This 1941 Cadillac is a rolling history project

You could say that David Hime sort of eased into the collector car hobby. He wasn’t really planning to buy a classic Cadillac sedan.

"I was at the BlackTop Nationals and every car that I looked at, I would think, is that a car I would like to have or not? It seems like everybody is into muscle cars," he said.

So he went home and started entering model years of cars for sale on Craigslist, to see what might strike his fancy. When he entered 1941, he recalls, "This car popped up in Topeka."

The car in the photo was a jet black 1941 Model 6109 Cadillac 4-door sedan. "I thought if this is what it really looks like, I’m going to buy it … and it was," Hime said.

The man selling the car had owned at least a half dozen ’41 Cadillacs in his lifetime and was selling one of his last two. Hime made the deal and headed for home.

"It was a running, driving car. I drove it back from Topeka," he said.

His wife, Connie, clarified, saying, "He drove it, towed it, drove it, towed it … a little bit of both."

The old points-and-condenser ignition system was the culprit. Hime solved the problem with a drop-in electronic ignition module. "Now it fires right up, hot or cold, it doesn’t matter," he said.

The car, which has 77,000 original miles showing on the odometer, had been sold by Capitol Cadillac Company in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 1941, to a local minister. He put approximately 50,000 of those miles on the car before selling it sometime in the late 1960s, when it also was repainted, said Hime.

"I tried to trace down the original owner … but the dealership moved in 1978 and a lot of their records were destroyed," he said.

The car’s second owner put another 25,000 miles on it and then put it in storage for 25 years, said Hime, who bought the Cadillac about a year and a half ago. The Topeka owner had the car for about four years.

Hime has embarked on what amounts to a historical research project, trying to find out all he can about the car. He has the original factory build sheet, which reveals the car’s only options were a horn ring for the steering wheel, a license plate frame and trim rings for the wheels. No radio, no heater, no whitewall tires.

"For me, a car delivered in Washington, D.C., without a heater is kind of weird," Hime said.

The Cadillac is powered by a 346 cubic inch flathead V-8, looking a bit like a big brother to the Ford flatheads of the period. Although 1941 was the first year Cadillac offered a fully automatic transmission, this car came with the basic three-speed manual transmission.

"The interior is original except for the front seat cover, which is from another GM car of that era," Hime explained.

He hopes to find the correct fabric and have that seat reupholstered at some point. The cavernous rear seat is in pristine condition, including the rolltop-style ash tray covers in the outside armrests.

"There’s not a bit of rust underneath it," he said. "I would call this a survivor. The question is, where do I go from here? To take it to the next level would require a whole new paint job and a whole bunch of chrome plating. Everything on this car is expensive."

The signs of age on the car don’t bother his wife at all. "I think that’s what makes it unique," she said.

"I am trying to draw a line and pick my battles," Hime said. "What do I want to fix and what do I want to leave alone?"

He wants to be able to drive the car to shows, where it already has attracted plenty of attention. So practical things, like a fuel filter, an electric fuel pump, a new exhaust system and a fresh set of bias-ply wide whitewall tires, are necessary.

But he has resisted the temptation to upgrade the old 6-volt positive ground electrical system to a modern 12-volt negative ground setup. "I did put a compass in it … it was the old style, so I thought that fit," he said.

"It’s really been a learning experience. You’ve got to learn how to drive an old car all over again. And you’ve got to be able to drive it," he emphasized.

So how does it drive?

"I was expecting that ’52 Chevy feel from the old days … but this car just floats along. It drives like a Cadillac. In fact, I think that’s where that expression came from," Hime said

This story was originally published February 11, 2012 at 5:00 AM with the headline "This 1941 Cadillac is a rolling history project."