Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

[Stearmen]

Where is that quote from?

I think this is a myth. After all the highest Czech political leaders - Edvard Benes and Klement Gottwald - also used this car.

Maybe the Nazis got bad drivers or where driving too recklessly...

http://chrisoncars.com/2011/09/revolutionary-nazi-killer-hitlers-other-peoples-car/ http://www.mzv.cz/washington/en/economy_trade/news/tatra_auto_show.html
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-hans-ledwinkas-revolutionary-tatras/ http://www.vintageracecar.com/pages/thismonth.cgi?magid=100&magiid=439 http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2008/01/a-brief-illustrated-history-of-tatra/

 

[Stanley Doble]

This one is too good to resist:

Cadillac's Director of Brand And Reputation Strategy: "We Don't Want To Be An Automotive Brand"

Well honey all I can say is, keep building unreliable sh*tboxes and you will soon get your wish.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/20...putation-strategy-dont-want-automotive-brand/

 

[Stanley Doble]

I have heard the Tatra ban story before and the more I think about it the less likely it gets. I don't think any car was more dangerous than combat. The Tatra required a different driving technique but was not more dangerous than other cars if handled correctly. Officers with cars in that class had trained drivers. And Germany could not afford to discard any form of motorised transport.

I suppose it was possible they were instructed not to drive themselves but always be chauffeured by a trained driver.

 

[LizzieMaine]

This one is too good to resist:

Cadillac's Director of Brand And Reputation Strategy: "We Don't Want To Be An Automotive Brand"

Well honey all I can say is, keep building unreliable sh*tboxes and you will soon get your wish.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/20...putation-strategy-dont-want-automotive-brand/

“I don’t buy products, I buy brands. I don’t use Apple computers because they are the best computers, I use them because Apple is cool. We need to show drivers what the Cadillac lifestyle is all about.”

Cadillac -- for the Hipster Arriviste.

“Everyone in New York is always just a little bit ahead of everyone else

Except in the American League.

 

[Fading Fast]

Cadillac -- for the Hipster Arriviste.

Okay, I haven't owned a car in over 25 years, so did I miss this - has Cadillac become "cool" again, this time with the Hipsters? Last I remember, I had a vague sense that Cadillac was very uncool by those who cared about that stuff.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Those of us who remember when a Cadillac was a Cadillac, don't think of Cadillac as an automotive brand now. Younger people don't think of it at all.

Winning!

 

[GHT]

This one is too good to resist:

Cadillac's Director of Brand And Reputation Strategy: "We Don't Want To Be An Automotive Brand"

Well honey all I can say is, keep building unreliable sh*tboxes and you will soon get your wish.

Reminds me about a fuel starvation problem that I had with a car of certain vintage. Had to have a call out to get it going. When I asked the repair guy what the problem was, he replied: "Sh*t in the carburetor." Didn't have the courage to ask him how often I had to do that.

 

[Stanley Doble]

“I don’t buy products, I buy brands. I don’t use Apple computers because they are the best computers, I use them because Apple is cool. We need to show drivers what the Cadillac lifestyle is all about.”

What to expect for next fall's new model introductions. Cadillac will announce a sensational new car that is exactly the same as the old one with the chrome reshuffled. They will hire a few unemployed gleeps to camp out in front of the dealerships overnight and get coast to coast publicity about how the fanbois can't wait for the new Cadillac.

Yeah that ought to work.

 

[jamespowers]

This one is too good to resist:

Cadillac's Director of Brand And Reputation Strategy: "We Don't Want To Be An Automotive Brand"

Well honey all I can say is, keep building unreliable sh*tboxes and you will soon get your wish.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/20...putation-strategy-dont-want-automotive-brand/

There is a case where that woman isn't going to be working there long. lol lol

 

[vitanola]

​

From this: http://www.wcroberts.org/Paige_History/Images/1915-01-02 Cadillac.jpg

To this: http://fortune.com/2014/11/18/cadillac-brand-director-melody-lee/

Perhaps Cadillac needs just a bit of this: http://nozama.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ed05fc28833014e607a75b3970c-400wi

 

[jamespowers]

From this: http://www.wcroberts.org/Paige_History/Images/1915-01-02 Cadillac.jpg

To this: http://fortune.com/2014/11/18/cadillac-brand-director-melody-lee/

Perhaps Cadillac needs just a bit of this: http://nozama.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ed05fc28833014e607a75b3970c-400wi

Just what they need. A 33 year old moron who wants to sell cars like purses. They just don’t understand that you can’t sell cars like other fad items. You sell a car with flash, speed and a look that makes you “gotta have it.”
Your last Ad is a good example and so is the first one. Established as the Cadillac standard of the world was really something. Somewhere along the way they stopped meeting the standard….:doh:

 

[Stanley Doble]

If they fire the whole "branding" department and replace them with engineers, they may be able to build a car worth buying.

There was a time when the whole world looked up to Cadillac and millions regarded it as the symbol of success and achievement. Those days ended in the seventies. Cheap "rebranding" hustles won't bring them back.

 

[Stanley Doble]

When Cadillac was on top of the world they didn't need any "branding" department. The company's executives took care of that as naturally as breathing.

