Denis Bulloch became a Cadillac man in the 1960s when he admired the photos he saw at the school library in National Geographic magazines, and at a local bookshop in issues of The Saturday Evening Post. The pages of his brother’s Popular Mechanics were also good for finding pictures of his favourite car.
Unlike many young men who once wished for a Cadillac, Denis has made his dream a reality by owning 10 different models since joining the Cadillac club in 1993. In the last 31 years he has owned a total of 18 American cars — but not all at once. His current Caddies are a 1960 Series 62 flat-top roof and a 1996 Fleetwood Brougham.
“They are both nice to drive, but the ’60 has character, like all American cars of that era,” Denis says. He usually takes this car on runs with the Cadillac club, although he occasionally uses the Brougham on these drives. But the Brougham is his first choice when he drives off on personal trips or holidays.
The 1960 Series 62 is a four-door, four-window pillarless sedan from the fifth generation of the Series 62, as models produced between 1959 and 1964 were known. Of these sedans, 9964 were produced in 1960.
Although purists may insist on calling the fifth generation models the Series 6200, to Cadillac enthusiasts like Denis they are known as Series 62s.
For 1960 Cadillac gave the 1959 styling a more refined look. Changes included lower tail-fins, front fenders with mounted directional indicator lamps, and the removal of the pointed front bumper guards.
Series 62 models were powered by 6391cc (390ci) engines producing 242kW (325bhp) at 4800 rpm. The bodywork had plain fender skirts, Cadillac lettering and crests mounted just behind the headlights, and thin body side spears running three quarters of the length. Power steering, power brakes, automatic transmission and dual speed windscreen wipers were among the standard fittings.
Route 66
Denis is the car’s second New Zealand owner; the first, Steve Barnett, imported the vehicle from Oregon. Decals (transfers) affixed to the side of the rear window would suggest the car has travelled Route 66 and been driven by someone serving in the navy while it was in US ownership.
A 1959 Cadillac S&S ambulance rescued from a Church in Maryland, USA, after being read it’s last rights, has undergone a miraculous restoration as a tribute to the iconic Ghostbusters movie car, and is now being auctioned by UK-based Historics at Brooklands in an upcoming sale on 25th September.
Having previously been fettled for use in Church parades — including having its roof removed – coachbuilder Chris Reynolds saved the car from a ‘fete’ worse than death, and has since spent £65,000 turning it into one of the most sought-after promo and private-hire vehicles in Europe.
Weighing in at a mighty 2.55 tonnes, the massive American motorcar measures 20ft long by 6.5ft wide and powered by a 6.5 litre V8 engine.
Whilst the car’s exterior represents a faithful recreation of the 1984 film car – including identical logos and roof props — ‘Ecto 1’s interior has been designed as a luxurious limousine, benefiting from a £7,000 refit that includes three leather-clad bench seats designed to transport suitors in style.
Chris Reynolds commented: “The car’s ghostly presence is in stark contrast to the real life experience of bringing it back to life – and the cost of doing so. The car was about to be scrapped when I discovered it and the restoration has been a real labour of love, and hopefully it will find a worthy home.”
Capable of generating significant returns if utilised for private hire, the Ghostbusters car represents a real investment opportunity in more ways than one, and is expected to fetch offers in the region of £75,000 – £85,000 at the Historics sale.
Here’s a breathless, big budget TV commercial for the 1958 range of shiny, huge, General Motors cars (sorry, autos), as broadcast on NBC. Could a vocal chorus sing any louder, bigger, higher?? Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile.
Different automakers use different arenas to display exactly what they can do. The same goes for tuning houses. It often comes in the form of the quickest lap time around a given race track (usually the Nürburgring), a particular horsepower figure, a performance benchmark, or, in some cases, a world land speed record. That’s what Spectre Performance was after with their SpeedLiner, and that’s what they achieved. Well, one class of LSR, anyway.
