April 5, the potential movement of Ratty Caddy, in all its new, customized glory--close-ups.

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Ratty Caddy, close-up #1.





Ratty Caddy, close-up #2.
   

Ratty Caddy, close-up #3.




Ratty Caddy, close-up #4.




Ratty Caddy, close-up #5.




Ratty Caddy, close-up #6.

April 4, the potential movement of Ratty Caddy, in all its new, customized glory.

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Seen at the Portland Roadster Show at the Portland Expo Center, Saturday, March 16, 2013. When I got off the MAX Yellow Line to walk across the huge parking lot to buy myself a ticket for the show, I had two goals. Find Ratty Caddy. Hang around long enough to see Marti Brom's rockabilly show. Around seven hours later, I had accomplished both goals and once again walked across the parking lot, to catch the MAX back downtown so that I could make my connection with the homeward bound bus. I had a blast. 

The highlight of the car show, when Ratty Caddy's owner Dave recognized me although we've only seen each other in person once, back on July 16, 2011, when he had Ratty Caddy at the Cars in the Park, Multnomah Hot Rod Club show as part of the Portland Art Museum's tribute to their exhibit known as The Allure of the Automobile. We talked then, I admired the car, he said it was OK for me to get in the driver's seat for a photo, and I asked if we could be Facebook friends. Dave agreed and we've been keeping up with each other and our love of well-designed automobiles, be they customized or not, ever since. 

So, when I walked up beside the car at the Portland Roadster Show and took a few photos, waiting for him to finish visiting with another admirer before I got his attention, lo and behold he saw me and said, "Lynette!" and reached out to give me a hug, going on to say how glad he was that I had come to the show and that I needed to get behind the wheel again for a new photo. You see one of the three that he took with my Nikon--thanks, Dave!

Come back tomorrow for some close-ups and other views. Plus, if I could get the link to work, I'd set you up to see Ratty Caddy as it looked in 2011. It won't work, but if you are curious--and I certainly hope that you are--please go to the search box at the top left of the blog and type Ratty Caddy. You should get the chance to see it in all is former, customized glory.

P. S. I'm wearing the Twisted Car Club T-shirt that Dave had sent to me by U. S. Mail. Thanks--I love that shirt!

April 1, the movement of pedestrians. April 2, the movement of vehicles.

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Saturday night, March 16, I first rode the MAX Yellow Line from the Portland Expo Center where I had enjoyed the Portland Roadster Show - yea, Ratty Caddy - and some fine rockabilly - yea, Marti Brom and Levi Dexter. I got off the MAX at SW 5th and Pine, walked around the corner and waited for the bus home on West Burnside, at the stop in front of the 76 station, known as the SW 4th Avenue bus stop. 

Here comes the 12 Sandy Blvd., my bus. I've tried many times to get a good photo of an approaching bus at night--success, finally. 

And I like how the photo shows the width of West Burnside. Here's what I found online at the city's Web site about the widening of the street: By 1931, the need for more roadway space led to a street widening project on both East and West Burnside. On the west, Burnside was widened from the bridge approach to the Park Blocks. Building fronts were chopped off and rebuilt at the new sidewalk line to add an extra lane. On the east side, the first floor of many buildings became an arcade to accommodate a new sidewalk as the old sidewalk gave way to another traffic lane.



Here's the photo, cropped a bit, just because I am so excited about how great the headlights and tail lights look, how swell it is to be able to read the number and the name of the bus. 

And I'm glad it's way smaller than this vehicle. Oh, the two dogs are always there at Bright Auto Upholstery, keeping company with the sidewalk. Gotta love 'em!

I have to tell you that the other day when I was out walking at lunch, and I came across this one, I literally stopped in my tracks. A Cadillac mixed with an El Camino? That's what it made me think. So that night I contacted my buddy Ratty Caddy, in my humble opinion Kind of the Custom Caddy, and asked him if such a thing existed off the assembly line. He got right back with me and said to Google flower car. Huh? Flower car? Oh, I see, as in that which transports funeral flowers. Naturally, I had to look some more on the Internet because I saw the insignia on the vehicle, Cadillac Caribou.

I found a bit, here and there. On a message board: Caribou Motor Company (USA) Cadillac custom Caribou pick-up on DeVille chassis, SSA 1992, p.30. CLC member, Tim Pawl, who is also curator of the CLC's Museum and Research Center, owns a 1974 Caribou, several years ago he contacted company that produced them; their records were supposedly lost in a flood. The person he talked to remembered that about 90-94 were produced in 1974, and perhaps as many as 275-300 total over the period from 1972-1976. Tim says also that another version of the Caribou was produced circa 1980-84. Over the past few years, Tim recalls that a dozen or so of the 1972-1976 versions have shown up on eBay and elsewhere. There was an article about the cars in Motor Trend Magazine circa May or September, 1975. These are very rare cars; their cost, when new, was supposedly $ 20,000 over the base $11,000 Coupe DeVille price or approx. $30,000. Typical ones today [2003-2004] have been going for $12,000 to $20,000.

