Ask the (wo)man who OWNS one......

[rickr]

Cadillacs

Cory I just love your Cadillacs! The picture just says it all!They all look to be in mint too.I know it takes a lot of work to keep them up to outstanding condition.
I worked as service manager at the local Cadillac dealer in Fort Wayne in the 1980's. I remember all your 1980's models when they were brand new. We had engine problems then,otherwise they were great cars. When they came out with the new models in 1986,Cadillac made a big deal of the new Eldorado and Seville. We went to Chicago in 1984 to see a sneak preview of the new 1986 Seville and Eldorado models,and each of us got to drive both cars on a special track hidden from public view. I disliked both new models,and did not care for either style until the new body in 1992.
Of all the Eldorado front wheel drive models,I liked the 1979 to 1985 the best. The 79 and 80 models were the most trouble free. You must know about the 8-6-4 in 1981...Reliable however customers did not like the feel of the engine. Then the trouble started with the HT-4100 in 1982. We replaced engine in some cars with less than 4,000 miles on them. Customers were NOT happy,and started to look at high end import cars.
You have some very valuable vintage Detroit iron.Too bad you were not on the drive train design team back then. I am very impressed! Thank you for posting the great picture.

 

[petek]

An interesting website

tour thru these little mostly Euro mini cars of the 50's 60's
located near Atlanta..

www.microcarmuseum.com

 

[foraloysius]

Interesting website indeed. I'm really flabbergasted by the fact this museum is in the US rather than in Europe. BTW, here's a picture of my modern European mini car.

 

[programcomputer]

Microphone taillamps...and other cars

Okay,

I give you my list of favorites:

1. Packard any (senior series: Patrician,Four-Hundered, Caribbean)models from 1955-56. OBVIOUSLY....lol

2. Imperial Crowns, Southhamptons 1955-56,1957-1963,1964-66.

3. Cadillac 1956 series cars 62 and Fleetwood models. Nothing agian until the 1967-68 series, and any Eldorado from 1967 on.

4. Lincoln for 1956-57 Premier, 1958-1960 Premiere, 1966-67 Continental Convertible, 1977-79 Continentals/TownCar, with the Rolls Royce grille.

5. Edsel any Corsair or Citation models from 1958-59

6. Kaiser Manhattan 1954-55 only, with Supercharger.

7. Hudson Hornet 1952-53 w/ Hydramatic.

8. Studebaker Wagonaire 1963-66, with v-8 and Flightomatic Drive.

9. Studebaker Lark Convertible 1962-1964 with agian a V-8 and Flightomatic.

10. 1965 Mercury's with the Brezzeway Window option.

Okay that's my top twn of what I would own If I could

What's yours???

Thanks

Chad

C.O.D. A 1963 Studebaker Lark Wagonaire...and to think that Generous Motors had the AUDACITY to say that they pioneered the rear folding roof....SHAME ON YOU GM.....STUDEBAKER did it first 41 years before you did.......THANK YOU!!!!

 

[retromom]

Hot Wheels!!

Don:

The PT is a beaut! She's turbo-charged so I get lots of pep out of that engine! If it were a bit longer (like a true roadster) and had a 5-speed.....whoa momma!

As far as Cadillacs are concerned.....oy! Tom and I had a gorgeous blue Fleetwood Brougham. I hated it! It was so huge that I felt like I was steering the HMS Pinafore! This is coming from a former humongoloid SUV driver too. I guess I'm used to working with a large rear end as opposed to a big front end! Rings true personally as well! LOL!

I was sharing quite a few laughs with my mom about our old 1965 Thunderbird. What a lemon! It was a beautiful car, but it fell apart bit by bit. First the radiator, then the alternator, then the a/c, then the power windows (ahhhhh), then the transmission. When mom got rid of it she got a little Opal Kadet station wagon. That was a fun little vehicle to tool around in! She's had her Pontiac Grand Am for about 15 years now. All she has to do is get the oil changed. It never gives her a moment's trouble.

As far as the fav that I wish I had...A Studebaker Grand Tourismo Hawk! Now those were way cool!

Here's a link to what the old Jag looked like. I still have the emblem, keys, and wrench. Unfortunately it was totaled by a drunk driver. Fortunately, it was parked and I wasn't in it.

Thanks all for the pics of your wheels and for the ones all of us wish we had! This is great!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6278&item=4548344153&rd=1

 

[Cybrvanr]

The owner of my company is a Cadillac man too. He just recently bought a 1967 Eldorado that was restored. VERY nice looking car. As far as new stuff goes, he drives around an XLR (Northstar powered Corvette) and his wife has one of those new CTS-V's (corvette powered Caddy!) I'll hafta take some picures of his fleet. Obviously, he's got plenty of money to spend on his cars!

