# Do you know this car



## rusty (Apr 20, 2011)

How many of you know the make and year of this beauty, under the hood 325 hp 390 V-8 with 10.5:1 compression engine which meant she drank premium fuel.

She belonged to one of our forum members, you get bonus points of you can guess who the owner was.

Regards
Rusty


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## Claudie (Apr 20, 2011)

1959 Cadillac Eldorado....


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## rusty (Apr 20, 2011)

Claudie said:


> 1959 Cadillac Eldorado....



Yes, now do you care to venture a guess as to who owned this car.


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## rusty (Apr 20, 2011)

Aright this one's going to be a bit tougher to name, the owner graciously sent me the negatives from which I will make 8 x 10 platinum prints. 

Alternative Photography using platinum, palladium and gold instead of silver, these will be the first prints produced by me.

Regards 
Rusty


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 20, 2011)

Lou Strike that.

It's Harold's


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## Claudie (Apr 20, 2011)

1936 Auburn?


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## rusty (Apr 20, 2011)

Claudie said:


> 1936 Auburn?



That was quick, yes.

Regards
Rusty


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## rusty (Apr 20, 2011)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> Lou Strike that.
> 
> It's Harold's



Yes both cars belonged to Harold.

Regards
Rusty


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## Harold_V (Apr 20, 2011)

The '59 Cadillac was just a Coupe De Ville. Not an Eldorado.

Harold


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 20, 2011)

Harold_V said:


> The '59 Cadillac was just a Coupe De Ville. Not an Eldorado.
> 
> Harold



Harold,

Had both of them been restored of were they all original?

Very nice looking.


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## Claudie (Apr 20, 2011)

They are both very nice looking cars.


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## glondor (Apr 20, 2011)

How was the Auburn to drive Harold? I am guessing it had a pretty sweet ride.


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## Harold_V (Apr 21, 2011)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> Harold_V said:
> 
> 
> > The '59 Cadillac was just a Coupe De Ville. Not an Eldorado.
> ...


I bought the Cadillac when it was only about one year old, so it was in pretty decent condition. Had a lot of fun with the car---I was just a young guy then (21). 

Interestingly, I bought the Auburn about the same time. It had been reworked, but hardly restored. The blower had the guts removed and was direct coupled, so it acted, at best, like a mixer. 

The car came originally from Auburn, Washington (strange coincidence), taken to Utah by a guy named Ron VanGelderen. He had it only briefly, then sold it to me when he needed money to buy an early Cadillac twelve cylinder. If memory serves, it was a 1930 model. 

I kept the Auburn for about ten years, with grandiose plans of restoring the thing, but by then I had different interests, was running my shop and couldn't see myself dedicating the kind of time that would be required in order to restore the car to original condition. It hadn't been modified, but my interest was in having it as original---including the interior, which had been redone. Nicely, but not original. 

The Auburn came equipped with a Columbia two speed axle. Unfortunately, it was a convertible coupe---quite rare in the scheme of things, for only five remained, near as I could tell. The Auburn speedster (boat tail) was far more desirable, in spite of being more plentiful. 

Auburn made the 851 model in '35, and the 852 model in '36. Both were supercharged, but only about 500 of them were produced, which included a number of four door sedans. They also made a phaeton, one of which was owned by Dr. Tedrow, an elderly friend in Utah. He is now deceased. His was a 1935 model (an 851). 

The car drove fairly well. It was powered by a flat head straight eight Lycoming engine. Not the best engine for performance, by a long shot, but it was a nice car. You might keep in mind, many of the autos of that era weren't great to drive. 

I also owned a 1937 Cord, which was in dire need of restoration. It was also supercharged, but it was a Custom Beverly Sedan, so it wasn't exactly desirable in the way of ownership. To me, however, it was a Cord, and they were scarce. Only 3,000 Cord's were made between 1936 and 1937. 810's were made in '36, with 812's in '37. The one I owned was authenticated by the ACD Club (Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg) as being a one of a kind. It had a Berline interior, which provided for some minor accessories in the back of the front seat, for use by the rear seat passengers. 

Both of the cars were sold in the early 70's. While I made a profit on each, I have mixed emotions about having not kept them. Their value, now, is through the ceiling---but I have doubts that I would have restored the cars. The Auburn was purchased by a gentleman named King, who resided in Canada. I have no idea what became of the car. The Cord was purchased by a fellow in Oregon, Chuck Fox, but I have never heard anything about the outcome of the car. I had heard that Chuck had died. 

If any of you know of the whereabouts of either of these cars, I'd love to hear some details. 

An interesting note. Well, two of them, really. 

I made mention that the blower had been gutted. The planetary for both the Cord and Auburn were identical, and Dr. Tedrow's car's blower needed repairs. I made him a deal--he bought the material, and I'd build three sets of planetaries. The components were made of 52100 (Timken bearing steel), heat treated, then ground while I was working in the precision grinding department at Sperry. Home jobs were frowned upon, but we had some great supervisors that would turn a blind eye. The components turned out perfectly functional. I have negatives of them, but, sadly, no pictures. Needless to say, they are in black and white. 

Second interesting note: My ex-wife had an ongoing affair with VanGelderen. He, being a mormon, had the morals of an alley cat. It was many years later that I learned of their misdeeds, and talked with his wife. He had, by then, moved to West Virginia, if memory serves. She had complaints about his activities, which were ongoing. I contacted the mormon church and provided a signed statement of admission, obtained from my ex. He was excommunicated. The VanGelderen in question is this guy: 

http://www.turnerpublishing.com/detail.aspx?ID=324

I have been married to Susan, my present wife, for almost 34 years. She's 13 years my junior, and has been an outstanding partner/mate/friend. Something good came from being married to a woman that couldn't keep her sex life at home. She had at least one other affair, which lasted about ten years. It was the discovery of that one that lead to the admission of the one with VanGelderen. 

Ain't life interesting?

Harold


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## Harold_V (Apr 21, 2011)

glondor said:


> How was the Auburn to drive Harold? I am guessing it had a pretty sweet ride.


I commented a little about the drivability in the previous post. 
Because I didn't buy it to drive, I drove it only briefly, still with the Washington plates. I never registered the car in my name. When the Midvale cops wrote me a ticket, that ended my driving experiences with the car. It was later partially dismantled, so I could start restoration, but that didn't go very far. I made several replacement components, including the blower parts I mentioned, then the car sat idle for several years. You might understand that cars are extremely expensive to restore---and I was a struggling young guy that didn't have the money. 

Harold


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