Matt Harwood

SOLD! Thank you! George, I'm going to put the new owner in touch with you--he might be interested in the original air cleaner. Thanks for making that available.

That seems like a heck of a lot of extra work for no good reason. Powdercoating does not turn different colors or have a different gloss depending on the material to which it is applied. It's really no different than paint other than it goes on dry and then melts to form a liquid barrier that then hardens at room temperature. The material onto which it is applied has no effect on the powder itself, although it sticks better to surfaces with some "tooth" than to smooth, unprepped surfaces. I've powdercoated hundreds, maybe even thousands of parts on my 1941 Buick and other applications and the powder is far more consistent than paint because it doesn't care about humidity, temperature, or what you had for breakfast in order to come out right. If you want consistency, have everything powdercoated at the same time using the same batch of powder (colors may vary a tiny amount between batches, just like paint, but you can't see the difference with the naked eye). I've never ever had a problem with colors or gloss being variable on any of the parts I've done myself or had professionally done. Adding some kind of paint on top seems like a needless extra step and powder is a relatively poor primer unless you're scuffing it before paint and using another primer. And while the powder will flex and resist heat, abrasion, and chemicals pretty well, the paint will just be paint and will eventually chip and flake, revealing the powdercoated surface underneath. In short, by adding the paint step, you're eliminating all powdercoating's virtues and adding a lot of extra work for yourself without any advantage. Your car, your choice, but why spend the money and time doing it twice? Anyway, if the leafs were originally painted, the powder will work better. If they were originally raw metal on the mating surfaces, there might be some wear issues where the powder won't hold up any better than paint would have. I haven't personally done leaf springs, and I know that the movement of the spring leaves against one another are integral to their function, so unless there's grease or oil between them, the powder will probably wear off. I don't think it'll do any harm and the areas that don't see any friction will probably never flake or peel and powder is far more resistant to flexing than paint. Powder will work better than paint if they were originally painted, but if they were not painted originally, then it's probably not a good idea to use paint or powder on the leafs. Does this help?

I use brake cleaner for things that I can't soak or parts still attached to a car. It cuts through just about anything and is relatively benign compared to some of the harsher chemicals. It evaporates quickly, though, so if it's really thick stuff, remove as much as you can with scraping before going at it with chemicals.

Thanks for all you do, Lamar. I totally understand that we all have to play by the house's rules. Like it or not, it's the AACA's sandbox and while we may not like all of their decisions, I realize that for the most part, such changes always come from the right place (that is, to minimize the number of people that have a bad experience with the AACA in any of its forms). No point in beating up our friend MrEarl over it, it's not his call. He's just doing his job and thank you for that!

I occasionally list a car without a price for a variety of reasons, but in truth, all that does is encourage everyone and his sister to ask what the price is, and few of them can afford it. Dreamers, scammers, and tire-kickers will fill your IN box with requests for information, low-ball offers, and almost angry demands for the price. They'll waste hours of your time,. The moment I change a listing and add a price, all that nonsense stops. It's for this same reason that whenever I run an eBay auction, I also put a Buy It Now price on there to at least give people an idea where the reserve lies. Otherwise I spend my days answering the same questions over and over: "What's the reserve, what will it take to buy it?" If you've got tons of free time and like saying the same thing over and over to irate people, by all means, skip the price. Otherwise, put a price on it and find a real buyer.

