I know it has been a while since I updated our Cadillac podcast but this edition is finally done. I wanted to talk a little about the NY auto show and the new Cadillacs and the reactions of classic Cadillac owners that were at the show.
There was so much to cover that when I looked up I was surprised the podcast was 20 minutes. I have some stuff to cover already for the next podcast. I could really use a guest if you want to talk Cadillacs for a few minutes we can set that up.
I also want to mention I talked about the T-Shirt that Dave from Canada sent me. It is really sharp looking and I promise I will have a video of it. If you want a classic Cadillac t-shirt Dave is your man.
Dave’s Cadillac Art,
carslovei@hotmail.ca
davesautoart@hotmail.ca
289-938-5155
Let me know what you think about the podcast in the comments. I have a thick skin and can take criticism very well especially if it will help the show.
UPDATE Here is The Transcript
Hello everyone, welcome to our second edition of the Cadillac podcast from Cadillaccountryclub.com. I’m Vinny the owner, and I know it’s been a while since I updated a podcast about three months. But things been kind of busy and I still haven’t gotten this podcast thing down pat. So I’m glad you decided to to listen to us again and now enjoy the ride! Last time I was talking to your I was getting ready to the New York auto show, where I had the press pass the first time in. It was really really excellent show got to talk to a lot of people a lot of Cadillac owners actually, which really I wasn’t really planning on it was a lot of Cadillac owners didn’t look at the new XTS and I was kind of surprised at the reaction being he vintage Cadillac guy like myself. I’m little on the fence about your Cadillac STS and replaced DTS and STS and all that stuff, but I was really surprised. I must’ve talked to 20 guys separately that had Cadillac’s, classic Cadillacs no less but I’d never thought about it until after the show. They have a classic Cadillac that they take all the shows and stuff, but they also only 2004 DTS and a later model Cadillac that the drive every single day. I never even thought about these guys have been daily drivers.
Cadillac says that also and added a 20 guys I talked to I would say 19 of them, can’t wait for the XTs is to come out. The lines on this car absolutely amazing. I go on and on about the lines and the size, everything just seems to be. I wanted to drive it out of the show that day. They put out is a whole bunch of features the new Cadillac Cue system, which if you’re older, Cadillac owners probably scare you. That he thought he really shouldn’t, it’s just the same as operating your radio you reach over and turn all that stuff this you just have to swipe your finger across its is nothing to be scared about.
I sat in the simulator they had XTS. I could’ve went up into the car if I wanted to. Since this is my first time having a press pass I wasn’t sure what I could do. And what I should note that this was a learning experience in itself, I was sitting in the simulator and well first off I have to say the people at work at the Cadillac on the floor were really really super nice. They remembered me from years past because I was there for like 10 hours at a clip. I’m a very easy, easy guy to remember with a Brooklyn accent and all.
So they made sure the first day that I went into the XTS simulator and they sat me down and they showed me this whole CUE system, which I was kind of scared of too. And not realize what I was getting into ,but they did get a good 10 to 15 minute demo with me when they had me turn on the radio went on making a incall on the phone. In the dashboard is what I really like, it comes right believe it’s three different dashboards that you can need to change anytime you want by pressing on a few buttons, but they have like what’s called the basic version which shows you what the speedometer and your RPMs very similar to our older Cadillacs from the 60s with the big dial in the middle maybe it was the late 1950s. But with the big speedometer in the middle in like 6 inch glass getting a model of hand I know my neighbor had an old Bonneville like that. It has two or three gauges with RPM and your speed of course and then if you wanted to you to switch it to the other thing that will show you a few more bells and whistles maybe let you know what’s going on in withyour lights and stuff like that and then they have the performance one which has so much stuff on it that you could just stare at it all day long and always exchanging information is not too much. But since most of the people in our club are vintage people I have had the feeling it would be mostly doing the basic one.
I kind like that one the best , it’s nice knowing that all the bells and whistles on this one of their but I like the basic one myself so and an interesting thing happened when I was at the the XTS simulator. I was like one of the first people there, actually was one person in front of me. As I got there super duper early. I wanted to beat the crowd sizes as well. I was sitting in my way for people to get up from the simulator and I entered from the left-hand side. And I went in, and I sat down and show me all of this, what I didn’t know is when I went to get up out of the simulator Donald Trump and his daughter Bianca (forgot her name) got into the simulator and I was had no idea that they were there as I got up right away I started taking pictures of the left side of the XTS because it was a now turning around and when I looked up from my camera from the viewfinder I seemed like 25 people taking pictures all the right side of the house with the helpful here. I look over and as Donald Trump and Bianca by the passenger seat so I was able to this but I went around the photographers at first with a learned one of them that I just get a picture of the back of his head so I snuck back around to the right hand side where the simulator where I got out of the simulator and I got a nice picture of the Donald and Ivanka, and Don Butler from Cadillac, who was really really nice I sat and talked to him for about 5-10 minutes during lunch.
