Eldorado Redux

Eldorado Redux

By

Leo de Natale

Leonard “Len” Shaker is a veteran freelance writer who spent most of his career covering stories for regional newspapers and national publications. He usually wrote articles for the Boston Globe, New York Magazine and the New York Times. He avoided political news – he’d become jaded as the years flew by. Politics and politicians eventually became an anathema. He had always leaned towards the more fun topics, the so-called human interest stories.

At age 72, he’d finally retired from the writing profession but he learned story telling never dies. It merely transmorgrifies. On a warm sunny day in June, he had his snazzy red Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce detailed at the Perfection Auto Services in Watertown, Massachusetts. He was friendly with Mike, the owner, who was a craftsman at auto body repair and painting. He was also a successful entrepreneur. His business now included a fleet of tow trucks. Cars with minor to severe body damage were skillfully repaired – and at reasonable prices.

While walking towards Mike’s office, Len stopped, then rubber-necked towards a car that was eerily familiar.

It was a 1960 white Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible. He walked closer to the vehicle whose paint was flaking and definitely showing its age. It was a top-of-the-line Cadillac from an era when “Caddies” ruled supreme. The car represented the prestige and luxury found only in General Motors’s elite and elegant motor cars. The model’s name, Biarritz, evoked images of the famous and exclusive French Riviera resort town. The 1960 Cadillac is considered one of the most beautiful models designed by General Motors.

Len circled the dusty car. Peering through dirty windows, he noticed the red tufted leather seats were in remarkably good condition. Hmm. I wonder, he thought. Is this the car I think it is? The answer appeared before him. An 8×11 note paper was taped to one window and bore the name “Millian” and contained a telephone number. Len quickly entered Mike’s office.

          “Is this Bob Millian’s car, Mike?!,” he asked excitedly.

          “Yeah, his son brought it over last week,” Mike responded. “He wants it completely reconditioned.”

“I can’t believe it,” Len said. “I wrote a Boston Globe story about Bob and this car forty years ago! The Biarritz is finally showing its age.”

Local car buffs knew about Millian, an eccentric extraordinaire, whose obsession with Cadillacs – particularly this white Eldorado- was legendary. Len stumbled upon this man as he was standing at a nearby gasoline service station and was surrounded by a sea of 1959 and 1960 Cadillacs. Len parked his car on the street and introduced himself. Bob Millian would become one of the most amusing characters Len met during his freelancing career.

When Len interviewed Millian, he was struck by his physical appearance. Short, thin and middle-aged, Millian was a bundle of nervous energy – Len referred to him as “an exposed nerve”. His aquiline nose was a prominent facial feature but was overshadowed by his eyes. When he talked excitedly – and that was often- his eyes would bulge as did the pulsating carotid neck veins that appeared as if they would burst at any moment. He was a latter day Rodney Dangerfield. He smoked cigarettes and he’d stab the air, the smoke curls forming a cloud around him.

According to Len, Millian, like so many youths growing up in post World War II, was infatuated with automobiles, especially Cadillacs. He’d bicycle five miles at night to a local dealership and literally press his nose against the windows. The Cadillacs shone under bright spotlights. The cars were parked on carousels and slowly spun in circles, the chrome grilles and trim sparkling like diamonds.

“I said to myself, some day I’m gonna own one of these beauties,” he told Len, pointing the twenty Cadillacs on his parking lot.“And as you can see, my dream came true.”

According to Len, Bob Millian was a “blue collar Renaissance Man”. An accomplished master automobile mechanic, Millian was a U.S. Air Force pilot and throughout his life frequently flew his personal Piper Cub airplane.

He was also an accomplished piano player and would delight his customers by playing on a spinet piano located in the garage (Honky Tonk was his favorite music). Financially, he did well and lived in Weston, Massachusetts, a tony metro west suburb outside of Boston. He built a large garage for the Eldorado and a second structure that stored extra Cadillac auto parts.

He told Len he purchased the Cadillac in 1965 from a retired banker. The car had been driven less than 10,000 miles; in essence a practically new automobile and for the rest of his life, Millian kept it in a specially heated garage. The Biarritz was a bird in a chrome-plated cage. He never drove it as a pleasure vehicle- he was paranoid over the Caddilac being damaged in an accident. The car was driven only to and from local classic car shows. It would promptly be returned to its concrete cocoon.

“I drove it to the shows but the weather had to be perfect, no rain allowed,” Millian would boastfully say “And the Biarritz always won the blue ribbon!”