*SOLD* You guys know I'm a sucker for survivors, and this neat little 1966 Belvedere II is the proverbial little old lady special. No, it's not some super rare barn find that's going to cause a big stir, but it's a clean, straight, handsome car with V8 power that's quite nicely preserved. The guys I got it from were going to dump a Hemi into it, but once they saw just how clean the car was, they couldn't bring themselves to cut it up--kudos to them! I personally like the Chrysler cantilevered roof lines of this period and even the basic Belvedere is an attractive car in an industrial strength kind of way. That's original light yellow paint and there are a few thin spots and a few nicks and scratches, the most notable on the passenger's door where there's a poorly touched-up scratch about three inches long, but overall it's pretty darned nice. I would never even consider a repaint on a car like this. All the panels fit the way the factory installed them, not perfect but everything latches without a big slam. It's never been hit and obviously it's not rusty, although there's some surface scale in a few areas underneath. All the stainless and chrome is likewise very nice. The black bench seat interior is probably the definition of "bare bones" but it's remarkably well preserved. There's almost no wear up front and the back seat is like new. The Belvedere II got carpets instead of rubber mats, but beyond that, it's no frills all the way, with this being a factory radio-delete car. Everything works, including all the gauges, and the 22,470 miles shown are definitely since new. There's even a service sticker on the driver's door from an oil change in 1977 when it had 14,264 miles. Cool! The trunk is outfitted with a correct mat that has to be a replacement simply because it's so nice, but underneath there are no signs of trouble and what I believe to be the original, unused spare tire and a complete jack assembly. Power comes from the original, matching-numbers 318 cubic inch V8 with a 2-barrel carburetor and it's just the way it left the factory. It starts easily with a characteristic Chrysler starter chatter and idles nicely through a recent single exhaust pipe. The engine bay is very nicely detailed and extremely clean, so much so that I think someone invested a good deal of time making it so--there's no way a 50-year-old car is this good under the hood without some help. Correct details like the hose clamps and ballast resistor on the firewall give it a factory look and the only modification I can find anywhere on the car is a "beep beep" Road Runner horn that works in addition to (not in place of) the original horns. The original Certi-Card is still in its slot on the radiator cradle, too! The transmission shifts well and it has highway-friendly gears out back. The chassis is undercoated and a little dirty, but there are no signs of trouble and the car has clearly led a pretty easy life. Even the H78-15 Goodyear Polyglas tires are in good order and period-perfect. I like the bare-bones appeal of this little car and even the subtle color seems to work well. It's a great candidate for HPOF judging and it really does run and drive well. Or maybe you have a Hemi sitting on a stand in your garage and it needs a home, I don't know. This is a great starter collectable with good credentials like a Broadcast Sheet and the original invoice. We're only asking $19,900 and I'm always open to reasonable offers. Thanks for looking!

*SOLD* You guys know I'm a sucker for survivors, and this neat little 1966 Belvedere II is the proverbial little old lady special. No, it's not some super rare barn find that's going to cause a big stir, but it's a clean, straight, handsome car with V8 power that's quite nicely preserved. The guys I got it from were going to dump a Hemi into it, but once they saw just how clean the car was, they couldn't bring themselves to cut it up--kudos to them! I personally like the Chrysler cantilevered roof lines of this period and even the basic Belvedere is an attractive car in an industrial strength kind of way. That's original light yellow paint and there are a few thin spots and a few nicks and scratches, the most notable on the passenger's door where there's a poorly touched-up scratch about three inches long, but overall it's pretty darned nice. I would never even consider a repaint on a car like this. All the panels fit the way the factory installed them, not perfect but everything latches without a big slam. It's never been hit and obviously it's not rusty, although there's some surface scale in a few areas underneath. All the stainless and chrome is likewise very nice. The black bench seat interior is probably the definition of "bare bones" but it's remarkably well preserved. There's almost no wear up front and the back seat is like new. The Belvedere II got carpets instead of rubber mats, but beyond that, it's no frills all the way, with this being a factory radio-delete car. Everything works, including all the gauges, and the 22,470 miles shown are definitely since new. There's even a service sticker on the driver's door from an oil change in 1977 when it had 14,264 miles. Cool! The trunk is outfitted with a correct mat that has to be a replacement simply because it's so nice, but underneath there are no signs of trouble and what I believe to be the original, unused spare tire and a complete jack assembly. Power comes from the original, matching-numbers 318 cubic inch V8 with a 2-barrel carburetor and it's just the way it left the factory. It starts easily with a characteristic Chrysler starter chatter and idles nicely through a recent single exhaust pipe. The engine bay is very nicely detailed and extremely clean, so much so that I think someone invested a good deal of time making it so--there's no way a 50-year-old car is this good under the hood without some help. Correct details like the hose clamps and ballast resistor on the firewall give it a factory look and the only modification I can find anywhere on the car is a "beep beep" Road Runner horn that works in addition to (not in place of) the original horns. The original Certi-Card is still in its slot on the radiator cradle, too! The transmission shifts well and it has highway-friendly gears out back. The chassis is undercoated and a little dirty, but there are no signs of trouble and the car has clearly led a pretty easy life. Even the H78-15 Goodyear Polyglas tires are in good order and period-perfect. I like the bare-bones appeal of this little car and even the subtle color seems to work well. It's a great candidate for HPOF judging and it really does run and drive well. Or maybe you have a Hemi sitting on a stand in your garage and it needs a home, I don't know. This is a great starter collectable with good credentials like a Broadcast Sheet and the original invoice. We're only asking $19,900 and I'm always open to reasonable offers. Thanks for looking!

