1979 Cadillac Bayliff Custom for John Wayne

I have to admit when I was told about this car last week by the Bow Wow Boys car club members at the East Coast Car Association cruise night I wasn’t sure what to expect. All they told me is I have to show up on Sunday to their car show to see the “John Wayne Cadillac”. I am glad I did as this is a 1 of 1 custom built 1979 Cadillac with a Packard body.  You can see some Cadillac features like the mirrors, panels, roof, etc. If you walked up close to this like I did and seen the Packard logo on it you would get confused but there is no mistaken that this is a Cadillac.

The Cadillac has all the makings of a Packard but is on a Cadillac frame so it is deemed a Cadillac. I did some research on this and what I came up with surprised me. This is from Coachbuilt.com.

“C. Budd Bayliff, was a huge Packard enthusiast who purchased the rights to the Packard name and trademarks in 1978 and soon introduced a line of Packard Custom Sedan and Coupe replicars based on late-model GM passenger cars at his 2100 Harding Highway shop in Lima, Ohio. His replicas ranged from simple cosmetic changes to elaborate body modifications such as new front and rear body structures with early-1930s style clamshell front fenders with side-mounts and a separate trunk. The front ends of some of Bayliff’s modern Packards look remarkably like those found on the 1970 Stutzes and are often mistaken for them at car shows. A long-wheelbase Bayliff Packard was built for professional boxer Ernie Holmes in the early 1980s.”

It seems that Mr Bayliff built a few cars a year and put the Packard name on it since he bought the rights to the name. Frank Sr from the tv show Jerseylicious is the owner of this Cadillac. He bought it off the guy that bought it off the estate, making him the 3rd owner. He has all the specs and the build sheet for the car.

John Wayne ordered this car to be built but passed away before it could be done. When you see the video you will see the inside door frame had a gray carpet that was suppose to make it look westernish (If that is a word) and tried to match the silver on the outside of the car. Frank says it drives like a dream, like a brand new car. I didn’t look to see how many miles were on the car guess I was too busy staring at it. Although the Duke passed away before Bayliff had the name Packard under his control he was building these cars for years.

You can see all the pictures on our Cadillac forum

Some other pages to check out about Bud Bayliff Cars:

Bayliff Coach Corp
Cadillac Database
1992 Bayliff