The story of Hannu and Gunnel’s Cadillac!
Every summer for over 20 years, have we been sitting by the
”Red square” (named because the light is always red), located at the
Malmabergsgatan/Pilgatan intersection in Västerås, Sweden and then following “Power
Meet-Cruising”. It was finally decided that we should get our own American
car.
A car that we could use to participate in those activities that are offered in
the immediate surroundings of
Västmanland, and a car that would offer us
relaxation from the ordinary weekday in the form of repairs and upgrades that
could be done over a long period of time as a hobby.
Since we hadn’t been living our earlier lives as members of a gang of youths who ride about in big American cars, but more like ordinary "Svensson/Virtanen” (regular people), we needed to get a concept of the vintage car world and translate it into a more understandable format to be able to succeed with the selection of which car would be purchased.
I (Hannu) had some past experience with “big” cars during my youth, when I owned an Opel Kapitän -62, which I owned prior to the time of my military service in Finland which ended in 1973. After my military service, I owned in 1973 a Chrysler Valiant -64(?) which had a straight 6 engine. There were other cars that were repaired, such as swapping engines etc, and some cars (more or less ready for the junkyard) in various denominations and colors, that with some “artificial respiration” could roll from point A to point B. A fun car to own was a Porsche 912 -65, that drove over the countryside mostly on two wheels and with the accelerator pedal floored until I got bored with the never ending repairs. This car wasn’t included in the category of cars ready for the junkyard. At least not from the beginning.
Oh well, let’s get back to the point…
A detailed search and recon mission took place for several months between the autumn of 2007 and the spring of 2008. During this time we formed an opinion about the price range of certain car models and brands that we thought suited us best. Magazines like “Veteran börsen”, “Nostalgia”, “Bilsport Classic Magazine”, “Wheels Magazine” and some other publications (mainly on the internet) worked as study material and as a basic data source for decision making in the car selection process and for forming a purchase strategy. In real life we drove many miles across Västmanland and its immediate surroundings to look at and test-drive any cars that caught our interest. It was also rewarding to meet nice and honest sales people that revealed to us any of the cars flaws and faults!
After some time of deep thinking we decided that only a Cadillac would be interesting for us, which reduced a lot of traveling between the prospective cars for sale, at least a little bit. Finally we found our car in an advertisement on “Blocket”, and after a quick check on April 29, 2008 in Södertälje and a purchase decision made the following day, we where one step closer to becoming a proud Cadillac owner. The purchase price was 65.000:- SEK which was expected to be paid on delivery of the car minus the down payment of 2.000:- SEK.
The car we had bought was newly imported from California, USA. And was planned to be ready for delivery on week 22 at the latest. The car was supposed to be registered, inspected and ready to run on Swedish roads. After much trouble with obtaining the noise certificate and an exemption for not having statutory seatbelts, and some car inspections never were completed etc. But on June 30, 2008, after a 5 week delay, we could pick up our car. Finally!
After approximately 3 miles of glorious cruising on the small roads south of Södertälje we ran out of gas. What can I say? Of course we didn’t have a spare can with gas. So we had to call the seller who delivered 10 liters of gas from the back of his bike so we could get to the closest gas station for refueling. The trip home to Västerås along the E18 went by without any problems, and the car smoothly cruised along with a natural V8 authority to our great satisfaction and as a compensation for the hopeless waiting for delivery that appeared to never happen.
The lesson from this is to make sure that the car works
before you purchase it, or at least make sure that everyone who are involved knows what to do
when you
import a car regarding getting the proper documentation etc.
Registration inspection and control inspection must be done in the correct order
and must be planned closely ahead of time because both inspections are dependent
on each other. If you miss either of them the whole import process will be
delayed.
Also make sure to only deal with serious dealers. We bought noise certification
from a company that couldn’t deliver within the agreed period of time and he
almost ruined the deal between us and the car seller because that certificate is
needed to get an approved registration inspection certificate. As we had
already paid 3.000:- SEK of our own money in advance, there wasn’t much for us
to do besides waiting and hope that the company would get their heads out of
their asses and deliver. Watch out for this kind of company!
Power Meet 2008 started on Thursday, the 3rd of July
and we were finally able to start cruising with the car full of our children and
grandchildren. With the help of our youngest son Andreas, who got to borrow the
car during late evenings and nights, we spent about
600 liter E95 (158 Gallons) during the first week, and most of it was spent
idling in traffic jams. But still it was fun and worth every
penny!?!
… A short description of the cars earlier history.
The car's latest owner in the USA, at that time living in West Covina, California, made a parking violation resulting in the car being towed away. Because he didn’t bother to redeem the car, it was sold at a public auction to a purchaser who changed the vinyl headliner. The car was then sold to a gentleman who was commissioned by the person we bought the car from.
At the control inspection of the car in Sollentuna it was noticed that the car's speedometer reading was only 38,259 miles, which translates into 61,214 kilometers. That isn’t much for a 35 year old car. The reliability of the cars speedometer reading is supported by an oil change sticker in the front window for an oil change done on April 21, 2000 and the stated speedometer reading was 28,930.
After many miles of driving since June 2008 we still are very pleased with our purchase and are looking forward to a rewarding restoration of the car, which includes new interior fabric that shall be changed before the summer of 2009. Most rubber parts in the car appear to be dried and broken and have to be changed. For example, the bushings in the wheel suspensions. The best way to eat an elephant is to eat it in small parts. It suits us very well to use that expression in regards to restoring the car. During the winter season, Mr. Cadillac is parked in the garage in +19 ºC (66 ºF), which reduces the chance of corrosive attack as the relative humidity is kept at a low level. Outdoor temperature in Västerås, Sweden is right now
The picture on ”Blocket” that caught our attention. The car in its original environment, California... …where cars are relatively corrosion free!
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