Equipment used: Nikon D90 with Really Right Stuff (RRF) right angle bracket, DR-6 right angle finder, Sigma 10-20mm lens, Gitzo 2220 tripod, Acratech GV2 gimbal / ball head,

Lighting: A single Elinchrome FX 400Ri with 2’X2‘ soft box, homemade gobos and a reflector. Strobe was triggered by a Skyport radio trigger. I fixed a small ball head with a paper clamp to hold the reflector. The ball head was fixed to a Manfrotto Articulating Arm 196-2 which was mounted on a Super Clamp. The ball head made positioning of the reflector a breeze.

This car model is all about the color and the fins. So, I decided it to photograph from the back (to emphasize the fins) though it looks quite striking in profile too (like a dart). To make the fins more exaggerated I photographed from a very short distance, less than 6 inches. To cover the whole model from such a short distance I used a focal length of 10 mm. I also chose a low angle to get an uninterrupted view of the fins – that is to make them stand out.

I bracketed for different DOFs and chose one, one that kept most of the car slightly out of focus but recognizable, while rendering the fins sharp. The main problem in lighting was to get the chrome part on top of the fin to reflect light making it shine. This gave unexpected problems as the whole surroundings were black and the chrome part was also looking black due to reflections from the surroundings. I was able to solve it by slowly and carefully positioning the reflector as I was seeing through the viewfinder. The reflector was also angled to throw less light on the front fender (making it darker), again to emphasize the fins. Thanks for those modeling lamps. Having the reflector mounted on a ball head made things easier. Special mention must be made of the DR-6 finder which helped my back to live another day !

I collect only sports car models. But this model is so different from anything else I had, so I just bought it!

Did pink Cadillacs really exist? Yes they did. I have a picture of the great boxer Sugar Ray Robinson standing next to one (though not this particular model). He caused a stir when he drove it in Paris! This car whose full name is 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible (I guess to match the car's length) represents different things to different people. To some wasteful extravaganza and to some realization of a dream! Whatever may be ultimate verdict about this car, it represents a landmark in the automotive design. Penned by the great GM designer Harley Earl, the fins which reached their zenith in this model (they were introduced a few years earlier by him) had a profound influence on automotive design. Even Ferraris sprouted fins and so did the staid German engineering master pieces, Mercedes Benz cars (though in a much more muted fashion) for a while. Fortunately, Rolls-Royce did not succumb to this pressure.

The bullet shaped tail lamps are too worth mentioning. Their shape was called “Dagmars”. In case you want to know what this means please refer to Wikipedia!

All that said is this car a classic? The well-known automotive critic of BBC Top Gear fame, Quentin Wilson included this car in his book “The Ultimate Classic Car Book”. Though one might question him, let us accept that it is a classic, perhaps not in the tradition of the European “Automotive Art Sculptures” (the likes of Ferrari, Bugatti, Delahey, Rolls, etc.) but a different kind – one that you cannot simply ignore. This is what Mr. Wilson he has to say in the book:

Quote:
No car sums up the America at its peak than the 1959 Cadillac, - a rocket styled starship for the orbiting the galaxy of new freeways in the richest and most powerful country on earth. With 42 inch fins, the 59‘ Caddy marks the zenith of American car design. Two tons in weight, 20 feet long, 6 feet wide it oozed money, self-confidence, and unchallenged power. (My note - Wall Street wizards hadn’t invented Collateral Debt Obligations by then). Under the hood almost the size of Texas nestled an engine almost as big as the California, a 6 liter (390 Cu Inch) V-8. While it might looked it was jet powered, the 59’ handled like the Exxon Valdes. That enormous girth meant you needed a nine-lane freeway to turn and two tons of metal work gave it all the get up and go of the Empire State Building. But the 59’ Caddy will always be remembered as a glorious monument to the final years of American Optimism. And for a brief hysterical moment the ’59 was the preeminent American car, the ultimate in the crazed consumerism. It was not only a car but a symbol of its time that says more about 1950s America than trunk of history books.

The ’59 Caddy was the American dream.

Unquote

Tech Specs:
Body: Two door, convertible, 6 seater
Engine: 390 Cu Inch (6 liter) V-8; Transmission: GM 3-speed automatic
Length: 20 ft (6.1 m); Width: 6 ft (1.83 m); Weight: 2 Tons (gosh!)
Performance: 0-60 mph in, 10.3 seconds; Top Speed: 112 mph

Fuel Consumption: Now come on! Do you r

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