Pre-registered 1941 owners who helped celebrate
the 75th anniversary!

Wow, what a turnout!  The extensive promoting of the event paid off as 87 cars, including eight 1941 Cadillacs and their owners, plus countless spectators, truly celebrated the 75th Anniversary of the 1941 Cadillac.  Vehicles, attendees and spectators were on hand from Michigan, South Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey in addition to Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia.  The 1941 Cadillacs received their own special classes: one for closed cars, including woodies and professional cars, and one for open cars, the convertibles of the year.  

As an added feature, the show provided CLC Head Judge Bill Anderson and Jeff Hansen an opportunity to test the new Scranton machine that will be put into service to help tabulate the judging results at the 2017 Grand National in McLean, Virginia.

The vehicles in the show ranged in years from a 1936 Series 85 V-12 Convertible Sedan to a 2015 XTS Livery.  But the real stars of the show were the 1941 Cadillacs.  Below is the list of the owners and their 1941s at the show:

And what would a celebration of the era be without an icon like Betty Grable in attendance?  Harry Scott brought a life-size cut-out of Betty, who may have direct ties to his 1941 Series 67 Limousine (pictured below).  
 

Two 1941 Convertible Coupes were on display: Bryce Frey’s (pictured below top) and Bob Mantz’s (pictured below bottom).  Interestingly, Bryce’s has running boards and Bob’s doesn’t.  As Richard Sills articulated in his speech running boards were not as prevalent in 1941 as in prior years.
 

Professional cars were well represented in the 1941 collection with Jay Donaldson’s Carved Side Hearse / Eureka Body (pictured below top) and Curtis Seltzer’s Series 75 Formal Sedan (pictured below bottom).

Rounding out the group of 1941 Cadillacs were Daniel Jobe’s 1941 Woodie (pictured below top) ready to cruise to the beach and Bill Thomas’ 1941 Series 61 Sedan (pictured below bottom).  Coincidentally, the body color combination of both Bill’s and Emerson’s 1941 Cadillacs are two-tone Fair Oaks over El Centro. 
 

The overall collection of approximately 87 Cadillacs rivaled the quality of any past fall theme show at the dealership.  The efforts of all the volunteers and the staff at Capitol Cadillac who worked the show made this a truly special event for the participants who traveled from near and far to attend. 

As the case with previous shows, the crew of volunteers began arriving by 7:30 am, including Mary Moscati, her son and daughter-in-law, who set-up the donuts and coffee.  Unfortunately, there was a major accident just before 8:00 am on I-495 that shut down the beltway for a while that delayed the arrival of some of the show participants and other volunteers.  But by the time DJ Mike Veilleux of Music Madness played the National Anthem at 10:00 am to officially open the show, there was a respectable number of cars on the showfield and in the showroom.  Before noon, Red, Hot, Blue of Laurel, MD was on-site to serve attendees and spectators their delicious food for lunch.

Registered owners enjoyed the sunshine as they judged the cars in each of the classes.  By 1:30 pm, 57 judging ballots had been submitted.  Once the ballot tabulation was completed and the winners were determined, Master of Ceremonies Richard Sills (pictured below) welcomed the attendees to the awards ceremony with his opening remarks on the theme of the show.  Here is an excerpt:
 

“One of the special features of our fall show each year is to choose a special theme to honor a select category of Cadillacs or LaSalles.  This year, we dedicate our Fall Show to honor the 1941 Cadillac, in celebration of its 75th Anniversary.  The 1941 Cadillacs, along with 1976 Cadillacs, represent the highest number of Cadillacs owned by CLC members.  These cars have a timeless appeal, as they combine classic pre-war styling with an almost modern level of drivability – a 1941 Cadillac can keep up with traffic in the passing lane of any highway in the country.  1941 is also the first year since 1926 that Cadillac was without its longtime companion car, the LaSalle.  The body style that was originally planned to become the 1941 LaSalle actually evolved into the 1941 Cadillac Series 61. 

1941 was a significant year for Cadillac in many other ways, as well.  Cadillac offered six different series of cars, three of them new for 1941.  There was the Series 61, that replaced the LaSalle; the ever-popular Series 62; the distinctive Series 60 Special Fleetwood; and also, the Series 63, 67 and 75.  1941 also marked the final appearance of the Cadillac convertible sedan.  Only 400 were made in 1941, all part of the Sixty-Two Series.  Also, a very small number of 1941 Cadillacs were equipped with factory air conditioning. I have seen the figure of 300, which would be less than a half of one percent [of the entire year’s production].”

After emcee Richard’s introductory remarks, the 50/50 raffle was held.  Scot Minesinger sold over $800 in tickets, with 50 percent of the proceeds going to support the Potomac Region’s activities, such as subsidizing the annual holiday party.  Carol Yarnell (pictured below) was the lucky winner.  She and her husband Harry drove from Perryman, MD in their 1978 Eldorado.
 

Next, Richard announced the winning cars in each of the 12 judging classes and then introduced Becky Hux and Vicky Barruzza who announced the winner of the Ladies Choice Award: Mark Cresap, Jefferson, MD, (pictured below top row center) for his 1965 Deville Convertible.

Emerson Duke, Greer, SC, (pictured below top row right) whose 1941 Series 63 Sedan was sold originally by Capitol Cadillac car, received the Dealer’s Choice Award from Daniel Jobe. David Ciccarella, Altoona, PA, (pictured below middle row left) received the Henry S. Ruby Memorial Award for his 1964 Eldorado from Dan Ruby and Byron & Alida Alsop, Chantilly, VA, (pictured below middle row center) received the Young Judges Award from  Debbie Piel for their 1936 Series 85 V-12 Convertible Sedan. 

Finally, the Best of the Best award winners were announced!  Under our updated show rules, a vehicle receiving one of these awards is not eligible to receive a class award. 

The Best Pre-War car, the best Cadillac or LaSalle from 1942 and earlier, was awarded to Byron & Alida, Chantilly, VA, (pictured above middle row right) for their 1936 Series 85 V-12 Convertible Sedan.  The Best Post-War Early car (1946 to 1964) was awarded to Frank Tomasello, North Huntington, PA, (pictured above bottom row left) for his 1959 Series 62 Coupe.  The Best Post-War Late car (1965 to present) was awarded to Earl Rutter, Philadelphia, PA, (pictured above bottom row second to left) for his 1974 Fleetwood Talisman.  Our most prestigious award, the Best of Show Award, went to Dan Ruby, Owings, MD, (pictured above bottom row second to right) for his 1958 Eldorado Biarritz.  The last award presented was the Long Distance Award.  It is not often that two cars are driven more than 500 miles to one of our shows!  Jerry Steinard (pictured above bottom row right) and his wife Janet won the award for driving their 1976 Series 75 Formal Limousine from Southfield, MI.  Honorable mention went to Emerson Duke for driving his 1941 Series 63 Sedan from Greer, SC.