Every once in a while I get an email out of the blue from someone that appreciates the Cadillac beyond words. It makes me feel all good inside knowing that someone apprecciates classic Cadillacs like I do. Todays email comes from Ron, I will let him tell his story.
Hi Vinny.
This is my Cadillac and I love it! (Hope the photo comes with this email) If not I’ll be sure and get it to you.
And guess what? It only cost me one hundred bucks!
Well, sort of, it a bit of a crazy way.
It’s actually a photo of a beautiful 1953 Caddy that I saw on a calendar here in Vancouver, Canada where I live. I took the photo to my local frame shop (Kimprints, Vancouver) and Kim put it in e beautiful color co-ordinated frame for me.
If you can bear with me I have a story.
I was born in 1941 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It wasn’t even a Province of Canada at that time and the war was still on.
Hitler was trying to get a foothold into North America and there were numerous German submarines off the coast of Newfoundland.
The Americans were major allies in the war against the Germans so as a result, there were American bases set up all over the island of Newfoundland, it being the farthest eastern point on the North American continent.
The war ended in 1945 and I was just a kid and basically I grew up with Americans. I hung out with American kids because their parents who were involved in the military lived there amongst us for years and we all became good friends. We even became friends with the Germans who had little choice but to come ashore when the war ended.
But onto the Cadillac question.
The Americans who were stationed in Newfoundland for indefinite periods of time sort of missed their cars. So the American Government shipped the cars to them in Newfoundland and: WOW! The CADDIES arrived!
How lucky we were. We would get to ride in those beautiful cars with our American friends and I still remember how great that really felt.
What an amazing scene for kids like me who were used to only seeing the odd little English car sputtering by and other than that, it was horses and buggies.
There were all different makes and models of course arriving, DeSotos, Buicks, etc. but I was sold on the Cadillac. To me, seeing that car for the first time; it made an indelible mark in my brain.
I’ve never forgotten the beauty of that creation. The year was 1953 and I would have been twelve years old then.
That’s my Caddy and I love it.
Many thanks,
Ron Jones.
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Thanks Ron for sending in that great story about the classic Cadillacs it is much appreciated. You can read more on our 1953 Cadillac pages.
Wow such a wonderful story, and I agreee for some reason old Cadillac’s have such a lasting first impression.
Thanks Dave I am so glad that Ron shared it with us.
I always wanted a ’53 Cadillac sedan, because that was the year 12-volt system and AC came in; and I found one in a barn that was apart and almost bought it for $1,000, but did not. Bought a ’57 Bentley instead. Then in 2001 I found a ’52 Fleetwood, bought it and sold it 4 years later and got the ’52 “62” sedan, which I still have. It had 53,000 miles on it and now has 77,000 miles on it. I drive it almost 3,000 miles a year and several times a week. It runs like anew car, starts immediately. I think it is one of the most well maintained 50th anniversary Cadillacs on the road in Eastern PA. These are great road cars and fairly economical to maintain. I feel fortunate that some of my local mechanics worked on these cars when they were new.