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JFK in 59 Biarritz

Started by Davidinhartford, April 04, 2013, 07:20:35 AM

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Davidinhartford

In October 1959, aspiring presidential candidate Senator John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie were guests at the International Rice Festival in Crowley, Louisiana. They were hosted by Judge and Mrs Edmund M. Reggie.




Buster Miller

I wonder where that car is now!!

Davidinhartford

Quote from: Buster Miller on April 04, 2013, 09:33:35 AM
I wonder where that car is now!!

I was thinking the same thing.   You'd think that whomever had that car would have made a big deal out of it that the Kennedys rode in it.    Even when it was sold you would think they'd make sure the next owner knew.    The only way I could see this car disappearing was if it was wrecked some how.

I wonder what color the interior was?     The Biarritz came in limited colours I believe.


Quentin Hall

They are great images I've not seen before. I suspect it  is an Olympic white car with either a blue green or silver interior. It has no autronic eye. Where is Bill Refakis?
53 Eldo #319
53 Eldo #412.
53 Eldo #433
57 Biarritz
53 series 62 conv
39 Sixty Special Custom
57 Biarritz

Buster Miller

A red interior would certainly look nice!!!!

Dan LeBlanc

Ah, yes.  A flashback to a much simpler time when world leaders could ride around without being surrounded by a shroud of bulletproof glass.  Mind you, that didn't work out so well for him  :'(
Dan LeBlanc
1977 Lincoln Continental Town Car

Louis Smith

Is it just me, but from the overhead shot, the front passenger looks like the present occupant of the white house.

Dave Ventresca

according to the sign on the side of the car, that's Judge Reggie.

Louis Smith

#8
Quote from: Dave Ventresca on April 05, 2013, 12:12:54 PM
according to the sign on the side of the car, that's Judge Reggie.

Thats who it is.  That is his wife sitting down in the back seat.  Picture taken at a Rice Festival Parade in 1959





Walter Youshock

I hope the ladies weren't wearing stiletto heels with their feet on the back seat.  Bad enough to run the risk of cracking the parade boot but poking holes in the seat would not be acceptable.
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham

Louis Smith

#10
Quote from: Walter Youshock on April 05, 2013, 01:31:27 PM
I hope the ladies weren't wearing stiletto heels with their feet on the back seat.  Bad enough to run the risk of cracking the parade boot but poking holes in the seat would not be acceptable.

Ah stilleto heels and Cadillacs!   "The stuff that dreams are made of"  Re: Sam Spade.


76eldo

My brother in law bought a 1960 convert in the late 70's.He bought it from the original owner.
It had a small hole on the rear seat bottom. Other than that, the interior was mint and the paint and chrome very nice.

The seller told him that his friend talked him into driving in the 1960 or 61 Miss America parade on the boardwalk in AC.  One of the contestants was riding up there and pit a hole in the seat with one of her heels.
His comment, "I got a hole in my seat and the &$/)(@@ didn't even win!"

The car was $500.00 in 1977.

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

Louis Smith

Quote from: 76eldo on April 05, 2013, 04:09:46 PM
My brother in law bought a 1960 convert in the late 70's.He bought it from the original owner.
It had a small hole on the rear seat bottom. Other than that, the interior was mint and the paint and chrome very nice.

The seller told him that his friend talked him into driving in the 1960 or 61 Miss America parade on the boardwalk in AC.  One of the contestants was riding up there and pit a hole in the seat with one of her heels.
His comment, "I got a hole in my seat and the &$/)(@@ didn't even win!"

The car was $500.00 in 1977.

Brian

Yea but what a great icebreaker to meet the contestant!  I am sure most of the males here sacrificed more then a small hole in their seat cover to win the affection of fair maidens.

wrefakis

i looked up the parade that car was driven by a mr childress,the body number eludes me just now,but there is a biarritz somewhere in my files with that name tied to it,going over my project one last time this year to complete it,will keep an eye out for it

Bill Caddyshack

Recently bought a repro parade boot for my 1959 convertible that is very thin. Less than half as thick as my 1958 parade boot.

I think that if John and Jackie Kennedy sat on the one I bought they would have fallen through! Were the OEM 1959 Parade boots much thinner than the 1958s?

