This time around I have had the pleasure of spending some time with Laurie to talk about one of the loves of his life.  
Laurie recently turned 60. Along with his wife Susan and their two     miniature German Schnauzers, they live in the Burleigh Heads area on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Laurie works as an Operations Manager in the transport industry.

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Apart from his car, Laurie also:

• Is somewhat of a red wine connoisseur;
• Enjoys messing around in the kitchen and cooks to quite a high standard;
• Recently bought a caravan – he says it’s a bit of a “see how we enjoy it as we get closer to retirement thing”;
• Has spent a bit of time on house reno’s;
• As no surprise, Laurie admits as far as his music tastes are concerned, he is stuck in the 70’s. This has now been confirmed by the Elvis figurine bouncing around the rear vision mirror. 

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Up until recently, Laurie and Susan had two beautiful Harley Davidsons – Susan had a 2008 Heritage Softail Classic and Laurie a 2008 Ultra Classic. Unfortunately after an accident involving both bikes, they decided that it was time to hang up the helmets.

So…. more to the point !

The 1968 Cadillac Deville Hardtop Sedan.

 

You know the era when the US built cars that were huge, had some really retro styling and everything was big in Texas? This car is the latter part of that time in American auto history. Laurie purchased the car from East Coast Corvettes in Anaheim California on consignment from the original owners’ estate. All the original owners’ paperwork was with the car. He had no real issues getting it back to Australia. Being left-hand drive meant he had to change the headlights to suit right-hand conditions and also the                    seat belts to meet Australian standards.

       

 

 

 

 

 

The Caddie is powered by a massive 472 cubic inch V8 (7.7 Litres) which puts out 375 horsepower (276 KW) from the factory. In Laurie’s words, “It creates some 525 Foot/lbs of grunt”. Being pre-fuel injection the engine is fed through an Edelbrock 650 carburettor which was a standard factory fit. I asked Laurie whether he had any problems running unleaded fuel. “Surprisingly it is quite happy on premium unleaded and in fact, the USA had been on unleaded fuel for quite a while before Australia fazed out leaded fuel.” I didn’t bother asking about fuel consumption – I reckon it wouldn’t be pretty”.

The transmission is through a three speed Turbo Hydramatic 400 and the car sits on four coil suspension.

The Caddie weighs in at 2.2 tonnes – which I was a little surprised  and thought it would be more? However, combine that with a length of 5.7metres and you have quite a car of legitimate bulk. Which brought me to my next question on braking and handling!!

 

 

There are no disc brakes here – power front and rear finned drums.

I have no doubt that once the car has an amount of serious momentum you wouldn’t want to be pulling up in a hurry. Also, not surprisingly handling isn’t one of the Caddies strong points either. Humorously, Laurie mentioned that the Cadillac recommended tyre pressure is 25 lbs. Just so you get a little extra out of the soft bouncy ride !! – How things have changed.

“It’s a straight line cruise built for comfort not cornering at any pace”  was the comment.

 “Parking is also something that requires a little pre-planning. Definitely no grocery shopping and always park on the outskirts of the car park. If you need to park between cars, usually you have to get your passengers out first as the width won’t leave much room for opening doors” – he said he has learnt his lesson when after taking a diligent and methodical approach to ease the car into a packed standard shopping centre car park to wriggle his way out of the driver’s side, only to find the car is still sticking out the rear of the parking spot by 1.5 metres. By the way, the car is left-hand drive – just to complicate things.

Remembering we are talking about a different time in history when this car was built. As standard it has; power windows, central locking, sentinel headlights (auto dim), 6 way electrically adjustable front bench seat. Its a legal pillar less six seater !!

The full leather interior is original and in superb condition – it’s a really thick leather! The car still has the original floor matts.

Laurie estimates he has spent around $30-$35K including the original purchase and freight to Australia.

His advice is to buy unrestored as there are plenty of horror stories of cars restored in the US and brought to Australia. There are plenty of parts available. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. He would also recommend joining a car club that suits you. They are a good source of information and can assist in working through the traps.

Would he do another one? “I’m keen but it would be a GMC or Chevy pick up truck. Somewhere around the late sixties early 70’s. It must have 400 cubic inches or more with auto transmission”.

What’s your ‘If I could car’? A Dodge Challenger 440 Magnum , 70’s style !!!

The car was a lot of fun and it turned a lot of heads on the road – pure cruiser, plenty of grunt with a beautiful note from the big V8. It is a true reflection of a time in America when it was all about cubic inches and big cars. Laurie’s Caddie is a wonderful example and I think the car would be just about bullet proof. It was a pleasure to experience a little of what it may have been like at a different time and place. Many thanks to Laurie for his time in sharing his special drive with me and hopefully many more enjoyable years of motoring in this wonderful car.

Very Cool !!!

RD

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