By age 85, many celebrities have dropped out of the public eye and lost some of the spark they once brought to the spotlight. However, Frankie Avalon seems to reinvent himself every few years and stay relevant. Whether it was in the recording studios during the fifties, on the beach-movie set in the sixties, or appearing in Grease the next decade, Frankie certainly succeeded in keeping his name out there, and he’s still actively involved in show business. One lesser-known 30-second short in his career dates back to ’88, when he teamed up with Sonic Hamburgers to produce a TV commercial, which brings us to the relevance of this stretched 1958 Cadillac DeVille here on eBay. We’ll delve into the ties below, but if you’re already getting ideas for this very long Caddy, it’s in Edgewood, New Mexico, and priced at $7,500. We’d like to thank reader Russ Glantz for this very fun tip!
TV viewers back in the late eighties got to first see Frankie Avalon sitting in this 1958 Cadillac as he promoted a new meal-deal for Sonic called the “Brown Bag Special”, and while just under four bucks indeed sounded like a great deal for the amount of food and drink that price got you, what’s most memorable is that the star brought his neighborhood with him in the back of the car to get in the savings.
Unfortunately, that commercial was shot decades ago, and there’s no word on where the Caddy has been since then or how long it’s been out of active service. Gone are both the engine and transmission, so sourcing usable components to get this one moving on its own again will be paramount. The rear end still appears intact, so hopefully it’ll be mechanically sound enough to retain. However, there’s one crevice near the back of the tunnel where the ground is visible, so it’s likely that no driveshaft is included, and having one crafted will perhaps be part of the restoration process.
Probably the best news here is that the seller reports the bodywork remains perfect, and I’m not seeing any serious corrosion or anything on the sheet metal that would lead me to believe that the panels shouldn’t be fairly easy to work with. As far as the roof goes, you’re on your own, so this part might be challenging, unless this one just stays inside except on sunny days.
The midsection of the flooring is no longer present, but the inner section of the body includes steel tubing, and the fact that it didn’t buckle under the weight of Frankie’s friends is a good sign that it’s probably still strong enough to withstand whatever the future holds for this one. Though the $7.5k admission price doesn’t necessarily sound unreasonable, the seller also mentions it’s OBO. However, as of this writing, there’s no option listed to submit a number more to your liking, so it might be worth sending him a message to see if this can be added. How do you envision moving forward with this stretched 1958 Cadillac Coupe DeVille?
What was it, back in the 80s Frankie was being interviewed on a talk show. The TV guy asked, “what’s it like, having eight kids?” Frankie just smiled and said “Fun”. As for “his” car here, for me to want this would be a stretch.
Nice one, Mike, and nice find, Russ G!
Frankie Avalon is also legendary for picking up a 5-7 split in the 10th frame of season 1 episode 21 of Celebrity Bowling. I mean, from what I hear… (kidding, I’m a huge fan of the show, and of bowling, in general)
I thought I remembered seeing this Coupe DeStretch before, but maybe not. It’s a heck of an advertising piece for sure.
I wonder if there is room for a driveshaft. Those center beams look like a static support. Those fenders front and rear suggest just enough lift to offset the folks shown in the car. Maybe the car was never intended to be drivable.
I know its the wrong make and model but it reminds me of the song Love shack. I honestly can’t really think of a use for it.
The commercial is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy1pRcpExBo
And the car remains stationary the whole time.
Most likely this thing never ran (or even had a drivetrain) and was just a prop built for the commercial.
Maybe somebody who owns a Sonic would be interested in this, otherwise not sure what the market is for this.
What a travesty to do this to a 58 Caddy.
“Some assembly required @ purchase”.. A fun “Project” at best. Period correct powertrain components are still available, however as noted the driveshaft will be a challenge, manufacturing it in multiple pieces and insuring its balanced. Unique.. and clearly.. “not everyone has one” with provenance.
If a person wanted to make it drivable, you could use a Oldsmobile Toronado front drive from the sixties. I’m way past taking on such a project but, someone else may do it.
