First published in the February 2003 issue of Street Machine

How many people can say that they turned their boyhood dreams into reality, especially when that reality involves a small collection of gorgeous customs? Texan blues guitar legend Jimmie Vaughan has done just that with a garage that includes this superbly customised 1961 Cadillac.

Jimmie and his late brother Stevie Ray carved a name for themselves in the annals of blues music history, helping to popularise the style in the 1980s. Jimmie’s career began with the The Fabulous Thunderbirds and continues with his multi-Grammy Award winning solo career. Street Machine caught up with him recently and found him an affable, laid back guy and a complete enthusiast when it comes to his passion for the modified automobile. Here’s what went down…

We hear there are a few customs in your garage, mate.

“Just three – the ’51 Chevy Fleetline that I’ve had about 20 years. I’ve also had a ’63 Buick Riviera for about 15 years and I’ve got the Caddy, which is the newest. I figure that you can’t get your money back on these kinds of cars, so why go sell it to some nut who’s probably gunna paint it some weird colour anyway! [laughs]”

Do you get to drive them much?

“Yeah, yeah I do. It’s kinda hard trying to keep them all going at the same time. I just got the Caddy back from the Petersen Auto Museum in California, where it was on show for the last eight months as part of the ‘Cars and Guitars of Rock’n’Roll’ exhibition. I’ll be driving that around here pretty soon.”

What drew you to these kinds of cars?

“When I was a kid I used to read the little hot-rod books, build model cars and dream about havin’ a custom car. In my neighbourhood, having a nosed and decked car with loud mufflers was pretty radical, but I just had to wait until I grew up. It’s been a life-long dream fulfilled to own the cars I own.”

Do you have a favourite?

“Ohhh… I guess my ’51 Chevy, my first custom, would have to be my favourite, just because it was my first and I’ve had her the longest. But I love them all. They’re all kinda the same style, but with their own personalities. I’ve been all over the country in the Chev.”

It’s great to see that they get driven. Many owners aren’t willing to drive those kinds of distances.

“Yeah, well, I haven’t driven the Cadillac too far yet because she’s still fresh and I don’t want to have to paint her again right now. You know, sometimes when you drive across the country you end up having to paint the car again from all the chips and scratches, so I think I’ll just drive around here for a bit first.”

The Cadillac is named after one of your songs, is that right?

“Yeah, Ironic Twist, off my second solo album. I haven’t really named either of the other cars, though. When you show them you always think of something to call them, because you have your sign all painted up out front of it and all. I think I called the Riviera the Chameleon because it’s a kind of a gold-green colour. The Chevy is just lavender, so I never called it anything… Just the Chevy! [laughs]”

Ironic Twist packs some muscle under the bonnet!

“Yeah, it’s got a 500 Caddy motor stretched out to 526 cubes. I’ve had a few problems with the supercharger set-up, so I reverted to a single four barrel for a while. The plan is to convert it to injection to get the blower working right.”

There’s a lot of subtle body mods on the Cadillac.

“Well, the front fenders were welded onto the body and all the corners were rounded on the bottoms of the doors. We made a whole new hood opening and we reversed it like on an Italian car, so it opens the other way around. Then we chopped it and put in a different rear window/roof section [from a four door sedan].”

Did you come up with all the sketches and ideas yourself?

“Yeah. I worked on the design and Gary Howard actually did all the body work and welding and paint. He’s done every one of my cars. He’s done a lot of great stuff over the years, like the ’60 Impala that is on my website [www.jimmievaughan.com]. That’s a nice car.”

Do you get in there with the spanners as well?

“Oh yeah, I’m always there when it’s happening. I’m the go-getter and the sander and the gopher. I’m there, but I don’t actually do any of the hard stuff. I couldn’t actually paint or weld or work like that; it takes a lot of talent. I’m more of an enthusiast, but I like to get in there and get dirty.”

And the car was a present from your mum?

“I went to Dallas to visit my mum and I stopped and bought all the auto-trader magazines because I’d been looking for a 1961 Cadillac. I don’t know how you do it, but I get an idea in my head and I’ll obsess over it for a few years until I get up enough courage to get the car and then we’re off.

“But anyway, I was on my way up there towards her area and I said to her, ‘Mum, take me up there to look at this car, I wanna check it out’. So we checked it out and it was a clean, rust-free stocker with pretty low miles on it. So Mum says, ‘I can never think of anything to buy you, so let me buy you this car’. Naturally, I said OK!

“So I drove it home and the engine starts smoking about 100 miles from home, which I really didn’t expect – you know, low miles and a completely rust free body. It was from the wine country and cars are famous for not having rust in those parts.”

Has Ironic Twist turned out the way you envisaged it?

“I actually don’t think I’ve ever seen a better paint job than the one on the Caddy. You really need to see the car in person to understand exactly what I mean. It’s really amazing, the colour just changes all the time, whether it’s indoors or out. Outdoors is really magical for it – the sun just makes it come alive!

“Gary Howard was responsible for this as well, and he just makes incredible paint jobs. Like, he blocks the paint back over and over again. He’ll paint a coat and then block it back, paint another coat and then block it back. It’s amazing, it’s so straight.”

It did well on the show circuit.

“Yeah, it did. I won’t do all that stuff that you have to go through to win, but it did OK and it sure does look good sittin’ there in the arena!”

Have you owned any other customised cars over the years?

“Well, I’ve had a few Corvettes and late model cars, but like the Caddy or the Chevy, nah.

“My daily driver is an SS 454 Camaro that’s white and it’s been lowered. It’s nice. I also bought recently a 1954 Ford Victoria that I hope to build up next. I think that this time, though, I’m just going to paint it, clean it up and drive it.

“I want it to drive on the Americruise within the next couple of years. I’m thinking about doing a couple of thousand miles on that cruise, so I’d better get my act together on that one.”

AXIS POWERS

Most nostalgic rods and customs have a few retro fashion accessories, but the best accessories of all are the ones that add horsepower. In the Caddy’s case, the pièce de résistance of the entire build is the Latham Axial Flow supercharger. The design is based on a principle used in industrial fluid pumps and gas turbine engines. The Latham consists of a case assembly and a rotor assembly. The case contains 10 fixed, inwardly pointing blades, matched to the rotor’s 10 outwardly pointing blades.

Speedy Yank Norman Latham starting making his pumps in Florida in the mid-’50s and they were considered a very advanced bit of gear for the day, being very efficient and needing less horsepower to drive them than other types. On the down side, they were expensive to build and spun at very high revs, making it hard to design a reliable drive unit.

THE BODY BEAUTIFUL

Anyone with a pulse can see this is one smooth Caddy, but the mods are so subtle that you may not pick exactly what’s been done. Here’s a quick run down.

• Chopped: Not only has the roofline come down two inches, but the boys used the back section of a ’61 Cadillac sedan roof for its chunkier B pillar and smaller glass area.
• Pancaked: The bonnet opening has been made smaller and neater. The original, outer edges of the bonnet have been welded and smoothed into the guards and grille. The bonnet flips forward, too.
• Shaved: All door handles, badges and excess chrome work have been removed and the holes filled.
• Booted: The boot lip has been extended right down to the rear bumper for extra smoothness.
• Seamed: Each guard has been welded to the body for that ‘no more gaps’ confidence

JIMMIE VAUGHAN
1961 CADILLAC