There goes the neighborhood

POSSIBLY THE GRUBBIEST CAR I'VE EVER SEEN

I was strolling along next to Prospect Park a few weeks ago when a great dark cloud sucked the sun out of the sky. What wrath was about to befall our great city? Behold the horror of Windsor Terrace!

This is a 1970 Cadillac Sedan DeVille in Bayberry Green. It is in truly horrific condition throughout. Astonishingly it has a matching set of plates and current registration & inspection stickers in the windshield. Who is the mechanic who put their certification on the line in approving this heap?

I can't blame the public for shoving garbage in the mouth of this behemoth.

This is as close as you can get and still imagine this as a usable car.

I started this blog way back when with a 4 door green Cadillac that was beaten almost to death in the East Village, yet somebody kept driving it. I'm going back to my roots with this thing.

AAAAAGGHHH!!!!!

What is this nightmare?! Some lady asked me "Is this your car?" while I was snapping these pics. A small laugh escaped my lips in the "you must be joking" ilk before I managed: "No. NO! My god does anybody actually own this?"

She said yes indeed and it makes it across the street for alternate side parking regulations every week!

I love big old Cadillacs. My grandparents kept a steady supply of these enormous brutes going from their hands down through the family tree when I was young. My father had a '74 Eldorado. I had a '74 Coupe DeVille in high school. Even I can't find a single redeeming quality about this ride.

When you get closer it just gets worse. I think you could actually kick this car to pieces in 10 minutes or so if you didn't mind getting it all over your shoes.
I've been on the receiving end of some highly questionable inspection stickers in the past but this car really takes the cake. If your horn or reverse lights don't work you can always claim they went out that very morning if you get pulled over, especially with an old car. Maybe this would pass in the lights and brakes department but the suspension looks seriously saggy. Mostly though this is a rolling red flag if I ever saw one. If this were a building it would be condemned. 

Let's squint hard for a second and try to look at the original design. These pointed taillights are some of my favorite from Caddy history, second only to the '59 fins a la Ecto-1.

This thing needs a toupee stat. When vinyl roofing has an opening moisture can get underneath and wreak havoc on the metal. There are at least two holes in the roof itself above the passenger side front.

This has the GM Halo version of the vinyl roof where a strip of body colored metal surrounds the edge above the windshield and side windows. Dig the sheer scale of the trunk in this pic!

Looks like she's sporting 3 out of 4 Buick hubcaps from around the same era. I'm a fan of how massive these front bumpers are where they go back far enough to outline the wheel well.

Somewhere behind all that mouth trash lies a 472 V8 good for 375 horsepower from the factory. A showroom stock Coupe de Ville placed 3rd in the real life Cannonball Run with this same engine. It managed the highest overall average speed of 85mph too. These cars can really move despite their size.

Well that's where we'll back away from this frightening vision. People love to bemoan the loss of "old New York" and claim that the more run down version was their favorite. To those folks I suggest they go down to Prospect Park Southwest around 11th Avenue in Windsor Terrace. Cars like this used to be burned out and abandoned all over the city. Enjoy your lunch leaning against a big fender before depositing your litter in the grill for a trip down memory lane.

Cannonball Gold Caddy that took the Bronze

GOLD CADDY THAT TOOK THE BRONZE

I'm going to take a minute to feature yet another '70s Cadillac because they seem to live forever. Way out in rural PA I passed this dusty beast sitting in the Summer sun:

This is a 1971 Cadillac Coupe DeVille in Chalice Gold Firemist Poly. You can call it Chalice Gold but let's face it this thing is BROWN.

As massive as this car is it looks sleek with those awesome taillights that trail the quarter panel edge top to bottom.

Build quality was top-notch for Cadillac as we can see here by the tight and unblemished vinyl roof. This roof treatment is known as the Halo Roof as it doesn't go all the way to the tops of the window openings. This is a hardtop coupe as there are no pillars between the front and rear windows.

The interior is a super comfortable expanse of various browns (called either Carmine or Saddle in the brochure). The dash wraps around the drivers seat a bit even though there isn't much to see. GM figured that anyone buying a Caddy didn't need to mess around with gauges other than the speedometer and the fuel level. The prodigious ashtray is open only adding the overall brown feel.

This long hood holds a monster of an engine; a 7.7 Liter 472 V8 producing 375 horsepower and 365 ft lbs of torque. The only available transmission was a 3 speed automatic. Even though these beasts weighed in around 5,000 lbs their sheer power make them fun to drive hard. Amazingly the engine to succeed this one was even bigger! 1975 ushered in the 8.2 Liter 500 V8.

