I was staring at the back end of a 59 Caddy yesterday and couldn't help but imagine the fins shaved off. Looks like it would have a clean sloping look to the back end, has this been done before? Any pics? If anyone can do photoshop, can you take this pic (not mine, photographer unknown) and shave the fins off? Just curious.
Pininfarina did something similar in 61. http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2009/05/01/hmn_feature9.html
Have you lost your mind? Chrysler tried that trick for '62. Didn't work then, doesn't work now. There was at least one country in the early '60s that taxed drivers of finned cars (no joke). Many cars had their fins shaved, I specifically remember a picture of a shorn '60 Dodge. YUCK But if you do decide to cut off the fins, make sure they go to a good home
I don't have a 59 caddy. I was staring at one and was curious what it would like. You know, sometimes your mind wanders while looking at things, it popped into my head and wondered what it looked like. You never know. So if anyone has any pics, or could photoshop that pic, I'd be interested in seeing it. Thanks guys. I know the main reason people like the 59 caddy is the tail fins, I'm a fan of the car, this is merely a curiosity thing.
Could you cut the fins off of a 1959 Cadillac?? Could ANYONE force themselves to do such a thing?? Hell I tried to photoshop it and my computer burst into flames! No. NO NO NO. Absolutely not!
Below picture of a 1959 Cadillac shaved by designer Raymond Loewy , looks really weird. Fins however are cool , here a project from me and my son
I don't like the looks of this one but, this doesn't retain any of the rear characteristics of the 59 Caddy. Thanks for the info and the scooter looks cool.
Much as I admire much of the work Raymond Loewy was responsible for such as the Avanti, his treatment of the Caddy illustrates the reason why you can't simply shave the fins off the '59 Caddy (and the '60 for that matter) because they actually start rising from the beltline all the way up at the trailing edge of the vent window. To do it "properly" (for sure not the right word) one would need to start recontouring the body there and work back. There's a horrible '60 Cadillac custom where the fins were shaved off and used to make an interior console. They also ignored the necessity to start their redesign at the vent window and as a result it's even worse than the Loewy car. It could be done, but what would be the point? While one could argue that the fins on the Caddy are extreme, and perhaps not very "tasteful" or serve no useful function, as a design the car is nearly flawless and works precisely because of the way the fins are so beautifully integrated into its form.
Chrysler tried that trick for '62. Didn't work then, doesn't work now. i think the 62 300 is the best looking 300 right after the 58 not that id kick a 60 outta the garage it would be kinda interesting to play around with fin height and lack of in photoshop (if i knew how) or in scale models but i wouldnt dream of doing it in real steel on a 59 caddy now if you found one that was TOTAL junk then why not i know a guy that has a 59 4 door in his garage that his grandpa bought new its rusted from stem to stern hes gonna cut it up and scrap it wont sell a damb thing off of it ive allways wanted to buy one of the early 60's dodges with the reversed fins on it and shave them off , it would have to be an improvement
Maybe he'd sell it whole for whatever the scrapyard would give. It'd save him the trouble of cutting it up, and someone could grab the 390 and hydro. A lot of people would be surprised at how rusty a '59 Caddy can be, and still be safely driveable. I remember a particular SdV that belonged to an uncle of mine. RUSTY to the max, but what an awesome roadtrip car! You would swear it came directly from a junkyard, but it was mechanically fine. Now it makes me wonder if these X frames suffered less from rust than the later Cadillac perimeter frames.
1987, Bones Brigade, Search For Animal Chin... If I recall correctly, they cut the fins off a cad and stuck their skateboards in the holes.
I don´t even need to photoshop that to tell you it´d look vile! You could reduce the height of the fins and send them straight back, instead of kicking upwards - but then you may as well just buy a Caddy from a few years later, since that what they did.
There was a '59 Caddy with the fins shaved in Long Beach back in/around '63. I saw it one day parked in the driveway next to a quadraplex appt bldg in that part of town my mom warned me not to ride my bicycle through. I thought it was a good shave job but the resulting rear end was way too long and "droopy" to carry it off. Would have fit right in on the East Coast though because it looked like it had the "Jersey Droop"
Look guys, although this is kinda fun, I wasn't asking opinions on how it would look, I don't own one, I'm not cutting one up, I was just curious if it had been done. You know, its funny, it seems that no one has really seen it done and everyone says it would look horrible, some people are so closed minded in this hobby, its amazing any customization has ever been done. Oh no, you don't want to chop that duece coupe, it would look horrible cause its not stock!" Imagine if that haapened too. Don't get me wrong, some things just don't look good, I get it, like a tri 5 4 door chevy shortened to a 2dr. Looking at the lead sleds if the '59 caddy was slammed and chopped with the tailfins shaved, there might be an incredible look hidden there..... or maybe not. How about some of the guys who do awesome photo shop work, play along and see what happens. I'd be curious to see what people come up with being creative as opposed to being negative.
Well having seen photos of the Loewy Cadillac convince me that it's a pretty awful idea. Here's a photo of the previously mentioned '60 which is also an eyesore...
The C-59 & C-60 are SO iconic & recognized, that unless radical sheet metal surgery was done ALL over the car; making them tough to ID as to what they were originally, everyone is only going to look at it unable to think much beyond: 'the fins are missing'. The pics immediately above illustrate this without question, IMO.
The Jalopy Journal
