05/03/2024
When I joined my first band I observed that successful people in the music business drove Cadillacs. A year or so later, my girlfriend left me for an older guy who drove a Cadillac. It seemed that a Cadillac was key to success, but I was not going to be driving one on $100 a week.
That led me to the realization that more money meant more opportunity to get or do things I wanted. A few years of hard work allowed me to attain that pinnacle of success – a five year old Cadillac Eldorado convertible, in light blue. Nothing happened. I did not make more money, find a new girl, or achieve any other success as a direct result of that car.
But it made me feel successful, and that was worth something. Perhaps that was a factor in my getting work from bigger and bigger bands and more famous musicians. When I hung out with them, I saw that Cadillac was just one piece of a bigger puzzle. The band – and sometimes me – would arrive at shows in Cadillac limousines, but in their free time, the more famous musicians tooled around in cars from Mercedes, Porsche, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce and Ferrari. Just to name a few.
I concluded that having a few of those cars would be my ticket to success, and I got an old Porsche and fixed it up. I got a Mercedes and fixed that too. I took a lot of pride in those cars. I polished them, vacuumed them, and tuned their motors till they looked and ran like new, even when they were almost worn out.
They didn’t make me successful either. Hot girls, eager employers, and strangers with gifts did not find me. The cars were not the talismans I imagined. But I felt good driving them. Even when I was down to $20 in my wallet, I felt successful in a Cadillac.
My grandfather had been a Cadillac driver, and I thought of him as successful. When I got a Rolls-Royce, I imagined it as a British Cadillac, which I guess it is.
Today, I have more cars, but I ask less from them. I no longer expect them to bring me good fortune, romance, fame, or anything else but some joy of driving them. What did you expect of your first good cars? Did you find it?
There are many things we can buy in pursuit of one dream or another. Cars. Watches. Guns. Jewelry. Fountain pens. Airplanes and boats. Even second and third homes. Whatever it is, there is always something better. The chase never ends. Knowing that, is it worth it?