The Cadillac That Followed Me Home

Download or read book The Cadillac That Followed Me Home written by Christopher W. Cummings and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2006-09-21 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cadillac V-16 was conceived in secrecy in the middle of the Roaring Twenties, when incomes were rising, prosperity seemed endless and the car business was beginning to break from a traditional emphasis on function over form. But by the time the Cadillac V-16 reached showrooms in 1930, the nation was falling headlong into the Great Depression, and it soon became a rare relic of the boom before the crash. That is why in the mid-1960s, when Christopher Cummings was an adolescent car enthusiast, the oldest Cadillac V-16s were a dream just out of reach. This memoir tells the story of a boy who grew up loving cars, learned everything he could about them, and acquired quite a few impressive models for himself, while always looking forward to the day he would, by surprising circumstance, find the automobile of his dreams. Early chapters reveal the adventure Cummings underwent renovating his first car at age 13. Over the course of his teenage years he would work to acquire three classic Cadillacs: a 1941 Cadillac Series 7523 seven-passenger touring sedan, a 1941 Cadillac Series 61 coupe, and a 1931 Cadillac Series 355A Fleetwood Cabriolet. Later chapters recount the painstaking effort he put into renovating and maintaining those coveted vehicles. The story culminates with Cummings' unexpected acquisition of the car that earned the motto "Standard of the World," the 1930 V-16 Imperial Sedan limousine. In all, this memoir bears witness to an elegant sample of the best that the Classic era of automotive history had to offer.

Download or read book Follow Me Home written by William Hoffman and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 1999-03-01 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Hoffman is a master storyteller, and Follow Me Home reveals him at his inimitable best. In these eleven brilliantly observed, superbly crafted stories, he explores one of the most secret places of the human heart—the corner where we keep hidden the small and precious supply of whatever it is that lets us persist, and sometimes even triumph, in the face of life’s inescapable diminishments and losses. In Hoffman’s characters, the content of this inner reservoir varies greatly. For the hill farmer in “Abide with Me,” it is a form of direct grace granted to him in a near-death vision. For the disabled veteran in “Night Sport,” it is a bitter concoction of disillusionment and raw truth carried home from a distant war. For the quietly retired minister in “Sweet Armageddon,” unexpectedly given a glimpse of the life he long ago forsook, it is a prayerful wish for annihilation. On a less apocalyptic scale, in the haunting “Points,” a once-great horseman finds sustenance in a remembered world of elegance and courage—a world that, like his skills, is rapidly fading. In “Dancer,” a bereft and lonely woman retreats into the music of her youth, birds becoming quarter notes that fill the sky. In “Expiation,” a self-made executive after many years comes to terms with his own childhood, even though it means ending the lie on which his marriage is built. And in “Coals,” a maid and cook calls on her own reserves of spirit to bring her employer a renewal of life. Set in the small towns, cities, hills, and seascapes of Virginia—territory Hoffman knows as well as any writer ever has—the stories of Follow Me Home reveal to us men and women we know and care about, for in their struggles, win or lose, we recognize ourselves.

Download or read book Cadillac V-16s Lost and Found written by Christopher W. Cummings and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-02-01 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For eleven years prior to World War II, Cadillac defied the norms of practicality and produced an extravagant supercar, a 16-cylinder luxury automobile that could be tailored to the customer's every want. Big, thirsty and lavish, it cemented Cadillac's place in the top tier of motoring magnificence. Each of the cars has its own colorful and fascinating story to tell. Driven by a life-long love of the V-16 and an interest in the history of his own car, the author has assembled more than 65 of these tales, gleaned from interviews, books, periodicals and documents, into a liberally illustrated book. Each story is shaped by the people a particular car touched, and the events they lived through together. All are an important part of our automotive and cultural history.

Download or read book Surrealistic Midnight Ride written by Thomas Muhlrad and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2012-07-28 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joseph Goodwin desires a woman who despises him. After enduring one rejection after the other in his marital bed, Joseph decides to seek physical satisfaction in the arms of a woman who will do anything to please himas long as he shows her the money. When fate causes Joseph to change direction and head to a local club instead, he meets Crystal, a married billionaire who soon promises him a memorable romp in her bedroom. Joseph is practically drooling in anticipationuntil her bogus husband suddenly appears. In a matter of seconds, Joseph realizes he has just been caught, literally with his pants down, in the middle of a corrupt game of blackmail. Con man Brown is armed, dangerous, and hungry for cold hard cash. But Crystal has other ideas. She wants to own Joseph. After she pays off Brown to leave her new lover alone, Crystal sends Joseph on his way. But as Joseph returns home to his wife, he is about to discover that all is never as it seems, especially when lust rules the roost. In this suspenseful tale, one mans journey to seek satisfaction unwittingly leads him down a path lined with danger, blackmail, murder, and wealthy young women who want nothing more than to trade in their comfortable worlds for risk, thrills, and, naturally, pleasure.

Download or read book More Cadillac V-16s Lost and Found written by Christopher W. Cummings and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-01-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1930, Cadillac rolled out a line of new cars of unsurpassed elegance and craftsmanship that would launch the company into the top tier of luxury carmakers. While competitors produced models with eight or twelve-cylinder engines, Cadillac offered the smooth, powerful performance of a V-16. Over the next 11 years, each of the more than 4000 V-16s was as close to hand-made as a commercial auto manufacturer could come. Their drivers included statesmen, celebrities, businessmen and, sometimes, well-heeled ne'er-do-wells. Many of the cars survived wartime scrap drives, obsolescence, lack of replacement parts, neglect and the elements. This follow-up volume to Cadillac V-16s Lost and Found (2014) documents the individual stories of 67 more of these magnificent machines.

Download or read book The View from the End of the Road written by Jerry Wheaton and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2020-08-16 with total page 778 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the life story of a family branch rooted in America in 1636 represented by a man who graduated from Colgate University, New York Medical College during World War II and Harvard with a post graduate degree who learned the practice of medicine in a small coal mining town with a young family doing medical procedures that would be impossible today. He, with the support of his wife, spent an innovative problem solving Air Force career that included many incredible situations, Vietnam War combat, hospital construction, medical quality control, Physician Assistant and Nurse Practitioner training. This was followed by cost effective public sector practice and administration as well as corporate medical practice and administration followed by retirement and active resident participation in a continuing care retirement community with a structured approach to resident participation.

Download or read book KnifePoint written by Toby J. Rosenstrauch and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2010-12-30 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Senior year in high school should have been a blast for Mindy. Instead, she is assaulted by Harley, a dangerous and vengeful fellow student, and her life falls apart. Her single mother is in a mental facility and Mindy is almost broke. Fearing another attack by Harley, she flees from Long Island to Florida to her only known relative, a reluctant grandfather she has never met. She begins a brave new life but Harley finds her and continues to threaten her. Tired of running and hiding, Mindy decides to stand her ground and face him. Readers will cheer for Mindy who fights for a life she’s never had.