A bone stock '71 Coupe DeVille just like this one placed 3rd in the original Cannonball Run (this was a real yet unofficial race that was run 5 times in the 1970s). It managed to hold the highest average speed of the race at a whopping 84.6 miles per hour! To average that speed over almost 3,000 miles means hours at over 100mph. They reported an average 8.9 miles per gallon for the race but with a 27 gallon gas tank they still had a while between fill-ups.

This car is as wide as it looks. The '71-'76 Cadillacs had the most door-to-door interior space at 64 inches. Three people can easily sit abreast in the front seat.

Why anybody would bother swapping the Coupe and deVille words so that it reads deVille Coupe is beyond me but whatever. This beast is sporting new tires which can be pretty expensive for such a large car. I don't mind the letter tires and mudflaps on this ride actually.

It's too dark to see but this little housing on top of the fender has 3 small lenses. These are connected via fiber optic to the lights and turn signals to let you know when they need to be replaced. Being a Cadillac it has its own compliment of chrome trim to keep it classy.

Overall this ride is in solid shape with only surface rust emerging here and there. It's sitting nice and tall which makes me assume the suspension has been redone. The ride in these cruisers is like floating on a cushion of air. It can take some getting used to, but things like speed bumps appear in the windshield only to be reduced to a slight movement when passing over them. In addition to the ride these cars are almost silent in stock form. There is sound deadening equipment throughout and the exhaust has a resonator in addition to the muffler to keep it quiet.

This is the sort of car I grew up in. My grandparents had a succession of Cadillacs through the '70s that they would pass along to members of the family when it came time to get a new one. When you're a small child in the backseat of one of these monsters it's like sitting in a room. Power windows and ashtrays (usually full) in every door were the norm.
In high school I had a '74 Coupe DeVille with a less powerful engine than this and I still laid strips constantly (I was 17 years old what do you expect?). It was such a hilarious car because it was super fast while enormous. Gas at the time was around 90 cents a gallon so it was doable. I remember once getting my Shop Rite paycheck and filling the tank from almost empty with the best gas available. even at that low price 27 gallons left me with only a few dollars extra, but what else did I want to do at that age?

Who knows if it's still available but since it was for sale and I snapped all these pics I figure I might as well give the seller a plug. You could do worse for this money if it's in as good repair as I suspect, and if it is still available I'm sure the price is much lower. Good luck!

Show Car Sunday returns with the true king of 1957

CALIFORNIA DREAM MACHINE

What else is new? I was driving along some street in Alameda with an old friend when we passed this majestic beast, long-extinct on the East Coast:

I mean really California, do you have to be so smug about how your cars don't rust? This is a 1957 Cadillac Series 62 Sedan De Ville in Tahoe Blue. An amazing and luxurious beast of a ride!

When I was a kid the '57 Chevy was the most iconic of all the classics (these days they've been toppled by Muscle Cars and European Sports Cars). This is the vastly superior older brother of the Chevy, being the top of the GM heap. This car is dripping with ostentatious styling.

The front is just beautiful in my opinion. The hooded headlights are similar to those of the Chevy from that year, but just about everything else is unique. This large conical points jutting out of the grill are referred to as Dagmars after the stage name of the rather busty first female star of television Virginia Ruth Egnor. The wraparound mesh detail between the headlight and the bumpers are strictly for show. The dual round light on the lower bumper corner are the turn signal and running lights. Sedan de Ville is written out in full, though de Ville would be combined in the '60s to become DeVille.

Everything is swoopy and ready for launch in this Jet Age cruiser. The Sputnik was launched in October of '57 which heralded the Space Age, making this the last gasp of Jet Age design. Styling cues abound from the wings and chrome spear on the side to the full-on jet hood ornament. Notice that this is a true hardtop, meaning that with all the windows rolled down there is no pillar between the front and rear opening.

A rip on the seat is about as much damage as this car seems to have sustained in its 58 years. The interior looks much like interiors would through the end of the '70s with that clean speedometer, column shift automatic, central radio with ashtray below, and clock on the far side. However since this is a Cadillac there is a fancy bit of lined chrome trim adorning the footwell!

Classic Jet Age action; chrome spear and a faux vent with chrome gills. Looks like 3 of those gills have gone missing and good luck finding those!

Not only does this Caddy have all its original hubcaps but she's rolling on vintage look wide whitewalls complete with the old Firestone lettering. Cool! 

This car is enormous but manages to keep it together in a tidy package. The dynamic rear window shape goes a long way I think.

Look at that Caddy symbol which is as stylized as the Batman symbol in Frank Millers Dark Knight. These fins are pronounced but still nothing compared to just 2 years later when the Ecto-1 was built.

I really love everything about this car which is unusual for a 4 door. My ultimate favorite "if I actually won a hundred million Powerball jackpot" car is a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible which shares many of the styling cues of this ride. 

