Why do we collect vintage Cadillacs?

[jwwseville60]

As a writer and historian, I'm constantly looking at issues over long periods of time. That said, I'm hyper-vigilant when it comes to engineering, style and design of various machines for my novels. So what is so darn special about old Caddies? Cream of the Detroit crop? Snoop Dog's favorite ride?

Glamorous Brougham carriages for the well-heeled? Gilded Hollywood glamour on wheels? Nostalgic diner padded booths for your burger enjoyment? You betcha!



My Dad always drove Lincolns, but when he worked in the Pentagon for the USN in 1972, he was picked up every day in a black 1970 Fleetwood 75 limo. Thus began my love of big American luxury cars. I always associated GM with the military, and indeed they were always a patriotic military contractor. My home Washington DC has always been a Cadillac-filled swamp of political corruption on the move and in high style. The President does NOT ride in a rusty Subaru, folks.

 

"Vote for me, suckers!"

My Dad bought his first and only Caddy in 1995, a Deville in tan metallic. "Test it for me, wring it out!" he said. Being a younger racer at the time (33) I hurled that big boy around a turn plenty fast, tires screaming, and I was suitably impressed! That elephant could dance. Dad, of course, was not impressed, he thought 55 was too fast. Since that hot summer day I was hooked on Dee-trot's finest. A year later he went back to "black budget" black Lincolns, a conservative move for a swamp politician who thought his Caddy was "too fancy, too big, too fast and too tan."

So what is it about vintage Cadillacs? What's the body-on-frame allure all about?

The first electric starter on brass cars? (Hell yes!).
The brilliant Harley Earl designs of yesteryear? (You bet your dirty whitewalls).
The V12 and V16 coachbuilt cars? (Check and re-check, pal).
The WW2 tank engines and Hydramatics? (Totally awesome and fearsome).
The gangster armored cars? (No one is going to perform a drive-by Mob hit in a Rolls-Royce, it's just not done).
The Hollywood movie idol and Elvis Caddies? (A Cold War anti-Commie psychological operation that worked wonders).
The Marilyn Monroe gold 1960 Seville coupe that was wired for sound by the CIA? (That's classified, need-to-know only).
The White House and US Senate limos? (Imagine all the horseplay in the back of those babies!).
The glamorous tailfin wars? (My personal fave).
The "bigger is better" engine development? (No arguments here).
All of the above?
YES.

   

Today I'm thinking of adding huge nylon metallic curtains and a huge "V" to the wall of my garage to simulate the bygone era of Cadillac displays at Motorama shows. Oh, I won't actually do it, but it's a zany thought worth mentioning. However, I do make my wife wear Ebay-bought long white gloves and a faux pink mink stole when she rides with me, that's the rule. I wear a grey Fedora hat to match my grey beard. Cadillacs sometimes make you wear a suit or silk dress, just as the old ads portrayed. No other car does that for me.

But there's more.
My wife and I love to chat with folks at a gas station over a Caddy, and I love letting smiling people sit behind the wheel because it reminds them of a long-lost family member or loved one. It's magic. Kids poke the tailfins in awe. Old Cadillacs remind a lot of people of the "good old days" that had no computers, cell phones, 24 hr. nonsense news, flat screens, police with laser radar or navigation system voices yelling at you. How many hobbies can you share with people that provoke these kinds of strong emotions? Few indeed. Old cars are emotional.

It's a romantic time-space-warp voyage back in time to drive one, especially with a folded map and flashlight driving lost in the West Virginia mountains with one headlight out. (I pulled over, slept in the back seat and drove home at dawn).

Park a vintage Caddy right next to the Grand Canyon for a photo-op. You'll draw a crowd of grinning cell phone shutterbugs ignoring the dozen UFOs flying down below, but be careful of the edge. Drum brakes won't help you with that kind of verticality.

Pull up to the McDonalds drive-thru in a convertible Deville and make people smile. Tip them with a used spark plug and a five dollar bill. I do.