And here's a link to Flickr image and comments about Caribou Motor Company conversions. The info here is fantastic--turns out Evel Knievel owned  a red one similar to this one and Glen Campbell and Bob Newhart owned ones converted into station wagons!



Now I'm off to get ready to enjoy my Zipcar. Here it is, on the road the other day with someone else at the wheel. It's the Mazda 3 known as McMinnville!

Candid #4, in multiple pix

Believe it or not, this wedding party's walking by actually drew my attention away from the Ratty Caddy at Cars in the Park.


Here comes the bride and groom along with their two photographers, loaded with equipment.


Bridesmaids, maid of honor and the groomsmen.


I imagine once the photographer got everyone to look up and smile at the same time that this shot turned out very well. I like the perspective choses to photograph these young people.

Ah, serendipity, as it pertains to the Ratty Caddy and the man with the cat

Y'all who often read my blog realize how enamored I am with serendipity. Look and read for examples of why I so enjoy it.


First, here you see two license plates, side-by-side underneath where the Ratty Caddy's hood would be, if it had a hood. Can you believe that the Mississippi plate (the state of my birth) is right beside the Oregon plate (the state I now call home)? Serendipity!

Now for the second dose of serendipity. Several times since I moved to Northeast Portland in late January I've had the best luck after work, sighting a delightfully different car just after I got off the bus to walk on home. Not one time, however, was I able to get out my D50 or click on my iPhone to get a photo. Saturday that all turned around as I walked along the second east/west street filled with representatives of the Multnomah Hot Rod Council at Cars in the Park, in downtown Portland's South Park Blocks. My breath stopped for a second, a grin spread across my face, I walked away from one beautiful 1946 Ford Coupe, and headed straight for that delightfully different car I had seen heading east on NE Sandy Boulevard! I talked to the owner, the man on the right in the photo below, explaining how excited I was to see the car, how I'd hadn't yet been able to get a photo of it. He grinned and replied, "Take all the photos you want!" So I did. It's a 1964 Cadillac Custom Roadster, and he assured me that he has not lengthened it.


Rear end.


Front end.


Rear end and the passenger side of the car. The suicide door is partly open.


Close-up of the driver's side tail light. Notice the reflection of the manhole cover in the chrome. Cool.


The rumble seat.


Close-up of the passenger in the rumble seat.


One of the many humorous signs on the Ratty Caddy.


The back window.


The driver's side of the car, Notice the skirt. Notice the manhole reflected in the chrome around the brake light. Notice the curb feeler. Notice the white walls. Notice the pipes.


Notice the smile on this lady's face. Most folks looking at the Ratty Caddy smiled in much the same way. One old woman who walked by said, "That's too ugly to have on the road." And one old man said, "It's a waste of sheet metal." Thank goodness we live in the USA where we are free to voice our opinions. From Wikipedia: "In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on libel, slander, obscenity, incitement to commit a crime, etc. Restrictions on the freedom to speak is sometimes called censorship." While the owner wasn't standing there at the same time as those two old folks, he and I talked about how much he enjoys every single reaction to the Ratty Caddy and censors no one.


Inside the car. Notice the skull on the shifter--there's a button on the back of the skull which you push to start the car. I'm all for the black and orange all over the place, inside and outside.


Close-up of the skull.


This man closely eyes the front end.


Perhaps he's checking out the car's name, ground into this strip of metal. Notice the sign "Don't worry. I welded it." And the proliferation of pointed protuberances on the grill.


The windshield and part of the engine.


Close-up of the headlights on the driver's side, part of the grill with its pointed protuberances, and half the horns.


The last serendipity. When I walked back a second time to check out the Ratty Caddy again, I couldn't believe my eyes as I looked up and saw this man with the cat on his shoulder walking on the sidewalk.

Click here to see the same man with surely a friend, and their two cats. I don’t know if today’s cat is one of these cats, though. My photo’s not at a good angle to be able to tell. Everyone but the cat and the man on the phone checked out the car.


Finally, the cat looks my way!


Last of all, the owner agreed to take my photo as I sat in the driver's seat. I didn't take off my backpack, so I'm even weirder shaped than usual. Oh, well, at least I fit into the car.


I wouldn't have fit if the seat backs weren't on quite a slant.