Danville’s Chip and Nicki Sparks seem not too long ago with their 1953 Cadillac Coupe de Ville.
In 1953, three of the automotive divisions of Basic Motors celebrated their fiftieth anniversaries. Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillac introduced out fancy fashions for the event. The highest of the road of GM’s high line that yr was the Cadillac Eldorado which offered for $7,750 or about $80,925 in at the moment’s dollars. It was America’s most costly automotive, however solely 532 had been manufactured, apparently due to the value.
It was yr, although, for the American auto business, which offered greater than six million vehicles, 42.7% of them from GM. Styling and horsepower had been large elements within the rising automotive gross sales. The lighter, overhead-valve engines had been being launched, and half of the vehicles manufactured had computerized transmissions by 1953.
Cadillac by this time had entrenched itself as “The Customary of the World” by surpassing Packard, the earlier normal. The well-known “fishtail” taillight which debuted with the 1948 Cadillac fashions was properly established by 1953 and have become the business styling development that lasted properly into the late Nineteen Fifties. Cadillac used a 331-cubic-inch engine rated at 160 horsepower and was one the quickest vehicles of the day. The engine was teamed with GM’s four-speed Hydramatic transmission however attributable to a fireplace on the Hydramatic plant, some 1953 fashions used Buick’s Dynaflow transmission.
Edward Glowacke was the chief designer of the 1953 Cadillac, and plenty of thought-about it one of the lovely vehicles ever constructed. It was definitely America’s Quantity One standing car. The Coupe de Ville was a closed car however had the flamboyant model of a convertible with pillarless hardtop styling. It had two bench seats with a pull-down armrest for the again seat. The automotive got here with an enormous gold-plated “V” on the hood and trunk to emphasise the engine sort. The entrance bumper guards had been enlarged and had been generally known as Dagmar bumper guards in reference to the actress by that identify.
The headlights had been barely hooded and there have been perpendicular fake air vents behind the doorways that added to the distinctive fantastic thing about this luxurious car. Even the inside headliner had chrome bows to simulate the inside of a convertible high.
This week’s function is a 1953 Cadillac Coupe de Ville owned by Chip Sparks and his spouse, Nicki, of Danville. Chip’s dad purchased the automotive in 1955, and Chip acquired about 50 years in the past. The proprietor has spent a large amount of cash to get this automotive to appear like it does at the moment. He had been slowly renovating the automotive when catastrophe caught about 9 years in the past. A hearth of their storage considerably destroyed the uninsured Cadillac.
“So we determined that we'd simply open the storage door and throw cash at it,” Nicki stated. There was no different affordable selection however to start out the renovation over once more. Surprisingly it went pretty quick, about two years, however in fact, with traditional vehicles the restoration is rarely actually completed. The physique was OK, however the paint was burned.
“The chrome was gone, the inside was gone,” Chip acknowledged. Happily, the engine, transmission and different mechanical components weren't broken. “However after the hearth, we couldn’t stay in the home,” he stated. We had been out about six months.”
The Cadillac was towed to a physique store in Oakland instantly to get began on the restoration.
“All of the chrome needed to be redone, and the inside needed to redone by an upholstery store,” he added. “The inside wasn’t burned as a result of the home windows had been up, it appeared fairly good, but it surely was broken from the smoke.”
The automotive was utterly repainted, in fact, and it was completed in period-correct colours of a pale inexperienced backside and a darkish inexperienced high. All of the electronics and wiring additionally had to get replaced.
“It was completed pretty quick, because the physique store didn’t need the automotive sitting round and the neither did the upholstery store. The one drawback was with the (chrome) plater as a result of they don’t plate in California anymore. It's a must to go to Mexico, the place issues get misplaced and the standard isn’t pretty much as good because it was once.”
As soon as completed, to additional take pleasure in their traditional automotive, the homeowners added air-con, a solar roof and an AM/FM/CD radio. This Cadillac is unquestionably used, because it has been pushed greater than 250,000 miles with three completely different engines. It's presently powered by a 350 Chevy V8 teamed with the suitable GM four-speed Hydramatic transmission.
The one issues I observed that didn’t match authentic specs had been the large, daring “V” on the hood and truck. After testing the price of gold plating the 2 “V” symbols, the Sparks couple determined to color these symbols the automotive’s high darkish inexperienced colour, which appears to be like nice towards the pale inexperienced physique. It’s presently solely pushed about 1,000 miles a yr, largely to automotive exhibits and particular occasions, however there aren't any plans to promote this magnificence.
Have an attention-grabbing car? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view extra images of this and different points’ automobiles or to learn extra of Dave’s columns, go to mercurynews.com/creator/david-krumboltz.