Crack open a frosty stainless shaker and have a Hawthorne martini with your parked Caddy, loved one and a fall sunset, but remember not to spill on the leather.

John Warner

[Lexi]

I agree. Gas station vintage Cadillac chit chat is fantastic. Have become better than most car shows for me. And "Yes" to all of the above. Great post. Clay/Lexi

[Michael Petti]

All of the above is true. I can't take my black 60 cdv any place, including Home Depot or the supermarket that I don't get shouts of great car or thumbs up or requests for pictures with the car. G.M. will never make true Cadillacs again in America. Closest thing is the CT6  but thats only for China.  Too bad. So many of us loyalists want them.

[James Landi]

Thank you John Warner for this brilliantly written encomium with fabulous images to match. I'm grateful for your insights and compelling narrative. We older boomers (77 this year), recall those fabulous late 50's in DC.  My dad purchased a 56 SDV with a/c, and as he drove us around Dupont Circle, I, in my ten year old imagination, pictured my family as important lever pullers of Ike's inner circle.  Yes, it was perfect timing to own a Cadillac, and for the Cadillac div, to produce such extraordinary cars... one could be caught up in the zeitgeist of an America that had overcome a crippling Great Depression, the massive sacrifices and rationing of WW2 and the sense that modernity would provide us with unlimited possibilities.  Here, I'm channeling Donald Fagan's terrific song "IGY" --in praise of the 1955 International Geophysical Year --- a compellingly optimistic futuristic world comprised of "graphite and glitter"--- so of course, a '59 Cadillac should have those glorious tail fins, for many Americans believed in the near future we'd all take off into the sky--- "Up Up and Away"  (TWA commerical jets used that song on take-offs during the early 60's when most passengers "dressed up" to fly-- imagine that)    Gratefully, James 

[jdemerson]

Probably the most "over the top" post I've seen on the CLC Message Board!  I'm still smiling...

John

[jwwseville60]

Thanks!!

[64\/54Cadillacking]

Wow that was awesome to read John! So true in many ways. Unfortunately I am too young to have ever experienced riding or driving around in old Caddy's of that era when the cars were new.

As a millennial, I feel like at times that I should have been born in the 40's or 50's because I gravitate to everything of that vintage. An old soul maybe? Perhaps.


What Cadillac had back then was CLASS. This is what's missing in todays modern vehicles. Everything is so heavily techy and goofy that the sense of class and dignity no longer exist in modern society.

When someone pulled up in a Caddy, you knew they meant business. Pretty crazy how your dad didn't own a Cadillac up until the 90's!! Man he missed out on all the best ones! Being picked up in an old Caddy limo had to have been cool though.

Cadillac went through some strange changes throughout its history. In the 1920'a-40's, they looked very conservative in its styling, but around the mid-late 1950's is
when it's styling prowess from the likes of Harly Earl truly elevated the brand to a more exciting luxury car to own. More chrome, more fins, more cool factor.

Up until around 1964 with the last of tail fins was when Cadillac slowly stopped being flamboyant and youthful in its designs. I couldn't imagine back in the late 50's some old man driving a Cadillac, it just seemed like someone much younger would want to own and drive one, Elvis is a perfect example of it. Although the stereotype of Cadillac being your "grandfathers" car, that must have rang true in the 1970's on up, but not in the 50's-60's Also a variety of different kinds of people own Cads, from pimps, gangsters, businessman, doctor, politicians and the classy man or woman, they all mostly drove Caddy's to show off.

By the late 60's and well into the 70's, Cadillacs became much more conservative looking thus I feel started to limit the kinds of people it attracted.

There will never be a time again where magnificent Cadillacs will ever be built. I truly believe that many of us own something that is part of American history. This alone has to mean a lot to you as each passing year makes you realize that you're another year older, and how less vintage Cadillacs are out there to either purchase or obtain parts from.  This makes the Cad that you own even more valuable and special to cruise around in.

