A vintage Caddy on ice

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Cecile Everson of Jacksonville sits inside her 1954 Cadillac Fleetwood Wednesday. The General Electric Co. gave the Cadillac to Everson’s father, Eugene Chase, 54 years ago as part of a settlement for an ice-cube tray he invented.

It's a sea-foam green, 4,500-pound, 54-year-old heirloom that still sails along effortlessly at 60 mph.

"It's a boat," says owner Cecile Everson, of Jacksonville, of the '54 Cadillac Fleetwood Series 60 Special sedan that she will navigate to the "D.A.R.E. to Cruise" Saturday in Central Point. It will be the car's second appearance in a show after being stowed in a shop for almost 18 months for restoration.

Beyond the glistening new paint job and polished chrome, the story of how the car came into Everson's hands is as unique as the Caddy itself.

Back in the early 1950s, her father, Eugene Chase, of San Francisco, invented a revolutionary ice-cube tray. This was back in the days before plastic trays and automatic ice makers, when getting the ice out of the tray was a chore. Chase's invention had a metal handle that loosened the ice cubes from the tray.

Everson still has a couple of the trays her father invented. He tried to patent his invention, but in 1954 General Motors (see correction note below) ignored Chase's efforts and began mass producing a tray that worked exactly like his.

Everson says her dad, who was taking law classes at the time, knew fighting GE over his invention wasn't worth it, so he settled for $5,000 (about $40,000 today) and the Caddy GE offered him.

In 1954, the car sold new for $4,863. In today's dollars that would buy a bare-bones Cadillac SRX Crossover SUV or a pair of brand new Ford Mustangs.

The Fleetwood was the cream of the crop in the 1950s, with automatic windows, two ashtrays and cigarette lighters in the rear seat and an automatic headlight adjuster. A "Hydra-matic Drive" transmission allowed the captain of the Caddy to switch gears effortlessly between neutral, drive, low and reverse.

"This was before they invented 'park,' " Everson says. "At the time this was really upscale."

Everson was just 4 years old when her dad came home with the car that became his obsession. His rules dictated no one ate in the car, and given the option of parking close to home in the sun or farther away in the shade, the Chase family always ended up walking a few extra blocks.

The car was still in San Francisco with her dad when he died in 2001. Everson claimed it a year later and has been housing it ever since in a garage she added to her home just for her dad's prized possession.

The Cad's big V8 engine still purrs, Everson says, though it's anything but a kitten.

"It's big, like a school bus," says Everson, who drove buses for Medford schools in the mid-1970s.

The car only has about 82,000 miles on the odometer. Everson has put about $12,000 into it for a fresh paint job, new chrome and routine maintenance. The forest-green interior needs some work, she says, but it still has all its original features.

"It's fun to have such a fun legacy going on," Everson says, adding that her son will inherit the Caddy next.

Reach reporting intern Stacey Barchenger at 776-4464 or e-mail her at intern1@mailtribune.com.

Correction: The original version of this story made an incorrect reference to General Electric. This version has been corrected.

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