First published in the January 2008 issue of Street Machine

Cartoonist Paul Zanetti has built a few Cadillacs over the years. Some 15 examples in fact, and all of them have been full-on restorations down to the last factory details.

He’s always been into Cadillacs and over the years he’s worked his way up to the ultimate model, the 1959 Biarritz, with all the most desirable and collectable factory options.

“I’d always done cars to the factory specs and more and more I got tired of doing them as someone in the factory had,” Paul says.

Luckily, inspiration was at hand. Nearly 60 years ago GM set out to inspire America by demonstrating what’s possible when accountants are pushed aside and pure imagination takes their place. The result was a road show called Motorama, displaying what were the first factory customs. For a Cadillac fan who wanted to turn to customising, it was perfect.

Using the shapes and overall feel of the Motorama cars as his guide, Paul freed his mind from the rules of pure restoration and went shopping for a car that he could use as the real basis of his dreams. He found it on the internet in the form of a 1953 Coupe deVille that had already had some customising attention.

Past projects had involved 1000s of hours traipsing all over the country to various tradesmen, endless phone calls to track down rare parts, massive fuel bills and insane stress levels.

There had to be an easier way to go about it and Paul found it in fellow Cadillac Club member Steve Bowman and his new business, Kustom City on the Gold Coast, which takes care of every detail from fabrication to upholstery.

Paul’s a fan of what Steve’s done: “His crew are all hand-picked and the best in the business. No prima donnas.”

While some restorers would have trouble making the leap from factory to custom, Paul didn’t struggle. Unlike some he has a tendency not to take things too seriously.

“I love these types of cars because of the flamboyance and design,” he says, adding that Cadillacs look like they were designed by cartoonists. “Glamorous cars are usually a bit serious, like Rolls Royces. I like glamour mixed with fun. This is fun.”

Paul showed Steve a photo of his new eBay purchase, said it would be arriving from the States very shortly and he wanted to get the whole build done in six months. Steve said: “No problem.”

Considering they started with basically a bare-bones 1953 Cadillac coupe shell and rolling chassis, that was a bold answer.

On the plus side, it was rust-free but the roof chop was an abortion and had to go, while the small pile of parts that came with it was surprisingly unhelpful. The bonnet turned out to be from a 1952 car, as were some of the grille parts and the bumper. You might think that doesn’t matter if you’re going to cut it up anyway but custom legends like John D’Agostino start with pristine low-mileage stockers and spend a year on the customising. That underlines just how big a mountain they had to climb.

So while this collection of mismatched bits was still on the high seas, Paul and Steve started collaborating on how to make the dream a reality. Paul sketched his ideas and Steve countered with annoying things like reality but together they figured out ways to get things done. It turned out to be quite a fruitful partnership.

“Paul is absolutely passionate about what he’s into,” Steve says, “so when an idea popped into his head, it didn’t matter what time of day or night it was, he’d call me with his latest inspiration. I soon learned to turn my phone off on weekends.”

Getting down to work, Steve and his crew chopped up the ’52 bonnet, lengthening and narrowing it. As Steve notes, it might be the wrong year but at least it is all Cadillac metal. You could say the same of every other panel; ask Steve which panels were altered and he answers: “All of them. Around behind the rear seats, the beltline, the suicide doors, the way the panels roll from the exterior to the interior.”

Panels that used to bolt-on are now welded, skirts were shaved, lights frenched and door locks have been removed. Just about every custom trick gets a run. That’s what happens when you turn a Coupe deVille into an what you could only describe as a factory custom Eldorado.

Steve reckons the biggest challenges were creating the beltline dip (the deVille’s belt was straight; the Eldorado has a smaller dip than this), fitting the wraparound screen and making the suicide doors just right.

“We bought suicide hinges but we had to box the door jambs and remake them so the latches fit into the jamb rather than the door, so it looks neater when they’re open,” Steve says.

The car had to be a driver, as Paul says: “We don’t believe in driving new cars in our family.”

“A lot of guys in the US use standard running gear and rattle the underside in flat black,” Steve says. “But we wanted the handling and performance of a modern car.”

So between fabricated inner fenders, you’ll find a brand spanking 385hp Chev 350 crate motor and a Turbo 350. The stock frame rides on Camaro front and rear ends, with airbags for that spaceship-smooth ride.

“The modern gear is pretty easy when you do it all the time,” Steve says. “It already had the Camaro front welded in; it looked like the only professional work that had been done on it! We rebuilt it and added airbags. We replaced the leaf springs with a Watts link rear and airbags.”

Covered in a Kouse Of Kolor gold custom mixed by Owen Webb, it’s an impressive beast. Very neat and glamorous. Very Motorama.

KUSTOM CITY

If we listed every single part that got the customising touch on this car, we’d just about list every nut and bolt, so instead here are the big items: roof removed; dash split and custom-fabricated centre console added; scratch-built parcel shelf to mimic 50s Corvettes; beltline modified to resemble a 50s roadster, between a ’53 Caddy Eldorado and a Jaguar XK120; suicide doors; nosed, shaved and decked; dash and cowl modified to suit windscreen; bonnet modified to blend into body; headlights extended and frenched; tail-lights shortened and frenched with custom lenses; door handles shaved; rear guards welded to body; rear scoops opened up; body extended to flow into rear bumper and bumper moulded into one piece; front bumper shaved, moulded and tweaked; engine bay inner guards scratch-built.

PAUL ZANETTI
1953 COUPE DEVILLE