I like the rebar used through both sides,and the massive square tube down the center…;-)…clearly a prop that never was intended to run….the idea here of using a front wheel drive section out of a tornonado,or even a later cadilac would make the most sense for anyone with intentions of attempting to make it run and drive…definetly a one off….
Am I the only one that has trouble keeping Frankie Avalon and Frankie Valli straight? The fact that one appeared in Grease, the other sang the theme song doesn’t make it any easier!
As for this car, I’d be willing to bet that it never had a drivetrain after it was lengthened and that it was only a TV prop. Why would they bother making it a running vehicle if the commercial was just going to show people sitting in it?
And I get them both mixed up with Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
JDC, You are revealing your youth, I guess. I encountered Frankie Valli (not personally, on the radio) when he was the lead singer of The Four Lovers, with a hit entitled “The Apple Of My Eye”: I still have 78s from that time, but not that one (too screechy and frantic for my taste — I was more “The Wayward Wind” sort of listener, the which I do have on an Era 78). Frankie Avalon came along in the spring of 1958 with “De De Dinah”, a 78 record I never bothered at the time to buy, though I did get The Four Preps’ “Santa Catalina”. I never saw any of the movies. But for the life of me, I cannot see how anyone could mix the two of these performers up! My popular music era ran from the mid-to-late 1940s, though maybe early 1963; then most of it after that simply grated on my nerves. So I was never a part of that later Baby Boomer era’s culture which included beach movies, I just wasn’t. But I would gladly hear any popular song from 1948, as well as the “softer” ones from as late as 1963 (e.g., Mr. Acker Bilk’s “Stranger On The Shore” or Kyu Sakamoto’s “Sukiyaku”, or Bobby Goldsboro’s tearful “Molly”, or even Bill Purcell’s “Our Winter Love” from late that year. But the Four Seasons and Frankie Avalon were not for me — sorry. (WAIT a minute! — I DID buy Frankie Avalon’s “Venus”, “Just Ask Your Heart”, and “Why”, all from 1959: nice ballads).(couldn’t get the 78s on those, however; I had to settle for the 45s).
This could be the King of all parade cars!
This car is the most insane thing I’ve ever wanted.
Umm… chop out the middle and resurrect the original Cad-vertable?
Just a thought …
There is a rear package tray, I’ve never seen that on a convertible. As some have suggested, it was likely built as a prop for an ad campaign/TV commercial with no intention of ever making it a running driving car.
Steve R
If only I had a longer garage!
Make a cool jacuzzi!!!
Or lap pool. Olympic size caddy
@Will (TROO)
You beat me to it. My first thought was if it’s just a prop and not drivable, take the “stretch” out of the middle and put it back the way it originally was. Add an engine, transmission and drive shaft and go from there. Although it would be prohibitively expensive, you would have to source an interior and convertible top to boot. But 1958 Cadillacs are so pretty…….
If you dont do any of that, all I see is a parts car.
As if someone took Scotty’s convertible renderings and ran with it. I agree that FWD is the only way to make this work. Be sure to put good drainage in the floor ’cause you’re gonna get wet.
I live in Edgewood if any potential buyers need a PPI on this car… boat… thing.
What a monstrosity! Why would anyone want this?
Took are right, it looks like it’s been sitting for decades. If someone had a use for it it wouldn’t have wound up in this condition.
Steve R
Worth restoring but the only use I could see for it would be a airport pickup vehicle on Fantasy Island.
I remember meeting the builder once through a mutual friend. He put it together for sonic drive ins to be used in their commercials.
placesandplatypie.com/archives/033116-art-by-George-Manus.html
Cool, thanks! There’s even a picture of it on the site. Fyi for those who want to check it out, you might have a security warning pop up because he doesn’t have an SSL certificate for the domain so it’s being perceived to be a dangerous site, but it’s not. I was a web designer for a couple of decades btw.
Speaking of monstrosities, I viewed this one in Orlando last week; it even had a helicopter sitting on the helipad!!