[cadillac ken]

I love all old cars. I always have since I was 13 years old, despite not really coming from a "car family". My Dad bought used cars he could afford and learned just enough to keep them on the road.

When times got tough for me, I took to buying old cars and fixing them up in my garage, mostly just to pay my bills. When I got one road worthy I'd put it in the old Auto Trader and pray that I could sell it to the fist person who showed up so I could make my rent that month!

I was doing this when the muscle cars and the Impalas were starting to bring some decent bucks. But I soon realized that a Mustang with the incorrect fan shroud or an Impala with the wrong engine was death on the market. One day I found a 1955 Cadillac coupe. An older guy had it and it quit running so he parked it in his side yard.  I looked at it and realized that this Cadillac was all original and had been well maintained. And of course I loved the looks. I fixed it, sold it, and from then on I only looked for old Cadillacs. They were usually not abused and were easy fixes that got them back on the road.

As these things go, I started to get a good cache of spare parts from the Cadillacs I bought.  Some I bought as parts cars and simply disassembled them for all the good parts. I was really attracted to the '57s and '58s and while I also loved the looks of the '59 and 60 they were, even back then, going for more than I could afford. 

So I guess that's what got me started on my Cadillac affliction. Kind of accidentally really.  To this day I have never owned a four door (although I came close to a derilect '58 Brougham) and the newest one I have every owned was a '69 convertible-- which was fixed up only for the purpose of resale.

So that's my story on why I collect vintage Cadillacs.

[fishnjim]

Exceptional post or should I say "awesome" in todayspeak...
When I was a "kid", if a big shiny '50s Caddie came down the road, 1. you didn't see many, least not where I lived, small town OH. 2. you knew someone with some "jack" owned it.  3. You stopped and watched.   Sightings got much more frequent in the '60s, '70s, and up and lost that "glow".
People still stop for a stare/double take today. 
It goes with my shiny object theory that attracts/mesmerizes people.   They bought Manhattan island for some shiny beads...   I saw a picture of a '53 for sale the other day and OMG the chrome on that massive front end.  It would qualify as a chromium "mine" in today's world.

[Lexi]

Yes, most people like shiny bobbles. Clay/Lexi

[64\/54Cadillacking]

I don't think many people realized back then the amount of resources it took to make all that chrome which I heard most of the raw materials came from South Africa. As the U.S. was coming out of WW2, Americans were craving excess and "new" products faster than what the automakers could handle. I loved that, I wish we could go back to a certain kind of excess which made Cadillac stand out. It's what made the U.S. such a powerhouse and envied around the world. 

Lots of high quality chrome, stainless steel trimmings is truly what gave Cadillacs such a wonderful glow about them that other makes simply couldn't match. We all know too about the famous Cadillac grill and is what in many ways too, gave the Caddy that distinction and uniqueness vs other brands.

The feeling one gets driving and owning one of our old Cads is like nothing else. The experience is wonderful and exciting, it really does take you back to a certain time and makes you really appreciate all of the men and woman that put their blood sweat and tears constructing our beautiful beasts.

[Lexi]

I think the question is why people collect anything. Collecting I think is a personal thing. It fills some void we lacked or experienced at some point in our lives. Why did Aunt Clara collect doorknobs. Why did my Great Aunt Mary collect dolls, which overflowed her Washington bed spread. Why does one CLC member collect Cadillac packaging but not a car. We all seek that special feeling when we drive our car and suddenly are propelled into another place and time. Maybe it's an expression of who we are. Some say we look like our dogs. I guess one may ask the same of our cars. To some it's a hobby...a passion...a job. I found it to be all three for me.

