How should we treat our automotive soulmates? Nag them about how they’re aging? Tell them to get cosmetic surgery, go to the gym, get Botox and dyed hair? Or embrace the natural aging process and patina of a life lived fully?
Mike, the owner of this 1950 hot-rod Cadillac Series 61 — otherwise known as the CC logo-mobile, as it once graced our logo — is solidly in the second camp. Back in 2009 when I first ran into them and wrote up his car and the memorable drive he gave me, the last and most memorable thing he told me was: “If I restored my friends, I wouldn’t want to hang out with them anymore.”
Amen to that. And that’s why I go visit Mike and his Caddy every once in a while, like this past winter, just to hang out and talk cars, bikes and life. Fourteen years later, they’re both showing the inevitable signs of further aging. Aren’t we all?
Mike had broken his foot and it was still healing, so he wasn’t getting out and about much. He has some other health issues. The Corolla takes him to the store and such. The Caddy, which spends its time outside here, had not been started or driven in some time. Given the heavy clutch, that’s more than understandable. Will Mike drive it again? That’s a good question, as are other existential questions.
Why are some of us driven to restore cars? There’s undoubtedly several reasons, but I suspect the drive to inject some of the immortality into them that is denied us is a likely one. And perfectly understandable. We can essentially reverse the aging process in cars, something utterly denied us, at least for the foreseeable future.
But will the world really miss one more 1950 Cadillac? Is there some obligation to save this car’s life? Not really, but it is a way to intensely remember a person by. There’s no doubt in my mind that if this car ends up in the hands of a friend of Mike’s, that person will remember him every time it’s driven. Well, as long as it’s not restored, but then obviously that person wouldn’t have been a friend of Mike’s.
Here’s how it looked when I first shot it in 2009. Yes, it would have been nice to have the Caddy and Mike still look like they did back then. I could say the same for myself too.
Here’s its story:
Curbside Classic: 1950 Cadillac Series 61 Coupe – The Ultimate Curbside Classic
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