The Spectre SpeedLiner is a purpose-built speed record car powered by a custom Cadillac V8 measuring 529 cubic inches (8.8 liters) in capacity, boosted by a pair of intercooled 88mm turbochargers, custom forged rods, solid roller cam, ported heads and oversized valves. The result is somewhere in the area of 2000 horsepower.
Last Sunday, the SpeedLiner clocked a 330.7 mph top speed on the Bonneville Salt Flats, claiming the record for the fastest wheel-driven, gasoline powered vehicle in the world.
Reports indicate that Spectre is attempting to hit 400 mph, so we may hear more from the SpeedLiner.
Check out a video of the Speedliner’s record run below.
The October 09 issue of NZ Classic Car magazine is on the shelves now, so grab your copy today.
In this month’s issue our cover car is a replica of Tom Walkinshaw’s famous TWR Jaguar XJ-S set to be a safety car on this year’s Drive NZ Classic Tour. We also feature two other safety cars from the upcoming tour, a Daimler 250-V8 and a Range Rover Vogue. With summer approaching it’s time to get your classic looking great so we have a special feature on retrimming your classic and a guide to checking your car’s engine with a compression gauge. We catch up with Denis Bulloch a dead keen Cadillac collector and profile next month’s Targa NZ. In our future classic section we get the low down on the Volvo 850R/T5R Estate and our buyer’s guide takes a look at Honda’s sports cars.
All this and more articles, news, reviews and technical support to keep you informed on the world of classic motoring.
A consignment of 14 vehicles with impeccable Hollywood credentials, from the collection of the late Sidney Craig and his wife, Jenny Craig, will be sold by Bonhams at Quail Lodge in Carmel, California, U.S.A on August 14th.
The collection’s headline car is the 1933 Duesenberg Model J Torpedo Victoria Convertible (chassis 2535, engine J-384), first owned by cinema cowboy William Boyd a.k.a. Hopalong Cassidy. With mechanically operated folding top by Rollston, this is an important example of open coachwork on the majestic Duesenberg Model J chassis.
Another mythical Hollywood cowboy, Tom Mix, previously owned the 1937 Cord 812 Supercharged Phaeton being offered, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt toured California during his second re-election campaign in the Craig’s 1935 Lincoln Model K V-12 Phaeton.
Other Hollywood celebrities are represented by the Ghia 6.4L Coupe owned by Gary Morton (Lucille Ball’s second husband) later modified for its second owner Dean Martin by the King of the Kustomizers, George Barris, and Frank Sinatra’s rare and delectably preserved 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. A 1931 Ford Model A Roadster is the most modest car in the Craig collection, but it was a featured player in one of the Andy Hardy movies starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.
No less interesting is a 1930 Cadillac 452 V-16 Sedan outfitted with 1/4″ steel armour plating and five-ply bullet-resistant glass attributed to Al Capone’s Chicago mob. The collection is balanced with a Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe formerly owned by Clark Gable, the famous Flajole Forerunner concept car, a Cadillac V-12 Dual Cowl Phaeton and a Bentley 3.5 Litre Park Ward Drophead Coupe built for Frederick Charles Stewart of John Brown & Co. Ltd., Glasgow, builder of the Cunard liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.
In her 2004 autobiography Jenny Craig wrote, “Sid ¦ has the charisma of a Jack Kennedy, the intelligence of an Alan Greenspan, the creative mind of a Steven Spielberg, and the humor of a Jackie Mason, along with the good looks of a Clark Gable.” He had great taste in automobiles, too, as this small but choice collection shows and Bonhams is excited to offer them to a new generation of collectors of thoroughbred motorcars at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, California, on Friday, August 14th, during the international Monterey Car Week celebration.
To find out more about this special auction, click here to visit the Bonhams Auctions website.
Caddies are a 1960 Series 62 flat-top roof and a 1996 Fleetwood Brougham.
For 1960 Cadillac gave the 1959 styling a more refined look. Changes included lower tail-fins, front fenders with mounted directional indicator lamps, and the removal of the pointed front bumper guards.
