WARNING:This blog contains copious amounts of adultGAY material. If that's offensive to you, please leave now. All pix have been gleaned from the internets so, if you see a picture of yourself that you don't wish to have posted here, please leave a comment on the post and I will remove it with my apologies. I REPEAT:If you see a picture of yourself that you don't wish to have posted here, please leave a comment on the post and I will remove it with my apologies.
it was a dream to me father (past on March 25 2014 at 88yo) to own a Cadillac. But we did have a black Pontiac Parisien with a pink indide and it was the same kind of wide body as this Cadillac. A real huge cruise ship.
The 8 cylinders engine was very durable but the body was a rust nest. We changed it because rust was making it too dangerous.
GREAT Cadillac pictures, Rick! Some of the best ones I've seen, from when Cadillac was really CADILLAC. When Cadillac really was "The Standard of the World"!
Photo 4 is an Eldorado Seville coupe. (The clue is the unique chrome body trim) From 1956 to 1960 Eldorado coupes were called Seville and convertibles were called Biarritz. -Rj
Well there it is, Ladies and Gentlemen, the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Seville/Biarritz, the first car that gave this 12 year boy an automobile erection and confirmed a sexual attraction that has lasted all my life. We didn't have a Cadillac dealership in my small hometown but I bought every quarter magazine I could find with pictures of this beast. It literally took my breath away with its audacious design from the best designers at GM at the time. Its ridiculous excesses made my pulse race, naturally starting with those gargantuan tailfins standing proud and stiff into the air at its posterior. I would have gladly impaled myself on those points and not regretted the trip to the hospital and later commitment to a mental institution. To say this car was the epitome of wretched excess was an understatement. If there was an edge anywhere on this behemoth or a space with little interest, they chromed it. The grille and rear section looked like a deranged dentist had outfitted it with thick shiny braces fit for a king. The colors were rich and outlandish in unison with the interior. It was a dream for many and a reality for the few that could afford it. I remember Marilyn Monroe owned one. There it was, the car that defined quality of build for the time, impractical design elements that served no useful purpose, and sheer chutzpah from the automobile artists of that age.
My paean to this wonderful part of auto history is ended. I await the next chapter in Cadillac's future endeavors and I think they may have their next big opportunity with the design and introduction of the Cadillac Celestiq, the custom built electric car of the future in the $350,000.00 range. I've read that if you can afford one, it will so customized that if the buyer has an old tree in his yard that has a interesting grain, Cadillac will see that the areas of the interior are cladded with the wood! Somethin' huh?
And so ends this, my tribute to "the standard of the world" during that wonderful period in the late 50s-early 60s. I wish Cadillac success, too many of the American auto makers are now history due to mistakes they made and the rapid increase of interest in the imports from the Far East and Europe.
it was a dream to me father (past on March 25 2014 at 88yo) to own a Cadillac.
ReplyDeleteBut we did have a black Pontiac Parisien with a pink indide and it was the same kind of wide body as this Cadillac.
A real huge cruise ship.
The 8 cylinders engine was very durable but the body was a rust nest.
We changed it because rust was making it too dangerous.
GREAT Cadillac pictures, Rick! Some of the best ones I've seen, from when Cadillac was really CADILLAC. When Cadillac really was "The Standard of the World"!
ReplyDeletePhoto 4 is an Eldorado Seville coupe.
ReplyDelete(The clue is the unique chrome body trim)
From 1956 to 1960 Eldorado coupes were called Seville and convertibles were called Biarritz. -Rj
Well there it is, Ladies and Gentlemen, the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Seville/Biarritz, the first car that gave this 12 year boy an automobile erection and confirmed a sexual attraction that has lasted all my life. We didn't have a Cadillac dealership in my small hometown but I bought every quarter magazine I could find with pictures of this beast. It literally took my breath away with its audacious design from the best designers at GM at the time. Its ridiculous excesses made my pulse race, naturally starting with those gargantuan tailfins standing proud and stiff into the air at its posterior. I would have gladly impaled myself on those points and not regretted the trip to the hospital and later commitment to a mental institution. To say this car was the epitome of wretched excess was an understatement. If there was an edge anywhere on this behemoth or a space with little interest, they chromed it. The grille and rear section looked like a deranged dentist had outfitted it with thick shiny braces fit for a king. The colors were rich and outlandish in unison with the interior. It was a dream for many and a reality for the few that could afford it. I remember Marilyn Monroe owned one. There it was, the car that defined quality of build for the time, impractical design elements that served no useful purpose, and sheer chutzpah from the automobile artists of that age.
ReplyDeleteMy paean to this wonderful part of auto history is ended. I await the next chapter in Cadillac's future endeavors and I think they may have their next big opportunity with the design and introduction of the Cadillac Celestiq, the custom built electric car of the future in the $350,000.00 range. I've read that if you can afford one, it will so customized that if the buyer has an old tree in his yard that has a interesting grain, Cadillac will see that the areas of the interior are cladded with the wood! Somethin' huh?
And so ends this, my tribute to "the standard of the world" during that wonderful period in the late 50s-early 60s. I wish Cadillac success, too many of the American auto makers are now history due to mistakes they made and the rapid increase of interest in the imports from the Far East and Europe.
Rj - I never would have noticed that distinction.
ReplyDeleteMilleson - Maybe you'll win the lottery and then could buy one.