Tires are the #1 most critical safety component on your car aside from the brakes. Why would you skimp? You have 4000 pounds of steel hurtling down the road at 60 MPH on four contact patches each the size of your hand and heating up to 200-220 degrees. And you're going to trust yourself, your family, and your car to some set of used tires with who knows what kind of care, age, and mileage on them? Actually, I have a set of 15-inch Coker wide whitewall radials that I could sell you. They're the set I told you about in your original post about your alignment problems that made the car wander all over the road. They look perfect, the whitewalls are bright, and there's at least 85% tread on them. I'm guessing that you'd be thrilled to have them cheap... until you drove the car and realize they're complete junk and your car is now worse off than it was before. Of course, at that point you've paid me for them, spent maybe $100 to ship them home, and another $100 to have them mounted and balanced, and, well, now what? Buy new tires. It's just a smarter choice. Why take a chance?

It has been my experience that an early Jaguar of any type is as good as money in the bank, probably better. Prices are going up faster than price guides can be printed. Coupes are the bottom of the food chain when it comes to XKs, but an XK120 coupe is probably the most valuable coupe. Will the craze last forever? I doubt it. But I think it will be very hard to lose money on an XK of any type in the next 3-5 years. That said, this coupe in question is a bit of an anomaly. I personally really like the way it looks and I don't mind the red at all. There are wonderful subtle Jags, but they were also built for competition and this one has that vintage racer look that I dig. However, that same look and the attendant modifications are probably going to flatline its value. It won't appreciate like the stock restored ones, but it'll probably always be worth about what you have in it. It will depend on the extent of the modifications, of course. Is it just a "look" with shaved bumpers and some decals or is there a sheetmetal aluminum interior and Thermo-Tec wrapped headers? The photos and the guy who listed the car aren't very informative. I don't believe he's listed a price, either, but if it's more than $70,000, it's too much. My [pretty reliable] gut says $50,000 would be the right neighborhood if it's as nice as it looks and isn't a full-blown track car. If it's full race, well, then all bets are off because then you're just talking about the cost of replication, not any intrinsic collector value. Condition will be another factor, but not like with a restored car--everyone expects a race car (even a racy-looking car) to have a few battle scars. If it's $50-60,000, I'd say it's a decent buy if it can be reasonably driven on the streets. At $70-80,000, it's now within the realm of decent restored stock coupes. Beyond that, it's dreamland because even the best restored XK coupes are still sub-$100,000 cars. For the moment, anyway...

Barn find! $100,000! No, not really. To turn that into more than $300-400 you'd need to spend a lot of time disassembling it, cataloging the parts, put them on Ebay, ship them to new owners, etc. What's your time worth? And the Craig's List route, while always interesting, will probably net you no additional money beyond scrap value and you'll have all kinds of folks calling at all hours, crawling through your friend's yard, and haggling just for the sake of haggling until she's exhausted by the whole process. Sadly, this is not a diamond in the rough or a treasure that someone will want to rescue. Just call the scrap dealer who pays by the pound and have it hauled away, then go have a nice dinner with the proceeds.

No, I don't see that as a problem. As a victim of identity theft myself, I'm still not afraid of stuff like this--who has time to cover all their tracks all the time? If there's some crime syndicate who wants to change my mailing address for club publications, well, I guess that's a risk I'm willing to live with.

I was about to say what Bob just said--he must have posted as I was logging in. I've had good luck with a hard rubber roller on things like license plates and emblems. It'll take a few coats to get a uniform finish since the roller doesn't hold a lot of paint, but if you use light pressure and just make one pass at a time, you can get pretty tidy results without the shaky brush look of hand-painted stuff. I personally like the highly detailed look you're going for. It's not totally correct, but it really does pop when you open the hood.

SOLD! Thank you!

SOLD! Thank you!

Neat little cars. It'll be interesting to see if they become collectable in the future. I liked that Chrysler was taking chances like this and the Prowler, because we'll never see that kind of risk-taking again from a major auto maker. Cool car for not a lot of cash.

Dave, where did you get those photos of the red one and the green one? I know those cars well, they're owned by a friend of mine. I sold the red one when I was with my old dealership, but I don't think the green one ever came to market. Those photos are in his shop, do you know him? Small world!

*SOLD* Thank you!

SOLD! Thank you!

