The King of Cadillacs - Frank Nicodemus Castle Cadillac

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Fishkill, East Fishkill, Wappingers Falls & Poughkeepsie
December 3-9, 2014
The King of Cadillacs
Wappinger man
world famous
for restorations
By Don Rosendale
There are many puns aimed at Frank
Nicodemus. One is that he’s “The
Cadillac of Cadillac restorers.” Another is
that when he’s cut, he bleeds motor oil,
but only the kind they pour into Cadillac
engines.
Over the last 50 years, he has been
responsible for more down-to-the-lastbolt Cadillac restorations than anyone
else in the country.
Those restorations have won a garage
full of prizes at prestigious vintage car
shows, such as the annual Antique
Automobile Club of America (AACA)
show each October in Hershey, PA and
the Concours d’Elegance in Greenwich,
CT.
Nicodemus, whose headquarters is in
Wappinger, was a teenager when he first
fell in love with Cadillacs. The first was a
1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz in
Heather metallic owned by a neighbor.
Later, he came across a Cadillac that he
just had to have.
“I was writing an insurance estimate for
a dealership in White Plains, and the editor of Parade Magazine brought his 1955
Cadillac El Dorado Biarritz in for a tuneup.”
Smitten, Nicodemus says he stayed in
touch with the editor for years, hinting
that if the car was ever for sale, his checkbook was handy.
“It took 10 years,” Nicodemus says,
“but I finally got the call he was ready to
sell.” Nicodemus still owns that convertible, with its wire-rim wheels and red
hubcaps, which was seen by millions
when the Rolling Stones borrowed it to
promote their “Bridges to Babylon” tour.
He’s also provided vintage-but-looking-new Cadillacs for movie productions
and parts and services to the Elvis Presley
Frank Nicodemus stands next to his 1955 Cadillac El Dorado Biarritz in his workshop at Castle Cadillac on Route 376 in the
Town of Wappinger.
- Photo by Curtis Schmidt
estate, George Barris and Rob Meyers
(R&M Auctions).
But it’s not his connection to Mick
Jagger for which Nicodemus is most
renowned. It’s the frame off – meaning
the sheet metal is taken off the car chassis
for restoration authentic to the last bolt –
restoration.
As for bolts, Nicodemus points to the
shiny bolts on top of the radiator of a
Cadillac in for restoration at Castle
Cadillac in Wappinger Falls.
“See that bolt? It has ‘T.R.’ stamped on
top of it. These are same bolts Cadillac
used in the originals, some were cadmium
plated and some were plain.” But when
Nicodemus restores a Cadillac, it’s with
the authentic “T.R.” bolts and now, he
says, “Not something we got from Home
Depot.”
And he makes sure the fenders are
attached with 24 bolts, not the dozen bolts
General Motors would have used for a
Chevrolet.
A Nicodemus restoration might take as
long as a year, and cost from $100,000
to$250,000. A partial restoration costs
less, depending upon the work.
His clients come from as far away as
California and Singapore. The chairman
of Samsung has had two Cadillacs
restored by Nicodemus, one each for his
company’s car museums in South Korea
and Germany.
Continued on pg 2
Your News
Southern Dutchess News
Pillowcases become
much-needed dresses
Hopewell Junction resident and Columbiette Virginia Hegarty holds one of the pillowcase dresses that will be sent to Africa.
- Photo by Kristine Coulter
By Kristine Coulter
Some came carrying sewing machines. Others brought different
materials and embellishments to use. They were ready to make
dresses from pillowcases, for girls in Africa.
“Anything we can do to help other people – local or not,” said
Kathy Gorman, who helps organize the group. The sewing group
was started after hearing about it from Columbiettes in Kingston.
The organization is Little Dresses for Africa. Dresses are also sent
to Haiti. Members of the local St.Mary’s Columbiettes and East
Fishkill Community Library’s Community Stitchers meet at the
Knight of Columbus Hall off of Route 82 in Fishkill to make the
pillowcase dresses.
Wappingers Falls resident Anne Longo is a Columbiette.
“What I’ve been doing, I’ve been putting the basting around the
armholes,” explained Longo. She said using the pillowcases “is so
simple.”
Longo said her fellow sewers are “very enthusiastic” about the
project. “You get a good feeling when you do this kind of stuff,”
Longo said,
Cathy Foley is a part of the E.F.C.L. Stitchers.
“We’re just helping out,” said the Wappingers Falls resident. She
added: “This is so great. There’s such a need, obviously. To me
these little girls have to be thrilled to have something so pretty.”
Foley said she puts the elastic through the material and adds
the trimming.
Continued on pg 3
Page 2
SOUTHERN DUTCHESS NEWS
December 3, 2014
Wappinger is headquarters to Cadillac master
Continued from pg 1
The current works in progress include a
1940 Cadillac LaSalle, a 1958 Coupe de
Ville, a 1958 El Dorado, a 1985 El
Dorado, a 1956 Sedan deVille, a 1967
Eldorado with rare factory bucket seats, a
1938 Chevrolet Business Coupe in purple, a 1934 Hupmobile full body-off
restoration and a 1954 Buick Roadmaster
convertible.
While the majority of his restoration
work is with Cadillacs, Nicodemus’
restoration skills have also brought in a
Shelby Mustang Cobra and a 1950s vintage Porsche “bathtub” coupe, being
stripped to the bare metal to be re-painted.
“It was one of the few
they built with Corvette
engines. I bought it and
drove it a few times but it
was just too much for me.”
-- Frank Nicodemus
Talking about the Cadillac CTS-V coupe
There’s also a 1959 Cadillac Brougham
built on a Cadillac chassis, but with a
body built in Italy by Pininfarina, best
known as the designer for Ferrari models.
These were favored by Sinatra and the
“Rat Pack” and Nicodemus is proud of
one of the 100 ever built.
To make sure he has enough of a fastdiminishing supply of antique and vintage
Cadillac parts, Nicodemus regularly buys
up wrecks and “barn finds,” which are
stacked all through the shop. He calls the
old ones “his library.”
There are literally thousands of
Cadillac parts and hubcaps.
And when they can’t find a part,
Nicodemus and his long-time partner,
Chris Semke, simply make it to the original Cadillac standard - or better. Semke
demonstrates a vintage press in which
new panels are hand-formed and then
seamlessly welded to the body instead of
banging out the old one or dealing with
rust.
Sometimes the work is better than the
original in Detroit. Raising the hood of a
car restoration in progress, Nicodemus
points to the new paint.
“The old paint would burn off,” he
explains. “We have replaced it with heat
resistant paint.”
And there are special projects, a
Cadillac with the legendary “air bag suspension.” He recounts, “We had to
rebuild the entire air pump that operated
the air-bag system so it could be pumped
up.”
“This car,” he says, pointing to a
Cadillac on a lift, “is rare because it was
one of the first with air conditioning. The
AC unit is in the trunk and blows the air
back through the roof liner.”
The name for Nicodemus’ business
came from the building in which it is
located, which was a disco and health
club called “The Castle,” with a crenelated roofline and turrets.
“Everyone knows this building as ‘The
Castle,’” he explains, and “the name just
stuck.”
Of all the Cadillacs in and out of The
Castle, though, the favorite is a 2004
Cadillac CTS-V coupe, still showroom
shiny and with less than a thousand miles
on the odometer.
“It was one of a few they built with
Corvette engines,” he says. “I bought it
and drove it a few times but it was just too
much for me.”
Above, Frank Nicodemus views a 390 cubic inch engine in his workshop. Below,
he talks about turbine style wheel covers.
- Photos by Curtis Schmidt