Lanterna Rally

Author: Christopher W. Cummings

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2006-09-21

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0786428082

The Cadillac V-16 was conceived in secrecy in the middle of the Roaring Twenties, when incomes were rising, prosperity seemed endless and the car business was beginning to break from a traditional emphasis on function over form. But by the time the Cadillac V-16 reached showrooms in 1930, the nation was falling headlong into the Great Depression, and it soon became a rare relic of the boom before the crash. That is why in the mid-1960s, when Christopher Cummings was an adolescent car enthusiast, the oldest Cadillac V-16s were a dream just out of reach. This memoir tells the story of a boy who grew up loving cars, learned everything he could about them, and acquired quite a few impressive models for himself, while always looking forward to the day he would, by surprising circumstance, find the automobile of his dreams. Early chapters reveal the adventure Cummings underwent renovating his first car at age 13. Over the course of his teenage years he would work to acquire three classic Cadillacs: a 1941 Cadillac Series 7523 seven-passenger touring sedan, a 1941 Cadillac Series 61 coupe, and a 1931 Cadillac Series 355A Fleetwood Cabriolet. Later chapters recount the painstaking effort he put into renovating and maintaining those coveted vehicles. The story culminates with Cummings' unexpected acquisition of the car that earned the motto "Standard of the World," the 1930 V-16 Imperial Sedan limousine. In all, this memoir bears witness to an elegant sample of the best that the Classic era of automotive history had to offer.