We have this conversation every year. There are always bargains at any auction, but you won't see them on TV. Instead, they show multiple red mid-year Corvette roadsters (I stopped counting at 15). I don't know why, but that's the way it goes. The early days of any auction will have a LOT of bargains and the last day will also have more than a few. Sunday's B-J coverage had the highest-priced car of the day sell for under $60,000. Now, that may seem like a lot of money, but it's really not in the grand scheme of things. I also saw a nice 1964 Impala SS sell for $22,000. That's not crazy. The bargains are there, but you also have to be there to see them. The TV producers aren't going to show them to you. Now, if your idea of a bargain is a $3500 4-door sedan with rusty rockers, well, no, you won't see one of those. Coverage overall was pretty good, but I have to wonder about the directors' decision to cut to a commercial in the middle of bidding on the Whatthehaye hot rod. Not everyone's cup of tea, but one of the halo cars of the auction and right before it sold for several hundred thousand dollars, oops, gotta get to a boner pill commercial, STAT! And please, whomever is in charge over there, please please please get rid of the blonde girl and her ceaseless yammering about Twitter. I'm not going to Twitter her with questions and I'm tired of listening to her talk. I record the auction and start watching an hour or two after it starts so I can fast-forward through the uninteresting stuff and commercials (it's not like I'm going to bid, so watching it on tape delay does no harm). I couldn't grab the remote fast enough when she came on. Ugh.

*SOLD* For pure fun, it's probably hard to beat this neat little Model T fire truck. Now before you purists and experts start identifying everything that's incorrect, just take a look at the build quality, the finish, and the price. This is probably more fun per dollar than anything else this side of a Schwinn. It is not a real period fire truck, that's obvious, but there's clearly a TON of money tied up in the build and the names of all the guys who did the work are on a little plaque on the dash. It really is beautifully built, with an oak C-cab body and bed, real steel Model T fenders and hood, and a bunch of stainless steel railings to give it a fire truck look. Heck, just that stainless work (note that all the welds are ground smooth) probably cost a significant fraction of the asking price. Finish quality is quite good throughout, and you can tell there were professionals at work. It was built as a tribute to the firefighters who died on 9/11, which is reflected in the four murals on the sides of the "bed" in back. There are two benches and four people can probably squeeze into the bed for parades, which is probably this trucklet's ideal purpose. All the firefighting apparatus looks pretty authentic, including the jacket, pants, boots, fire hook, and a gorgeous copper and brass fire extinguisher strapped to the cab. It's just got a great look. The interior is as basic as it comes, with a black vinyl bench and minimal instrumentation (an ammeter). All the usual Model T controls are there and I don't see any major deviations from what you'd expect if you're familiar with these little Fords. Again, finish quality is very good and the workmanship on the woodwork in particular is quite professional with beautiful beveled and ogee'd edges throughout. I don't see any major signs of use, as it was in a private collection/museum in PA for the past few years, but it has clearly been driven a bit. The engine appears to be a 1925 unit (serial number 12014150), and the whole trucklet might even be a 1925, although it's listed and titled as a '24. It has been rebuilt and detailed pretty well, although it has a variety of upgrades and modifications intended to make it more parade-friendly. The obvious stuff includes an upgraded Texas T Parts water pump and manifold assembly and a 12-volt alternator neatly integrated into the original location. Other things, like the ignition system and carburetor are correct, and with 12 volts running through the starter, it spins with real vigor. The 2-speed planetary transmission shifts easily with a traditional Model T whirring sound and the suspension and brakes are stock. There's a nice exhaust system that has a familiar sound and the chassis was clearly fully restored before the body went on. As I said, there's a lot of time and money wrapped up in the build. It's got 21-inch spoke wheels with gold pinstripes and right-sized Universal blackwall tires, including a spare tucked underneath. Model Ts are perennial favorites and it seems that they're gaining some younger followers. For a T that you can use for promotions and parades, this one is hard to beat and the price is only $14,900. Heck, at that price, if you don't like the fire truck body, replace it with a repro roadster body and go have some fun with the fully restored mechanicals. This is a neat little machine. Thanks for looking!