I gave him the pictures, I went back next day and I gave him a picture I blew up a picture of him Trump and Ivanka sitting in the simulator and he was really happy about that. I got the professional printer here to print like the 11 x 14 and 14 x 16. I printed a picture I gave him and his eyes lit up. Plus I gave them all the pictures I took the day before I burn it to a disc so he could have them. Cadillac public relations can have them if they need to do something with them so they were kind of happy about that, it was a long day for me at the after the auto show. I say I got there around nine o’clock in the morning and I left around seven night and by the time I took the train home. the train ride was an hour and a half and downloaded the pictures and I had to print the pictures by the time I thought it was like three o’clock in the morning and I got up again at like seven and got back on the train and went back to the auto show.
The second day I got there nine o’clock in the morning, but it was very well worth it just to see the XTS in person and what I didn’t know at the time they had an XTS is there they had the black one. I guess with the internal black charcoal gray color, and they also had a gold one there, and the gold it was quite gold and gray at the same time. They told me the name of the color of and I forgot it. It almost looks like a Briarwood Brown Cadillac club saw a couple months ago from the East Coast car Association of Forest Park. It was very similar to that of the gold just popped right out but what I didn’t know at the time is it that gold XTS was to disappear the next day, because it was only there for the price the first day of press because they want to do a big thing of the XTS. The next day it was gone and they replaced it with one of the SRX was there. It has been so long my mind has started to go. It sucks getting old.
I took a lot of pictures of the XTS the black one and the gold one.The Cadillac spokesperson Lorraine was very very good and she did a nice little presentation video which I filmed I am sure you have seen on YouTube if you haven’t go to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/Cadillaccountryclub and you’ll be able to see it. Actually you should subscribe to the videos so get them as soon as they come up. I know when I got home from from the auto show when I upload all the videos at the same time. And I started to put them in the individual post a few members laughing at me because they have seen these videos already. This is because they subscribe to YouTube channel and they saw all 10 when I put them right up. So I guess that’s a good thing people eager to see videos and stuff from and on and stuff so.
The XTS like I said it was actually amazing and all the guys that you wouldn’t think wanted it. If they would have Cadillac dealer there, they could’ve sold 19 of them on the spot. There was was one that was wife was talking and he was from Staten Island and 59 Deville that he used at the shows with and stuff on the weekends and he turned around he was like I want this car, and his wife was there with him and she just nodded her head and said yes you are getting that car. There was no discussion he didn’t even know how much it was at the time. I turnaround than I say to him, because Cadillac announced it was to be like $44,000 and he turnaround he looked at the wife and the wife was a static, but she was expecting somewhere around $60,000, and not the model that they had up there was the platinum version, which is a lot of few dollars more than 44. It wass amazing just to see the reaction from older Cadillac owners. And like I said it if I wasn’t there, I probably wouldn’t believe it in all the reaction that I seen but it was overall it was no so outlandish a no extravagant as I should say 19/20 people would have bought the car on the spot right there then I went over and I saw the ATS.
That is, I should go back as soon as I got the Jacob Javits Center. Cadillac is in the north pavilion so they are kind of by themselves with some of the GM cars and as soon as you go to the pavilion you’re little bit higher than the rest of the cars so you ar you looking down at were really really nice and the first thing that caught my eye was the ATS. You’re talking there was about 13-14 cars there and you know how the CTS coupe in the Black diamond color and a little shiny ATS over there, but it was the red ATS that was on the stand that really caught my attention. I believe it was the 3.6 L I am not sure but I can yet yeah it was 3.6 L four-cylinder or six or I forget. By the it was really really do I concentrate on the XTS the first day because I knew that After a while they told me the gold one was leaving so I concentrated on that car. I probably about 100 pictures of the ATS on the first day.
