Cadillac heaven Down Under

The Australian new-car market will soon see the Cadillac badge return to showrooms, but an event in Adelaide next week will refresh our Cadillac memories. While the reintroduction of Cadillac - it was last sold here between 1960 and 1973 - will begin with the CTS sedan in the last quarter of this year, more than 100 older Cadillacs will arrive here tomorrow for the Cadillac and LaSalle Nationals.

More than two dozen pre-1930 and at least 40 Cadillacs with some of the biggest fins yet seen on a car will be here until Tuesday. The biennial event will be based in the Barossa Valley.

National Cadillac Club of Australia SA branch president Ian Robertson says; it is the first time in the club's 31-year history to have entries from every Australian state and territory for the Cadillac Escape. “The event promises to be one of the largest gatherings of Cadillacs ever seen in Australia,” he says.

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The event also has confirmed entrants from the U.S., Canada, Britain and New Zealand.

Activities include a car show at the Australian National Motor Museum, Birdwood, and a drive to the top of the Barossa Valley's highest point for panoramic photos.

“The cars range from the 1905 Model F Tourer, through to a 1994 Eldorado Touring Coupe,” he says.

“In between, there will be the elegant 1920s models, the Art Deco models of the '30s and '40s, the giant fins of the '50s and '60s and to the utter opulence of the Fleetwood d'Elegance models of the '80s.”