1962 Cadillac Sedan Deville
"Daisy"
I purchased Daisy in December, 2007 and sold her in July, 2010. While I enjoyed working on old British cars, Daisy started my love of Cadillacs. Her previous owner gave her the black & white paint job, which is a variation of Dazzle Camoflauge used on ships in WWI and WWII. Most people identify it as cow, zebra, broken glass, electricity, the list goes on. I ultimately repainted her factory blue. Daisy was my local run around car in college.
Daisy started her life as a Newport blue Sedan Deville with matching blue interior. She purchased by the Campbell family and delivered through Shepard Cadillac in Berkeley, CA on July 3, 1962.
The Campbells owned the car at least until 1968. By mid 1970, the car was sold to Mr. Kays, who kept the car at least until 1978. By 1982 he had sold her to James, his step son. The car was known in the family as "the Shark" owing to its blue color and sleek, finned body. James let his son Dan use the car soon after. It was through Dan that "the Shark" was reborn as something entirely different.
In 1983, Dan spray painted the Cadillac black and white. The pattern of jagged shapes was a form of "dazzle camouflage" used on Allied ships in WWI and WWII. While the dazzle pattern doesn't make things difficult to spot, it did make it hard to distinguish the actual shape, angle and speed of the craft.
Daisy started her life as a Newport blue Sedan Deville with matching blue interior. She purchased by the Campbell family and delivered through Shepard Cadillac in Berkeley, CA on July 3, 1962.
The Campbells owned the car at least until 1968. By mid 1970, the car was sold to Mr. Kays, who kept the car at least until 1978. By 1982 he had sold her to James, his step son. The car was known in the family as "the Shark" owing to its blue color and sleek, finned body. James let his son Dan use the car soon after. It was through Dan that "the Shark" was reborn as something entirely different.
In 1983, Dan spray painted the Cadillac black and white. The pattern of jagged shapes was a form of "dazzle camouflage" used on Allied ships in WWI and WWII. While the dazzle pattern doesn't make things difficult to spot, it did make it hard to distinguish the actual shape, angle and speed of the craft.
Most people however think the car is supposed to be a cow, a zebra, broken glass, etc, etc.
Around 1986, Dan attended Duke University, and drove the Cadillac cross-country from California on several occasions. She still wears a Duke parking permit from '86 on her back bumper. After college, the Cadillac functioned as the gig car for the punk band Dan was in.
Eventually, the Cadillac stopped really being driven. Dan gave the car to his friend Gene in 2005, and Gene parked it in front of his construction shop, right off a busy road. I would look for the car every time I drove by, and even stopped a couple times to take pictures of it. It never seemed to move, and was getting dirty. Then one day I went by, and she was gone...
At this point I figured "what the heck" and wrote a little note asking where the car went, and put it under the windshield wiper of another car outside the shop. A few days later I got a call from Gene and found out that he had just moved the car around behind his shop. We got talking, and I came out to see the car...
Before I bought the car, I towed the car to my mechanics and they gave me back a long list of problems. They strongly advised me not to get the car, but I just couldn't resist her. I barely had money to buy her, let alone address her issues, but I went ahead and purchased her.
Fortunately, Gene was generous enough to let me store Daisy behind his shop for a bit while I got her driveable. Being in an easily accessible lot behind a building off a busy road, there were a number of homeless men would hang out back there and sleep next to the car to avoid being seen from the street. Every time I stopped by I would chat with them, and give them a few bucks and tell them to keep an eye on the car.
Around 1986, Dan attended Duke University, and drove the Cadillac cross-country from California on several occasions. She still wears a Duke parking permit from '86 on her back bumper. After college, the Cadillac functioned as the gig car for the punk band Dan was in.
Eventually, the Cadillac stopped really being driven. Dan gave the car to his friend Gene in 2005, and Gene parked it in front of his construction shop, right off a busy road. I would look for the car every time I drove by, and even stopped a couple times to take pictures of it. It never seemed to move, and was getting dirty. Then one day I went by, and she was gone...
At this point I figured "what the heck" and wrote a little note asking where the car went, and put it under the windshield wiper of another car outside the shop. A few days later I got a call from Gene and found out that he had just moved the car around behind his shop. We got talking, and I came out to see the car...
Before I bought the car, I towed the car to my mechanics and they gave me back a long list of problems. They strongly advised me not to get the car, but I just couldn't resist her. I barely had money to buy her, let alone address her issues, but I went ahead and purchased her.
Fortunately, Gene was generous enough to let me store Daisy behind his shop for a bit while I got her driveable. Being in an easily accessible lot behind a building off a busy road, there were a number of homeless men would hang out back there and sleep next to the car to avoid being seen from the street. Every time I stopped by I would chat with them, and give them a few bucks and tell them to keep an eye on the car.
Daisy and a friend
The brakes were the first issue I had to address. The front brakes didn't engage at all, and the rear brakes locked almost immediately. I didn't want to trust myself to fix the brakes on such a heavy car, so I brought it in and had them done. Unfortunately, the brake job cost more then the purchase
price of the car!
The next issue was the horribly cracked windshield. I found a parts car with a good windshield, which is how I met the Rocket Motors crew! I brought the windshield home and had it the cavernous trunk until my appointment at the windshield installation place. Next the turn signals went out, so she went to my mechanic who had to do some re-wiring and fabrication to install a new setup, but got them to work.
