On June 23rd I pointed the Cartier east on Interstate 80 to attend another most excellent Cadillac show. Said event was hosted by Ettleson Cadillac of Hodgkins, IL.
In prior years, this event had been held at Heritage Cadillac in Lombard, but in 2017 it was cancelled, due to the dealership undergoing heavy remodeling. As June of 2018 approached, we all expected it to resume, but apparently management decided it was time to call it quits. The higher ups in the West of the Lake Region of the Cadillac-LaSalle club made some calls. Fortunately, the owner of Ettleson Cadillac Buick graciously offered to continue the event-one of the premier Cadillac shows in the Chicago area!
And so it was I arrived at the dealership Saturday morning, with a fully charged camera and liberally applied sunblock! There were many fine cars in attendance. But I thought I’d take a different tack for this post, and simply show the evolution of Cadillac fins, via the show cars that attended. Yes, that’s right folks. This post is long on pictures and short on text for a change, ha ha! Enjoy.
1955 Cadillac Eldorado.
1957 Cadillac Coupe de Ville.
1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. Owned by my friend Ron Schweitzer.
1959 Cadillac Sedan de Ville.
1959 Cadillac Sedan de Ville.
1959 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham.
1962 Cadillac Coupe de Ville.
1962 Cadillac Coupe de Ville.
1964 Cadillac De Ville convertible.
1970 Cadillac Sedan de Ville.
1970 Cadillac Sedan de Ville. I’d never noticed the taillight lens was beveled until the day I took this photo!
1992 Cadillac Sedan de Ville. This car had 192,000 miles on it and was still a daily driver.
1994 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. Last of the Broughams!
You should notice the gap in tailfins between when standards on bumpers were tightened in 74 and when they were relaxed in 1985. This to me is a prima facia case that the reduction in Cadillac style between 74-85 was to do with government regulations, as with the minimalization of wood and metal on the interior. All the talk of penny pinching should take this into account.
John, that has more to do with the model years of Cadillacs that were on display. 🙂
Nice .
-Nate
beautiful study of cadillac fins. i really miss when cars had actual chrome not the plastic stuff that passes for chrome trim today.
This is a creative way to view these cars, and I like it. Beautiful photographs. My “favorite fin”? I can’t pick one, they’re all too lovely.
Tom,
Great…you can really see the styling continuity, maintaining Cadillac identity despite changing trends.
Sweet Polly Purebred. It’s like the opening scenes of “Tin Men” on steriods. Thank you so much.