(first posted 10/17/2016) To paraphrase Hamlet‘s titular, indecisive protagonist, I am well aware that the DeVille has the power to take a pleasing shape, and like the tragic Ophelia to my Danish prince, this Coupe DeVille nonetheless has stolen away with my daydreams for nigh on a week. With no Polonius to put on the brakes, however, the job may be left to Ben Franklin, who was not a character in Hamlet at all.
Yes, the tragic element in my DeVille schemes is going to be money, as in the number of Franklins required to acquire this fifties dreamboat, this rolling internal combustion metaphor for excess and success, this REM sleep interrupter, this time-sucking, garage-filling Lucifer that’s haunted my nights and days. This Cadillac is my Dante and Beatrice moment; in my case, it was a glance across a crowded street, from the pizza parlor to a local garage, that sucker punched me for eternity.
Knowing myself as I do, it doesn’t take long for me to realize that a rash decision is almost inevitable, such as purchasing old car number seven, a car that dwarfs everything I own in almost every category involving size and price. You see, two days after seeing it for the first time, I visited the garage that currently serves as a backdrop for this most Cadillac of Cadillacs. The owner responded as I expect all garage owners would, cautiously and most taciturn, but not downright hostile. He allowed that the current owner would likely entertain offers in the $15,000 to $17,000 range. And that was all it took.
With too many gas tanks to feed already, the conversation stopped right there and a bit of the fog miraculously lifted. My wife was glad I stopped, because she was going to call the garage anyway, knowing I have a milestone birthday coming up in April (40). My lovely bride was going to buy me a Cadillac. (Dante parallel again? “Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself in a forest dark?”) Neither of us, however, is quite so fast and loose with the purse strings to drop mid-Michigan repossesed house change on a ticking time bomb of mammoth proportions. This car has been sitting for years, just as everything I ever buy has been sitting for years, which means that I am invariably working on them for years. When things sit, they slowly die–cars and people. You’ve got to keep moving in this world or you’ll implode.
There is nothing left to do but imagine how things might have been, muse about how perfect for each other we are. Cadillacs wear their years of neglect like jewelry from their glossy 1950s advertisements, like mother nature picked up her customizing airbrush and filled in the details that Harley Earl missed the first time.
Although every man with a torch and cutting wheel has cursed rust’s name, there is always a balance between beauty and cancer. In the great gray area that is life, it’s sometimes nice to not have the answers, but to let things be, the distinguishing marks of a life well lived, of preparation for emergencies, of knowing how to get things done, of not being a flavor of the month. Fixing this would be akin to a botox injection around the eyes, not quite right…not sure why.
And as I notice the crow’s feet of time and the glint of occasional gray in the temples, I become more comfortable with letting things be. If this Cadillac were mine, I’d leave the rust and dirt and scratches. If it’s not meant to be mine, I’ll look back and admire the small details that make “my” Cadillac grand, like the interface between roof and quarter, and the slim upper doorline that swells into the lower body, this most graceful and magnificent C-Body of them all.
This car has seen life beyond generations. Some young designer drew it, some young man assembled it. Who turned the bolts last? Who wrote the factory service manual? Who last polished the chrome? Who last drove this thing on a hundred mile peregrination to a vast Great Lake? Who torqued the last bolt on the intake manifold? Who drove this thing off the line at Clark Street? Did he daydream like I do? Was he Johnny Cash’s narrator in “One Piece at a Time?”
Who last pointed this prow into the wind, smugly satisfied that he’d bested life’s labyrinth? Who knew that whatever else happened, he was a Cadillac guy, a man with whom to be reckoned, a man for whom everyone stepped aside?
God, that guy could be me but for a little personal responsibility. Tragically, I’ll have to endlessly wait for my Coupe DeVille to receive me in Paradise, my heavenly Beatrice whose autotronic eye could guide me home, one more gray area in a world I desperately want to be black and white right now.
Beautiful car to wax poetic over, and you sure did that magnificently.
+1. Outstanding, beautifully written piece, Aaron.
