"Pre-baby-boomer", I was born near Loch Lomond, Scotland, in May 1939. Maman was French. I lived in Scotland (1939-1947; 1952-1960), France (1947-48; 1960-63), Switzerland (1948-52; 1963-1998) and USA (1998 until now). I got my first driving lessons, aged 9, from my brother aged 10 (!) on Dad's old '34 Chrysler CB6 conv. sedan. In 1956 I saw a Cadillac "Sedan de Ville" in a National Geographic magazine ad for December 1955. I wanted one immediately! I had to wait 11 years, until December 1966. I have loved lush-plush Cadillacs ever since.
Gas prices forced me to use VW Beetles (or a bicycle, or motor-cycle) for daily transport, and Cadillacs only for occasional fun. On and off since 1966, I have owned a 1942 Fleetwood "Series 75" formal limo ["Black Pryncess", 1 of 65 -
www.car-nection.com/yann/Dbas_txt/blackpr3.htm ], 1956 "Sedan de Ville", 1959 "Coupe de Ville", 1960 "Eldorado Seville" ["Lavender Lily" -
www.car-nection.com/yann/Dbas_txt/60sevil2.htm ], 1960 "Eldorado Biarritz", 1964 "Sedan de Ville", 1964 "Series 60 Special", 1976 "Coupe de Ville" and 1976 "Seville" sedan [ex-Saudi Royal stables].
In 1955, aged 16, I began collecting all things Cadillac, like sales brochures, data books, manuals, ads, factory photos, wheel covers, record covers, books, misc. trivia, and ...TOYS. By 1989, I had the world's largest collection of Cadillacs in miniature (750 of them). Then I had a nasty motor-cycle accident, realized the futility of hoarding stuff, sold the toys and the '60 Biarritz and invested the proceeds in a second-hand, 47-foot Dutch steel motor yacht. In 1998 I retired and got arthritis and a bad back, so I sold the boat, the literature, the wheel covers and moved to South Carolina.
I have spent an active retirement [and about 15,000 hours] researching and compiling "The Cadillac Database", to which you will note that I often refer in my daily comments [
www.car-nection.com/yann ]. At this writing, the Database comprises about 28,000 Cadillac and related images, as well as some 8,500 screen pages of information and trivia about Cadillac and LaSalle cars. It has won a few awards.
By now, you will have gathered that I am a "Cadillac nut"! I love this Web site because I love cars, especially large, American ones and particularly Cadillacs (yes, you guessed it!). I admire some of you who can look at a dark, fuzzy image of a car and assert with confidence that it's a Cadillac "De Ville" of some kind (the "De Ville" is very popular). Despite all the documentation at my fingertips, still I tend to be more circumspect, realizing that the purpose of this Web site is to CORRECTLY identify movie cars. IMHO, a guess isn't good enough. Let's try harder ...or admit it when we are not 100% sure.