# Any guesses why this Cadillac was here? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 31, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737 "2007-10-31T17:00:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/21 "2007-10-31T20:55:35Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] While I agree with your conclusion, to be honest, as with the metric question, it’s pretty much been solved by the-whole-of-the-world versus one rather stubborn (and influential) neighbour… [/QUOTE] And as a result, we in Canada get a mix of all three systems, and these days we’re dealing with dates like 01-02-03. Arrgghh! Sometimes you just have to guess from context! On the other hand, my birthday next year will be 08-08-08. Pity I wasn’t a year younger, so I could be 44. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/22 "2007-10-31T20:58:27Z")
[QUOTE=Marienee] The car was new and was paid for. We could get more for it, even with the import costs, by taking it to Holland and selling it there, even if we had done so right after we moved. It was, to my spouse anyway, the obvious choice. I took some convincing, I thought he was perfectly mad. [/QUOTE] You know, when I wrote: > [@](#): > > Plus, there’s always the likelihood that I’m missing some obvious piece of information that would make shipping several tons of automobile half-way round the world seem the obvious choice. that’s _exactly_ the sort of thing I was hoping for. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/23 "2007-10-31T21:02:47Z")
No need to use a container ship, just call [Willenius](http://www.walleniuslines.com/the_fleet.jsp?art_id=77). Think of a giant floating parking garage, that holds 5,000 cars. This is how overseas car makers get their cars to the US. [here is what the insides of one of those ships looks like.](http://www.sunbeamtiger.co.uk/pictures/scans/Tricolor.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/24 "2007-10-31T21:08:58Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] [here is what the insides of one of those ships looks like.](http://www.sunbeamtiger.co.uk/pictures/scans/Tricolor.jpg) [/QUOTE] I would really, really like to know the story behind that last picture. ---
**Author:** ![Marienee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Marienee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marienee)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/25 "2007-10-31T21:20:28Z")
[QUOTE=WotNot] You know, when I wrote: that’s _exactly_ the sort of thing I was hoping for. Thank you. [/QUOTE] Oh, ok. Well, here’s some more of it. At the same price point, an American car has some extras which a car bought in Holland will not have. Even back then when the exchange rate was not as ruinous (to me) as it is now. Even beyond the ubiquitous cup holder (cup holders in American products – cars, strollers, car seats – are the subject of many jokes around here), our car is slightly roomier than its Dutch cognate, it has leather and a butt warmer (which we did not need in Atlanta at all but came standard) and a multi zone climate control and a wood trim dash nifty wooden steering wheel and so on. None of which will you see in Dutch cars of comparable model. You can get all that stuff, but the car for which it will be available is a more expensive car. Regular family cars don’t have that stuff. We bought it when we had quite a bit of money and we were moving in a situation where we did not have that any more. So I also think that Dearly Beloved figured if he didn’t have to take a loss on it he would like to keep it as he would be unlikely to be able to justify buying a really nice car for some time. We could have sold it here in Holland when it was still newish for about $10K more than we had paid for it. It’s now four years old so that gap may not be as large but then we have gotten the use of it since as well. The hassle factor is low to my surprise, a nice man shows up at your door and drives off with your car and then several months and another continent later someone calls you from customs to come get it. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/26 "2007-10-31T21:30:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Sometimes it’s fun, a police officer once followed me home, waited politely until I had parked and got out of my car, then told me he had followed me just to ask me what kind of car it was. I never expected to turn heads on the street riding in a Honda Accord. The car that North Americans know as the “Honda Accord” is produced in Marysville, Ohio and sold in North America, Australia and some parts of Asia. It is sold(exported) to Japan and sold under the name “Honda Inspire” as a large car. Not many are sold, as very few people require such a large car that isn’t a chauffeured Mercedes. AFAIK, It is not sold in Europe. A smaller, entirely different car, about the same size as a Honda Civic sedan, is sold in Europe and Japan under the name “Honda Accord” as a