Had a ‘64 Imperial for a decade or so…quite the tuna boat, but an elegant beast…called it the Dowager Empress…a friend had a 55 Imperial Town Car for many years …wonderfully restored and perfect in every way a car of that vintage could be.
Am I the only one getting a “Christine” vibe from the reappearance of a POS sky blue Cadillac? There is “getting back on your horse,” and then there is regularly driving a vivid reminder of the death of the love of your life and your own near-death experience.
Although that shade of blue compliments Mari’s eyes quite nicely. And should the Caddy survive until Jack (or Jackie) comes of age to drive, it will truly be legendary.
Mari, regarding the Prius. I’ve owned three of them and put 200,000+ miles on each. The first two are still keeping a high school student happy and safe, while I continue to wrack up miles on the third one. With the possible exception of the ubiquitous small white Toyota pickups found in every Third World country, they may be the most indestructible automobiles in the world.
However, you are in West Texas, where the ground clearance of the Prius is insufficient for even baby jackrabbits and armadillos, and the dry grasses can be set ablaze by the catalytic converter of your Prius at 100 paces.
You need a 4×4 to keep you as well as the local flora and fauna safe.
Even better, get a British Alvis Saracen Mark 3 (with the reverse flow cooling kit and 8 cylinder Rolls Royce B80 engine for desert environments) 6-wheeled armored car in the desert camouflage paint scheme (which is actually an attractive shade of pink). Available for $11,000 to $20,000 in good to like new condition. Browning M1919 .30cal machine gun optional.
Perfect West Texas car. Let’s not forget that thing came into being when the interstate highway system was still in its infancy, and the majority of roads were like you still find in West Texas, hard pack gravel.
TT, based on what others said downthread and what I have heard and been told over the years about battery replacement, did you have to do that in all those many miles of ‘lectric locomotion?
After 12 years I replaced the 12 volt starting battery in my second (2005) Prius.
I’ve never had to replace a single cell or a complete set of the 440V batteries in any of the Priuses I owned.
Although after 15 years, the 440V batteries in the 2002 Prius would only hold about 85% of their original charge. Unlike later models, the 1.4 liter engine in the 2002 model did not automatically turn on to power the air conditioner when you were stopped on really hot days. Stop and go traffic in the summer was hard on that hybrid system.
When I was a kid in High School, we had a ’69 Buick Electra 225, in dark, metallic blue.
THAT was a bad ride!
Only thing was, the damn thing got about 13 MPG on a hot day, going downhill.
The Arab Oil embargo happened and Dad got rid of it for a pittance…;_(
So I took “advantage” of the second oil “crisis” in ’79 when a customer with a Rolex fetish (he had 3 or 4 different ones already) fell in love with a fairly rare one in my showcase that instead of the typical “oyster” design commonly seen, was a thin dress model called a Cellini on a leather strap which I had priced at $900 but had offered to him a day or two earlier for $800 cash.
So he was a trader in other luxury goods too and had driven up in several very cool cars over the years including a yellow Pantera that I slobbered over. This time though he had traded for the ultimate land yacht, a ’72 Buick Electra 225 Limited, know then and I guess now as a “Deuce ‘n a quawtah”. Anyway this thing was cherry, original owner was an old jew from nearby Century Village who had put just 37K miles on it over his 7 or so years owning it. But nobody wanted these dinosaurs then and Larry said he would swap straight up for that Cellini. So I paid $600 for the watch and now that was my investment in the car. Family were apart during that year as old lady had taken the babies to stay in South Georgia with her family for a while as I worked out my stupidity on some things. Drove that interstate cruiser up I95 and I75 from West Palm to Valdosta dozen or so times to visit them, like sitting in your living room recliner as I cranked up my homemade TDK cassettes of great 70’s rock. Returning sub-10 mpg wasn’t fun, but it was a great trouble free car, until…
…until on one of my trips back I picked up a new Dusky CC boat in Deland for my boss and well as perfect as the thing was, an old coolant hose let go and at 2am on I95 I wasn’t about to stop so at the next exit an “emergency” garage replaced the hose and I was good for an hour or so before HOT flashes again. Crippled it on home but that 455 had cracked a head and I was not up for that, stored it in a mini-warehouse for a while then traded it as-is for something else, don’t remember what but I felt I got my investment back and then some. Sad story but I have enjoyed relating it over the years, about Big Bad Beige Buford. Wasn’t the last time I swapped a watch for a car either, but in a different money strata than old Buford.
