So do we really know that they were !6 cylinder? We know they were Both Cadilacs. It's detail but if true it's far beyond any excuse. Can you imagine say Stephen Lett proudly posing by one of his 2 Bentley Continentals? It's preposterous.
Has Rutherford's 16-cylinder Cadillac been found?
by under the radar 26 Replies latest jw friends
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Anony Mous
The problem is going to find sufficient footage to make any identification, I only know of a few pictures and they are very grainy. These cars were hand-built to order, but most of the details would be either in the engine bay or interior and color, all but probably the color (perhaps a white) is missing from the picture. If the color/paint job days changed, often the curators will detail the original color in listings which can be gotten from hidden parts of panels where the paint job missed a spot. One thing I can note on the Rutherford pictures is the badge on the ‘spare’ wheels, which indicates the V16 emblem and if not replaced/restored over time, it could narrow down the search.
It is likely a V16, those were the most popular models if you could afford them, I would think Rutherford would rather have a V16 than 2 V8s like the ‘plebs’.
Then again, thousands were built and only a few hundred survive. Given the borg, I wouldn’t be surprised they trashed the thing to bury the evidence after his passing.
A model closely resembling both color, body features etc was sold in 2017: https://www.classic.com/veh/1930-cadillac-v-16-imperial-limousine-nlm7aMW/
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WingCommander
FYI: The 1986 documentary (the very first one ever!) entitled "Witnesses of Jehovah", actually mentions that he had TWO 16-cylinder Caddy's.
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Gorb
Ofcourse one is not enough for a humble servant.
G.
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jws
Looking at the black and white picture and the one in the video, I see differences in the top. Which may or may not be conclusive. The top could have been a more modern replacement.
Rutherford's stands straight for the front windshield. The one in the video angles back.Not to mention the triangle shape behind the back window.
The body looks very similar and could be the same year/make/model. But I'm guessing Cadillac didn't make the one(s) for Rutherford. -
TD
I hope this doesn't sound too geeky. (What can I say? I like cars...)
It's true that VIN numbers, as we know them today, did not exist at the time, but the 452 was not a regular production line vehicle.
These vehicles were hand made, (Often to the customer's order) and the bodies were therefore marked with either Style/Body or Model/Copy numbers, which do serve as unique identifiers today.
(The engines were also numbered, but that is a far less reliable identifier for obvious reasons.)
Rutherford had 452's at his disposal on both the East and West coast. The California model was a convertible coup and the New York model was a four-door convertible phaeton with the distinctive two-piece speedboat style windshield.
Given that both appear to be 1930 models and the sheer uniqueness of these vehicles, it would not be too hard to track down surviving examples, if any exist today. Tying one to Rutherford and the JW's would be a different story, as provenance can be pretty shaky.
Rutherford was apparently no stranger to the Cadillac. Here, for example, is picture of him with an earlier 1928 model similar to one that Al Capone owned. (Note the visor and reverse swing of the rear door)
If we were keeping count (LOL) this would be a third ultra high-end Cadillac that we can tie to the Judge.
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TD
As an illustration of the degree to which these cars could be personalized (And the rarefied financial strata of the people who owned them...) here are a few examples:
Robert Montgomery with his 1933 Sport Phaeton:
Marlene Dietrich with her 1934 Town Car:
Al Jolson's 1933 All Weather Phaeton (Similar to Rutherford's East Coast model which is sometimes misidentified as a sedan))
Al Capone's 1930 Imperial Sedan: