(first posted 2/2/2012) Saw this in traffic the other day; wow; a shorty Caddy roadster. That’s a first for me, but then I don’t tend to hang out in the places where this sort of thing might typically appear. Another angle:
Pretty funny…and not exactly with the Harley Earl stamp of approval. Had a nice, hearty burble too.
Kinda cool I recall a Vauxhall Velox many years ago done like that SWB and cutaway doors.
On my way to school, I always see a 1964 Chevrolet Impala “Business Coupe” parked in front of someone’s house. It is a shortened two door hardtop. It’s pretty neat.
Gawd…your area looks like a car-freak’s paradise! Too bad I haven’t been able to find a way to move out there…great weather; preserved cars; motorhead eye candy…
Sucks to live in the Rust Belt….
…out here, you’d NEVER see anything like that outside of a car show…NEVER.
@JPT: Come to Western Michigan. I moved here after a 10 year stint in Atlanta. You’d think living in the southeast you’d see a lot of old iron. Rarely happened. Even out in the exurbs, no one really drove old cars. (Maybe because they didn’t have A/C?)
Living here, I see all kinds of old iron, except for this time of year. Problem is, I rarely have enough presence of mind to have a camera or phone ready to shoot when I see stuff. Wait until show season (June-September) you won’t have enough time to go to all of them.
But, yes, I agree about the PNW. I personally never would have imagined it.
Southern California likely has the highest percentage of interesting cars just going down the highway. Today, a lovely summer afternoon, 80 degrees F, and sunny, I saw a mid 70’s 911, a few restored mid60’s muscle cars, a 66 Impala 4-door, and a red Lambo Countach. Just another day on US101 in LA….
Certainly L.A. has always had more cars than Detroit ever did .
Lambo’s Ferrari’s , Panteras , McLarens , all those are daily drivers here , I see ’em all the time .
Old cars too but not as many as those exotic foreign cars , Ruff Porches and like that .
It must be very nice to be so rich .
Even if I were I’d never buy those things , working on them cured me of that wish .
-Nate
Reminds me of the ’59 Imperial Speedster:
http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_1107_1959_chrysler_imperial_speedster/viewall.html
I love that!
Thanks for posting that Imperial link, made fascinating reading (and I loved the finished car too!).
I like it. I would upolster that sucker in a water proof material use boat electrical conectors if needed, and drive it as much as possible. Love the fairly dry desert I live in.
Having all that length chopped out gives it some slightly cartoonish-looking proportions, but it’s still cool. Looks like it’s STILL longer than the car next to it too.
Why do I think that the initial planning for this project involved alcohol?
Something more useful would be an El Cadino. Saw a 57 chevy here that someone El Caminoized. If I could have run it down I would send in pictures.
Heh. Can’t remember where it was (LaGrange, IL or Sunnyvale, CA) someone decided that his VW bus was too long. He cut it so that the double doors were gone. I wouldn’t want to drive it, and never saw it on the road, but it was a nice driveway classic. Hmm, hot engine and some wheelie casters, it’d be fun at the dragstrip. Just need some fool to drive it.
In 1990, I saw them all over the Pacific Northwest. At least five…Washington to Montana.
Just to look at it, it was a cute package. But, like the Jeep FJ…I imagine it was top-heavy and nose-tippy…like a motorized pogo stick.
Yup I’ve seen a few of those around the PNW back in the day.
Insane! I sure hope that car was rescued from a T-bone. I’d hate to think somebody just took a Sawzall to a great Caddy. Nicely done!
If there was an XLR in 1958 this would be it.
I like it!
Reminds me of back in the late-60’s and early 70’s, when Southern California car freaks would shorten VW buses… very bizarre and very cool… I wonder if any of those mini-mini-vans are still around?
There must be 100 of these in every single State.
I’ve never seen one outside of the Internet.
I like that the shortened Caddy is the same length as Tami Taylor’s car next to it.
Fantastic find. I love this oddball kind of stuff.
Interesting, looks like it was cut down from a four door sedan, a Series 62 to judge from the ‘Cadillac’ lettering on the fin. I think it would look better with proper doors, though. It kind of looks like a bumper car that someone made street legal.
And I have to echo MikePDX’s comment, I hope nobody took a pristine car and chopped it up. But if it was smashed and needed everything, why not? It looks like a fun car.
It’d probably be a hoot to drive – it must be very nearly as wide as it is long. I don’t recall seeing another – the shorties I’ve seen have all been VW buses or 1955-57 Chevy wagons.
I don’t know about you, but I’m more interested in the Stanza wagon in the background of the picture. What is it about Eugene where you see interesting cars on every block?
I’d like to see what happened to the X-Frame under that car…..
I own the car. It was a 1958 Coupe Deville. It was already cut when I got it. It is 30″ short and is still 15’3″. They took all the length out of the door and moved the back end up. It is a blast to drive although the Northwest is not really the place to own something without a top. Thanks to whomever posted the Pictures. Too bad you can’t see the Purple 🙂
For ~15 years, someone in my area has owned a shortened original Mini. For a while, I thought that was what ALL original Minis looked like – I didn’t realize it was a conversion. Looks fun to drive, but I’d rather just have the “real” thing.
Someone’s homemade version of the ’54 Cadillac La Espada roadster Motorama show car which previewed a good deal of ’57-’58 Cadillac styling. For all the work, the results are quite unsatisfactory. To customize ’50’s Cadillacs, which were all about length, adding length should be the preferred approach.
Cadillac’s prototype to the ’55-’57 T Bird. Not put into production due to Ford going to a 4 seat design in ’58.
Meep Meep!
I recently found that exact car (can’t imagine there’s more than one of ’em) on Craigslist.
I like it although I’m no Roadster fan .
There must have been a time when this was a hot thing to do as in the late 1970’s I saw a Hudson with quite similar treatment , the doors had more…..’swirl’ to the cutaway , I saw it in Culver City , Ca. getting off the I-10 freeway , Colorado license tags reading ” UNEEK 1 ” .
I have only ever seen one other car cut away like this , here you have shown a third .
Way cool ! glad to see it’s out and about as is right and proper .
-Nate
How about a ’57 Olds in case it rains?
When I was in college (late 60’s) I used to see a ’59 Buick cut into a coupe, black over chrome yellow. Very nicely done, cool looking car. Never knew who it belonged to.