Badass Cadillac

The Cadillac Kid’s 64 Coupe

JBonDrd — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 22:58:56 +0000

Is it Tattoo Tony, Tony Macaroni or the Cadillac Kid? Who knows? Call him whatever the hell you want… just call him! He likes talking to people! When Tony’s not busy living the “Coast to Coast” life style of a nationwide representative for Badass Cadillac he works as an Independent Distributor for Sierra Solutions, marketing environmentally friendly cleaning products to homes, business and industry.

Hey ladies in case you’re wondering… he is single , likes long walks on the beach and hangin’ out in Vegas!

Tattoo Tony and his 64 Ghost Whip

64 Coupe chillin' in the shade!

Classic Styling

Classic Styling 2

Key West was great!

Tony and D-man hanging out in Key West

I beat up a milk man and stole his uniform for this shot!

Florida Rocks!

My other ride is a dirt bike! Ranked 14th in the world baby!

Being the Cadillac Kid is a rough life!

1988 Coupe DeVille-after

JBonDrd — Tue, 11 May 2010 07:30:01 +0000

My time estimate was fairly accurate. It took about 6 months of some “miscellaneous and what have ya” to whip this little Caddy into shape. After we got it mechanically sound, we put a nice stereo and alarm in it, then we finished it off with a flat black Dupont 90 paint job and some Coker Wide Whites to give it a proper “Old School” look. I had the car in Oklahoma City for a bit on business and someone told me about a Native American fellow named Rick Knight, that was a pretty good pin striper. I swung it down to his shop and he whipped out a few cans of “One Shot” and went to work on it with his brushes. I gave this car to my son for a Christmas present in Galveston, Texas a couple of years ago. It’s definitely a unique, one of a kind, little Badass Cadillac!

P.S. I told ya Heather!

Rick Knight... you're out of site!

1988 Coupe DeVille-before

JBonDrd — Tue, 11 May 2010 06:59:47 +0000

I picked this car up in Cleveland, Ohio a few years back for my son John Jr. This was originally a Florida car but it had spent a few years in the Cleveland area and had suffered a little because of it. This little Caddy was running pretty strong but had no brakes and obviously needed some serious cosmetics. I always wanted to “fix up” one of these little Coupes and the price was right so I picked it up.

Not everyone was a believer in this car when I first got it. I didn’t tell my girlfriend Heather that I had bought it until one day we were walking across the hotel parking lot to go for a Sunday afternoon putt on my Harley. She had an empty water bottle in her hand as we were getting ready to ride and she asked me if there was a trash can around to dispose of the bottle. My Harley was parked by this old Coupe so I told Heather to just open the door and toss the empty inside. She looked at me incredulously and said “I’m not throwing trash inside somebody’s car”. I told her not to worry about it because it was my car! She laughed and said “Ya right!” No really Heather… it’s my car… I bought it to fix up for my son JB Jr. She give the car a good once over and suggested that I lost my mind. She basically said that this poor little innocent Coupe was beyond hope. I took that as a slight and a challenge! I told her that she wouldn’t feel the same way about this little Baby Lac in 6 months (my estimated time of completion). Here are a few pictures of what Heather seen on that fateful day.

1964 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Series-after

JBonDrd — Thu, 06 May 2010 21:41:32 +0000

This car didn’t need much. First thing we did was pull the surfboards off it and stowed then away on my old storage truck in Reno. Don’t get me wrong… surfers and surfboards are cool but my feelings were that they were a bit much. This car was far from subtle with or without them anyway!

After that, we super detailed every nook and cranny with some clean & simple™ SUPER CLEANER, then threw some nice carpet in it along with some factory original rubber floor mats. We also pulled off the bullet hole decals (which were basically covering up some light paint damage). It did need a little bodywork and some touch up paint (maybe one too many salty winters in Indy). The flames were supposedly laid on it in California and I can say that whoever did’em, did a bang up job! I’ve seen some crap flame work through the years and this guy knew what he was doing! I also had the rear bumper re-chromed as it was a little pitted and rusty.

The mill held on for about a year then finally let go on a road trip to Reno on Highway 80 just East of Salt Lake City. The original motor was pulled and ironically shipped back to Indiana to the Jasper factory for a full rebuild. Jasper put the original carb back on it, but that was soon replaced with a new Edelbrock 700. As a final touch we installed a sound system and dual exhaust when we were in San Antonio, Texas on business.

