Cadillac Salesmen

[kimberlin1974]

 I thought I might share an interesting discovery I found out about my car. I have owned my Cadillac for 7 years now and during that time I have spent a great deal of effort in learning everything I can about its history. I was very lucky to have the original owners identification card which has been a great help in learning a lot about it. In addition to that the second page of owners manual had an interesting signature (Ed Snyder) I was curious as to who this was. I knew it wasn't the original owner so I thought maybe the salesmen? With that in mind I started searching the newspaper archives for an Ed Snyder in connection with the dealership my car came from. What I found was beyond my greatest expectations. I found an article from august of 1956 Just a few months before my car was to be sold new introducing a new Cadillac salesmen named Ed Snyder. I think it's a pretty safe bet that this was the original salesmen that sold my Cadillac 61 years ago how cool is that! 

[BJM]

Robert
Thank you for sharing.  You can understand a lot by reading the announcement. It's like a snapshot of the post war boom years. 

It would be interesting to see what happened to him after that time.  Did he stay there through the 60's? That sort of history.

The shortened phone numbers, the personal handwritten note. 

Most of us remember Sun.  I still learned on Sun Diagnostics when I went to Automotive Technology classes in 1997.  But that was nearing the end for those formidable analytic machines. 

So like I said, there is a lot of history in those 2 paragraphs.  Thanks 

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Interesting reading. Binghamton, NY is only an hour drive away from me.

I just Googled 110 Hawley St but the location is now occupied by college building that was apparently erected in 2014. 

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

I remember seeing Cadillacs with Dietsch dealer stickers way back.  Sadly there are many buildings in the Binghamton area today that are in no better shape than the former Cadillac dealership before it was demolished.

[Jon S]

Great information and a beautiful car!

[59-in-pieces]

Robert & others,
The dealership photos are a sad commentary on the march of the marque - from the Standard of the World to the nameless abandoned building of the 90's, and to today in its struggle to remain relevant.

I along with the other members of this CLC, are doing our parts to salvage, restore, maintain, and treasure our cars - as best we can.

Have fun,
Steve B.

[Jay Friedman]

Some years ago, through the Cadillac archives service, I found out my '49 was shipped from the factory to the distributor in Denver, Rickenbaugh Motors.  I called Rickenbaugh and they kindly mailed me one of their license plate frames with their name and Denver CO on it which I installed on my car.

I was then able to trace my car's ownership history from the Illinois title I received from the seller when I bought it in 1984.  On that IL title it said the title previous to that of my seller was number such-and-such from Wyoming.  Incredibly, when I called the relevant office in WY, a friendly official there gave me the name of the woman who owned my car in Laramie in the late 1970s and the name of the dealer she had bought it from in nearby Colorado.  When I called that dealer the person I spoke to looked in their files and told me they had bought it from the original owner in Colorado in 1974. 

I guess I was lucky.

[gary griffin]

I was once connected to a man who had accompanied a friend to a government surplus auction in 1950 or 1951. He no longer answers calls and his voice mail box is full but I still try to reach him once in a while.  He told me his friend purchased the car (My 1942  67-19)  and the auctioneer said the car was donated to the army at the beginning of WW-II by Bing Crosby and his friend stored in a Quonset hut in the desert the rest of his life. I have talked to the historical society of Windover army air corps, base and they offered me a chance to come and search through the thousands of pictures they have from that era. The car was painted a two tone brown and tan so it was not noticeable as a military vehicle. It was full of varmint waste and little rust so I believe the story which is not provable. It had low mileage but I missed up and rebuilt the engine and shop apparently messed it up? I tried to call him when I started this post but his box is still full? There is a picture of in my restoration blog which is about 3 pages back in the restoration blogs. Hopefully he is still alive as he offered to write me a history as he knows it for my records.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Robert...that has to be the epitome of a needle in a haystack. I doubt the FBI could've done better!

BTW - Am I interpreting the advertisement correctly that the car had 3,400 miles in 1986?

[wrench]

I googled around the 529th Ord HM TK company and the best I can figure it was a tracked vehicle maintenance company. Interestingly, I found an account of a ship carrying their supplies was sunk by a U-Boat during the invasion of Salerno, Italy. Only one loss of life and total loss of all their spares needed after the invasion.

Would be funny if they were Cadillac powered tanks. More research might indicate this.

Sounds like an interesting guy. Thanks for sharing.