Old Timer Garage

 

If you haven't read the sixth part of this restoration you can find it by clicking on this link: 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville - part 6

7. Last day in the US and new opportunities.

After a good weekend of rest that was more than welcome, I am on my way back to Phoenix.
During the weekend, I took advantage of the unexpected free time to go with my brother and explore some more around Tucson but today, my brother went back to work and I am going to spend the day with my friend in Phoenix at his workshop before flying back to the UK tomorrow.

It is an easy drive to Phoenix and around 10 am, I am already parking the car in front of the workshop. I am starting to be pretty familiar with this place for having come here already a few times but the cars that are parked in front of it change all the time.
Today it is two Cadillacs that are there: a 1950 Coupe custom and a 56.
Once again, I am back into the workshop and have a look around all the cars that are being worked on. A Chevy pickup is getting a tow hook fitted, a Rambler is up in the air, a Lincoln Continental is getting a brand new interior and an air suspension and a very nice Chrysler 300 is waiting to be delivered to a famous professional basketball player.
It feels like in a workshop from the 60s in there. I could spend hours in this place but what I particularly like apart from the smell and all the nice cars that are in there is to discover how this type of business works, how different this is from what I am used to in Europe.

This discussion carries on while we go out for a lunch at a Mexican restaurant close to the workshop and when we are back, we agree to meet at my friend’s house this evening to go together to have dinner at a steak house.

This afternoon, I need to check in to my hotel for tonight and I a few things to take care of for my other companies back in the UK that are still working while I am having fun in the US.

At 6.30 pm, I meet my friend at his house as we agreed and I am invited to seat on the couch to finish watching a program on the TV where a 1960 Cadillac is being customised. A nice job even though I am usually not a big fan of custom cars.
We are then heading out to the steak house. It is dark outside already but the temperature is still around 40. I won’t complain though because I know that tomorrow, I will be back in the UK and will probably lose around 30 degrees.
I will learn a lot during this dinner, about the American classic car market, the cars that American people are interested in and the American car culture in general. It was a lovely dinner and the food was absolutely perfect (probably the best meat I have ever had).

And to finish the day on a good note, my friend asked me to help him get information about cars he would like to import to the US and test a part of the market that he is not exploiting yet.
Once again, I leave this place with more things to think about than when I arrived. Luckily, this is not controlled at the airports (not yet at least J ).

For now, I am driving my friend and his wife back to their house and then heading to my hotel to get my luggage ready for tomorrow at 7 am.
My Cadillac is being dismantled, its exhaust has been ordered and I need to get back to the UK to look after my other businesses while I wait for more news from this project. I will come back here later this year or next year.

To be continued… here: 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville - part 8