This Caddy pretty much stays with my sales company Sierra Solutions, as we travel throughout the United States. When we feel like whoopin’ it up, we take it out to concerts, honky tonks and various other questionable establishments. She’s looking good, running strong and gets a lot of attention wherever she goes!

After losing the surfboards and a little touch up paint!

Black & White

Black & White 2

1964 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Series-before

JBonDrd — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:43:33 +0000

I picked up this Caddy a few years ago in Indianapolis. Some mechanics that were working on my 1969 Fleetwood 75 Series knew that it was for sale and they recommended that I take a look at it. I took a good friend and my daughter to see the car and they fell in love with it! Personally, I was on the fence a little because of the color (although it has grown on me). I met with the owner to get the back story… He was the Team Manager for an IRL driver (Sarah Fisher). The car was originally from the San Fernando Valley in California. He had purchased it locally from a gentleman that was using it to promote a restaurant. From what I gather he himself was using it to promote and entertain patrons of an Irish bar that he owned.

Oh and one last thing… He told me that his wife would only let him have one old school Cadillac and he had just purchased Hank Williams Jr.’s 1958 Coupe DeVille so he had to let this one go. The Fleetwood was sitting at the end of his driveway and he offered to walk me up to his garage and show me Hank’s Coupe… I readily agreed. It was a beautiful car and I could see why if he had a choice that he would hold on to the Coupe. At that point I felt is was my duty to give the old Fleetwood a new home where it would be well taken care of. Here’s a few pictures of how it looked when I first procured it!

Dig the groovy surf boards and bullet hole decals!

Check out the old school California "Black" tag!

This Caddy looked a little out of place in Indy!

The “Go To” Place for Badass Cadillac Parts, Service & Advice

JBonDrd — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:41:36 +0000

For you owners, builders and maintainers of Badass Cadillacs, you know it can be a hassle from time to time track down quality parts, service and advice when you’re workin’ hard to keep your ride on the road. I have personally ordered parts from all over the country from various suppliers but the place I always try first is:

A & A Auto Parts, 6240 Brentwood Blvd., Brentwood, CA 94513 Phone: 800.223.3971 Fax: 925.634.1949 E-mail: AAauto@comcast.com www.1800caddys1.biz

Ask for Gar or Steve. Tell them John from Badass Cadillac in Reno sent you!

A Couple of East Coast Cadillacs

JBonDrd — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:58:25 +0000

My son John Jr. E-mailed me these two Cadillacs that he ran across while conducting business South of the Mason/Dixon line. Thanks son!

53 Fleetwood Limo at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge

JBonDrd — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:46:33 +0000

Our loyal fan Sherry of Hixson, Tennessee sent us these photos of a beautiful old 53 Fleetwood Limo that she snapped while visiting Eastern Tennessee recently. Thanks Sherry!

Downtown Reno Run

JBonDrd — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:23:03 +0000

I drove downtown a couple of days ago to advance purchase a Greyhound ticket for a former associate that was down and out in Hayward, California. The weather was flip flopping back and forth between raining and snowing. Holy shit… what gives? It’s late April. It’s normally in the eighties here in Reno by now. Oh well… I used the trip to snap a couple of quick photos. I shot them with my iPhone. I didn’t like how the shot came out in front of the Ace Motor Lodge so I tweaked it in photoshop!

Two Flats inside of 13 Minutes!

JBonDrd — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:51:39 +0000

We backed the Coupe out and I instructed my loyal man servant “The King” (with his extensive knowledge of all things tire changing) to launch himself into action and replace the flatty with my awesome backup spare… a dry rotted snow tire. With that done I fired the mighty beast to life and drove her out the front entrance of her winter prison. As soon as the fins cleared the gate… the spare went flat! My first thought was shoddy workmanship on “The Kings” behalf. But after a careful inspection I concluded that it was indeed total and complete failure of the shitty spare snow tire.

We had to make a run to the local truck stop to fix the original flat and get the Coupe rolling. My original plan was to wait on proper tires until she was painted. My intentions were to call the good people of Coker Tire over in Chattanooga and order up some proper “Wide Whites”. But after dealing with two flats in short order I made the command decision not to roll around Truckee Meadows on dry rotted “May Pops” any longer. Come Monday my ass headed down to Les Schwab to get hooked up with some KingStars (black walls out). Certainly not top of the line but they will do until we mount the Cokers!

The King of Flat Tire Attendents