Years ago, when I was growing up in the ‘60s, there was a television cartoon superhero named Batfink. Batfink was a spoof of the campy TV series “Batman”. Batfink drove in the “BATILAC” as he and his sidekick “Karate” saved the world from evil. I grew up loving cars with fins, although our family never owned one.

Fast forward to 1997.

Having decided that my next car would have to have fins, and needing a project to keep me busy, I began to look wistfully through the car ads in the local newspaper. I soon graduated to Old Car Trader, Hemmings, and other such literature. Soon I found myself making phone calls all over the country, even though I wasn’t sure that I even wanted to undertake an automotive restoration. But the more I researched, the more my desire grew to fulfill my childhood dream of cruising the highways in a finned wonder. I soon found myself focusing on a 1961 Cadillac Coupe de Ville located in Carlsbad, New Mexico. After many phone calls, photos and descriptions, the owner offered a price that I couldn’t refuse, so I put a deposit down, and decided to go take a look. Optimistically, I arranged a flight to Dallas, Texas, where I was to pick up a U-Haul type truck for the projected one-way drive to New Mexico. Moving-type trucks turned out to be FAR less expensive than cars to rent one way and then “dump” at the destination.

Arriving in Dallas, Texas, I took a taxi to the truck rental agency, only to discover that it was out of business, and the building was abandoned. I felt abandoned, too, in the middle of Texas with no return flight. A few phone calls connected me with another branch of the rental agency, and so before long I was on my way to New Mexico. Later that evening, massive thunderstorms moved through the area, and from my hotel room I watched as a tornado passed in the distance. Was all of this an omen, telling me to give up this silly idea???? Was it my fate to be stranded somewhere in the middle of Texas, with no way out and no way home??? This was my biggest apprehension.
The next morning, when I arrived in Carlsbad, I conducted a thorough inspection of the car. I noted a few flaws, such as non-functional speedometer and windshield wipers, no tail pipe aft of the rear axle, and a few small dents and spots of superficial body rust. These had been described to me prior to my decision, so they had been factored into the purchasing considerations. But overall, I found the car to be in excellent dry-climate condition, preserved right down to the original primer on the undersides of the floor pans. The car had been repainted twice and reupholstered once, due to the effects of the desert sun, and both would eventually have to be redone,. But overall the car was in fine shape, drove well, stopped as well, and I deemed it to be a good deal for the price, worthy of a restoration.

The owner and I took care of the paperwork, and then spent the afternoon installing new oil and filter, spark plugs, coil, distributor cap, etc… By late afternoon, Trusting in God, I embarked upon the Great Adventure.

Almost immediately, I felt that something was different from when I test drove it. The engine seemed to lack power, and ran rougher than before. Investigation soon turned up an unconnected spark plug wire, and after hooking it up, all ran well again.

The first challenge was to determine air speed velocity, so as to avoid meeting Texas’ finest men in uniform. By clocking the mileage posts, I kept my time at one minute per mile, perfectly adequate on interstates and secondary roads. I kept up well with traffic, and began to relax and enjoy the ride. The car floated along smoothly (if not quietly due to the missing resonator and, it turned out later, decomposed muffler). The Big Boat handled well, and really was a pleasure to drive. I also noted the first of many turned heads, cheery waves, and approving thumbs up signals.

East Texas brought the first raindrops, but they were sporadic, and the Rain-ex and highway velocity kept the windshield clear enough to drive safely. However, steady rain and road spray in Louisiana forced a rest-stop delay for several hours as a frontal system passed by. I took the opportunity to begin disassembling the dash so as to explore the non-functioning vacuum climate control system. Substituting some new vacuum hoses resulted in the sudden and fortuitous functioning of the defrost system.

The next day and a half were more of the same – hours on the road interrupted by delays as I apparently continued to catch up to the same slow moving weather front. Along the way I tested other “systems”, such as the power windows, power seat, vents, lights, etc… and began to make a list of things to do. The list was growing quite long.

My ego was boosted in Alabama, when someone at the motel offered to buy the car then and there, and later, during a traffic jam, when I struck up pleasant conversations with the drivers in the neighboring cars, all of whom had lots of questions about the finned wonder. Speaking of fins, it took a while for me to get used to the sight of the fins in the rear view mirror. However, I soon found myself looking at them frequently, and getting a warm, reassuring feeling at the sight of them, following everywhere I went, slashing the air in the wake of the car.