I *love* that this car remains in original condition! I didn’t know there were any such left. This is the stuff CC is MADE for. Thanks for sharing it!
+1
AARON65, This is a beautifully written piece on an elegant and iconic machine.
There’s even a movie, though it features a ’54.
Your poem has added as much order to this entropic world as the CdV did. That’s the best thing any of us can do.
Thank you!
Oh my, I see that someone else shares my seasonal affective disorder which calls for the purchase of a car every fall, whether one needs a car or not. You could do a lot worse in the “cars to lose sleep over” department.
Sometimes the best cure for this condition is a seller who is too proud of his car. If this car were in good running and driving shape, I might be able to see that kind of price. But for something that has been sitting for so long, $17K is a heckuva down payment.
Wow, though – we talk about cars that have “presence” here a lot. *This* is a car with presence.
You stole my presence thunder! In the CC effect, Saturday I passed a small car lot / garage in a rougher part of town, and saw my first ’55 Cadillac in the (near) wild in years. A two-tone green coupe at that, with patina on a grey damp day, much like where Aaron’s car was sitting.
Even among a sea of boxy CUVs, the big coupe really stood out. Sometimes I’m astonished at how many cars of the ’60s now look diminutive among today’s tall vehicles. This Caddy does not suffer that effect at all.
There is a reason that most men didn’t drive trucks in the 50’s and 60’s. Because there were cars like this to be had instead!
I feel your pain, Aaaron. The ’54-’55 CdV has long been my favorite Cdillac (I could live with a sedan too). It’s the Harley Earl era at its best, before he told the stylists to “add a 100 lbs of chronium” (he had a mild speech impediment).
Earl was very reluctant to go to a full-on pontoon look for the sides of his cars, and with these, he hedged himself a bit with that vertical chrome strip, to create some of the illusion of the added-on rear fender look that he kept on the ’49 – ’53 GM cars, even though everyone else had pretty much ditched them by then.
Thanks for a very fitting and eloquent ode to this gem. And needless to say, I would keep it in the exact same exterior condition too. Beauty blemishes, in this case.
Poetic, that was terrific .
I wish I could speak so well .
I have loved these ‘ Dagmar ‘ Caddies my entire life, I spent inordinate amounts of time in the limo versions of these in the early 1960’s .
Best of all you found a _Coupe_ ! .
Here’s a musical tribute to this car when it was new by Rusty Draper : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsHsZVCO6Gw
-Nate
That was deep Aaron!
Aaron, that car is going to haunt you.
Jim and Dave already commented on mid 50s Cadillac “presence”, and it’s true. I am typically not a “big car” guy, but even I admire them. 56-57 Chryslers are flamboyant, but Caddies exude a different vibe. Saw this beauty at the Gilmore’s Cadillac show in 2014, the year they had the grand opening of their Cadillac gallery.
Haven’t seen a write up on the Model T school. Inquiring minds want to know what went on behind closed doors.
“Haven’t seen a write up on the Model T school. Inquiring minds want to know what went on behind closed doors.”
Eh, I just haven’t had the mood strike yet. They’re actually very forgiving to drive; it’s tough to stall a Model T, but it drives just like a Ford 8N.
…it’s tough to stall a Model T, but it drives just like a Ford 8N.
I never had the pleasure of an 8N. Back when the earth was young, I was bouncing around the back 40 on a Cornbinder. One quite like this, except Granddad’s was the orchard style, with the exhaust pipe running under the frame.
We had pre War Johnny-Poppers ;
A ’35 ‘A’ Model and a ’37 ‘B’ .
Good solid basic cheap tractors .
-Nate
I feel you, man. That desire, that lust, yet one that cannot be fulfilled. The thought burns in your mind, consuming you with pleasure, yet sorrow comes as well, for you know you cannot afford such satisfaction. And comes subtle envy, knowing someone else will steal it away.
You have my empathy.
It’s hard to look at a car like that, perfectly straight, panel gaps still tight, bumpers not dinged, and not wonder who could have been so negligent, so uncaring, as to allow it to sit and rust into its present state, so that someone else could try to take undue advantage of those of us whose instinct for preservation might urge us to make that hefty down payment….
