Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

The Shortinos’ famed Caddy: Gone in 60 minutes

Shortino license plate

Carmen Shortino

DUKFAME, forever immortalized on Carmen Shortino’s Caddy.

Click to enlarge photo

Carmen and Paul Shortino pose on the Red Carpet at the ENTSpeaks performance at the Inspire Theatre on Tuesday, October 21, 2014.

It was Bruce Springsteen who once sang longingly of the “Cadillac Ranch,” and maybe that is where the vehicle owned by Carmen Shortino will turn up.

But don’t count on it.

The car is certainly no longer in Shortino’s possession, as the vehicle has mysteriously vanished like Chloe Crawford in Murray Sawchuck’s magic show at Sin City Theater.

Carmen is the wife of famed rock vocalist Paul Shortino, of “Raiding the Rock Vault” at the Tropicana and, long ago, “This Is Spinal Tap” (where he played the muted, addled rock star Duke Fame).

The couple are well-known dog lovers and were invited to take part in the NSPCA event Wednesday afternoon at City Hall, where Mayor Carolyn Goodman was giving the requisite sendoff to the foster puppy Keno, who is taking part in the annual Puppy Bowl, airing Sunday at noon on Animal Planet (and handicapping this game is a real bitch … #SheckyKats).

After the event, which sent Keno off as one of the 55 puppies participating in the annual televised event, the Shortinos stopped in for lunch downtown at Carson Kitchen at 6th and Carson streets. They parked Carmen’s fully loaded, gun-metal-gray 2008 Cadillac CTS, sporting the familiar DUKFAME license plate, in space 10 near the front of the restaurant.

The Shortinos spent less than an hour in the restaurant, and when they walked out the car was gone.

“This car has so much sentimental value, I can’t tell you,” Carmen Shortino said during a phone chat today. “It was given to me by my mother. It’s my baby. It’s has a lot more personal value than what it’s worth monetarily.”

The Shortinos are facing three likely outcomes in this car disappearance: It was taken on a joy ride; it was driven immediately to a local “chop shop” and disassembled for parts; or it was driven to Southern California, loaded on a transport ship and hauled to Europe.

None of those possibilities give the Shortinos any confidence that it will be returned. It is highly likely that the first order of business for those who pilfered the vehicle was to unscrew and remove the DUKFAME plate. And, like Mr. Fame himself, the whole episode leaves us speechless.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

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