The guy who designed the interiors said "when you get behind the wheel I want you to feel a little lift. Every time you go for a drive it should be a holiday".

Their marketing was subtle. A retired company insider told me in the fifties their advertising was not aimed at selling cars. It was meant to make Cadillac owners feel good about themselves, and they sold the cars.

 

[jamespowers]

If they fire the whole "branding" department and replace them with engineers, they may be able to build a car worth buying before.

There was a time when the whole world looked up to Cadillac and millions regarded it as the symbol of success and achievement. Those days ended in the seventies.

Engineers and stylists. Especially those people that used to mock up car bodies in clay back in the day. Those are the people that put the face on the technology. Make the car stand out and quit looking like a damned jellybean. The 70s really didn’t end Cadillac it was the 80s and the CAFÉ standards that screwed them up and made them grasp for that which their cars were not ready for. They reached too far with the V8-6-4 with technology that only today is reliable. Then they went on and put puny underpowered engines in HUGE cars. Not only that but by 1983 they were putting unreliable and well known to fail tiny V-8s in their cars just to meet the mileage requirements. Those Cadillacs from say 1983 to 1985 had horrible engines in them that were unreliable. They kept redesigning them with minor fixes but you just can’t fix screwed up. :doh: Finally in 1986 they came out with at least 5.0 v-8s for the larger cars but they were underpowered. By 1991 they finally got it right with the big 350s as options in the large Brougham models but they were getting it wrong with the other models…… It was just a big mess that they have not recovered from just yet. Now they are really no longer a luxury car as much as they are a sports car. Their smaller offerings are small and more geared toward people who want a sports car. The luxury end of their lines are all just about gone---the only thing that keeps them there are their large SUV models but they keep making them smaller every year as well…..:doh:

 

[jamespowers]

When Cadillac was on top of the world they didn't need any "branding" department. The company's executives took care of that as naturally as breathing.

The guy who designed the interiors said "when you get behind the wheel I want you to feel a little lift. Every time you go for a drive it should be a holiday".

Their marketing was subtle. A retired company insider told me in the fifties their advertising was not aimed at selling cars. It was meant to make Cadillac owners feel good about themselves, and they sold the cars.

The cars sold themselves because they were an extension of the individual. You could get whatever you wanted and personalize the car to you rliking and you knew that Cadillac was always the first to come out with what everyone else was going to put out five years later or longer into the future. It was just the way it was and you expected it. The deElegance interior with the pillow top leather seats, cruise control, automatic everything and electric everything. It sold itself because it was a whizz bang technology with that certain je ne sais quoi than no one else could get.

 

[vitanola]

The cars sold themselves because they were an extension of the individual. You could get whatever you wanted and personalize the car to you rliking and you knew that Cadillac was always the first to come out with what everyone else was going to put out five years later or longer into the future. It was just the way it was and you expected it. The deElegance interior with the pillow top leather seats, cruise control, automatic everything and electric everything. It sold itself because it was a whizz bang technology with that certain je ne sais quoi than no one else could get.

Well, here in Michigan those who thought that they had "arrived" tended to drive Lincoln's back in the '60's and '70's, perhaps because of association of Cadillac cars with, well...

Of course, I later found out that real "Old Money" drove six year old Oldsmobiles and ancient Chryslers. Who'd have thunk it?

By the way, thanks for warning me away from that cheap Cadillac, Mr. Powers. The fellow who ended up with it has had nought but trouble. I did pick up a little winter beater last fall, though. My first foreign car, a little 1998 Benz C280 which our local Ford-Lincoln dealer had taken in on trade toward a new MK-Z. It is a little ball of pure fun!

 

[jamespowers]

Well, here in Michigan those who thought that they had "arrived" tended to drive Lincoln's back in the '60's and '70's, perhaps because of association of Cadillac cars with, well...

Of course, I later found out that real "Old Money" drove six year old Oldsmobiles and ancient Chryslers. Who'd have thunk it?

By the way, thanks for warning me away from that cheap Cadillac, Mr. Powers. The fellow who ended up with it has had nought but trouble. I did pick up a little winter beater last fall, though. My first foreign car, a little 1998 Benz C280 which our local Ford-Lincoln dealer had taken in on trade toward a new MK-Z. It is a little ball of pure fun!

No problem. If there is one thing I know it is Cadillacs. I have had a few over the years---and I have avoided some.

 

[splintercellsz]

Updates on my '72.

Rust and body issues were repaired, and I had it painted in a different color. Should be finished in a day or two. I went with a darker silver, and also had stripes added to the trunk section, as well as blacking out the grille and removing the wing to clean up the lines of the car. Next stop should be some "heart-work".

 

[dh66]

​

From this: http://www.wcroberts.org/Paige_History/Images/1915-01-02 Cadillac.jpg

To this: http://fortune.com/2014/11/18/cadillac-brand-director-melody-lee/

Perhaps Cadillac needs just a bit of this: http://nozama.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ed05fc28833014e607a75b3970c-400wi

She must be doing something right, at least from a marketing prospective. Around here lately I see as many upwardly mobile young mothers driving Escalades as I do successful pimps and dope dealers.

 

[dh66]

It's looking good, Splintercellsz.