The Class of 1947

I don’t write about my mom that much on here. She’s not really that into cars, and this is obviously a car-themed website. She certainly lived through some great times in the history of the automobile, though. Mom was born in 1947, and she was there for the futuristic ‘50s, the muscle cars of the ‘60s, the broughaminess of the ‘70s, and the technology of the ‘80s. The difference between the cars that are built now and those that were out there when she was born are immense. So, in honor of my mom, I’ve decided to take a quick look back at the cars of 1947.

1994-1996 Cadillac Fleetwood. Impala SS performance, complete with vinyl top and fender skirts

Most performance car enthusiasts look at the '90s with some level of fondness. Let's face it, even fast cars in the '80s usually weren't very fast, and if they had even a hint of performance, they usually used more fuel than what you got out of them.

Things improved greatly in 1992, when Chevrolet put the new 350-c.i. LT1 V8 in the Corvette. In Chevy small block history, this was a watershed moment. Corvettes were rated at 300-hp--a huge number at the time-- and people experienced fuel mileage in the mid-to-high 20s. That might not seem like that big of a deal now, but at the time, it was like a miracle.

Cadillac introduces the 2013 XTS, as we look back at the history of the Cadillac DeVille

Last year, I had the opportunity to watch the unveiling of the beautiful new Cadillac XTS Concept Car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. This week, Cadillac introduced the production version of the XTS at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The new 2013 XTS is meant to be Cadillac’s new flagship, filling the void left when the STS and the DTS were discontinued. And, since the STS was a rear-wheel-drive, and the DTS was a front-wheel-drive, everyone can be happy because the new XTS is an all-wheel-drive.

Cadillac Ciel Concept recalls former flagship, Cadillac's "Golden One," the timeless Eldorado

At the exclusive Pebble Beach Concours over the weekend, Cadillac introduced the Ciel Concept Car, a radical, highly-stylized convertible that might hint at a future Cadillac flagship. The opulent Caddy features suicide doors and a direct-injected 3.6 V6 paired up with a lithium-ion hybrid battery system. Cadillac states in their press release that the Ciel is a “new expression of Cadillac’s historical grandeur, as well as a celebration of open-air motoring.”

A little history on little cars. Matchbox diecasts - a great way for a kid to burn through a buck

If you were a 10-year-old, and you managed to scrape a dollar together, what would you buy? Candy? Baseball cards? Maybe you’d try and save up for something bigger.

Well, when I was a kid in the 1970s/’80s, there was a K-Mart within bike riding distance from my house. And if I was able to lay my hands on a buck, there was a good chance I was going to buy a Matchbox car with it.

History of the Cadillac wreath and crest logo, and never-before-seen photos of the Cadillac and LaSalle Club Grand National Convention

I admit, I do think old Cadillacs are cool. They just have so much chutzpa. Not many companies could pull off the outrageous fins of the late-‘50s, the Texas oil man swagger of the Eldorado in the ‘70s, or the “I don’t give a crap get out of my way” Escalade of today. But Cadillac makes it work. And they have been for more than 100 years.

Even Cadillac’s logo is audacious. While most cars abandoned using someone’s chrome-encrusted family crest decades ago, Cadillac’s complex, ornate jigsaw puzzle of boxes and rectangles in a Superman-like shield surrounded by laurels does not suggest “subdued” by any means.