“Me and My Shadow”, by Rosemary Spicuzza

My 1978 Cadillac Coupe DeVille- “Shadow” formerly known as “The 78”.  Her first owner was my long time companion of 15 years who passed away suddenly four years ago. He always referred to her as “The 78”. He also had a 1985 Eldorado Biarritz, who I named “The Princess” (another story) but “The 78” was his pet and my favorite, too. I would tease him and say, “When I die, I want to be reincarnated as “The 78”. It was our standing joke.

Shadow is the name I have affectionately given her and it was not a difficult choice.  Whether I am driving her, at a cruise night, taking care of her or even just looking at her, I know Jerry is always there with me. He is my “Shadow”. Now for the rest of the story of her name. 

In May of 2005, I finally received title to her after a four-year grueling legal fight. I would not give up regardless of the consequences until she was mine. It would be fitting to describe this as a child custody battle. Through my determination to get her, my main objective was to keep her hidden. I am not sure if you are familiar with any of the songs by Johnny Cash? There is one song in particular that describes perfectly the four years it took to get her. The name of the song is “I’ve Been Everywhere.” Shadow’s four years were spent just about “everywhere” in the state of New Jersey and New York. She spent her time in barns, warehouses, garages, and camouflaged under a tarp in a cornfield. In other words, there was no chance she would be found. Even I did not know where she was - that is how I wanted it. If not for my nephew, who is a mechanic and had access to a flat bed, I am not sure what the outcome would have been. Therefore, as you see she was always hiding in the “Shadows.”

Many have asked about the horseshoe on her grille and if there is a story connected.  We lived on a horse farm and had, at the time of the “incident”, 16 head of horses. Every now and then, we would have a “breakout”. At the sound of a cracking fence board and thundering hooves, you have one. Now you have a number of extremely delighted horses running free with their tails in the air, bucking, kicking, and enjoying every minute until finally caught. The first thing was to close the gate that leads to the street then catch the horses. Fortunately, not all 16 head were kept in one paddock.

On this eventful day the horses that broke out was the paddock that my horse “Hank” was in.  Hank was a Palomino Quarter Horse and a spirited one at that. When he was involved in a breakout, he was the most difficult and was caught when it suited his purpose.  As far as the others, the sight of a feed bucket meant “eats” and the horse was yours.  Hank was shrewd and well past the old feed bucket trick.  Poor Shadow was parked on the lawn in front of the house. While the workers were catching the horses, who comes running from the side of the house full throttle bucking and kicking heading in Shadow’s direction? You are correct - it was Hank!  I could see it coming and from my vantage point, this was not going to be pretty. Hank flies by Shadow and WHACK, he cow (side) kicked Shadow in the left rear panel and kept on going without a care in the world.

Jerry looked at Shadow and then I saw the look on his face and I yelled to Hank, as if he could hear, “HANK! RUN, RUN, AND KEEP RUNNING!!”  Jerry looked at me and said “That *@$%*# horse of yours." I realized that it was not my fault that my horse kicked Shadow, but in light of his mood, it was best I kept quiet. An hour or so had gone by, it was now feeding time for the horses. Hank decided he has played enough and sashayed into his stall by himself as if he just finished a hard day’s work and was ready for dinner.

The remainder of the evening Jerry spent with Shadow and a rubber mallet. He managed to bang out most of the dent, but if you kneel down and look at Shadow’s left rear panel, you can see part of the dent that Jerry could not get out. The following week Hank was due to be shod. When the blacksmith removed his shoes Jerry immediately took the shoe that Hank kicked Shadow with and he put it on her grille. That is the story of the horseshoe on the grille. I have removed it, but it is now on display inside Shadow along with the rest of her “jewelry”.

My final story of Jerry, Shadow and I is somewhat embarrassing for me, but I find humor in it NOW. Some of the fellows might enjoy it, but I think the women may have a different view of the story...

It was a Saturday night and we were driving on the back roads in Howell, NJ. This particular road was dark and not well traveled. All of a sudden, Shadow is loosing speed, I could feel her shuddering, and then we come to a dead stop. We ran out of gas!  Jerry and I had been together for a few years at this time, so the running out of gas was not intentional. Cell phones were non-existent, so we waited. Then we see a rack truck coming down the road. Jerry flagged him down and explained our plight. I did sense a peculiar odor about this truck. The driver was more than willing to help since he had a gas can in his truck.

Jerry looks at me and told me to go with him to get the gas!  I glared at him and said, “You go!!!” He stood his ground and said, "You go, I have to stay with the car”! I could not believe he told me to go with this man and he stayed to "watch the car". I went, instead of spending the rest of the night in a "No, you go marathon" and possibly lose the chance to get gas, get out of there and go home.

No, I had not been drinking but as I stepped into that truck, I wish I had! Remember the strange odor I mentioned? This man was a pig farmer and transported his pigs in that truck!  We get the gas, come back, and fill Shadow, say thank you to our pig farmer friend and off he goes.

I am ready to get in Shadow and Jerry says to me “What stinks?!”. I said, "I DO! DO YOU WANT ME TO WALK HOME TOO!?" He made a wise decision by not saying another word. It was a long and quite ride home that evening. However, the next day he bought me flowers with a card attached saying "We are sorry, Love Jerry and The 78". By the end of the day, all was forgiven and we did enjoy a few laughs, even years after.

In closing, the long and bewildering time spent to get Shadow, I would do it over again without a second thought. No one else was going to get her. There were times when chances looked grim for me ever getting her - I even thought about destroying her.  I had no title and could do nothing with her. Would her fate would be to sit and rot away or be sold? The lesser of the two evils; destroy her. I knew what the possibilities could be; see her turn into a rust bucket, be sold and turned into a “low rider” or have some yahoo put steer horns on her to look like the Cadillac that Paul Williams drove in Smokey and the Bandit?  NEVER!!

Shadow and I have quite a bit of “history” between us. Even though she is an inanimate object, since I have had her she has comforted me, helped me take my mind off other things to come, and she makes me happy! She is very special to me and I do love her!

Shadow, thank you for all you have done and continue to do for me!