I knew the tires on the car wouldn't last - they were bald and cracked, but I drove on them until they
decided it was time for new ones. The front drivers side tire blew out while I was driving, but I safely pulled over...right across from my high school just as class was ending! Needless to say, we got some strange looks.
My spare tire had a rip in it, so I had to get Daisy towed back to the mechanic. I went online that evening to look for tires and decided on whitewalls. I went for a set of 1960s style bias-ply (as opposed to modern radial design) Coker Classic tires with 3" whitewalls. They were expensive, but I figured they'd outlast the car, and they looked awesome. However, the now obsolete bias-ply style tires made the car difficult to steer and she would frequently navigate her own course based on imperfections in the road surface! I actually never drove her on the freeway for a couple years, but she actually did surprisingly well. I does require 110% attention though.
By now, I had gove off to college and had Daisy there with me. She was a popular sight around campus and downtown, and seemed well liked. Then one morning I came out to find someone had taken a permanent marker and drawn a big cartoon face on the hood of the car! The local homeless people took a look, but didn't recognize the "artwork". That day I bought a can of spray paint and some tape, and simply re-painted that panel of the car.
A few months later, on a pretty hot day, the lower radiator hose started leaking badly. I hadn't
changed them, and soon realized my mistake. The springs inside the hoses were rusted and splintering apart, not to mention the hose themselves being stiff and cracking. My friend and I changed the hoses on the street in front of my apartment and got lots of strange looks from kids waiting for the bus.
With the marker vandalism fading from memory, I came out one morning to find a large dent in Daisy's drivers door. I looked closer at it and saw a shoeprint right in the center of it. From then on, the door never closed properly either. Also, her antenna was bent over sideways, and upon close inspection I found another shoeprint where someone tried to kick her, but didn't dent her. With no collateral insurance or money to fix it, I left it alone. The black and white dazzle camo paint job actually hid the dent pretty well.
Daisy soldiered on as my fun run-around car and served me well. Unfortunately, after several good years together I was graduating college and had to sell Daisy. I put her up for sale, but despite all the compliments I would get while driving her, nobody wanted to buy her with that paint job! So with very mixed emotions, I dedicated a weekend to sanding her down and had her repainted her factory Newport Blue color. I sold her a few weeks later, and the buyer had her upholstery redone and sold her again. I lost track of her after that, but have had a passion for restoring and driving 1960s Cadillacs ever since.
price of the car!
The next issue was the horribly cracked windshield. I found a parts car with a good windshield, which is how I met the Rocket Motors crew! I brought the windshield home and had it the cavernous trunk until my appointment at the windshield installation place. Next the turn signals went out, so she went to my mechanic who had to do some re-wiring and fabrication to install a new setup, but got them to work.
I knew the tires on the car wouldn't last - they were bald and cracked, but I drove on them until they
decided it was time for new ones. The front drivers side tire blew out while I was driving, but I safely pulled over...right across from my high school just as class was ending! Needless to say, we got some strange looks.
My spare tire had a rip in it, so I had to get Daisy towed back to the mechanic. I went online that evening to look for tires and decided on whitewalls. I went for a set of 1960s style bias-ply (as opposed to modern radial design) Coker Classic tires with 3" whitewalls. They were expensive, but I figured they'd outlast the car, and they looked awesome. However, the now obsolete bias-ply style tires made the car difficult to steer and she would frequently navigate her own course based on imperfections in the road surface! I actually never drove her on the freeway for a couple years, but she actually did surprisingly well. I does require 110% attention though.
By now, I had gove off to college and had Daisy there with me. She was a popular sight around campus and downtown, and seemed well liked. Then one morning I came out to find someone had taken a permanent marker and drawn a big cartoon face on the hood of the car! The local homeless people took a look, but didn't recognize the "artwork". That day I bought a can of spray paint and some tape, and simply re-painted that panel of the car.
A few months later, on a pretty hot day, the lower radiator hose started leaking badly. I hadn't
changed them, and soon realized my mistake. The springs inside the hoses were rusted and splintering apart, not to mention the hose themselves being stiff and cracking. My friend and I changed the hoses on the street in front of my apartment and got lots of strange looks from kids waiting for the bus.
With the marker vandalism fading from memory, I came out one morning to find a large dent in Daisy's drivers door. I looked closer at it and saw a shoeprint right in the center of it. From then on, the door never closed properly either. Also, her antenna was bent over sideways, and upon close inspection I found another shoeprint where someone tried to kick her, but didn't dent her. With no collateral insurance or money to fix it, I left it alone. The black and white dazzle camo paint job actually hid the dent pretty well.
Daisy soldiered on as my fun run-around car and served me well. Unfortunately, after several good years together I was graduating college and had to sell Daisy. I put her up for sale, but despite all the compliments I would get while driving her, nobody wanted to buy her with that paint job! So with very mixed emotions, I dedicated a weekend to sanding her down and had her repainted her factory Newport Blue color. I sold her a few weeks later, and the buyer had her upholstery redone and sold her again. I lost track of her after that, but have had a passion for restoring and driving 1960s Cadillacs ever since.