Finally, I was in North Carolina, stuck in yet another rain shower, but this time at a truck stop. I sat in the smoke-filled Big Rig driver’s lounge, watching a NASCAR race on TV until the skies cleared yet again. I was getting fed up with the delays, but was not smart enough to try the local auto parts stores for a new windshield wiper motor. By fits and starts, 20 miles at a time, I finally drew closer to Virginia. The midnight conversation with the creepy guy at the rest area convinced me to move on regardless of the weather, until I reached Petersburg, where I could no longer see enough of the road to drive safely. I pulled over at yet another truck stop, locked the doors, and tried to sleep through the rain.

Before long, something told me to wake up. What was happening? Was Creepy Guy back? Were those stars? Yes! The skies had cleared. Wasting no more time, I took the opportunity to drive the final 90 miles to my home in Gloucester County, which borders the Chesapeake Bay.

Home at last, without major mishap, after an epic cross-country trip in an unfamiliar car in unknown mechanical condition. If, as they say, God rides a Harley, then who is the patron saint of cars with fins? I owe him a couple of candles.

Since this time, I have gotten to know the car much better. Of course, it has been named the BATILAC, and fortunately that license plate was still available here in the Old Dominion. I have learned much about the originality of BATILAC by sending for the build sheet and data books, which are available from the Cadillac Historical Services. I recommend that any owner of an older Cadillac obtain these. They will provide the specific information for your car, if you provide the serial number.
I have dutifully worked down my “to do” list, which never seems to completely go away. Most recently, I completed the biggest project of all, repainting BATILAC back into her original special-ordered Eldorado color code 98 – Topaz Metallic, which is a light copper/pink hue. I removed every bit of trim, we removed all the old paint right down to bare metal, and built her up from there. She was in the paint shop for 6 months, but it was time well spent, as the shop did an excellent, professional job. In all this time, the BATILAC has been a pure pleasure to drive, and has brought my wife and I many happy adventures. I took my daughter to her first car show in it, when she was 3 months old. Now, four years later, she makes it very clear to spectators at the shows that BATILAC is HER car! It always attracts attention, and I have lost track of the number of offers to buy it. It is an ongoing project, which provides me with much pleasure and satisfaction, and it has been the medium through which I have met many great and helpful people. I plan to keep it basically stock, with the standard 390 CID engine and Hydramatic transmission.

My membership in the Cadillac-LaSalle club has been of invaluable help, and my connection with the Cadillac Mailing List has introduced me to like-minded friends from around the world. I never imagined that there was such a core group of helpful, friendly, and dedicated people, willing to share advice and resources virtually instantaneously.

As the BATILAC restoration progresses, my admiration for the engineering design and quality of craftsmanship of the Cadillac Division in 1961 grows and grows. I drive the car to work at least twice a week, and have shown it to my history students. They never fail to marvel at it’s size and features, and are incredulous that a car of this vintage had so many technical advances. I enjoy preserving this small slice of automotive history, but even more so, I enjoy turning heads and getting those approving thumbs up!

I will be more than happy to hear from others of like interest, and would be happy to assist with advice and experience, minor though it may be.

Thanks for your interest in the BATILAC.
Best wishes,
Your friend in fins,

Jim Eccleston
November, 2005

The BATILAC
1961 Cadillac de Ville
Two Door Hard Top Coupe
serial # 61 J 091528
built Thursday, March 30, 1961
for dealer code 730111

Standard Coupe de Ville equipment for 1961 included:
390 CID 4bbl engine
Jetaway Hydra-matic four speed automatic transmission
Power steering
Power brakes
Power windows
Cigarette lighters (front and rear)
Electric clock
Back-up lights
Automatic courtesy and map lights
Automatic luggage compartment light
Glare-proof mirror
Remote outside mirror
Front & rear center armrests
Windshield washer
plus much, much more

Dealer ordered factory options on this car include:

Air conditioning
Heater
Six way power front seat
Guidematic automatic headlight dimmer
Wonderbar signal-seeking AM radio
Shaded and tinted glass
Whitewall tires
Dor-Guards
Rear license plate frame
Front license blanking plate
In addition, this car was ordered with special Eldorado paint, code 98 - Topaz Metallic

Now also equipped with:

Power door locks – vacuum operated
Remote electric trunk release and pull-down
Power ventipanes
Cadillac Perfect Circle Cruise Control
Dealer option rear window defroster

Note: Click here to see the Album of Jim’s BATILAC