mongooz
Sic Semper Tyrannis
[back in the "Land Yacht" days.....]
(500 C.I. V8)
For several years, famed Warren, Mich., Cadillac dealer Roger Rinke made a star out of one example of Cadillac’s humblest model. Each model year during at least part of the 1970s, Rinke special-ordered a single Calais, the least-expensive Cadillac model, and decked it out with options.
Once the loaded Calais was delivered to his dealership, Rinke would go farther to make the Calais shine by commissioning local custom shops to add unique features. In the case of the featured 1976 Calais, Rinke had a special vinyl top mounted to the roof; an extra chrome piece mounted at the front of the hood containing the standard Cadillac crest and V arrangement of the Calais; an additional Cadillac hood ornament (normally reserved for deVille models); and ample pinstriping added by locally famous pinstriper Frank Galli. Once Rinke had the car christened with “L’Etoile” scripts in place of the original “Calais” scripts on the rear fenders, a star was quite literally born, since L’Etoile, pronounced eh-twal, translates to “star” in French.
read more:https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1976-cadillac-calais-letoile
(500 C.I. V8)
For several years, famed Warren, Mich., Cadillac dealer Roger Rinke made a star out of one example of Cadillac’s humblest model. Each model year during at least part of the 1970s, Rinke special-ordered a single Calais, the least-expensive Cadillac model, and decked it out with options.
Once the loaded Calais was delivered to his dealership, Rinke would go farther to make the Calais shine by commissioning local custom shops to add unique features. In the case of the featured 1976 Calais, Rinke had a special vinyl top mounted to the roof; an extra chrome piece mounted at the front of the hood containing the standard Cadillac crest and V arrangement of the Calais; an additional Cadillac hood ornament (normally reserved for deVille models); and ample pinstriping added by locally famous pinstriper Frank Galli. Once Rinke had the car christened with “L’Etoile” scripts in place of the original “Calais” scripts on the rear fenders, a star was quite literally born, since L’Etoile, pronounced eh-twal, translates to “star” in French.
read more:https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/car-of-the-week-1976-cadillac-calais-letoile
