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Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Classic car collectors converge

By John Maslin
Whanganui Chronicle·
18 Oct, 2015 05:41 PM2 mins to read

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CADDIE MAN: Graham Thrupp has his hand on his 1959 Cadillac Seville. The fins to the left belong to a 1958 Cadillac Coupe de Ville.PHOTO/BEVAN CONLEY 181015WCBRCCAD01

CADDIE MAN: Graham Thrupp has his hand on his 1959 Cadillac Seville. The fins to the left belong to a 1958 Cadillac Coupe de Ville.PHOTO/BEVAN CONLEY 181015WCBRCCAD01

The scene could have been plucked from an episode of the classic TV comedy series Happy Days as a clutch of pristine Cadillac cars parked up in Wanganui yesterday.

The cars were in the city for Cadillac La Salle Club of New Zealand nationals and yesterday morning the public got a chance to get up close to these classic cars displayed in the Pak 'N Save carpark.

Among them was the 1959 Cadillac Seville coupe Graham and Lois Thrupp drove down from Tauranga. About half a dozen other Cadillac owners made the trip with them.

The Thrupps, retired kiwifruit orchardists, bought their first "Caddie" 25 years ago and have owned the Seville on show for eight years. This one was bought from an owner on Waiheke Island but others in their collection have been rebuilt Stateside and shipped to Tauranga.

He said the Cadillac appeals simply because it represents a bygone era.

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The Seville is about 6m long and weighs 2 tonne. It will just fit inside a 6m-long container. With triple carburettors atop a V8 engine, it makes thirsty work of most road trips.

"It sucks a bit of gas if you boot it, but it's probably doing around 22km to the gallon," Mr Thrupp said.

"They float along and are lovely to ride in. They like straight roads and don't like cornering too much. They were made for wide-open American roads. And we don't park anywhere near a supermarket."

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The Seville is finished in a colour called Persian Sand, a lustrous soft pink that, even on a wet Sunday morning, looked stunning.

To say the Thrupps are Cadillac devotees is understating it. They've got another five back home, along with the 1960 Chev Impala and a 1966 Thunderbird.

Then there's their garage. It includes a replica US diner at the back, complete with period furnishings, jukebox, original cash register and milkshake machine.

"Now summer's coming, we're driving these as often as we can. If it's nice and fine, Lois will take the convertible out, pick up some of her mates and away they go," Mr Thrupp said.

Their Seville was among about 25 different Cadillacs in Wanganui for the event, lining up against Sedan de Villes, Coupe de Villes, A Fleetwood Brougham, some Eldorados and the 1906 single-cylinder Cadillac Laurie Cocker drove over from Rongotea.

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