Cadillacs at Scottsdale Good Guys Car Show

Our friend Joe Fortuna sent in some pictures from the Scottsdale Good Guys car show held in the Scottsdale Pavilion. This show was on December 7th and the guys did their annual Ronald McDonald house fundraiser.

Thanks Joe for sending them in. They sure are beauties, I like the silver one on top the best. Joe also told me he is looking for a hard copy of the May issue of the Self Starter CLC magazine. If anyone has a copy and they are willing to get it in Joe’s  hands let me know and I will forward the contact info. I look forward to seeing Joe at Barrett-Jackson again this year.

From the Mailbag!

This weeks letter comes from Kristen up in New York. Unfortunately she didn’t send any pictures so it is hard to give her a price.

My ’75 Cadillac DeVille was a beauty, indigo blue with blue brocade interior, big chrome bumpers, nice whitewalls, 19 and a half feet long. It rode like a dream. I felt like I was riding in a sailboat. Idling at a light I sometimes wondered if the engine was still running — it was so quiet and smooth. The sound of the radio was mellow and rich. The horn blast announced itself unmistakably as Cadillac! I loved it.

It’s still somewhat of a beauty, though aged. Sadly, it is no longer on the road due to much rust on the body and undercarriage from winter salt. I took it off the road in 2002, on the urging of others who said it wasn’t safe. They may have been right. An estimate for restoration almost 20 years ago was $5,000: to sandblast and get it in perfect shape, guaranteed to last — only if not driven in winter and stored in a heated garage. I couldn’t do that. My mechanic suggested I get another one from the south, similar vintage, and keep mine for parts, since the engine was so good. I couldn’t do that either. I just kept it in the garage.

Why do I still have it? Not only did I really enjoy the car, I’ve found it hard to part with because it was my father’s. Letting it go means letting go of another part of him. He loved his Cadillacs, and this was his best. He changed his motor oil (himself) every 1,000 miles (since his first car in 1919). I continued a similar schedule, and drove it with a gentle foot. Now that it’s time to sell, I wish I could know the engine — 68k — would go into another great old Caddie. How do I find a buyer for this car who will see its value, not regard it as a heap of metal?