Dealer history 1942 Reno Nevada.

[gary griffin]

I have a 1942 Cadillac that left Detroit December 3 1941 and was sold in Reno. I have been told who was the first owner and  I am trying to verify and authenticate the claim. Does anybody have an idea how to go about this?

garygriffin@Q.com

[C.R. Patton II]

Hello Gary

State registration records are incomplete and vague. You may try to find someone that has old CLC Membership directories. That 1942 7519 may be easy to trace.

[gary griffin]

   I know the car left Detroit for Reno Nevada December 3rd of 1941. I assume it was on a train December 7th when Pearl Harbor was attacked. After that the rest is word of mouth from the 4th and 5th owners. This shipping date is known from the Historical records. I am assuming it went to a private party because if it went to a dealership and if the government had purchased it I am assuming it would have been in a lot and shipped directly to the government

Reported to me the car was donated to the war effort during the war (WW II  of course) and was later sold to the public in a military surplus auction in 1951. The car was sold in 1951 surplus auction at the Wendover Air Force base. Wendover was a aerial bombing practice base and home base for Colonel Tibbits who led the first atomic bombing mission.  I assume it was used by an important military official and I am in contact with the Wendover Historic Asociation trying to find any old photos and information. I am in contact with the 4th owner and he has been a lot of help.

1st owner reputed to be Bing Crosby purchased for his Nevada ranches and later donated to war effprt

2nd Owner US Army Air Corps

3rd Owner (I dont have his name yet) deceased)

4th Owner Mr. C.  For his privacy I am providing no more information but I do communicate with him and he owned the car 30 years and he personally knew the 3rd and 5th owners.

5th Owner J. C. (Initals only due to privacy issues) Deceased.  I originally bought the car from him and am still in communication with his widow who is following my restoration blog because  her late husband was so interested in the  restoration  of this car.

6th Owner Gary Griffin and currently car is under under restoration. I am running  a restoration blog and the early pictures of the car show it tan colored with a white top.

I am trying to get more documentation on the cars history because I am a history buff and WW II is such an interesting period and I love the history of this simple artifact of that period.

[Aaron Hudacky]

Gary,

Was Scott Motors the original dealer for your car? I know they sold Cadillacs in Reno from 1928 to 2009, and now sell only Range Rover, but don't know if Reno ever had an additional Cadillac dealer. The showroom looks pretty old but in good condition. I lived in Fallon near Reno until January, and find any cars with Reno history interesting.

[Alan Harris CLC#1513]

Bing Crosby was the arguably the biggest celebrity of the prewar era. If he donated a new Cadillac to the war effort, you can bet that that fact appeared in print somewhere. His film studio (Paramount), his radio network (NBC), and his record label (Decca) all had publicists working endlessly giving out "facts" about the good deeds of their stars.

I would be searching newspapers and fan magazines of the period to see if this story appeared in print anywhere.

I have also never heard that Crosby owned a ranch in Nevada. He may have. There have been several biographies written about Crosby. It should be easy to confirm if he did.

Finally, Crosby, like other celebrities, donated huge amounts of time to bond sales. A lot of stars gave personal items to auction off for sale of war bonds. I can picture Crosby contributing a car to be sold off to raise money for the war effort a lot
faster than I could see him donating a luxury car for some officer to ride around in.

Finally, the surplus auction in 1951 may have been advertised in local newspapers. I would look there for some mention of the sale.

I am not saying that the story isn't true. I am saying that stories grow over the years. If this one is true, there must be some kind of paper trail.   

[gary griffin]

Aaron, yes Scott motors was the dealer for this car. I  have not even thought of contact them as I am sure they could not find records of a sale that long ago.

   Alan, Thanks for your post. Yes we all like to think our cars were once owned by famous people and the threads of information get thinner as time goes by.
   Bing owned several ranches in Northern California and in Elko Nevada. He was accepted by the regulars as an ordinary guy and was the honorary mayor of Elko Neveda. Source Wikopedia.
   He was not in the service due to being married and having children but he participated in many wartime events including troop entertainment and war bonds drives.
   I feel that the donation of the car was feasible. Cars were hard to come by and the Wendover base was a new base and could have had procurement difficulties due to rapid expansion. Even the Cadillac company assisted the war efforts by building a limited number of cars on special order from the military after civilian car production stopped. They made them from stock parts probably 1942's and probably going to important officers. Remember Patton was killed in an accident in his Cadillac.  In 1960 I was assigned to a car company in Germany and officers were driven in 1957 Chevrolets painted olive drab but the base general was driven in a black 1960 Cadillac.
   Wendover was a little known base and harbored many secrets and there was little press coverage in the area. Not everything done by celebrities was made public due to war time secrecy.
   I do know that stories turn into legends and grow, but I have a little more faith in these stories than I normally would have due to being in contact with a previous owner who was a friend of the person who bought it at auction. I have no doubt the Wendover  part of the legend. I don't know how the Cosby part of the legend was started but will try to find out.
    Alan I appreciate your suggestions and will look into them.
    There are some thinge we can never know and I am not going to donate my life to validating this story. I will always beleive it until it is proven wrong and I am just as sure many will disbelieve it unless I get further proof.