Good question. Its all 3 for me as well. In my case it does not fill a void, I grew up in an environment where history and our cultural heritage was cherished. Mom and Dad were antique collectors so for me liking vintage autos was a logical thing. Clay/Lexi

[2011DTS]

John great photos and writeup and it is great that you contibute as John Emerson said above, in describing your post as an "over the top comment" however you have a real knack for minimization. Your comment that your father was a "Pentagon official" really, gee most of us in the Commonwealth knew him as the Sectrary of Defense, a little more then a Pentagon official.... I guess you would descirbe your mom working in finance and not a member of the Mellon family and your step mom as an actress and not Elizabeth Taylor.          Again, your post was really insigthful and well thought out. Thanks for posting the Fourm.
Oh, and where did you find that great photo of President Nixon, I did my disertation on President Nixon and I never saw that photo in all my research, was that from your personnel collection? Also, that 1968 series 75 limo must have been one of the WH motorpool cars as the rear windows rolled down. As the windows of the Presidental Limo were fixed.

[Lexi]

This thread keeps getting better, if that is even possible. Clay/Lexi

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

There are so many possible motivating factors behind our behaviors. Why siblings growing up in the same environment where one likes one type of car, another likes a different type of car while a third couldn't care less about cars altogether- can simply be traced to that which makes us all different.

Call it what you will- nature, nurture, DNA etc. The heart wants what the heart wants. How the cookie crumbles nobody knows.   

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

A wonderful world about our enjoying the fruits of someone else's labors "way back when." I have often wondered how the several limousines that I have owned were used when new. I have mentioned before how I found unfaded lighter blue carpet up against the division window bulkhead of a 1941 Imperial and wondered how on earth the chauffeur kept the rear clean in the winter.

Just after my wife bought her beloved 1979 SDV, we were going on a trip to Southern Indiana where we'd never been except driving through it on the way to her folks in Tennessee. Our first stop was the elegant French Lick Hotel. At the time, I was driving a 1977 Toronado and should have taken it as there was the possibilty of snow.

But, we took the Cadillac instead. And I got the same sense of Cadillac ownership when I pulled beneath the portico and let the porter remove our luggage from the trunk. And I'll never forget what Mrs.(Dave) Towell said to the porter when checking out of the hotel their first night on the way back from CA to OH driving their just purchased 1930s V-16. "It's the car out front." (Turn left at Tumcumcari) S/S circa 1965.No further clarification was needed.

A wonderful article, and might I suggest that you give Jeff Shively, our S/S editor a call, and see if he'd be interested in sharing your work with the entire Club VIA the Self Starter.

[jaxops]

We grew up in a funeral home in Philadelphia and would get dropped off and picked up at school in "Big Black", a 1960 Cadillac custom Derham limousine.

 Dad became a dealer for Hess & Eisenhardt in Cincinnati, so we always had new cars going out and used cars coming in.  I usually got to drive one of his trade-ins home while working for him in high school. I delivered ambulances around New Jersey and eastern PA, and drove the hearse and later the family car for funerals.

  That's what got me started on large GM and Ford luxury cars.  When Dad lost his garage space around 2005, we were able to get the 1956 limousine and my brother took the 1949 limousine.  After the 1956 was restored, my brother tried to sell his car, but Dad bought it from him and informed me he had shipped it to Virginia.  So I have them both now, all restored and running. 

[bcroe]

My interest was in the bad weather capabilities of
the new 60s front drivers.  I decided they were too
big and hungry for me, but I eventually started
driving the 1979 downsized versions.  Have had a
couple Toros and lately 79 yellow Eldo.  Yes that
yellow car does get a lot of looks and comments,
though that is not what I bought it for.  After
27 years it has become a test bed for maintaining
the EFI of many other owners 70s Cads.  Bruce Roe

[billyoung]

Unlike most current advertising that if you buy the product it many times is a let down, I still have many 1950's and 1960's Cadillac magazine ad's as I Love them and rather than misleading they are accurate regarding the quality and mystique the car invoked. There really is nothing produced in todays world that even approaches what a Cadillac represented worldwide then.

[walt chomosh #23510]

John,
  AWESOME post!....walt...tulsa,ok