Yeah, it’s one thing to be all romantic about patina, but rust goes terminal and everything else on that car looks great.
CC at its best!! Thanks AARON65 for a wonderful morning read. By the way, you didn’t say anything about mechanical condition, but the cosmetics, patina notwithstanding, seem great for a $17K Cadillac that’s (barely) older than me.
I’ve heard from old timers that the lacquer paint used on these cars was “easy to work with.” They say you could do a spot on repair in your backyard. Something like it sprayed on thin, dried quickly and was ready to rub in a few minutes. No priming so blending was a breeze they said.
If that’s correct it would be nice to do a few blends all over the car where it shows and hit the more serious stuff with a well-matched rust inhibitor and a brush. Yes I know the lacquer is illegal just about everywhere but the intention there was to stop VOC pollution at the big plants. A backyard repair wouldn’t do any harm be a nice way to clean her up while keeping the patina.
Nice write up Aaron.
GM used lacquer on everything up into the 80s. It was indeed very forgiving stuff that could be buffed to look great (at the expense of hardness and durability). The problem is that even if straight single-stage lacquer were available, that car is undoubtedly nowhere near the color it was in 1955. Unless it has lived in a dark garage all its life, sunlight will fade paint to a degree not noticed until you take a piece of trim off.
Also, I keep reading horror stories from restorers that old paint formulas have become virtually impossible to duplicate due to changes in pigment formulations. Getting an old factory color mixed is a crapshoot these days, to the point where it is often better to try and find a more modern color that is as close as you can get (something tough on these old 50s cars).
Lacquer has to still be allowed because that is what Dupli Color’s Perfect Match spray cans are. The problem with them is that 1) it has become a base coat/clear coat system and 2) they don’t list colors from 1955.
Yes I had problems trying to get fiesta blue last year when I gave my Superminx a quick tidy up I took a piece off the interior in and the paint mob matched it well but it didnt match the faded exterior very well so it went from repainting the new tailgates to a lower half respray.
Not quite my thing, but damned if the way you wrote about it wasn’t trying to levitate my wallet from my pocket like a snake charmer over his basket.
It’s perfect!
Great find and great read!
These were the cars that imprinted the Cadillac marque in my DNA. These cars really exemplify the Cadillac mystique, the epitome of the American car. They took the best of American mass produced technology and delivered it at the lowest prices possible. No hand beaten metal panels, piano finished hand assembled wood work, craftsmen sewn Connolly leather hides,or hand assembled power plants with the technicians name affixed on a plaque. Just the best that Detroit could produce. That was plenty good enough.
Yep a real Cadillac before they morphed into a Chevrolet if I only had the money and the mailing costs…..
Well, “the course of true love never did run smooth’ and that car is “such stuff as dreams are made on.”
But I would be willing to bet that nothing in your prose will ever become you like the leaving of this Cadillac!
The traitorous Thane of Cawdor, I presume? 🙂
Looks like you know your Macbeth!
There’s lots to love in the detailing on this car. Like the chrome V on the interior door trim, that just fits beautifully between the front of the door and the seat. Or the curving of the chrome around the rear of the roof and the rear window. Simple, yet so elegant. Or the sculpting on the font used the front fender’s Cadillac script, with the tapering tops on the d and the l’s. Or….
Details. Does anyone care about the details like that any more?
This attention to detail is one of the reasons why Cadillac justly possessed such a lustrous reputation for quality of finish, engineering, and luxury. The erosion of this, beginning with the safety-related plasticity of the late 1960s models, was one of the first symptoms of General Motors’ terminal decline into bankruptcy.
Aaron has been blinded by an aging but beautiful seductive temptress.
Love the car and feel the conflict. Ain’t obsession grand?
Just sell a kidney and move up to Cadillac! You’ll be chasing it next year and begging them to take $25K.
Oh, wait…that’s just what I’d do. No, don’t you do that. Your Buick is 90% of the experience, working and paid for.
Great piece, great car, great temptation….