*SOLD* For pure fun, it's probably hard to beat this neat little Model T fire truck. Now before you purists and experts start identifying everything that's incorrect, just take a look at the build quality, the finish, and the price. This is probably more fun per dollar than anything else this side of a Schwinn. It is not a real period fire truck, that's obvious, but there's clearly a TON of money tied up in the build and the names of all the guys who did the work are on a little plaque on the dash. It really is beautifully built, with an oak C-cab body and bed, real steel Model T fenders and hood, and a bunch of stainless steel railings to give it a fire truck look. Heck, just that stainless work (note that all the welds are ground smooth) probably cost a significant fraction of the asking price. Finish quality is quite good throughout, and you can tell there were professionals at work. It was built as a tribute to the firefighters who died on 9/11, which is reflected in the four murals on the sides of the "bed" in back. There are two benches and four people can probably squeeze into the bed for parades, which is probably this trucklet's ideal purpose. All the firefighting apparatus looks pretty authentic, including the jacket, pants, boots, fire hook, and a gorgeous copper and brass fire extinguisher strapped to the cab. It's just got a great look. The interior is as basic as it comes, with a black vinyl bench and minimal instrumentation (an ammeter). All the usual Model T controls are there and I don't see any major deviations from what you'd expect if you're familiar with these little Fords. Again, finish quality is very good and the workmanship on the woodwork in particular is quite professional with beautiful beveled and ogee'd edges throughout. I don't see any major signs of use, as it was in a private collection/museum in PA for the past few years, but it has clearly been driven a bit. The engine appears to be a 1925 unit (serial number 12014150), and the whole trucklet might even be a 1925, although it's listed and titled as a '24. It has been rebuilt and detailed pretty well, although it has a variety of upgrades and modifications intended to make it more parade-friendly. The obvious stuff includes an upgraded Texas T Parts water pump and manifold assembly and a 12-volt alternator neatly integrated into the original location. Other things, like the ignition system and carburetor are correct, and with 12 volts running through the starter, it spins with real vigor. The 2-speed planetary transmission shifts easily with a traditional Model T whirring sound and the suspension and brakes are stock. There's a nice exhaust system that has a familiar sound and the chassis was clearly fully restored before the body went on. As I said, there's a lot of time and money wrapped up in the build. It's got 21-inch spoke wheels with gold pinstripes and right-sized Universal blackwall tires, including a spare tucked underneath. Model Ts are perennial favorites and it seems that they're gaining some younger followers. For a T that you can use for promotions and parades, this one is hard to beat and the price is only $14,900. Heck, at that price, if you don't like the fire truck body, replace it with a repro roadster body and go have some fun with the fully restored mechanicals. This is a neat little machine. Thanks for looking!

I saw that happen too, and I'm guessing that there was another last-minute bid. That seems to be a theme at this year's auction: bidders waiting until the last possible second to bid. Did they all read a strategy book or something? Alternatively, I've also seen more than one car sell just as the guy was trying to stall until the last possible moment and about to bid, then he gets all pissy at the auctioneer for hammering it before he could do it. Either way, if you snooze, you lose. Bid to win, stop bidding when you can't afford it anymore. Everything else is just playing games. There was no reserve on this particular car because B-J still puts most cars through without reserves. You can "buy" a reserve on your car, but those slots are finite and are usually limited to prices above six figures. I think only Saturday night's cars have reserves. Otherwise, if you want your car at B-J, it goes naked. We might very well have seen the Wildfire at next year's Hershey, most likely with a price tag several orders of magnitude above what it sold for at the auction. In case you haven't noticed, that's Hyman's typical M.O: Buy an unusual car for which there are no comps or other sales, no track record of values, jack up the price 600-800%, and when it sells for a 50% discount, the buyer thinks he got a screaming bargain and Hyman still doubled or tripled his money. Pretty clever, actually, and it explains why there are so many oddball cars in the Hyman inventory. I was also pleased that he walked away, disgusted with the auctioneer and bidder's assistant, because he really did get the shaft on that one. Not cool, Barrett-Jackson. Not cool at all. And hey, did you see that gorgeous mid-year Corvette? The red roadster with the small block? No, not that one, the other one. No, the other one. No, that other, other one. No, the other, other, other one. Maybe it was that other one? Or that one? I don't remember, there have been at least a dozen of them so far. Sheesh...

Agreed. The asbestos scare is largely overblown in a majority of situations like you describe. The guys with mesothelioma are guys who worked in places with significant concentrations of the stuff for long periods of time. It's like smoking one or ten or fifty cigarettes probably won't give you cancer but a lifetime of doing it probably will. Trimacar is correct in saying that it is only dangerous once it's airborne as dust, but if it's embedded in the tar-like undercoating, you probably won't have a problem with that happening. Use a good respirator (not a paper Home Depot unit) if you're concerned, keep the working area wet, and you shouldn't have any problems. We had steam pipes in our house that criss-crossed our basement ceiling and were wrapped in what I can only believe is asbestos. My friends and I used to peel off the wrappers and have sword fights with them until the air was thick with dust. THAT was probably extraordinarily stupid (yes, my father delivered a BIG can of whoop-ass that night), but I still don't expect to get lung cancer from it.

