NYTimes: In the Age of Specialists, One Focused on Cadillacs

[Bruce Nunnally]

Details matter. When the paper labels for late 1950s Cadillac windshield washer fluid bottles proved unobtainable, Mr. Nicodemus had them reproduced, as he has done for other parts like floor mats. “What I can’t get, I can make,” he said.

This is a love affair that’s lasted more than half a century. “In 1960, our next-door neighbor bought a brand-new Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible in Heather metallic, paint code 99, a very rare color today,” Mr. Nicodemus said. “I fell in love with it and told myself that one day I’d own one just like it.”

His childhood dreams were realized many times over; at onetime he owned more than 40 Cadillacs.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/automobiles/collectibles/in-age-of-specialists-one-focused-on-cadillacs.html?_r=0

[joeb]

I think most car guys identify with popular cars from their high school years. But I had a 65 impala ss in high school which seems to fit into the theme of young folks owning used cars vs new during high school yrs.

[joeb]

Maybe my point was vague? Ron wood was born in 47 so he was 8 when the red 55 in pic was built. I know the story is about cool old caddy cars and such. I am not sure there is any connection between rock bands from the sixties and classic cars from the fifties? Restoring or fixing old cars is one thing. Why u need to show rock stars in a classic car is just a good pic I suppose. There, another odd comment

[Texas Jim]

Maybe my point was vague? Ron wood was born in 47 so he was 8 when the red 55 in pic was built. I know the story is about cool old caddy cars and such. I am not sure there is any connection between rock bands from the sixties and classic cars from the fifties? Restoring or fixing old cars is one thing. Why u need to show rock stars in a classic car is just a good pic I suppose. There, another odd comment

If I remember right... most all of the old bands from that era drove used Cadillacs to get around in till they could afford big buses and airplanes.

Country singers also drove a lot of Cadillacs...

Hank Wiliams Sr. died in his sleep, in the backseat of his 1952 Cadillac, while someone else drove, in between one show and the next.

Have you ever heard of Cadzilla??

or ZZTop??

[Cadillac Jim]

My first car was almost as old as myself. It had cast-iron pistons and a splash-lubricated bottom end, kingpins in the front suspension, rotary rear shocks, and no starter solenoid - there was a floor button that engaged the starter with a switch that closed once it was engaged.

[Texas Jim]

My first car was almost as old as myself. It had cast-iron pistons and a splash-lubricated bottom end, kingpins in the front suspension, rotary rear shocks, and no starter solenoid - there was a floor button that engaged the starter with a switch that closed once it was engaged.

I have had a couple with the starter switch being a spring loaded button located above the accelerator pedal...

You could engage the starter and "PUMP IT" at the same time... LOL LOL

[Cadillac Jim]

Yeah, that was my car, a '41 Chevrolet Special Deluxe two-door sedan. I put 100 octane in it, advanced the spark to 26 degrees BTDC, and became the only human on Earth that could start it, except my dad. It idled rough and ran funny, but it had a whole lot more than its rated 85 hp. That car became legendary in my HS. Nobody believed that it was stone cold stock. Except for the 30-weight oil in the rear shocks and the extra couple of leafs in the rear springs, and the multiply-recapped pickup-truck slicks on the rear.