Owning a Prius is like playing a really expensive game of hot potato. Whoever owns it when the battery goes tits up is not gonna be a “satisfied customer”.
Yep… Battery replacement is more than what the car is worth, most of these batteries are made in China. In that town the ground water is so heavily polluted from factory waste it would make you sick if you drank it.
September 27, 2023 at 9:04 am
Spin Drift
We had two sky blue and one harvest gold ’64 Sedan Devilles growing up. The back seat was nirvana at the drive in.
So could Sam and Co. have rebuilt Jack’s car so Kiko could keep that part of him (and presumably his Dad)? Or did they go for a duplicate (can still get a nice one about 25K these days!)? The latter option is probably more cost effective which you know if you have done a full resto on a 60’s classic. But then it wouldn’t have the heart.
So how quick are Sam’s skills here in cartoon land; wreck must have been a few months ago for Kiko to have healed up so well. Not enough time in RL but…?
We had a ’59 Forest Green Sedan DeVille for several years. THAT was the epitome of “Land Yacht”. Last week I spotted a guy on a Harley Chopper sporting a set of those iconic ‘Jet flame’ tail lights. When I mentioned how cool they looked, he laughed and said that I was only the 3rd person to recognize them. Not sure if that was supposed to make be feel good or not, but it DID sorta make me feel my age a bit (73)!!
We all have POS caddie stories. An old friend had Dad’s hand-down dark red rag top, it was, 60’s something. We would put on ol’ ratty arab head scarfs, and big old dimestore shades, then throw hay bales in the back seat and trunk. Followed by sailing across the fields to feed the cows. If we felt ambitious; re-load the car with hay bales, Light up huge stogies, slouch down in the seats like low-riders, and cruise downtown on a beer run. The cops always looked some other way. I think they didn’t want to know.
Couple of Hopes here: first- DJT gets
reelected; then, he does his best to
make Electric cars become an anomaly
like what happened in 1910.
alright, a third hope, he has said there
will be the biggest ‘Deportation’ in
history of the invaders that the POS
now in charge has allowed (actually
caused) Hope all happen.
DJT would NOT seek to kill off ‘lectrics because he’s a brilliant businessman and knows this is not 1910 when they did not have Musk, who has said Tesla is not a car company but a battery research platform. He has transformed that technology and he ain’t done yet…
Absolutely dead dinosaurs have some life left (heh) but have to switch off when the time comes, maybe move the petroleum industry primarily to NG and coal while those veins remain to run the grid and to ease the transition in transportation.
When they get those things to the same price with the same range and same power as IC motors (and they are close) I will reluctantly make the switch (heh again). We are on the cusp of the New Industrial Revolution in areas and ways we cannot yet grok, and the advent of electric locomotion -which has not a damn thing to do with their fake-ass Globull Warming- is just one of them.
Pretty hopeful scenario and it’s real…if it is allowed to happen.
Technical improvements in the EVs themselves aren’t enough to make an EV a good idea. Even though the Regressives want to ban internal combustion engines, they way they are messing with electric power generation, when there are finally EV’s that really work for anything but tootling around town, you won’t be able to get the power to charge them. I’m not sure which of them are so stupid that they actually believe you can come home from work and plug your EV in to charge overnight from solar cells, and which want to end personal transportation entirely so they have even more control of your life.
30 Comments
I love the late 50s early 60s land whales…. Just make mine a Chrysler Imperial convertible, everyone needs a heavy metal land god.
Had a ‘64 Imperial for a decade or so…quite the tuna boat, but an elegant beast…called it the Dowager Empress…a friend had a 55 Imperial Town Car for many years …wonderfully restored and perfect in every way a car of that vintage could be.
That’s a fitting tribute….
Same model used for Imperial ambulances. Those old Cads were tanks, practically indestructible.
clear ether
eon
Back when Caddy built GOOD cars, that customers loved…
Am I the only one getting a “Christine” vibe from the reappearance of a POS sky blue Cadillac? There is “getting back on your horse,” and then there is regularly driving a vivid reminder of the death of the love of your life and your own near-death experience.