Quentin Hall

    Original 59/60 parade boots are the same thickness as  57/ 58. I'm guessing 4mm? I have made up a few repros over the years and the repros need a reinforcement thru the middle to support the width otherwise they tend to sag. I used to build them up to around 6mm on the edges and thru the middle with extra laminations.     
53 Eldo #319
53 Eldo #412.
53 Eldo #433
57 Biarritz
53 series 62 conv
39 Sixty Special Custom
57 Biarritz

Bill Caddyshack

Quote from: Quentin Hall on April 10, 2013, 06:08:06 AM
    Original 59/60 parade boots are the same thickness as  57/ 58. I'm guessing 4mm? I have made up a few repros over the years and the repros need a reinforcement thru the middle to support the width otherwise they tend to sag. I used to build them up to around 6mm on the edges and thru the middle with extra laminations.   


Quentin,

The OEM Factory parade boot that came with my 1958 Biarritz is 5.2mm thick and 35cm wide, front to back, center section.

The parade boot repro for the 59/60 I bought on eBay is about 3.2mm thick and 58cm wide, front to rear center section. The greater width needed for the 59/60 should have been much stronger, thicker, at least as thick as the 1958, I thought.

When I received the 59/60 repro boot, I contacted the seller who claimed the repro boot was the exact same thickness as the OEM 59/60 Caddy. I expressed a desire to return it as being "flimsy". He proclaimed that the boot was correct and gave me instructions as to how to paint it. I did prime it. Still concerned I emailed him again.

He offered to have a center section made that I could "Stand on." Then he countered this saying that I should just build up the center section with fiberglass myself. I told him I was not proficient with fiberglass and still wanted to return it. However since I had primed it, he flatly refused return.

I am frustrated. The cost was $1250. It still seems very flimsy. There is a pronounced sag with a 12 kg (25lb) weight. I have not yet left feedback.

Barry

I never felt Any convertible top boot cover was meant for people to sit on. I never even allow anyone to sit on the deck of my 61Continental and it would hold an elephant ! Just too great of a risk to my car and interior. Just me.
Barry Norman
1958 Biarritz
1961Biarritz
1976 Bicentennial
1976 Fleetwood Talisman
1961Continental Convertible

76eldo

#18
They are NOT meant for people to sit on.  I don't know why the name Parade Boot was even used to describe this part.  Look at what is supporting the thing, and then look at the material it's made out of.  It makes no sense that anyone would sit on it.
Now if they were kind of resting on the top of the rear seat, putting very little weight on the center section itself, maybe you can get away with that. Even a couple of petite women would weigh over 200 lbs...  The Kennedy's appear to be doing just that.

I had a low mileage 60 Biarritz a while ago and the center section was cracked.

I have a mint used one that I had painted white to match my car and had a friend in Sweden make the leather attachments for the sides.  I had the latches re-plated and the whole unit is like what you would find in the trunk of a new Biarritz in 59 or 60, except they are resting in a set of the custom bags that I sell on ebay.  I can send the ebay link if you want to see them.

My car being a 62 series convertible has the snaps on the belt molding for securing the soft boot cover.  If I cannot get this unit to work on my car, I may sell it, but not for a price that would be considered a bargain.

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

Quentin Hall

Yes,  the 54 up parade boot is a styling exercise; not a practical item for sitting on. 53 Eldos are steel but at $10 000 please don't sit on mine. I bought some fibreglass infill panels for a 74 Cad from a vendor off ebay and they were so poorly made that I made a complaint thru paypal (which I have rarely had to do) and I got a refund. I still have the bits but wouldn't even give them to someone I disliked. These bits would have been 2mm thick and so badly cut that even I could not make them work. I could not believe that this seller was a fibreglass business. Sometimes this should be the route you take just so that other's don't get caught buying an inferior product. Seller should have no problem making it right even if it is primed. 
     I have a spare original 57/58 parade boot to sell but I'm not ready to sell my mint original in the bag 59/60 spare. Still looking for some 59 Biarritz/Seville trim. Upper  LH door panel with emblem and inner brushed SS panels. Also the curly SS ones that go around the rear bumper. Q 
53 Eldo #319
53 Eldo #412.
53 Eldo #433
57 Biarritz
53 series 62 conv
39 Sixty Special Custom
57 Biarritz