common.
1974 Caprice image from the web.
Cliff had terminal cancer when by the time we met and asked my father-in-law, Paul, and me to let him work as much as he physically could. The car he drove was a 1974 Caprice Classic; it was a harvest gold color with tan vinyl seats. It was equipped very nicely and had the 400-4 barrel. The sad thing was the rust. Oh boy, did it have rust!
Cliff and I actually spent a day using fiberglass tiger hair, Bondo, and silicon caulking to keep some water out. After doing that, we drove to dinner when it started raining hard. There was so much water coming in that pulling down the sun visors created a neat “Niagara Falls” effect.
Still, he was proud of his car and ability to drive right up to the end of his life.
1974 Caprice image from the web.
Towards the end, he was living in a rented room. I would take him coffee and one plain donut every day until the end. Having become friends with his ex-wife after he passed away, we went together to collect his possessions. She handed me the keys and title to that Caprice and said: “Cliff and I talked, and he wanted you to have this car. He knows it isn’t much, but he told me you two had the best time working on it, something his sons would never do.”
About the sons, sadly they never gave him forgiveness.
Despite how rough it was, I loved that old Caprice and squeezed another year or two out of it. In the end, the flywheel started losing teeth, and at that point, it was just too much work to replace it.
A boat broker bought the car from me for $500 and installed the engine into one of his boats. And so was the end of a car given to me by someone whom I considered a very special man.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1973 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe – The Minnato Connection
Heart warming story. Must have been tough for him to not get forgiveness from his sons but I am glad the car went o someone who loved and appreciated the car (and Cliff).
Chip,
Have you heard of ACA aka ACoA Adult Children of Alcoholics. I am also child of Alcoholics, it helped me some. Not being a Believer, made it harder for me, but I still got a lot out of this 12 step program… Maybe get Cliff’s wife to mention it to his boys, who obviously need it too… It is worthwhile to check out in any case.
Damage done in families can be really hard to fix – or even to get past.
You have to respect a car like this – where the body is so shot that 98% of people would refuse to drive it, but where the mechanical stuff just keeps soldiering on. It seems that the opposite is common now – bodies and interiors hold up really well but brittle systems sign the car’s death warrant as useful transport.
While reading this, my mind drifted back to your “End Stage Beater” article from a few years ago, about a similar-era Buick:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1976-buick-regal-sedan-the-end-stage-beater/
…one of the most memorable CC’s, in my opinion, and I can’t help thinking if that Buick had a similar story to Cliff’s Caprice here.
Chip, that’s a very poignant story about Cliff, his car, and his struggles – thanks for taking the time to share it here.
Lovely, a nice story for this time of year. Thank you for recognizing Cliff’s humanity and providing him some dignity at the end of his redeemed life. It’s something we need more of in our current times.
Bittersweet story. Addiction is brutal and the impact on families, especially kids, can scar deeply.
Nice to know that the Caprice was at least an organ donor.
Your acceptance and his family’s lack of forgiveness illustrates a sometimes-sad fact of life:
We select our friends. We do not select our relatives.
I am honestly not good at forgiveness if I think the other person’s misconduct was serious. I don’t know if I could forgive Cliff if I were in his ex-wife’s or sons’ place.
Thank you Chip for sharing.
In the big picture, we are all on our own journeys. And when those journeys intersect however they do, if they can generate some goodness, that’s a win. At least that’s how I look at things.
It sounds as if Cliff benefited from his time with you, and you benefited from your time with him. Plus, the car.
Hopefully Cliff’s family will ultimately find their peace.
Chip, this was a very moving story – thank you!
From outside it seems obvious that Cliff’s sons should have forgiven him … yet, at times I really wrestle with trying to forgive others. I suspect I wouldn’t have done any better than Cliff’s sons were I in their place.
Thank you for your kindness to him.
Thanks for sharing this story; and for being a decent human being. I salute you