Vinny O'Hare

It has been a while since the last update. Hope all is well with everyone and you are getting your Cadillac ready to take to some shows. I have been out in Arizona for the past couple of months but I am getting ready to go back to New York in a few weeks. I have my media pass for the New York Auto Show. That is mid April. I will be taking photographs at the local car shows while I am in New York which will probably be April and May then back to Arizona to be with my family.

Flood Update

The house in New York is done for the most part and my mother is staying there because her house floated off the foundation and crashed into the neighbors house. My family all live within a few blocks of each other and between me and my brothers we had 7 houses really badly damaged. We are all getting back on our feet.

I have to get back to NY by April 10th or so because the water department is going to give me a fine because they didn’t like where the water meter is. Imagine getting a fine from the water dept after all the water we had in the house. It is enough to put someone over the edge.

NYC has not released any money the Government has given them to help rebuild. I think we are like 15 months into this and insurance gave us 63k even though we are covered up to 250k and I think the rebuild cost me 115k. My retirement savings and my 401k’s are cashed in, just like many of my neighbors. We still have to raise the house about 5 or 6 feet. The city and insurance company suppose to cover that. We will see if that happens. I have been working tirelessly on my other websites that bring in the income, that is why I have not been updating as often. Now that I am doing a little better I will be posting more. I appreciate all the emails asking if I was ok.

About a month before the storm Congress found out that the flood insurance plan was 25 billion in dept. They passed a law called the Biggert-Waters act. Basically they decided to stop subsidizing flood rates in one swift move of the pen. I had no idea my rate was subsidized at all in the first place. Think we pay around 2000 a year in flood insurance. The new law says it will go up 25% each year for the next 7 years until it reaches about $24,000-30,000 a year. How dumb that that sound. In 5 years I would have to pay more in insurance than the house is worth.

They are trying to change the law now but it is an uphill battle. In the middle of this FEMA came out with new flood maps and changed out house from being 4 feet above the level to 8 feet under. Once again a pen on paper did that to us.

If you live anywhere within 3 miles of water get yourself familiar with the Biggert-Waters act. That little stream near your house is going to put you in a flood zone. If you have a mortgage and your house is in a flood zone you HAVE to get flood insurance. Go read up at StopFemaNow.com. You will be surprised how dumb this law is.

Last week I had a marketing conference to attend in Las Vegas so since again I made it to the Quad casino.(formerly the Imperial Palace casino)

We drove up from Phoenix and I love passing through the little towns of Wikiup and Kingman. You can really feel like you are lost in time while driving. Some of the roads suck but it is still a pleasurable ride. There is a Route 66 museum in Kingman but we didn’t have time to stop. A few miles north of the Wikiup trading post we saw about 4 or 5 old Cadillacs sitting in someones front yard just baking in the sun. They need to be rescued!

My time was very limited to go see the cars and I managed to squeeze in only about an hour. It was looking like I wasn’t going to have any time but my friend Brad suggested we go over after lunch and spend some time looking at the cars. Brad has a lot of knowledge about cars, especially muscle cars and it was good to be able to talk cars with someone so knowledgable.

It seemed like they had a lot of the same Cadillacs from last time I was there which is usually the case except they had one or two that were new to me.

A gold 1963 Cadillac which is very similar to one that we see regularly and has been there for a while I think. Something that took us both by surprise was a 1931 engine and transmission. They usually don’t have just engines here and to see a 355 V-8 just sitting out in the open was a bit strange. Love it but just strange, would love to know the story.

While I love looking at the Cadillacs something caught my eye. I think it was a 1981 Chrsyler Imperial. At first I thought it was a Cadillac the way the lines run down the back. Very similar to the design Cadillac was doing at the time. I wonder if one model inspired the other. I am including pictures so maybe someone can fill us in.

Other Cadillacs were a 1975 Cadillac Eldorado convertible that looked original yellow with a white top. A white 1990 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham with only 35,000 miles.

My favorite car of the day was a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Seville. Ever since I saw the black 57 Biarritz here a few years ago I have fallen in love with the tail fins on the 1957’s. I liked the color of this car and it has had some work to it which can be seen with the naked eye. Would still love to own this.

If you want to see more pictures of a 1957 Cadillac look at the ones Wayne sent in last year.

Still here is the bicentennial 1976 Cadillac convertible that has been here for years.

They also had a Packard with a cool hood ornament that I took some pictures of.

Loved taking a stroll through here and if you are in Las Vegas you have to go check out these cars. The Auto Collection is about $12 but they have free admission coupons on their site to print at home and bring. You could also go to the total rewards booth with your card and tell them you want free admission. If you ask nicely they give them to you.

To see all the photos head over to our Flickr account.