Seemingly whenever my younger brother and I were sick, when we were very young, our mother would call "Doc Harrington" and he'd come over to our home and examine us. Yes, he made house calls. Doc was a handsome, charming, older gentleman and a wonderful human, I swear my mother had a crush on him as she turned into a babbling goofball whenever he came over. He also drove a greenish, light blue Cadillac just like this 1969 Calais. This one has New York plates, so it's possible this is his car. Long shot, yes, but it is possible.
Doc's block long Cadillac left an indelible impression on five- or six-year-old me. In addition to knowing that I was eventually going to be feeling better, it symbolized warmth, benevolence, and an unintimidating yet unwavering authority; sadly, things sorely missing otherwise in my life at the time. I also thought it cool as hell as few if any Cadillac's have since.
Figures since "Doc Harrington's Cadillac" was part of GM's golden age of design from 1948-1976. Anything before 1948 I find too antiquely, anything after 1976 too, too...I don't know. Familiar? It's also part of GM's class-of-1965 full size models, what some say, and I concur, the best of GM's Post-War offerings. Thus, despite this one's patina and shot-to-pieces interior, has a lot to offer. This Facebook Marketplace find is fairly priced, it seems, at $1,800. The closer you get it to $1,000 the better. You're going to spend three times the difference just reupholstering the seats.
Not counting the Eldorado, which was an entirely different beast and a half, Cadillac offered three different versions of essentially the same car for 1969. At the top of the line was the four-door only, pillared Fleetwood series, then the bread-and-butter Coupe and Sedan deVille hard tops and then, quoting the Cadillac brochure, the "easiest step to the pleasures of Cadillac ownership", the Calais two- and four-door hardtops. Save for the Fleetwoods, for 1969, Cadillac only offered hard tops whereas GM's other divisions also came in pillared versions. Just as today, Cadillac was GM's smallest division by volume produced and sold but its most profitable. Best to offer less and charge a king's ransom for it.
The big difference between a Calais and deVille were the baubles, bits, trinkets, gizmo's and accessories available. For instance, Calais' seats were leather "textured", there was no vinyl top option, an AM radio was standard, and you had to order a power driver's seat and tilting steering column. But, just like the big boy deVille, Calais came standard with four cigarette lighters. Priorities.
Unlike Doc Harrington himself, however, his car was all fluff and no stuff as we say. General Motors had long stopped trying to make Cadillac's anything more special than a Buick Electra or Oldsmobile 98, heck, throw in a Pontiac Bonneville and Chevrolet Caprice too by 1969. What had made a Cadillac a "Cadillac" was its engineering innovation; that stuff's expensive to keep coming up with especially if it's not amortized across different lines. By the end of the 1960's, most if not all of Cadillac firsts had trickled down to "lesser" GM makes and models and Cadillac had little to thump its hood over than image if not sheer pretense. I mean, seriously, what is this page from a Cadillac brochure attempting to convey?
Seems fitting that a man of Doc Harrington's means yet humble nature would drive a Calais. You wouldn't want your traveling pediatrician showing up to your door to treat your child driving a Chevy or Dodge, would you? Then again, you don't want them showing off exactly how good they had it either. Fine line to walk and Cadillac walked that rope quite well back then even if it was all for show.
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