Sublime Suede - Bagged Caddy Is Dandy Eye Candy

Sublime Suede – Bagged Caddy Is Dandy Eye Candy

Getting old is a bitch.

I should know. Your humble author, while far from over-the-hill, is no spring chicken. I have to stay on track with my workouts and eat right. I used to be able to chow down anything I wanted and stay under 200 pounds.

These days, one Twinkie over my daily allotment and I can’t buckle my pants. Ugh.

What a nice surprise to see this beauty on an otherwise unremarkable day . . . This body style of Cadillac was the first to debut sans fins, a Cadillac staple since 1948.

I usually walk the complex where I work out as a precursor to my weight lifting session. You can imagine my surprise and delight while making a lap the other day when I saw this 1966 Caddy parked next to a hair salon. Long and low, it glimmered in the warm Cali sun, its sleek Bill Mitchell flanks looking just as fetching as they did when it rolled off the line 53 years ago.

I didn’t have my phone with me, so I hoofed it back to the car, grabbed my Note 9 and a business card, and headed back tout de suite, hoping the car would still be there.

I was in luck. I snapped some photos and left my card nestled in the driver’s side glass, proposing a feature on the car on Rod Authority. In a few hours, my phone rang, and a voice said, “Hi, this is Anthony Spagnolo, I own the ’66 Cadillac, my wife works at the salon where it was parked…”

We made a date to meet at sunset in Riverside County, to capture the orange glow of the summer sun on the Caddy’s slab-sided bodywork. Anthony is a cool, inked-up, Wreath and Crest man with a lovely wife, Ashley, and a gaggle of kids, including one on the way.

We decided to do a live feed to Facebook to start things off, and a good time was had by all.

Anthony and Ashley were thinking of getting a 1959 Cad, but they had a ’66 Fleetwood previously, and loved it, so when they found this Coupe de Ville last January, they jumped on it. The car is rolling on a C-notched frame, bags, whitewalls, Supremes, and the stance is picture-perfect. A stock 429 V8 provides power, and while most of the running gear is stock, the car did get a set of front disc brakes by Classic Performance.

The Spagnolos bought the car in the black satin like you see here, and are unsure of the original color. Anthony told us, “There is filler and patch panels on the car, so the next project is to strip it down, fix the metal, and respray in a House of  Color copper hue.”  We pity the poor soul who has to block sand this block-long sled, but the results will be worth it.

The 1965-66 Cadillac were the first Caddies since 1948 that didn’t have fins and were a aesthetic home run. Like a freshly pressed tuxedo, Caddies of this vintage have crisp styling with perfect proportions. Aside from getting the stance right, the lines need little fiddling. Kudos to Spagnolo for understanding this and sticking to the basics. He talked about shaving the door handles yet preserving the metal with little alteration.

In the meantime, the family Spagnolo is enjoying the car and running around SoCal keeping Caddy-cool, alive and kicking.

 

 

 

 

About the author

Dave Cruikshank

Dave Cruikshank is a lifelong car enthusiast and an editor at Power Automedia. He digs all flavors of automobiles, from classic cars to modern EVs. Dave loves music, design, tech, current events, and fitness.
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