Seconded. Shipping and transport often turns a satisfied customer into an irate customer. I've tried them all and they all screw up sooner or later. I had an exclusive with one that always gave me great results in the past, but after they left my Airflow stranded at Hershey for nearly two months, two damaged cars, and most recently a promise to deliver a car on a certain day that they wouldn't stand behind, I've given up. Truck drivers call me and say they're an hour away. So I wait. I miss dinner. I miss my kid's school events. I get up early on a Sunday morning. Know what? They're ALWAYS late. It's 10:07 PM on a Friday night, and I had a truck driver call me this morning and tell me he'd be dropping off one of my new purchases at the shop "this afternoon." No show. I'm probably going to stop helping clients with shipping and let them figure it out for themselves. It goes bad so often and gives me so many black eyes for something I have absolutely no control over that I'm about fed up with it. There's no benefit to me to provide any shipping help, not with the way transport companies are so careless with time and hardware. If you didn't throw in transport costs with the purchase, tell the buyer to set it up himself. It won't go well for you if you set it up. Even if the car is perfect, the buyer will be dissatisfied with the delivery and that'll be your fault, too. Yep, I'm bitter. I spend more than $70,000 a year on shipping and NOBODY seems to care about doing a good job, and I've tried them all, big and small.

...With the VW Phaeton being a shining example of how not to do it. It was as bad a failure as the Edsel, despite being reborn as the Bentley Flying Spur. I seem to keep ending up with Cadillacs, and I don't know why. I'm on my ninth or tenth one and some of my favorite hobby cars are Cadillacs. So I have a love/hate relationship with the brand. My '29 is a great car. My '41 60 Special was so good that I'm trying to replace it ASAP. But my 2012 CTS4 wagon is a bit of a disappointment. I don't disagree with Cadillac's philosophy and mission, and if you're thinking that the Cadillac of today is the same sad brand they were, say, 20 years ago, you're badly mistaken. The hardware is pretty danged good, albeit still a little rough around the edges. I'm none too fond of the latest anonymous styling on the new cars (the look is the main reason I bought the last-generation CTS wagon--it's GORGEOUS), but holy crap, the V-series cars are more than a match for anything BMW is putting out. In fact, have a look at BMW's vaunted M-division to see just how badly some other great companies have lost their way. Cadillac is doing a lot of things right, and I don't think this article says anything negative or incorrect. Sure, for the guys who grew up in the good old bad old days where Cadillac could do no wrong, it will always seem like a big step backwards to build cars that today's public wants, but guess what--nobody's buying chrome-laden luxury barges with button-tufted velour upholstery anymore. Dynamically, my CTS is a blast to drive and it's only in the more subjective categories like feel that it falls down. It's still not as polished as the Europeans, but Cadillac is getting better every step of the way. I don't understand the Cadillac hate when it can be demonstrably proven that the division is doing a lot of things right. You wanted rear-wheel-drive, well, Cadillacs are rear-wheel-drive. You wanted V8 power, Cadillacs have V8 power. You wanted luxury features, Cadillacs are full of them. You wanted distinctive styling, the Cadillacs (formerly) looked like nothing else on the road. Instead, all I hear is the same-old crapola from guys who have no interest in buying a new Cadillac because they aren't building 1960 Fleetwoods anymore. I'm not in love with my new Cadillac. I probably won't buy another one. But that doesn't mean I'm not proud of the steps the brand has taken to pull themselves out of the dungeon and rightly stand proud next to the top names in the world today. The future isn't the past. The key to success isn't trying to be what you used to be. This is just more of the tired "things were better before now" nonsense that we all spout when we see something that doesn't appeal to us yet puzzlingly appeals to younger people. It's not wrong, but you have to remember that your opinion probably doesn't reflect what a majority or even a significant minority wants today. I say Kudos to Cadillac for not being a joke anymore. If you're looking for a punchline to this story, go have a look at the wreckage that is Lincoln today. I'm sure they have an MKwhatever that's a nice little Ford with leather seats for you...