Car Show Capsule: 1957 Cadillac Coupe de Ville – Oh! Maybellene

When I was about 12, I got my hands on a compilation of Chuck Berry’s earlier hits. It was on a cassette (remember those?), and I listened to that thing on a loop for a good long while. Even then, my tastes in music – and cars – veered towards the older stuff. This was circa 1991-92 and nothing on the radio sounded as good as Roll Over Beethoven or Sweet Little Sixteen. The real highlight of the tape was Maybellene, though. Great riff, sweet piano licks, infectious beat – and a Ford in hot pursuit of a Coupe de Ville.

For the record (and what a record!), the Coupe de Ville in the song would not have looked exactly like this, as the song – Berry’s first million-selling single – came out in July 1955. But it’s better that way, as I prefer these ’57s over the 1954-56 generation. Or the one before it, come to that (except the ’49, which is lovely). Apparently, some people at the time didn’t like the shape of the fins, prompting designers to make them more aggressive for 1958. They look almost understated to me, but we do have the benefit of hindsight.

It’s the same up front: there are many who prefer the quads fitted to the Eldorado Brougham and generalized to the whole range for 1958. To my eye, this less busy front end works better. And “less busy” is a very relative term anyway. There’s plenty to look at here: the hooded lights, the twin gunsights, the high-set Dagmars… It’s hardly plain vanilla. More like a distillation of the best of the ‘50s, just like that Chuck Berry compilation.

Here’s the heart of the juke-box, in its Wurlitzeresque glory. This Caddy was photographed at a huge car meet in France, where the American contingent was pretty well-represented. It was nice to see classics in nowhere-nearly-perfect condition like this one. After all these years in Japan, where almost every vehicle is washed and waxed to a mirror shine, it was heartening to see cars that showed their age a bit. This Maybellene was being true.

Well, true-ish. I don’t know 1957 Cadillac interiors all that intimately, but that upholstery is anything but original, for a start. But it’s the right tone and feel, which is what’s important.

Not too sure about the colour, either. If I had a car like that, I think I’d take a hint from the 1957 Cadillac brochure and paint it black. Another good record. Different than Maybellene, but you can’t be rolling Stones without first rocking Berry.

It’s only with a little age that I started to get the double-entendres and coded language used in older popular music that songs like Maybellene. The protruding rubber-tipped Dagmars on this Cadillac have a similar effect…

I was fortunate enough to see Chuck Berry in concert once. He was about 80 years old by then. It had been a while since he had caught Maybellene at the top of the hill, and he was well over it, but it was still a fantastic experience to see him live. Now, all we have are his recordings, be they on stage or those legendary ones at Chess studios. And a bunch of period Coupes de Ville survivors, of course. More ‘50s Americana to come throughout the week!

 

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