One-Off Cadillac Coupe De Ville Heads for SEMA 2011

A Harrington Park couple spent six years customizing a Cadillac that is one of only two Australian creations to be among the top 50 at the world’s biggest custom car show. Dubbed Wild Cad, the car is currently on its way to participate at the Showcase of Kustoms Motorama and will also be attending the SEMA show this November.

Mario and Catriona Colalillo, creators of the Wild Cad, hope for their one-off 1955 Coupe De Ville to grab the D-elegance category.

The Caddy boasts a 7.4-litre 454 big block Chevy engine powering a Turbo 400 transmission and 9-inch rear end, a ‘55 Desoto grille, and fully exposed chassis rails. Inside, the Wild Cad features Thunderbird seats and a center-mounted ‘59 Chevy instrument cluster. The special exterior paint is estimated at AU$200,000, bornrich.org reports.

“I had people ringing up saying: We can’t get him (Winfield) - how did you get him to come to Australia?” stated Colalillo for the local media. “There’s a lot of features on the car that are out of the ordinary. I’m still getting used to having free weekends. You have got to throw everything at it in the end. It’s like building five cars at once.”

He also estimated he had spent thousands of hours on building the car over the six years period. “The last two years got to be a bit of an obsession,” he said.

The Colalillos hope to sell the Wild Cad while traveling the custom car circuit, as ZZ Top lead singer Billy Gibbons, basketballer Shaquille O’Neal, and Metallica’s James Hetfield have already expressed their interest in the car.