Wonderfully written and evocative! The desire is real, but responsibility is an uncompromising mistress.
You have a wonderful wife, by the way, if she was thinking of buying this Cadillac for you as a birthday present had the price of entry been lower! I was in a similar situation on a smaller scale…I had been admiring a refinished mid-century coffee table for the basement/den of our house and my wife had planned to make it a birthday present to me, but it sold before she could make a move. While the thought was admirable, I was kind of relieved because, like $15k for a rough-around-the-edges Cadillac, the $500 they were asking was entirely too much for a small piece of furniture when there are other more pressing priorities that demand money and time.
I had been admiring a refinished mid-century coffee table for the basement/den of our house and my wife had planned to make it a birthday present to me,
I don’t know if Paul allows conversations like this, but I have a 66″ mid century coffee table that I would like to see find a new home.
Hmmm.. missed this the first time. Absolutely effing wow. If I had too much money, this is exactly the sort of caddy I’d keep in this condition. It rivals the ’50 series 61 used by Paul in the American Brands portal. I know patination is heretical to some, but sometimes torn and frayed plays best.
#shouldaboughtit
Just a follow up:
This car did hit my local craigslist for $19,000, which is, I believe, way high, even though I obviously love it.
For comparison’s sake, a very similar ’55 in much better shape sold at a recent RM Detroit auction for the same $19,000.
http://www.rmsothebys.com/sj16/motor-city/lots/1955-cadillac-series-62-coupe-de-ville/1078847
https://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2016/08/02/drivers-duesenberg-model-j-convertible-tops-detroit-sale-raising-1-4-million-for-michigan-college/
A great story about a beautiful car. I wonder what it was like for the very first owner to drive it home all shiny and new. Must have really been something!
You should have gotten it. They’re the best. Mine is a sedan, her name is Lucille…
When I think of Cadillac, I think of a ’55 or ’56 Coupe deVille.
…..(even though my dad had a ’69 Cad. convertible) ….
I`m hearing Chuck Berry singing ‘Maybelene’.
This is the kind of prose meant just for a car like this. Deserving of artistry, elegance, and eloquence, you have painted a great picture in one’s mind’s eye about the grace of this vehicular beast.
I always found the taillights on these to be a bit more reminiscent of what one might see on an Oldsmobile for some reason. A bit too small for a Caddy perhaps, a bit too much sitting atop the fender. I might have drawn them all the way down for a more Cadillac “full” look.
The style of these made them look twice what they weighed, a very heavy looking car. Nonetheless, super glad to see this example is (or was) still standing on its own four wheels.
It’s still around! Earlier this year, one of those eBay vintage car dealers in Grand Rapids, MI, had it for sale for $19,900. It was in the same shape as it was in these pictures…quite a bit rough around the edges, but still a ’55 Coupe DeVille.
For some reason the use of the word “titular” seems very appropriate with this car?
A classic Caddy if there ever was one! I think Elvis bought his mother a pink 1956 model, very similar to this one.
The one pictured jumps out at me of course for the Madonna bra like bumper guards, but there’s more to it than that.
Back in the 70’s I used to pass by an auto repair shop with 2 or 3 Caddys of this vintage, I can’t say the exact year, converted to tow trucks. Beautiful, gleaming black paint. And another done as a service truck. Back when I was young and broke, way pre digital, so I have no record of them, but they were stunning.
Ever since then I’ve wanted one. I’d probably be disappointed in anything besides the tow trucks, and even then, what would I use it for, but I’ve been smitten by them for 40+ years now. They were cool, they were gorgeous, but now they’re gone, at least to anyplace I know of.
»Applause!« Every kind of bravo. On your poetic telling, and on your successful resistance of its wily siren song!
Thanks Daniel! If only I were successful at resisting all those wily sirens…there will be a new COAL coming soon.
Resistance is futile Aaron…….
-Nate
Ha ha…I have a t-shirt that says that, because I’m a real adult.
But in this case it’s true. It’s (with any luck) showing up on a truck on Saturday (the car, not the t-shirt).
I like that shirt, I might just have to get one!