Very cool down to earth dude though that loves both classic and modern Detroit iron!

 

[tlee618]

Louis, that is such a cute little car!! Terry

 

[petek]

Louis, very Smart

I'm beginning to see more and more of them tooling around town here every month. I've only sat in one in the showroom and it's surprising how it doesn't feel all that tiny inside, considering it's only slightly longer than my outstretched arms. Whether they take off here is questionable, probably a reason why they launched them here in Canada before the US to get a feel for acceptance in a smaller but similar market.

 

[petek]

Now for my car

My little 6 speed beaut, no pretense here

 

[petek]

On the other hand

I don't know where I went wrong that little Ben should become so affected to the point that his car has to match his coat.

 

[jasonl]

Micro cars

I've just toured a museum, or a collection of micro cars in Massachusetts.

Among my favorites are the Messerschmidt tandem seating micros, the Citroen and the original Mini microcars. A VW Bug is a luxury sedan compared to these cars.

One notable car was the Invacar. Bri got a kick out of this one. This was a car made by England for handicapped people. You couldn't buy it, the gov't gave the car to you. It had sliding doors, hand controls (like a motorcycle) and a sliding seat to get in and out of your wheelchair.

Here's a link to a website with pics of these little gems.

Can you spot Bri in the pics?

http://www.rwinters.com/VW

 

[jasonl]

There's strength in numbers

The Beetles come out to play. Guess which one's mine.

BTW, Louisiana gives you a license plate for the back. Mass gives you one for front and back.

 

[jasonl]

And here's my dream microcar. The Lighstar Pulse. It's a tamdem seated car powered by a motorcycle engine.

http://www.autocycles.org/

 

[kenmore1978]

1955-56 Packard taillights

"Aren't these Taillamps the cats meow?"
We can thank Richard "Dick" Teague for thos "cathedral" taillights. Since Packard was short on cash by the time the 1955 models came out, Dick was forced to facelift the 1951 body, but what an excellent job he did! The average person would never know, the main giveaways were the little hump in the trunklid, the roofline, and the fact the car sat a little high for a 1955 car.

He later went on to become head stylist for American Motors. I have his autograph in the owners manual for my 1976 Pacer

 

[kenmore1978]

License plates

Jon, here, the states control the use of plates, the licensing fees, and other standards besides what the Federal government dictates to the manufacturers. This makes for some oddities. Only California is allowed to dictate stricter emissions standards than the Federal goverment. Other states can choose to follow the California emission standards or the "49 state" standards.

The use of front plates or not is dictated by each state, and each state has a different design, and even multiple designs, as well as "personalized" plates. Where front plates are used, they are same design, front and rear.

Each state has a different method of levying license fees. They can be based on hosepower, number of cylinders, engine size, car weight. Here in California, the fees are based on car value when new, the more expensive the car, the more the initial license fee is. The fee decreases each year and bottoms out at about US$45 when the car is about 10 years old.

Also, in some states, the license plates are registered to the owner, and are transferred from car to car. In California, and possibly other states, the plates stay on the car from new to the scrapyard UNLESS they are replaced because:

car hasn't been registered in over 5 years
plates are stolen or damaged from accident
replaced by personalized plates
owner jsut wants a different plate design

With the advent of silk screening on license plates, they have become very colorful and inventive. Often the state slogan is featured and/or something the state is famous for.
Some states also put the county where the plate was issued

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/greenearthofficesupply/licplatpicst.html

 

[pulsator-power]

License Plates in CT

We in Ct went back to the 2 plate system a few years ago. For awhile, you could get away with one on the rear bumper, which spawned a whole slew of custom knock-offs for the front plate area, like "I love my car", "Disco Queen", "Disco Sucks", CT Mama, etc.
Jerry

 

[kenmore1978]

2 plates

I suspect we're going to see more states return/go to the 2 plate system as photo-enforced intersections become more common. And states that require 2 plates but the law hasn't been enforced are going to step up enforcement for the same reason.

 

[toggleswitch]

Mini Car.

Louis:

What a cute little thing you have in your palm there!

Would you be a dear and fold it up to bring it here (on the plane. LOL) for me to look at, touch and take a ride?

How many of those fit into a Ford Explorer or a GMC suburban?

 

[petek]

The neat thing about those Smart cars is you can easily fit two of them into one standard on street parking space, you could even park it perpendicular to the curb and it wouldn't stick out into the road, ergo double the parking meters per block if not a few stalls like they do for motorcycles in some places.