The way to fill 'er up on the '57 Caddy is amazing; that little red reflector between the round lights is actually a button. Press that button and the chrome housing that holds those 2 lights swings up on a hinge, exposing the hidden gas cap inside! Had I thought of it at the time I would've taken a shot.

By the way the exhaust comes out of those vents on the bumper corners!

How much could you fit in the trunk? Probably a full size Weber gas grill no problem, or a mid-size refrigerator on its side.

*That's my buddy Daves unbelievably sweet Scout sitting up there at the stop sign. I jumped out on the spot and ran around this Caddy while he idled.

When you take a step back and see some other cars parked near something like this it makes them all look so terrible. The Scout is definitely holding its own, but that Dodge crew cab? Puh-leeze! The Caddy's standing around the party in a tuxedo while everyone else is wearing shorts.

This long hood contains a 365 V8 mated to a 4-speed Hydromatic transmission. Cadillac had the same mission for the entirety of the last century; the engine should be powerful enough to do whatever you asked of it but do it in a silent, effortless manner. They succeeded. 

Air conditioning became an option starting with the 1953 Cadillacs, and this one most likely has it assuming it was originally sold in California. The a/c unit was built by none other than Frigidaire. 

We'll leave with a close up of the mighty Caddy schnoz. The 2 tall chrome spears standing tall on the hood are meant to mimic the tails of a jet. The crest refers to the family coat of arms of the Cadillac division namesake Antoine de Lamothe-Cadillac, a French explorer who landed in Detroit which at the time was located in New France. When the emblem was redesigned in 2002 the small ducks sadly disappeared. The large V under the crest generally refers to cars powered by V8 engines.

Next up; something less luxurious!

Show Car Friday? Whatever, here's a Bed Stuy Beauty!

SPIRIT OF '76

I've said it before, said it again, and will now say it again-again; the streets of Brooklyn are littered with vintage Cadillacs! If I wanted to do a blog of only 20+ year old Caddys I don't think I'd have a problem. Nevertheless, this big show-stopper caught my eye while riding through Bed Stuy recently.

This is a 1976 Cadillac Coupe DeVille in either Crystal Blue Firemist Poly or something close to it. This is the Devil in a Blue Dress.

'76 was the second year for square headlights. The only way I know of the differentiate this year from the 1975 model is this wrap around turn signal/cornering lamp; the '76 has those 2 slight horizontal bars spanning the length of the lenses while the '75 had none. If you look closely at the lens you can see that  it is actually divided into 2 parts; turn signal in front and a square at the rear that lights up the side you're steering towards when you have your signal on.

These cars are unabashed in their largess! That chrome top of the grill is a common aftermarket addition. That, combined with the weight of this enormous hood, is probably why the hood is sitting a little lower than the fenders.

Someone installed some 28 or 30 inch rims on this beast and it looks kind of normal actually.

In the sunlight this color was really incredible! The name Firemist on several of the Caddy paint codes refers to a special metal flake that catches the light in a truly beautiful way. I had a '74 Coupe DeVille in Seafoam Firemist Green, but being 18 years old I painted flames on it proudly:

R.I.P. The Olympic (as she was known) 

 This beauty still has the original fender skirts mine was lacking. You can see this was a repaint if you follow the chrome wheel well trim from back to front; it looks like they accidentally painted over half the chrome on the rear!

This dual exhaust pipes are no joke. This beast left the factory with a 500 cubic inch V8! While they were only rated for something like 200hp they are extremely torquey motors that have no issue moving this 5,000lb ride around like it was a much smaller car. My '74 got somewhere in the realm of 8-12 miles per gallon though so I had to pay for every burnout.

Somebody just had to swipe the Caddy emblem that covers up the trunk keyhole.
It looks like rust is starting to creep out from under the vinyl roof where it meets the trunk. This is an unfortunate but all too common problem with any vinyl roof of this era.

Those fender extensions are the closest thing to fins you could find on any car in '76.

She's being coy hiding behind the planter like an elephant behind a telephone pole.

Blue cars with white interiors are my favorite. The fact that somebody thought an additional pillow was needed on the backseat means that either someone's sleeping in this thing or the Princess and the Pea sits in the back.

The thing about this ride now is that all you need to do is park it in front of a row of old buildings and it looks like you're filming a Scorsese flick.

You can tell by the lack of leaves on the trees that this was one of the first discoveries of the year for me. I have so many waiting in the wings . . .

That's the last we'll see of Big Blue for now. A doppelgänger of this ride in white with a white vinyl roof pulled into the mechanic across from my shop while I was finishing up, but really; is that very surprising?