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/worlds-longest-limo-has-swimming-pool-helipad-and-fits-75-people/
This would make an interesting car for Visegrip Garage to resurrect
Even if someone got it going, how would you get around a corner?
Kinda cool though.
I would just like to ASK for a quote to replace the top.
Just about drank a very large cup
of iced tea (64 oz) and smoked 2
cigars to figure this one out, but I
think I got it! Now lessee, as much as I detest FWD vehicles, that platform would be the way to
go with this one. You’re gonna want the transaxle from a ’70s GMC motorhome like the one they used in Stripes with Bill Murray. These rigs had the HD
transaxle with very beefy (pun intended) innards you’ll need to
help schlep this thing down the road and to handle all the torque
that a tricked out 500 CID Cadillac mill will dish out. And when you get that done, you’ve got the brakes and steering to sort out. Some type of 4 wheel
steering would work very well here. Some kind of steer by wire
system much like jet fighters use
today. And you’re gonna need the
beefiest disc brakes you can find
to make sure this thing stops when you hit the whoa pedal. And now for the body. You’ll need
more rigidity to keep the car from
folding in on itself. From what I
see here, you could gusseted support beams to save weight.
You could install these like the ribs of a ship. By doing this, the
weight is spread more evenly over the whole structure. You could build this car as a 4-door
landaulet where part of the convertible top would fold down for the rear seat passengers and
a retractable canvas top like the
type Cadillac town cars of the ’30s would be used to cover the
driver’s compartment. Once you get ‘er wired up and secure the
plumbing for the HVAC done, you
can dress the interior out any way
you want it. And as for the roof?
That would be located between
the 2 halves of the convertible top. The rear half of the convertible top would use a standard header and latches to secure it in place once it’s in the
up position. And if you wanna get fancy, you could cover the roof top with brushed aluminum
or paint it to match the rest of the
body. Wanna go fancier yet? Just add one of those sliding glass sun roofs from Jeep or KIA.
Treat the glass with photo chromatic tint (the stuff they use
for self darkening glasses) so that those in the rear won’t bake on a hot summer day. And yes Angel 😇, I might be screwy, but that’s the way I’d build this car. If
I were 50 years younger, I’d probably try it just for grins and
giggles. I’ve built some weird sh*t in my time so this wouldn’t be any different. And with all that
stuff laid out, I think it’s time to
finish my iced tea, have one more
cigar, and toddle off to bed. Lemme know what you think. Can’t wait to read what you say.
Frankie Avalon, pfft, his career was nothing without the fabulous Annette Funicello, even though they remained friends until she died in 2013. According to her, off camera, he never even got to 1st base although the beach movies suggested otherwise. You know, I bet there is literally a vast junkyard of disposed movie props somewhere in L.A. I bet my son in law would know. Wouldn’t that be fun,,,probably be mostly old Barris creations.
Hi Howard! He was also in Panic
In The Year Zero with Ray Milland
and Jean Hagen. Great film for what the budget was. Not to mention the ’61 (?) Mercury Monterey 4-door hardtop too. And Les Baxters music score made the movie pop. It’s still on
YouTube if ever you wanna watch
it. I think that he and Annette did
a sequel to all those beach movies in the early ’90s too. He played a keyed up Ford dealer in
that one. They were married for 25 years when she suggests to him that he take some time off and they go back to the same beach to have some fun. Kinda
tied up all the loose ends for their
characters too. Was definitely one of those what if movies that
you never knew about unless you
watched it. And as for this car, if
no one wants to build it here in the states, ship it to Cuba and I’ll
bet you those guys would have it
up and running in no time. Those folks are without doubt the world’s best mechanics. Talk about Yankee ingenuity in a communist country, they got it in
spades! Just imagine the cash
that a cuban taxi driver could make schlepping tourists around
Havana in this thing! Now that would be a YouTube video I’d love
to see.
I’d try to find and install a FWD drivetrain from an Eldorado or Toranado and skip the driveshaft although they’re getting rare too…
I just bought this caaaaaaaaaar!!🤭🤷😁👍
Alright Gary! You gotta do a youtube channel on the thing!