< Previous70 COASTMONTHLY.COM / August 2018Currents | Nice RidesMore than a machine1972 Ford Bronco half-cab occupies special place in automotive historyStory by Michael A. Smith Photos by Kelsey WallingA machine always is more than the sum of its parts. That’s espe-cially true for Americans when it comes to the cars and trucks that convey and excite and sometimes vex them. It’s especially true when it comes to old cars that someone has invested time, money, sweat and aggravation into restoring. They always mean more than they mean by design.That’s probably never been truer than it is with the example at hand — a nicely re-stored 1972 Ford Bronco half-cab that came from Florida, but resides in Galveston, for now at least.Just as a vehicle, the Bronco is special. It occupies an interesting place in automotive history. It’s among the ancestors of modern SUVs and crossovers that are everywhere today. It was among Ford’s better ideas, right up near the Mustang and Thunderbird. Like those icons, the early Bronco models are timeless, instantly recognizable to gearheads.The early Broncos are among the Ameri-can automobiles that even people who can’t tell one car from another will ogle when they roll by. Like Mustangs and T-Birds, Broncos are sheet-metal monuments to youth, freedom and adventure.That’s a lot, but for Garold Motes, that’s not the half of it.For Motes, 36, a cardiology resident at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, this Bronco is a tangible link to his father, also named Garold, who bought and restored it and passed it down to his son when he died in 2015 of ALS, a progres-sive neurodegenerative disease commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease.Like the truck itself, the story of the truck follows classic lines. COASTMONTHLY.COM / August 2018 71garold Motes with his 1972 Ford Bronco, which was passed down to him when his father died in 2015.72 COASTMONTHLY.COM / August 2018Currents | Nice RidesThe senior Motes, who went by Gary, bought it because he’d owned one as a younger man, and with the intention of doing a little work here and there on it.“One thing led to another,” however, when Gary Motes and a group of mechanically inclined buddies got started, Garold Motes, who goes by Eddie, said.What began as tinkering turned into a full-on restoration that included replacing the original 302 cubic-inch V8 with a 347 CID COASTMONTHLY.COM / August 2018 73409.771.4130ruthi@beachsiderealtycompany.com409.939.5838jroy@beachsiderealtycompany.comLOCAL.PROVEN.PROFESSIONAL.4227 South Sunset Bay Drive - $79,900Lot with boat slip1328 Ball Street - $799,000Fabulous Galveston iconic home with carriage house3409 Avenue K- Santa Fe - $429,900 Gorgeous custom ranch-style home on 1 acreStroker crate engine, Motes said.“It took a lot of time, and a lot of Tom’s Bronco Parts orders,” he said, referring to the Medford, Ore.-based online retailer that claims to be the “world leader in 1966 to 1977 Ford Bronco parts.”Motes drives the Bronco often, and takes it pretty easy, he said. Some of that’s because the 347 is mated to the original three-speed gearbox, he said.“It would be pretty easy to scatter the transmission all over the road,” he said.Taking it easy on the pavement is a good policy anyway with all the four-by-fours — the Blazers, the Jeep CJs and Toyota FJs — of the era, which, with their very short wheel bases, high centers of gravity and stiff suspensions, are about as happy going backwards, sideways and upside down as straight ahead.They all also share a mechanical simplicity that some find soothing and reassuring in the age of the silicon chip.“I grew up working around heavy equipment,” said Motes, whose father ran an agriculture services business.“I like to work on it. I like that you can get your man creds by fix-ing it on the side of the road.” 74 COASTMONTHLY.COM / August 2018* Free delivery within 50 miles of store on Caldera products only5301 Gulf Freeway, La Marque (I-45 South, Exit 13)409-986-7600 • AquaticPoolsandHotTubs.comAQUATIC POOLS& HOT TUBShot tubsstarting at$2999• Landscaping• Water Features• Free In-Home ConsultationCustom Gunite PoolsFINANCING AVAILABLE - FREE DELIVERYLifetime WarrantyStarting at$24,999 Folding Adirondack ChairStarting at$299Normally $499$1299Blue Set Gliding 1 Seat, 2 Chairs & TableOutdoor Furniture COASTMONTHLY.COM / August 2018 751510 Marina Bay Dr., Bldg 124, Clear Lake Shores, Texas 77565281.334.0006www.OPUSOCEANGRILLE.COm76 COASTMONTHLY.COM / August 2018 COASTMONTHLY.COM / August 2018 77Currents | Art‘A journal of my days’Island painter captures the daily scenes of coastal lifeStory by Barbara Canetti Photos by Kelsey WallingTake a look at one of artist Leroy LeFlore’s paintings and you’ll learn a lot about what Galveston scenes inspire him. His art is a journal of his life — whether it’s a morning on the 10th Street jetty, a walk through an East End alley, a glimpse of the sunset from a West End beach, grazing cows in a field, or a view of the city from his third-floor studio.LeFlore, a self-taught artist, has been drawing and painting most of his life. He was born in Oklahoma, raised in Louisiana but spent most of his adult life in Galveston or offshore. In 1971, he moved to the island to attend the Texas Maritime Academy — now Texas A&M University at Galveston — and fell in love with the city, he said. He was a marine ship engineer for more than three decades, traveling the world aboard tankers and cargo ships. His wife, Mary, stayed in Galveston, raising their three daughters as LeFlore was gone two to four months at a time.But as he traveled and was at sea, he always painted. He took photographs of things he saw and in his off hours he would paint them.