October 11, 2004

A humble page dedicated to my leap into the '50s with my acquisition of several! 1959 Coupe Devilles and a '60 for good measure. Take a look at the pics below, you could say I've got my hands full. Basically, these are original, unmolested coupes that were parked in their respective garages for the last 28 years or so and have just now seen the light of day. Am I insane? Depends who you ask, but obviously I can't keep all these beauties, so the plan is to sell at least the woodrose (w/white roof!) and the AC equipped black '59. But, not after extensive cleaning and repair to bring them up to snuff, without hurting their originality of course.

This page will be a work in progress over the next several weeks as I dive into these cars and get in over my head!

This is a whole lotta car, equal in dimensions to the mighty 70's Cads, but it sure carries its size well. Length, a reported 18' 9" and 6' 8" wide. Not quite as heavy as the 70's Cads, weighing in at 4700 lbs.  21,924 Coupe DeVilles were produced in '59, how many are still on the road is a good question, since these cars were considered bottom barrel used transportation at about the 20 year mark, and with the progressive styling changes of the 60's and early 70's, cars like these became dated pretty quickly too. In the late 80's the value of the '59s rose at astronomical rates with the Eldos and Biarritzes breeching the $100k mark. Shortly thereafter the bottom fell out of the classic car market. Slowly but surely values have risen and if you find an Eldo for cheap, grab it. Restored examples fetch a pretty penny. Second to that are IMHO the Deville Coupes.

Motivation is provided by a 390 CID Cad engine producing 325 HP, or 340 HP with the Eldo tri-power setup (nice!). Make no mistake, these were swift cars for their day, it was tough to beat a Cadillac in a street drag.

And speaking of power on the 59's, don't forget power brakes, power steering, power windows (std on deville), power bench (std 2-way/opt 6-way), and optional power vents (which are cool, but have a tendency to strip out over 5 decades). And don't forget factory air conditioning, air suspension, and signal-seeking radio with floor control. Oh, and the futuristic Autronic Eye that dims your high-beams automatically. Cruise control was first offered on the '59 Cadillacs, and for adverse weather, optional fog lights were available in the inner portions of the front bumper pods. Interestingly, and representative of the era, parklamps go off when headlamps go on, and fog lights can only be activated when park lamps are requested, but the parklamps switch off the moment you choose the fogs'. Click here to check out the innovations of the 50's at GM.

There are lots, and lots, and lots of '59 sites out there (and just not enough time). Email me cory02 at mac dot com with your 59/60 Cad site and I'll list it here!

	Can you say SNOWTIRE?	Solid, solid trunk pan-