Cadillac survives five generations, still revving its engine for Sunday drives

By Louise Rachlis

On the August long weekend, a gleaming 1956 Cadillac will be officially unveiled at the Cowan Family’s Annual Croquet Tournament at their Heart Lake cottage in Quebec.

The family’s annual reunion is a big deal - the Ottawa Citizen did a full page story 30 years ago - but the presence this year of the Cadillac makes it even more special.

The Cadillac travelled a long road to be there, beginning with its original owner, Alec Benson Cowan, who lived at 516 Queen Elizabeth Drive. Alec and his wife Frances Elinor (aka Nell) built the original family cottage in Quebec, started the croquet tournament, and bought the ‘56 Cadillac.

Alec Benson Cowan (1892-1976) passed the car to his son, Ira Benson Cowan (Ben, of Aylmer Ontario), who in turn passed it to his son, John Cowan.

In 2003, the car passed to Eric (Alec’s grandson) and Dan (his great, great, grandson), who purchased the car off of John Cowan’s estate to create a scholarship trust fund for the school where he taught.

 Alec’s great grandson and conservator Justin Johnson is currently restoring the Cadillac’s original bill of sale.

The car was parked on blocks for most of the last 13 years, and “people would needle me about when I was going to do something about it,” said Dan, who lives in Alta Vista with his wife Allison, their son Jack, 14, and daughter Grace, 11.  Dan works for the federal government, and Allison is with The Conference Board of Canada.

After replacing a number of engine components themselves in spring 2016, Dan and Eric heard the engine roar to life for the first time in years. This sound inundated Eric with childhood memories of fishing with his Grandfather Alec.  With a renewed commitment to restoring the vehicle, they invited family to help reach the finish line together.

Family elder Alan Roffey of Toronto jumpstarted the Caddy fund with a generous $1,000 contribution and others soon joined in.

The family now maintains a Facebook group, Alec Cowan’s Original 1956 Cadillac, to share their car memories and chronicle the restoration at Wicked Garage, in Greely.

Dan posted:

“On November 1st, 1956, Alexander B. Cowan (Alec) of 516 Queen Elizabeth Drive, Ottawa, ON traded in his ‘54 Buick for a new 1956 Series 62 Cadillac Sedan. Memories of this iconic car with the telltale Cadillac fins and chrome trim now span five generations.

“By all accounts, the ‘56 Caddy has been through it all... business trips, fishing trips, family road trips, vacations, weddings, funerals, croquet, reunions, accidents, repairs, storage, restorations and countless drivers….

“With your generous support we’ll be able to reintegrate Alec’s Caddy into our lives and continue making new memories for another 60 years to come. Weddings... graduations... reunions.... croquet....family portraits..... Sunday drives.... Just imagine them all with the original family car. Let’s do this together.”

It was a five-month project, involving lots of time in the garage, sourcing and ordering special parts, and satisfying the safety checks.  

When a locksmith opened the glove box, they found a handwritten note which listed the codes for songs on the custom horn including “Hail, Hail, the Gang’s All Here.”

Also in the glove box was the original owner’s manual. It contained such instructions as: IMPORTANT: PUSHING OR TOWING – Your Cadillac should not be towed or pushed for any greater distance than normally required to start the engine.

Another funny instruction in the owner’s manual was “TO STOP – release the accelerator and step on the brake.”

In 1956, Phil Cowan, Alec’s only surviving son who now lives in Texas, was in his final year in Engineering at Queens and driving a rusted out Morris Minor. “I drove home from Kingston at Christmas and froze my butt. The Morris had no heater and there were big holes in the floorboards. When I was off to visit my lady friend, Dad asked if I would like to drive his new ‘Ford.’ I was shocked and excited to head out in the Caddy. Had great fun showing off and probably put more miles on it than he had in the previous month. Fond memories of that car. I wish I looked as good as it does these many years later.”

Family members have been credited with restoring specific parts of the vehicle.  For example, Maia Roffey, Alec’s great granddaughter, paid for a vanity licence plate, after hosting an online poll of what it ought to be. On October 30, bearing new licence plate “COWAN 56”, the car had her first Sunday drive out on some country roads, performing beautifully.

As work progressed, Dan posted: “Nothing’s easy with old cars!!!! One of the last stumbling blocks we are facing is that of the windshield wipers. The old wipers operated on vacuum pressure created by the running engine. At first they didn’t work. Then for a while they worked, but extremely slowly, and then there was a brief period when we couldn’t shut them off!!!!”

On October 13, he added: “Squared our account with Wicked Garage today. Latest round includes buying and installing the gauges, lots of wiring and electrical tidy up, fabricating a ‘battery tray’ to hold that funky battery, removing and straightening a terribly bent ‘tie rod’ - likely from a bad tow job at some point, lots of diagnosis and repair/replacements to get the horn and lights all working properly, and fixing a hole in the exhaust. Thanks again Wicked Garage and Jeremy for all the great work.”

Dan and Allison’s children Jack and Grace are the fifth generation to be riding in the Cadillac, which has always been stored indoors in the family’s garage.  “The real miracle of this car is that the Cowans aren’t really a car family,” said Dan, “and yet, the car and the croquet trophy are among the only heirloom artifacts that have survived five generations. I’m grateful to all the generations that have come together to help keep this family heirloom alive and running.”

Dan Cowan will be part of the Human Library feature of the June 17th “Seniors Month and Age Well Celebration” at the Nepean Sportsplex, and he looks forward to chatting with people there. The show details and human library members are listed at www.agewellsolutions.ca/seniors-and-families/agewell-celebration/ .