Yes, Cadillac was known as a luxury car. It was a status symbol before the country was overrun by foreign luxury cars. But there’s a little secret so many people don’t know. The engines cost extra. Yes, it’s true, a lot of the Caddies you saw sitting in people’s driveways had been towed there by the dealer and placed strategically to make it look like the owners had wealth. They simply couldn’t afford the engine which was an extra, like power steering.
They were statues of status.
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(SOURCE: Sunset, November 1967)
I had one. Looked just like this one, but it was gold. Loved it. Wish I still had it. A wonderful road car. Forgot to say - it didn't have AC - believe it or not. Eighteen MPG. Spouse liked the wind wings. Especially coming across the Nevada desert for the third time - at night.
ReplyDeleteOhhhhh, wind wings. I was just talking about those recently. Fond memories of those. Wish cars still had them.
ReplyDeleteIn the early 60s my folks and I took off for a cross country trip to visit my grandparents in Pennsylvania. It was summertime and horribly hot and muggy. We were in an Oldsmobile with no AC. As we drove across Nebraska we had to roll the car windows up every 25 miles when we came into another small town with grain silos because the chaf would blow into the car and stick to our skin. It was miserable and all we wanted to do was get down the road to an air conditioned restaurant. But then THEY went by. The people in the Caddilac with the AC. My mother sneered. She wanted to be riding in a car with AC. They left us far behind covered in chaf and sweating. My mother said someday she wanted a car with AC because then you could travel and end the day as clean as you had in the beginning of the day. So when we pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant what do we see but the Cadillac with the people inside the restaurant looking all clean and rested. My mother sneered some more.