Madeline (Giles) DeJournett is the Advance writer for the North Stoddard Countian. A retired high school English/history teacher, she spent 32 years teaching in 5 schools in Missouri and Alaska. These days, she lives quietly with a menagerie of wild and domestic animals on 52 secluded acres in the remote Tillman hills south of Advance. She graduated from Dexter High School in 1960 and Southeast Missouri State in 1964. She can be contacted at advancensc@sbcglobal.net.

Longest car in the World!

Posted Monday, July 11, 2011, at 7:12 AM

Spotted at Malden

Coming back from cantaloupe country (Kennett) Saturday, my friend and I saw this immensely rusted, vintage Cadillac, sitting in front of a business across the highway from the Malden Airport.

I remember these barges traveling the highways and byways of our country, but I still find it hard to believe that Americans ever fell in love with these behemoths!

How did they ever park them??

Gas must have been really, REALLY cheap then! My friend's guess is that this is a 70's model, and I have some 70's era gas station photos that list gas prices at just above a dollar a gallon. Even at that price, the cars had to be expensive. I'll bet the gas tanks were enormous, and they must have gotten a whopping 5 miles per gallon!

The one good point I can think of is that - if you were in an accident in this car - you were bound to come out unscathed! I'm betting that the bumper--if not the whole durned car--was heavy metal! It would be like riding in a tank!

And I'm willing to bet that these cars were COMFORT itself! It must have been like driving your LIVING ROOM to go on a long road trip in this hearse!

I have to admit that it's sorta nice to have a car like this on display where we can be reminded of what it used to be like on the highways of America.

I have a final thought: How on earth did our smaller highways and streets EVER accommodate these cars????

From the rural highways of North Stoddard County, MO., this is your country bumpkin reporter Madeline, signing off on what looks to be a near-record-breaking HOT summer day! No trips to Malden today!

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Looks like an old "stretch" sedan de Ville, and you bet the tank was big, had to be or this thing wouldn't pass a gas station!!!! It actually probably got good mileage comparatively speaking, 12 mpg maybe!!!if you kept your foot out of it and just tooled around town, like most of these did.....great shot, Ms D, we're still waiting for those cantaloupes, and it's hot in Malden right now!!!!!molater, kkr

-- Posted by kkcaver47 on Mon, Jul 11, 2011, at 2:10 PM
My "daily driver" is a 1972 Pontiac Grand Ville convertible. Mpg around town-10. Interstate mpg-- 18+!! A Prius hit my rear bumper while being parked. Their plastic fender tore in half. Ooops!

-- Posted by macdaddy on Mon, Jul 11, 2011, at 2:48 PM
Is it factory built?

-- Posted by Star_gazer on Mon, Jul 11, 2011, at 7:20 PM

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