Although that shade of blue compliments Mari’s eyes quite nicely. And should the Caddy survive until Jack (or Jackie) comes of age to drive, it will truly be legendary.
Mari, regarding the Prius. I’ve owned three of them and put 200,000+ miles on each. The first two are still keeping a high school student happy and safe, while I continue to wrack up miles on the third one. With the possible exception of the ubiquitous small white Toyota pickups found in every Third World country, they may be the most indestructible automobiles in the world.
However, you are in West Texas, where the ground clearance of the Prius is insufficient for even baby jackrabbits and armadillos, and the dry grasses can be set ablaze by the catalytic converter of your Prius at 100 paces.
You need a 4×4 to keep you as well as the local flora and fauna safe.
Even better, get a British Alvis Saracen Mark 3 (with the reverse flow cooling kit and 8 cylinder Rolls Royce B80 engine for desert environments) 6-wheeled armored car in the desert camouflage paint scheme (which is actually an attractive shade of pink). Available for $11,000 to $20,000 in good to like new condition. Browning M1919 .30cal machine gun optional.
Perfect West Texas car. Let’s not forget that thing came into being when the interstate highway system was still in its infancy, and the majority of roads were like you still find in West Texas, hard pack gravel.
I’ve had British cars for the last 45 years and often wondered how they could build an armored car, tank or airplane reliable enough for combat.
TT, based on what others said downthread and what I have heard and been told over the years about battery replacement, did you have to do that in all those many miles of ‘lectric locomotion?
After 12 years I replaced the 12 volt starting battery in my second (2005) Prius.
I’ve never had to replace a single cell or a complete set of the 440V batteries in any of the Priuses I owned.
Although after 15 years, the 440V batteries in the 2002 Prius would only hold about 85% of their original charge. Unlike later models, the 1.4 liter engine in the 2002 model did not automatically turn on to power the air conditioner when you were stopped on really hot days. Stop and go traffic in the summer was hard on that hybrid system.
I give it 48 hours to grow on you.
Bren,
You win the thread!
I see what you did there.
I drove a 1960 Cadillac Fleetwood my junior and senior year in high school. That was the coolest car.
When I was a kid in High School, we had a ’69 Buick Electra 225, in dark, metallic blue.
THAT was a bad ride!
Only thing was, the damn thing got about 13 MPG on a hot day, going downhill.
The Arab Oil embargo happened and Dad got rid of it for a pittance…;_(
So I took “advantage” of the second oil “crisis” in ’79 when a customer with a Rolex fetish (he had 3 or 4 different ones already) fell in love with a fairly rare one in my showcase that instead of the typical “oyster” design commonly seen, was a thin dress model called a Cellini on a leather strap which I had priced at $900 but had offered to him a day or two earlier for $800 cash.
So he was a trader in other luxury goods too and had driven up in several very cool cars over the years including a yellow Pantera that I slobbered over. This time though he had traded for the ultimate land yacht, a ’72 Buick Electra 225 Limited, know then and I guess now as a “Deuce ‘n a quawtah”. Anyway this thing was cherry, original owner was an old jew from nearby Century Village who had put just 37K miles on it over his 7 or so years owning it. But nobody wanted these dinosaurs then and Larry said he would swap straight up for that Cellini. So I paid $600 for the watch and now that was my investment in the car. Family were apart during that year as old lady had taken the babies to stay in South Georgia with her family for a while as I worked out my stupidity on some things. Drove that interstate cruiser up I95 and I75 from West Palm to Valdosta dozen or so times to visit them, like sitting in your living room recliner as I cranked up my homemade TDK cassettes of great 70’s rock. Returning sub-10 mpg wasn’t fun, but it was a great trouble free car, until…
…until on one of my trips back I picked up a new Dusky CC boat in Deland for my boss and well as perfect as the thing was, an old coolant hose let go and at 2am on I95 I wasn’t about to stop so at the next exit an “emergency” garage replaced the hose and I was good for an hour or so before HOT flashes again. Crippled it on home but that 455 had cracked a head and I was not up for that, stored it in a mini-warehouse for a while then traded it as-is for something else, don’t remember what but I felt I got my investment back and then some. Sad story but I have enjoyed relating it over the years, about Big Bad Beige Buford. Wasn’t the last time I swapped a watch for a car either, but in a different money strata than old Buford.
