November 27: Reach for the sky!

Appropriate that after being in Florida for a few days with its sun, sand and lots of old cars, that this blog should be about one of those vintage classics.

Reach for the sky! A weary old phrase, that was uttered in more than a few old western movies from times gone by, but it might also have referred to those appendages rising from the rear fenders of all the cars from the late 1950's. Another history lesson, Barry? Not quite, but an introduction to the Car Modeling Cat's (CMC) and my latest scale build, this 1959 Cadillac Eldorado coupe........

The absolute maximum fin, that literally reached for the sky. Cadillac was obviously proud of what they had wrought and featured it prominently in their ads........

 Big, bold and brassy, the ultimate expression of a short lived '50's styling trend, since within a mere twenty four months, those fins were shaved off of most cars. Cadillac held onto theirs for a few more years, but that's another story for another time.

This over the top design appealed to the CMC and me, since we love those 1950 and 1960 designs, as you have probably noticed from earlier blogs showing our handy work. Ah, nothing gets the creative juices flowing like big fins and lots of chrome.

You can see her below pondering her next move, as our build progresses.

What a cat!

Longtime readers will know that we try to duplicate exactly the full size car, but in 1/24th scale. Not always easy when our dreamboat is loaded with chrome and those wild appendages, but this comparison shows that we come very, very close......

Hard to believe that this top of the line Caddy actually showed restraint in the designers' ladling on of chrome.

Is it real or Memorex?

Do we long for the good old days? Ha! Not a chance. Those big boats would have been hard to park, hard to control and used gas like we had our own personal oil well. What I do miss is product identity. Back then not one car resembled another. These days, of course, design cues get copied from car to car, manufacturer to manufacturer with no apologies. Such is life.

On the edge of your seat wondering about our next build? Doubtful, but we are moving forward with a leap into the early '70's. Stay tuned.

Until next time......