November 1, 2024

Hankering for History

Hanker: To have a strong, often restless desire, in this case for–you guessed it–history!

My Chance to Help Restore a Little History

2 min read
1982 Cadillac Coupe DeVille

1982 Cadillac Coupe DeVille

In May of 2009, I was given a vehicle from my grandmother. This vehicle, a 1982 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, was a luxury machine. Well, in its prime it was a luxury machine. Upon driving the vehicle, I immediately noticed the smoothness of the ride. I would literally drive over speed bumps and not feel them. I drove the car the 600 miles from Texas, back to Memphis, Tennessee, and used it as my main vehicle for six months. After six months the transmission started to slip. About the same time one of the automatic windows and the air conditioner quit working. I took the hints and retired the car. Since then I have moved it a time or two, but it stays covered and has waited for the day that I can fix it up.

1982 Cadillac Coupe DeVille
1982 Cadillac Coupe DeVille

I am part of Generation Y. You may ask,  “Why that is important?” I will tell you why–Generation Y as a whole (yes, I share the stigma) cannot repair cars. I am ashamed to say that remedial-level task are the only ones I know. I can change a tire, add Freon, add coolant, and jump off a battery. If I was in a bind, I could probably change my own oil–but I wouldn’t be happy about it.

This is all to say that I, myself, will not be restoring this car. I do not have the patience or the wherewithal to attend to the car’s needs. I am, however, making a list of problems and getting estimates to have someone else fix said problems. I hope that by this time next year the car will be in perfect shape mechanically and in appearance, both interior and exterior.

In looking at information for this car I ran across the original commercial for the 1982 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.

[Commercial was removed from the internet… 🙁 ]

“Who deserves one more than you…?” Exactly! I deserve to have this car! And who better to drive a car this old than someone with a love for history? While this car may not be “historical”, it is old enough to qualify for a Tennessee Antique license plate. In fact, this car is older than I am. So in a way, this car has experienced more history than I have. So hopefully I can do my part and restore a little history. Who knows, maybe one day the GM Heritage Center will call me and say they need a 1982 Cadillac Coupe DeVille in mint condition for their museum.

7 thoughts on “My Chance to Help Restore a Little History

  1. Congratulations. I remember that car, although I don’t think I ever rode in one. They were somewhat scarce in my part of the world.

    The Niagara Golden Horseshoe area of Southern Ontario was FORD and FIRESTONE country. It was vaguely subversive to even consider GM, let alone anything foreign. To my father’s generation, the Germans and the Japanese were the ENEMY! They would walk… barefoot on broken glass for many miles, or so theyy said… before getting in to a (shudder) Volkswagon. I had the misfortune of dating someone in university who had the bad taste to pull one in to our driveway,,, not a good idea.

    Cadillacs were okay, but the Lincoln Crown Victoria was the luxury car for us, manufactured just down the highway in Oakville, Ontario. The high schools where I taught all had auto shops where the really cool guys got to work on their parents’ and teachers’ cars.

    From Wikipedia: Ford of Canada decided to move its head office and build a new assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario. The new Oakville assembly plant was opened in 1953…
    Historically Ford was one of the most powerful companies in Canada, and in the 1970s, Ford was the “largest” company in Canada… .
    In 2010, Ford was embroiled in a controversy surrounding a plan to construct a massive gas-fired power plant… on a disused 13.5-acre (55,000 m2) portion of its Oakville assembly plant. Local residents and politicians have pleaded with Ford not to continue with the plan, which is believed by many to threaten the health and safety of local residents…

    The mighty FORD assembly plant has been disassembed. We drive a Mazda. My father would be very sad.

    Good luck with your project. Since you will not be able to do it yourself, you will miss a lot of fun, and a lot of money.

Comments are closed.