I recently finished reading The Cadillac That Followed Me Home by Christopher W. Cummings. The book was published by McFarland & Company, London, 2003. I purchased the book on Amazon.
The book tells the story of the Author’s lifelong love for older model Cadillacs. The bulk of the book is very very detailed information about his restoration over decades of two 1941 Cadillacs. The text varies from a mention that years went by before he was in a position to work on a car, to days that he would attempt to move a stuck crank then wait for tomorrow, to excruciating detail on individual repairs. Throughout the book the text is understandable, although for the very technical portions more diagrams or pictures would help one to follow the repair or restoration described. I finally gave up on some passages altogether and skipped to the summary or resolution paragraph for that section.
Restoration of antique cars has its own issues. Wires and tires disintegrate over time and have to be replaced. When young the author is often afraid to address very detailed repairs. By the end of the book he seems fairly capable of doing most any repair given the space in the garage.
His lifelong dream was to have one of the great motorcars, a Cadillac V-16 from the 30s. Almost as an afterthought, at the end of the book the Author finds such a Cadillac on ebay, and is able to purchase it. My impression is that the book was basically complete as a description of the two 41 Cadillacs, and that the chapters that address the V-16 model were added almost as a postscript.
If you love antique cars, especially antique Cadillacs, this is a good book for you. If you would be put off by very intricate, detailed descriptions of specific repairs on a 41 Cadillac, then I would look for another Cadillac book.
Although the rear flap gives the impression that it is, this book is not really about the V-16, and has very little information about these cars.
I liked the Author’s descriptions of resources, approaches, and help from other Cadillac owners he received along the way. I think he would be a great person to have out for coffee, or to talk to at a club event. In fact THAT is the way I perhaps should describe this work — a very long anecdote about one man’s love for Cadillacs.
