Category Archives: Site Info / News

Cadillac Books: The Cadillac that Followed me home

Posted on by
Reply

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.

Update: Steering the Cadillac ATS #NewGM

Posted on by
Reply

Automotive news has a good article about changes at GM to the way that purchasing is organized.  Here is a link to the original article: GM purchasing gets a re-engineering – Automotive News.

The Cadillac ATS (new vehicle on the way that is Smaller than a CTS, also known sometimes as Alpha, or BMW Fighter) steering info:

Stephens said the integration already is paying off. GM executives point to their recent selection of a more expensive power-steering supplier over a cheaper offer because the winning supplier offered a more desirable technology. That decision — for a future rear-wheel-drive Cadillac sedan that GM employees call the “BMW fighter” — was made jointly by purchasing and engineering, Stephens said.

This was previously mentioned in this article Re: GM to lavish cash on new vehicles [Like the ATS], although from a different point of view.  Clearly the ATS is getting some interesting steering setup that will allow it to meet or exceed state of the art steering ‘feel’.  Because the ATS is aimed squarely at the BMW 3-series, steering feel and performance can be a make-or-break attribute for this new Cadillac.  Spending money on a terrific steering system is perfectly value added, because it may directly influence purchasing decisions.

One of the slogans that Mercedes uses for their E class is “Built to a standard”, not to a price point.  By this they would like to suggest that the vehicle vision and specification were attained with cost as a dependent variable to the selected design.  This appears to be what Cadillac is doing with the ATS as well — building it as a better, more capable Cadillac, seeking best value rather than the lowest cost supplier in each case.  This makes tremendous sense to me, although I am somewhat troubled with  highlighting this as a change — I would have expected it to be the way that GM was previously making Cadillacs.

The article goes on to detail that Engineering and Purchasing have now aligned their organization structures and are co-locating their personnel so that they can more easily team with each other and with suppliers.  All good, and certainly good to start doing now if it was not already being done.

The article also mentions Amerigon thermoelectrics.  Amerigon makes the heating/cooling elements for Cadillac seats.  They also offer heated or cooled cup holders.  They use a peltier effect system.

BENEFITS OF THERMOELECTRIC HEATING AND COOLING:

  • Ability to cool or heat by simply reversing the current flow
  • Solid-state, few or no moving parts
  • Rugged, highly reliable assemblies
  • Very effective for automatic temperature control
  • Quiet, small, lightweight
  • Environmentally safe

It will be interesting to see what else GM has in mind for this system. Perhaps we will yet see the return of the heated washer fluid reservoir, or heated/cooled steering wheels.