There was an air of inevitability about it, but ultimately it was Steve Sullivan’s 1958 Cadillac Sedan De Ville which was crowned King at the finals of this year’s Kingstown Shipping Car of the Year competition. All weekend long Steve engaged with members of the public who crowded around the car like bees around a honeypot and many of the finalists who had opined that it would almost certainly be the winner were proven to be correct.
This year’s judges included Rob Woodall who won car of the year 12 years ago and has gone on to restore a number of cars featured in the magazine, as well as provide technical features for Classic American, whilst judging in every Car of the Year competition since 2010. As in previous years, the winner of the previous Car of the Year competition was invited to judge, in this case John Miller, who won in 2019 with his 1955 Dodge Royal Custom Lancer. And lastly, editor Ben Klemenzson was the third judge. Why so many judges? Well, different folks have different personal preferences (i.e. originality over restoration etc.) and by having several judges like this, it evens out the differences in opinion.
The Kingstown Shipping crew were on hand for the handing over of the trophy and in addition to this, Steve received a cheque for £500 and his car will be featured on the front cover of the February issue, with an extensive, in-depth feature in the magazine itself. Steve’s Cadillac has been awarded prizes up and down the land, from a class win at this year’s London Concours, to Best in Show at the Stars and Stripes, Best Cadillac at the Rally of the Giants and even Best in Class (Best Fifties,) at the Grand European Cadillac concours gathering in Germany.
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It looks like Steve’s attempt to recreate what a brand-new 1958 Cadillac would be like right from the factory has succeeded and his car wowed the many visitors to the Classic American stand over the weekend of November 11-13th. Congratulations to Steve on such a worthy winning car and to Kingstown Shipping for sponsoring this year’s event and for making the whole competition possible. You can read all about this fascinating time capsule car in the February issue of Classic American next month!
