Deja Vu and Tailfins by Michael Kosters Copyright 2011 in the Mid
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Deja Vu and Tailfins By Michael Kosters Copyright 2011 In the mid 1970's south of Everett, Wn., I was walking through a strip mall parking lot with my Dad. Dad pointed and said, "there's a Cadillac like the one that I used to have." I had seen some old grainy Polaroid photographs of his white 1955 Cadillac before. I knew that Dad had some slide photographs of it as well, but I had never seen them. Hey, this is the '70's...who looks at slides these days? "The only difference between this one and mine was that mine was a convertible", he said. As we walked past the Cadillac and I, car nut that I am, was staring at it, my Dad put his thumb on the reflector in the taillight and pressed inward. To my amazement, the taillight popped up revealing the gas cap! "COOL!", I exclaimed in my 10-year old exuberance. The old Caddy was an impressive, if not imposing site to begin with, but when my Dad showed me the taillight "trick" I thought to myself, "what other crazy stuff can this car do?" After posing the question to him, my Dad said, "well, it dimmed the headlights by itself." "Yeah, right", I said thinking that my Dad was goofing on me again. "You see that thing sitting on top of the dash there? That saw the headlights of an oncoming car and automatically dimmed the lights for you", he told me. "WOW, space age", I thought to myself. "What else, Dad?", I asked in amazement. "Everything in that car was power", he said. "Power seats, windows, antenna, top, steering, brakes, washers...I could even change the radio station without using my hands." I informed my Dad with all of my fourth grade wisdom that I thought that was impossible. How would he be able to do that? "It had a Wonderbar radio that had a switch on the floor next to the dimmer switch. When I pushed the switch it would seek the next radio station and stop there." W-o-n-d-e-r-b-a-r...even the name sounds magical! Is this car the Batmobile or something? Why could it do so many things that my Dad's brand new Buick LeSabre couldn't do? "Dad, I wish you hadn't gotten rid of that car", I said sadly. What a beautiful car it was. As a very hardworking young man selling Airway and then Kirby vacuum cleaners, and also being single at the time, Dad was able to afford the '55 Cadillac Series 62 convertible. I had grown up listening attentively to Dad's stories about driving across the country in his Caddy. Driving from Lynden, Wn. to Georgia through Montana at speeds nearing 100 m.p.h. "At the time you could drive on the highways with no speed limit. You'd enter a town that had a posted 35 m.p.h. limit, and then as you were leaving town a sign would say 'resume safe speed'. To me, that was right around 95", he said with a little laugh. And the big 'ol Caddy would do it too. The photos of my debonair Dad, dressed in a sport jacket with a pocket square and tie, with his foot perched atop the Dagmar bumper of that Cadillac has been emblazoned upon my mind for all of my life. I've always wished I could be that cool without even trying! January of 2005 was an exciting month for me. I flew down to Texas to purchase something that I never thought I'd own. I arrived, and a garage door opened to reveal a beautiful 1954 Cadillac Eldorado with special order factory black lacquer and gorgeous original red leather interior. This car was nearly identical to my Dad's '55 in many ways. I drove the old Caddy to Las Cruces, N.M. to meet with an auto transport that would haul the black and chrome beauty back to my home in Kingman, Az. On my way there I had an enormous smile on my face reliving what it must have been like to be my Dad 50 years earlier. I was also in utter disbelief that I was actually driving a 50's vintage Cadillac! I nearly had someone drive into me on the freeway while they were staring and taking pictures of the old girl. I arrived in Las Cruces, and after the Caddy was loaded onto the semi trailer, I hopped into my rental Toyota. What a difference, no luxury here! When I pulled behin the semi-truck I was horrified at what I saw. The Cadillac was so large that one quarter of the car, from the fender skirts to the protruding rear bumper, was "hanging" off the end of the trailer! So from 9 p.m. in Las Cruces until sunrise in Scottsdale, Az., I followed my Caddy down the freeway with no more then twelve feet in between us so that no one would get in between us and possibly rear-end my totally original car. Every April the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona holds the Route 66 Fun Run. I was excited to have my Father and Mother arriving from Seattle, as well as other relatives who would be attending from across the country. My folks arrived a few days early and I was nearly bursting to show them the secret that I had kept hidden from them (and just barely fitting!) in my garage. I opened the garage door and with a great deal of pride and, dare I say, a slight bit of moisture in my eye, turned to my Dad and said, "your Cadillac's back!" My folks stood in the driveway dumbfounded, staring at what appeared to be the huge 20-foot long ghost from the past. Shortly thereafter Dad and I jumped into the Eldorado to drive the stretch of old Route 66 to Seligman, Az. to visit the founder of the Historic Route 66 Association, and my good friend, Angel Delgadillo. If you are a nostalgia fan, let me tell you that was nearly nostalgia overload! One of the biggest kicks of my life happened on 66 when I saw what I had previously only imagined. For the first time in my life I got to see the man I most respect in the world get behind the wheel of a car that I had heard about my whole life and pull onto old Route 66. It seemed that it could have been 1955 all over again! I will never forget that sight for as long as I live. Sitting in the passenger seat, looking at my Dad driving that old Caddy and thinking back to all of the pictures and stories that I've heard I realized yet again, that I'll never be as cool as him, and you know what? I feel just fine with that. Part 2 It was quite unusual in the mid-1950's to see a young man driving a big new Cadillac convertible, unless maybe you were Elvis Presley. As mentioned previously, my Dad drove his '55 Cadillac on many trips from Washington State to Michigan and Florida. One day in Nebraska my Dad found out just how unusual this sight was to many people. Driving along out in the plains, Dad noticed a police car right behind him, and all of a sudden he felt that all too familiar sinking feeling when teh red light came on (at that time the police found it sufficient to place a single red light on their car instead of a roof full, looking like a mobile discotheque). At first the stop proceeded as normal with the standard license and registration requests. But then my Dad, Tony, was asked to get out of the Cadillac. Next, for what seemed to be an hour, Dad stood on the shoulder of the lonely highway as every square inch of the Caddy's interior and trunk was searched. In amazement, and I'm sure a little disgust, Dad stood there as his paperwork was returned to him and the cop got back into his cruiser and drove off without saying a word. Dad was left to return all of the contents of his car and it's trunk to the proper place from the shoulder of the road. Fifty years later he said, "I have no idea why he pulled me over. I guess he thought I stole that Cadillac because of how young I was." Of course, Dad didn't tell me if he was doing his usual "resume safe speed" but at 90 to 100 m.p.h.! Mention the word "Ludowici" to the right person, and you will see emotions ranging from fear to anger take them over. Ludowici (pronounced lude-oh-wissi) is a small town in Georgia. To anyone that lived around there, Ludowici was also known as a notorious speed trap. If you can imagine the Dukes of Hazzard, but without the charm, humor, and fun, you likely have a pretty good idea of what driving through Ludowici was like 50 years ago. This was likely even more true if you were an out-of-towner driving through in a big new Cadillac. My Dad had met and married my Mom and they were on their way to Grand Rapids, Mi. About a mile outside of Ludowici they were pulled over for "running a red light" and "speeding". Well if anyone knows my Mom, they know that you cannot speed and keep your sanity if she is in the car with you.