As a mechanic, Millian knew replacement parts would eventually become difficult to obtain. That explained the numerous Cadillacs in his parking lot. He began buying used 1959 and 1960 models and cannibalized them for spare parts (mechanically the ’59 and ’60 were identical). Most cars were dissembled and stored in a separate garage Millian built for that purpose. Many cars, however, were sold to discerning clientele wanting vintage Caddies.

He was quirky about maintaining the car’s pristine condition and was a stickler for detail.

“My dad was obsessive compulsive when it came to the Caddy,” his son Bob, Jr. told Len. “Two of the red leather upholstery buttons went missing -this was the days before the internet. He found a parts dealer in Pennsylvania that had original buttons. He flew his plane down there and wound up buying a dozen more buttons! He always wanted to have parts in reserve.”

Young Millian said his father eventually sold the service station and spent the rest of his life in adoration of a piece of steel, rubber and glass . During his later years he fulfilled another dream by installing a rotating carousel that was identical to how Cadillac dealerships displayed their inventory during the 1950’s and 60’s.

“He’d just sit there watching and enjoying the Eldorado spinning and spinning around,” his son said. “Like I said, Dad was obsessive over that car.”

That was then, this is now. Millian died in 2009 and his son vowed he’d continue the car’s legacy. The Eldorado remained parked in his dad’s garage. The family home was sold and the car was stored in his son’s modest garage. Young Bob would violate his father’s creed, however, and drive along the quiet nearby streets. The car’s engine needed to be used to prevent malfunction.

“You have to drive it to keep the antifreeze, battery and motor oil in good shape,” he said. “One of the problems is the engines of all those cars needed leaded gasoline. Unleaded gas fouls up the engine. I found a garage thirty miles away that still sells leaded gas. A real pain in the butt. The car has only 35,000 miles on it.

After 63 years, the car unfortunately began showing its age. The ravages of time revealed white lacquer paint that was cracking and peeling. Some fender parts were rusty. It was time for a makeover.

Enter Arthur D’Amico, a seasoned “body man” at Perfection. Owner Mike chose him to oversee the reconditioning and painting. Entering the vast garage, Len was overpowered by the acrid smell of auto paint and the cacophonous banging of dented cars being repaired.

“All this car really needs is a new paint job,” he yelled to Len over the deafening, grinding sounds of cars being sanded. “This is the most well preserved antique auto I’ve seen. There’s nothing wrong with it. Everything is solid. It makes restoration a breeze and a lot easier.”

He opened the hood and showed Len the powerful V-8 engine. Closing it, D’Amico commented on the solid “thunk” sound.

“Hear that sound?” he asked. “You don’t hear that today. This car is made of thick, high grade steel. Cars today are tinny. The sheet metal is thinner and cheaper.”

D’Amico has been painting and finishing cars for nearly fifty years. He enjoys working on the older vehicles as they represent what the American automobile industry once was. Restoring the Eldorado is actually a pleasure because there aren’t mechanical issues, difficult-to-find parts or accessories to replace.

“The Caddy looks bad because of the old lacquer paint,” he said. “The chrome is in fantastic shape and the leather seats look like high grade cowhide. We will, though, have to replace the carpeting.”

He said today’s paints are urethane, maintain their luster much longer and won’t fade and crack. According to D’Amico, Young Bob Millian was in no hurry for the job completion. D’Amico works on the car on a part time basis and predicts the Caddy will be ready by spring.

          “Bobby’s in no rush,” he said.  “He’s not hyper like his dad was.”

D’Amico personally knew Bob Sr. and especially his behavior at car shows.

“It’s true, “ he said “The old man would have friends driving to shows in a convoy. He didn’t want any cars near the Caddy. At the show he’d holler at anyone who tried touching the Eldorado Nice guy but he had no problem telling you he didn’t like you!”

As for the restoration, the procedure is lengthy and time consuming. After removing the chrome moldings, the car’s body must be sanded to bare metal. Two primer coats will be applied and the final coats of white urethane paints follow. Interior refurbishing will be the final task.

“This job is a labor of love,” D’Amico said. “Personally knowing the car and Bob Millian’s legacy, I can hardly wait until it’s finished.”

Sometime next spring, the 1960 Cadillac Biarritz, serial number 6EO52078, will be driven away from its six month hiatus. And young Bob Millian, Jr. will be perpetuating the dream his father turned into reality sixty years ago.

Len Shaker intends to write yet another human interest story and plans to be present at the celebration hosted by Bob Jr. And somewhere Bob Sr., cigarette in hand and bulging eyes, will be smiling.