“I always came home with something,” he said of his travels.And, even on board the ship, he would paint: murals in the engine room, canvases in the staterooms and images on the machinery.Although he enjoyed his seafaring career, his long stretches away from home were hard on his family. When he returned home, he often would retreat to his studio on the third floor of his 127-year-old East End house to paint some more. From there he would depict scenes from Galveston and lat-er try to sell his art. He showed his work at the original J. Bangle Gallery on The Strand in the island’s downtown, but he never ag-gressively worked as an artist.Leroy LeFlore is a self-taught artist who lives in Galveston. LeFlore specializes in oil painting, watercolor, pen and ink, wood carving and plank-on-frame ship modeling.78 COASTMONTHLY.COM / August 2018Currents | ArtSince his retirement as an engineer in 2008, he has focused on being home and being a painter. In recent months, he has shown mul-tiple pieces of art at The Sunflower Bakery & Café, 512 14th St. on the island’s East End.Lisa Blair, owner of The Sunflower, loves LeFlore’s art, which covers two walls in the restaurant, she said.“These are so popular with our custom-ers,” Blair said. “We sell a lot of his paintings. We really love having them here.”The paintings are large and small. They depict a moment in time: a woman with a (From top) Leroy LeFlore is reflected in a mirror in his studio as he finishes a painting. He uses the mirror as a second perspective for his paintings. LeFlore wets his brush with oil paint. He has an affinity for working with oils because it’s easier to capture the light and ambience of scenes, he said. COASTMONTHLY.COM / August 2018 79child walking in an East End alley — with such details as a dilapidated fence, trash cans, hanging wires and potholes in the thoroughfare. A group of fishermen on a jetty are overshadowed by a huge thunder-cloud and beautiful sky in a large painting. Another sample of his work captures a few grazing cows on a West End island ranch. He also paints ships and schooners, some fabricated in his imagination.Originally, LeFlore was working with water-colors, but found it too unforgiving and diffi-cult, he said. He later developed an affinity for working with oils and found he could capture the light and ambience of scenes with those paints. He likes to document local sights and rides his bicycle around the island — always looking for those interesting moments, he said.“I see something and I get inspired, and the next day I am painting it,” he said. “My paintings are a journal of my days.” He often takes his easel and supplies in a mini-trailer behind his bike and sets up for “plein air” or outdoor painting session.“The problem with painting ‘plein air’ is the light continues to change as you are painting,” he said. “When that happens, the picture in front of you changes and it is dif-ficult for me to paint what I am seeing. You just never know what you will get.”He recently wanted to paint the yellow carpet of wildflowers that covered the grounds of Broadway Cemetery in Galves-ton. But, with the heat, plethora of street repair crews coming by to check on him, and the haze created by the road construc-tion, it was a difficult task, he said. But he completed the painting by taking photos and finished the piece in his studio.The view from that studio is enviable. He can see across the island to the Gulf of Mex-ico and watch the sun rise from the east. But the room has neither air conditioning nor heating, which makes it somewhat uncom-fortable at certain times of the year, he said.“It is fine for me,” he said. “I worked in an engine room all of my life. I can do this.”The LeFlore family restored the rest of the house, which they bought in 1987.Lately, he has been trying a new tech-nique, which he said was inspired by a visit to an Andrew Wyeth exhibit at a Seattle museum. Wyeth mastered a method of paint-ing called dry brush watercolor. As LeFlore began experimenting with this process, he found he could control his image better with layering of colors and designs.“I’ve adopted it as my own technique now,” he said. “It is a bit slower because I have to pre-draw. But I’m learning.”He also builds all of the frames for his paintings, so the entire package is cus-tom made. Besides exhibiting work at The Sunflower, he routinely has three paintings at the Galveston Art League’s storefront on Postoffice Street downtown.When LeFlore was a child, people told him he had artistic ability, he said. But he lacked the confidence to pursue this passion professionally, he said. As an adult and re-tired, he spends six hours a day with his art.In Galveston, there are many vistas and subjects to capture: the wetlands, the beach-es, the skyline, the historical buildings and houses, as well as the fishermen, shrimp boats and the harbor.“There is so much material here, I will never run out of ideas,” he said. “To be an expert or proficient at something, you have to put in 10,000 hours. I’m going after it.” (From top) Recent landscape paintings are lined up in Leroy LeFlore’s attic studio. LeFlore builds all of the frames for his paintings, so the entire package is cus-tom made. LeFlore paints “plein air” on the seawall near 10th Street in Galveston. This is one of LeFlore’s favorite ways to paint, but it proves more difficult since the light is constantly changing, he said.Next >