Prius?? coulda swore the girls were sharing a mid/late aughties Caddie SUV of some flavor
Owning a Prius is like playing a really expensive game of hot potato. Whoever owns it when the battery goes tits up is not gonna be a “satisfied customer”.
Priaprisms and similar EVs have horrible resell value specifically because of that.
Yep… Battery replacement is more than what the car is worth, most of these batteries are made in China. In that town the ground water is so heavily polluted from factory waste it would make you sick if you drank it.
We had two sky blue and one harvest gold ’64 Sedan Devilles growing up. The back seat was nirvana at the drive in.
Spin
Yup, I think we had deciphered before that this one is a ’64 like yours, but a ragtop. Love it.
https://www.beverlyhillscarclub.com/1964-cadillac-deville-convertible-c-11085.htm
So could Sam and Co. have rebuilt Jack’s car so Kiko could keep that part of him (and presumably his Dad)? Or did they go for a duplicate (can still get a nice one about 25K these days!)? The latter option is probably more cost effective which you know if you have done a full resto on a 60’s classic. But then it wouldn’t have the heart.
So how quick are Sam’s skills here in cartoon land; wreck must have been a few months ago for Kiko to have healed up so well. Not enough time in RL but…?
We had a ’59 Forest Green Sedan DeVille for several years. THAT was the epitome of “Land Yacht”. Last week I spotted a guy on a Harley Chopper sporting a set of those iconic ‘Jet flame’ tail lights. When I mentioned how cool they looked, he laughed and said that I was only the 3rd person to recognize them. Not sure if that was supposed to make be feel good or not, but it DID sorta make me feel my age a bit (73)!!
‘POS’ Caddy!?
Mari needs a spanking. I volunteer to administer the punishment…
We all have POS caddie stories. An old friend had Dad’s hand-down dark red rag top, it was, 60’s something. We would put on ol’ ratty arab head scarfs, and big old dimestore shades, then throw hay bales in the back seat and trunk. Followed by sailing across the fields to feed the cows. If we felt ambitious; re-load the car with hay bales, Light up huge stogies, slouch down in the seats like low-riders, and cruise downtown on a beer run. The cops always looked some other way. I think they didn’t want to know.
And Thanks Y’all! Yes. Things that bring memories hurt for a time and cause extra eye leakage.
“POS Caddy” most likely a reference from Bren’s post up-thread.
Couple of Hopes here: first- DJT gets
reelected; then, he does his best to
make Electric cars become an anomaly
like what happened in 1910.
alright, a third hope, he has said there
will be the biggest ‘Deportation’ in
history of the invaders that the POS
now in charge has allowed (actually
caused) Hope all happen.
DJT would NOT seek to kill off ‘lectrics because he’s a brilliant businessman and knows this is not 1910 when they did not have Musk, who has said Tesla is not a car company but a battery research platform. He has transformed that technology and he ain’t done yet…
Absolutely dead dinosaurs have some life left (heh) but have to switch off when the time comes, maybe move the petroleum industry primarily to NG and coal while those veins remain to run the grid and to ease the transition in transportation.
When they get those things to the same price with the same range and same power as IC motors (and they are close) I will reluctantly make the switch (heh again). We are on the cusp of the New Industrial Revolution in areas and ways we cannot yet grok, and the advent of electric locomotion -which has not a damn thing to do with their fake-ass Globull Warming- is just one of them.
Pretty hopeful scenario and it’s real…if it is allowed to happen.
Technical improvements in the EVs themselves aren’t enough to make an EV a good idea. Even though the Regressives want to ban internal combustion engines, they way they are messing with electric power generation, when there are finally EV’s that really work for anything but tootling around town, you won’t be able to get the power to charge them. I’m not sure which of them are so stupid that they actually believe you can come home from work and plug your EV in to charge overnight from solar cells, and which want to end personal transportation entirely so they have even more control of your life.