Ramblin Roy's Ramblings

January 2003

Ramblin Roy’s Ramblings this month comes from the files of; Let Your Fingers Do The Walking, Eye Candy and What’s happenin’ Man.

It’s no surprise to regular readers that I’m partial to the, “The Street Is Neat”, Street Machine crowd. With this interest, no less than nine publications a month comes to our house. Another fact that might surprise you is, that while these rags have names like; Hot rod, Rod and Custom, Good Guys, Car Craft, Street Rodder, Etc. and they are full of Cadillac’s.

This month I’ve submitted a few clippings to illustrate my point. Cadillac’s of many types and vintages, but generally post WW11 and pre ‘72. Some common traits of these “Lead Sleds” (Lead as in heavy metal not as in Leading the way) is that they are; lowered (slammed, in-the-weeds), s-l-o-w (at least by tire burning standards), Loud (as in dual exhaust and sometimes open side/lake pipes or flame throwers), nosed/decked/shaved (as in the hood and trunk chrome and door handles removed), Well Shod or Wired (Caddy wire wheels or certain year Cadillac wheel covers - favorites with this crowd - or after market wheels and tires) and Paint (flames, ghost flames, multi-color schemes, suede effect, flat paint, pearls, kandy).

To say the least these cars are at the far extreme from the current Sport Compact rage sweeping the country. They are also a ways from the Hemmings, Motor Trend group, but nonetheless they love Cadillac’s, especially finned ones. So I let my fingers do the walking through the pages, indulging my passion for eye candy on wheels.

This brings me to ask, What’s Happenin’ Man? Cadillac is trying to re-ignite the love for Cads of the finned era. Re-establish the position of prominence often associated with the biggest fins ever, the ‘59. Not only that, but for the first time, maybe forever, offering tire burning performance, six speed manual transmissions, Corvette power, European handling, maybe even V-12 torque, plus, once again, a look that’s to love or hate distinctive.

These are exciting times in the Cadillac World. More revered than ever with the restoration and custom folks, the most exciting new models in a long time and as always, a marquee to be proud to own and operate.

Roy Boone, Club Columnist