My camera I press a button and it takes like five pictures so if some are 4 are blurry I am guaranteed to have at least one good picture. So I made sure I had a couple pictures I could upload right away, and it was all kind of cool. I walked around my took like maybe 50 pictures of every other car that was that I was there for a long time at the auto show. All the people that work there will really really super nice to me and I didn’t think about it at the time. But I could’ve, the second day I was there and they were giving interviews, but I think that you had to contact Cadillac in advance to get an interview.
I’m not really sure how that worked, but I had my video camera with me and it would’ve been nice if I had maybe brought somebody else to hold a video camera so I could be on camera asking the questions that was kind of my dilemma. I didn’t know whether to be on camera because I was a little shy that way, but the second day Don Butler from Cadillac gave an interview to somebody and the person standed, stood behind the camera and asked questions. So it was only Done and the ATS in the background, and I says to myself dang I should have done this that but it was already too late in the day and he was a ready catch a flight or something like that. Maybe next year if I am lucky enough to get a press pass. I’ll do it out of some video interviews with them. So I had my video camera out and I took a video of each car but to have somebody from Cadillac talk about the car exclusively to our club members would be cool.
I met a few people from Cadillac in the media division, and I got to talk to them little bit, which is cool because you know, we change e-mails back and forth but to me actually meet somebody was the rather cool. So the ATS. They then announced that the show. The ATS is only to be $34,000, and I’m amazed I first time a long time. I am thinking about maybe buying an ATS I would, I can already see it coming down the road in a convertible just by the way that the car looks, maybe even a wagon. I have hear rumblings on some of the websites that have that already seen pictures of a ATS wagon, but I don’t believe it to myself that I don’t there will be a V version. If they keep going with the CTS-V is if someone wants a performance vehicle. It’s a very nice entry-level Cadillac.
I could see, what did Cadillac is trying to do. That may be young guys who would go to for Infinity or a Mazda or something like that and introduced to Cadillac that way. Then maybe a second car would be the CTS via something like that that’s what I can say it like I said I am on 44 and I wanted to car but I don’t know the midlife crisis thing or red color of it, actually like the silver color looked cool too and I want a red ATS convertible.
When it comes to New York into the dealers as I’m probably going to go see, which I should be close to the Cadillac dealers here in New York, but I really haven’t been in contact with them too much so the ATS is maybe 34,000. The STS is maybe 44,000 and I could see them both been big sellers especially since Cadillac needs to a new flagship car are called for in a brand. I could see the XTS has become in the Cadillac limo choice in New York City and New York City using DTS as limos. Actually there are a lot of Escalades in New York City. A lot of celebrities use them of course because limo companies does runs to the airport with plenty of room for suitcases.
Switch up subjects a little bit I wanted to talk about T-shirts of all things, one of our members Dave sent me a Cadillac T-shirt that you are going to see in the future video of me and has six Cadillacs on the front and six Cadillacs on the back of whole hand-painted and this thing is absolutely beautiful. I’m actually scared to touch it and I don’t want to wrinkle it. Lets say its beautiful beautiful but you’ll see a video of it. It came a little late for me to wear at the New York auto show. The people at Cadillac would haave been surprised. so maybe next year, Tthe one I have here has Cadillacs look like through the years from 1906 to 1920s 1930s 1940s and 50s the 1959 Cadillac on the baack looks like Paul from Australia’s 1959 Cadillac. If you haven’t seen in his car head over to the 1959 restoration pages on the site. So I have to thank Dave for that that was really really beautiful,probably wear it to the next show I go to forthe East Coast Bar Association shows here in Queens, New York. If you are in the area I suggest you are take it in. You can find them on Facebook. Look for East Coast Car Association.
Facebook.com/Cadillaccountryclub love to get you on that page it is only up to about 90 likes I think. So Dave excellent job. I know a few notable members already have been in contact with you for making them shirts and if you’ve been on the fence. Don’t! Just go contact Dave is stuff is on the forum it is on the blog post. Dave is easy to get in touch with. Beautiful job Dave.
if you guys are a follow some social media. If you are followers of social media suggest you do my twitter could handle his twitter.com/caddychat we also have Cadillac forum.
If you look that up Facebook it’s Facebook.com/caillaccountryclub is a fan page YouTube. Look for Cadillaccountryclub. This podcast Is over 20 minutes now and longer than our first podcast. I love having guys on as a guest of anybody want to come on into Cadillacs a little while. So That’s it thank you if you listen to this like you’ve come to a website Cadillaccountryclub.com sign-up for our newsletter. Thanks
