49 prototype coupe deville resurfaces

[Huffstutler]

Incredible!

Thanks for sharing early Roger!

[g27g28]

Alright everyone here are a few pics I took of it today.  I got to visit with Mr. Plunkett for quite awhile as well.  Great guy, has I think he said 49 Cadillacs so he is an enthusiast.  He said it was reengined in 55 that's why the dual 4s under the hood.

[Huffstutler]

Oh no, not another mismatch engine and factory number car.  It is bad enough when you have a collectible with non original numbers and year correct equipment but to have a one-off prototype hacked like this is sinful.  Wonder what happened to the original engine - why it couldn't have been rebuilt?

Eric

[rodger]

Eric, the car is NOT hacked, my understanding is that Mr Wilson wanted the Eldorado engine put in it when the dual carb engine became available. GM installed the engine and re stamped it with the original engine #

[g27g28]

Rodger you are correct.  It was taken back into the factory and the engine was stamped with the original number.

[Barry]

I am curious as to how the hydraulic power vents worked. Anyone have any idea of the mechanism ?

[Big Frank]

you got pics??

[MB49Caddy]

Maybe so but either way that is one handsome ride...

[Jeff Maltby 4194]

:<)

[rodger]

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Chrysler while at Amelia Island, it was great to hear him tell stories of his time with the car. He told me how he saw the car advertised in a San Diego paper and bought it from a guy in Del Mar I believe. By the way, his wife was not Mr. Wilson's secretary, so there is still a gap in the cars history....  He also confirmed what I had been told about the car being scorched in a garage fire while being stored in San Diego and about the sale of the car to my late father.

Now, here is the wild part. He always wondered where the car had gone after my father got it. I told him after being in storage in Arkansas for a few years it went to Ct in the late 1980's where it remained until a few years ago. He then said he lived in Ct from 1996-2002 in a town 30 minutes away. Even more bizarre, he was in a club called the Roaring 20's that hosted a large car show every September in Southbury Ct. The field where that show is held is 2 miles as the crow flies from where my father lived and where the car was stored!

Any guesses as to whether they walked by one another at the show and didn't know it??

[N Kahn]

Steve was so great to talk to, I didn't realize he had such a vast collection or was this well known.