 

[jasonl]

I was

At the Miford Drive-in. Just me, Bri, and Alice (my Beetle) settled in for a double feature.

 

[jasonl]

Someone is pretty in this picture. And it isn't me. I sometimes wonder what she sees in me.

 

[foraloysius]

Gay Lincoln

In states with a 1 plate system you can have something else on the front. When I came to the convention in 2001 I was picked up at the airport by Steve and Rhinnie who live in Georgia. They proudly drove a Lincoln with a rainbow plate on the front. Here's a picture of it.

As for perpendicular (queer) parking, I have never done that overhere because the Smart is 2.5 metres long. It will stick out. Even on your side of the pond it will stick out I think. It still is very easy to park, I've put it in very small parking spaces. On the other hand, a Smart still has a turning circle, it doesn't fit everywhere. Also if you park it on a streetside you mighgt find it back stuck between two cars, because some people think they can park their cars almost against the bumper of a Smart!

 

[rickr]

Gay pride Lincoln

That is a Kewl picture. Hope some bigot doesn't key the nice white Lincoln...

 

[petek]

Oh my, so that's what those rainbows mean.

 

[programcomputer]

Re: Richard (Dick) Teague...and Packard styling...

Kenmore1978,

I of course never was able to meet Richard Teague, love the fact that not only did you get to; but have his autograph in your owners manual. About two years ago Gilmore Classic Car Museum, in Hickory Corners Michigan; did a "Rememebering Dick Teague" thing; during a Packard Motor Car Company themed event, and had one of his nephews or someone important there, talking about Teague.

The moral of this is, that he explained to the crowd how his uncle came up with the idea of the "cathedral" lights, and why they even appeared on Packards for 1955-56. I missed the first half hour of the 'presentation", due to the fact that I was busy denting fenders of all the awesome Packards.

But later found out from a nice guy who owned a Caribbean from 1955 color's onyx and jade middle swipe, who let me sit in it for like as long as I wished to that this was happening at the front of the property, and I should high tail it over there ASAP.

Apparantly "Dick", according to this person who knew Mr. Teague; and the stylists had the basic 1955 package wrapped up for production by Feburary 1954, which was late as it was, becasue usually many facelifts are in final form before Christmas of the year previous to introduction.

He was pleased himself with what he was able to do, but really felt that the rear end diddn't seem not only important enough, but Cadillac-ish or unique...and that Packards from 1948 on just had no sex appeal, let alone good old fashioned appeal..but was kinda stuck on what to do.

Apparantly James Nance, Packards president thought the same way. He was back in the styling department over on East Grand Blvd, the Friday before Easter, 1954. He showed up, looked at future proposals, winded his way thru the department, looking at things for 1956 1957 and beyond.

They all, Teague included; ended up wandering around with some of his posse' if you will with Nance, and they went to the main styling showroom, where the finished 1955 Patrician model clay was slowly twirling around on the main turntable.

Nance was pleased according to Teague, but as the tail end swung around, Nance motioned for the clay to be stopped so he could look at it. Nance looked at the rear for about five minutes....and said to Teague in front of everyone: "Goddammit...Teague", "you're a bright guy","why dont you come up with"... "something else". "This just won't do", and I'll see you next week.

Nance's main gripe about the 1955 facelift job, was the roof, which they could do nothing about; and the fact that originally The 1955 Packard was supposed to come out with a further refined edition of the 1954 taillights, who in private Nance, who later admitted to Teague, hated the tailiights, and reffered to the two globular taillenses as "bulls nuts".

So Teague to a bunch of styling equipment home in case he had some time to work out a revisement, easter weekend; 1954.

Apparantly, after going to church with his family, and having easter dinner , he sat down in his den and had the cathedral light done in about four hours, more or less.

Anyway the guy went onto describe what it entailed to rework the design in time, and basically the following week, when Nance saw it he went "nuts" , fell in love with the design, gave Teague a raise, and a paid for vacation. All for a simple desing, that would have never occured, had Nance, and Teague...despised the rear end of the car.

Anyway, I loved that day...I had seen over 75 1955-56 Packards, Clippers and a few Studebakers from that same era; and it further stimulated what initial interest I had in those cars already. After late in the day getting a ride in a 1956 Patrician sedan, similar to, but two toned to the first feature picture in this post, and feeling what Torsion Level, Ultramatic Drive, body and interior by Packard was like firsthand...I feel forever in Love with these, monster last golden Packards...from Detroit....

Chad