I first got involved with antique automobiles when my long time friend Bob Rankin purchased his 1955 Cadillac 4-door in 1997 from Main Street Motors in Somerville. We were riding around on our motorcycles on Memorial Day when Bob noticed the big shiny grill smiling at him as we drove by. We came back later that day to take a better look at the car. He remarked remembering his grandfather’s 1955 Cadillac Fleetwood when he was a young boy. As we took note on the Caddy’s body being solid and complete. It also needed some work that included minor repairs, body work, a paint job and some interior work. At that time, we both thought this was the last big 1955 Cadillac around, little did we know. Bob then set up an appointment with the guys from the used car dealership a few days later which included a road test that finalized the sale.

After we did a check list and replaced belts, hoses, changed the oil and some regular maintenance to make it road worthy. Bob, my kids and I went for little trips around the area and had so much fun. The thrill of riding in this car bought back so many great memories for Bob. On one of our adventures we saw another vintage car for sale just on the out skirts of Somerville. It was a 1954 Buick Super 4-door that I purchased the following week. This model is the same size as Bob’s Cadillac. The Buick had been mostly rebuilt but needed a fresh coat of paint and rechromed metal work but I kept it in the original way and just enjoyed it the way it was. They both looked like giants compared to today’s cars and seem to complement each other when motoring down the road. That very first summer, Bob had put so much into his Caddy that included new carpeting, fixed radio seek (wonder bar), sheet medal floor patches and other minor repairs. I had Bob’s Cadillac over my house for the rest of the summer and parked it next to my 1954 Buick in the driveway.

One day when I was underneath the Caddy working, I was startled by a pair of legs and sneakers pointing my direction as I laid there thinking who could this be. Then I heard a voice say “Hello, nice cars”. I kind of finished up in a hurry and got out to meet this person. He greeted me with a smile and introduced him self as Bernie Cooney. He said that he also had an antique car and really enjoyed the hobby. We talked for a while and he gave me some really good advice and soon we became good friends. After we got everything put back together on the Cadillac a week later, it was time to go cruising with both cars. We drove our cars everywhere taking the kids along to see historical sites, parks and family gatherings. We even did the famous Rt. 27 Lincoln Highway Tour with several other car clubs starting at Johnson Park and traveling through Princeton and Trenton ending up in a park on the Pennsylvania side for a nice lunch. Bernie invited us to so many of the local AACA events including their car shows and nursing home tours. We would even take the cars out on cold winter days as long as there was no snow or salt on the roads. During our trips to car shows and local cruise nights, we had met so many wonderful people like Bob Crimmins from the Old Bridge cruise nights, Ray Koziol at the S.B.B. Car Show, and even later when we had already started the new Raritan River Region-CLC and met Joe Puleo, Tom Borge and some of the others at the Perkin’s Family restaurant cruise night in Green Brook. By then I had a 1979 Cadillac Sedan Deville - two tone blue - and added more as I went along. For my family and I, this has been a wonderful experience enjoying the antique automobile hobby. Happy motoring everyone!!