full sized family car. It is sold with a different grille in North America under the name “Acura TSX”, as a small, sporty car. It is sold in Australia as the “Honda Accord Euro”. So yeah, your American land yacht will turn heads in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/27 "2007-10-31T21:54:18Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] I would really, really like to know the story behind that last picture. [/QUOTE] No problem. What you see if a 3,000 ton section of the MV [Tricolor](http://www.answers.com/topic/mv-tricolor?cat=technology) which was struck and sunk in the English Channel in December of 2002. As the water there was almost the same depth as the beam of the ship (It was laying on its side) the decision was made to remove it as a hazard to navigation. [Here is the salvage effort website](http://www.tricolorsalvage.com/pages/home.asp) FTR all of the vehicles on board were scrapped. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/28 "2007-11-01T00:13:13Z")
The US Navy will happily ship American servicemembers’ cars across any body of water to meet them at an assigned duty station. > [@WotNot](#): > > Now, I thought of that, but I was under the impression it would have a US army (or whatever) licence plate, rather than a standard California one. Or have I got that wrong? There’s a US federal government license plate, but that only comes on cars that are owned by the government itself. Personal cars owned by servicemembers follow all of the normal registration rules of that member’s home state, which BTW usually corresponds to the state they’re stationed in or the state they entered the service from, but doesn’t have to. For example, my dad never lived in Pennsylvania, but he declared himself a Pennsylvania resident while serving in the Navy, because PA doesn’t tax servicemembers. All you have to do is tell them which state you _want_ to be from, and it’s done. (With a little red tape, of course.) Voila, you’re a citizen of that state, with all the rights and regulations that implies. > [@Sunspace](#): > > And that’s a good exaple of why we should use the only unambiguous format for writing dates numerically: year-month-day, with a four-digit year: 2003-02-12. Surely you mean: 12 February 2003. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/29 "2007-11-01T10:39:55Z")
Hey jjimm, you’re showing up as a Guest today. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/30 "2007-11-01T12:49:04Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] No problem. What you see if a 3,000 ton section of the MV [Tricolor](http://www.answers.com/topic/mv-tricolor?cat=technology) which was struck and sunk in the English Channel in December of 2002. [/QUOTE] Wow. They just cut it up in chunks. Amazing. > [@fetus](#): > > Surely you mean: 12 February 2003. Yes, that format adds another type of differentiation between month and date… but I was speaking only of an all-numeric format. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/31 "2007-11-01T13:03:53Z")
My company transfered me to the UK in 1995 and I brought [one of these](http://www.mastercustoms.com/Lumina/91z34.jpg) with me. I insured it right away, but didn’t get around to registering it for a couple months. I don’t recall what reg I was assigned. I knew American cars were popular here, and hoped I’d make a bit on it when selling it, but found no interest. I ended up trading it in for about half the blue book price. The Harley was a different story, I sold it for more than I paid for it 7 years earlier. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/32 "2007-11-01T13:56:07Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Hey jjimm, you’re showing up as a Guest today. [/QUOTE] 'Tis OK, I’ve only just renewed. (Hey, SDMB, I just paid - how about upgrading vBulletin now?!) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/33 "2007-11-01T13:57:52Z")
[QUOTE=WotNot] I must confess, I was rather hoping this might have been the case, yes. There are a few likely film locations nearby (Alnwick Castle, for one), but I think I’m inclining towards US military, from what you say. [/QUOTE] Re: movie Well, what I think they would do is if the movie had some scenes that were supposed to be in America, rather than moving the production to the States, they import a few American cars and film in a place that could ‘pass’ as America. So not at a great location like a castle that is famous, but a side street or place w/out road signs and such. But it was probably belonged to a US service man. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737/34 "2007-11-01T16:32:45Z")
My guess, too, would be U.S. government employee or dependant. The government pays to ship privately owned vehicles (POVs) overseas for military and civilians above a certain pay level. I remember tooling around Germany back in the 1970s in my commo chief’s '69 Mustang. There is an impractical element to it, of course, especially in Britain, where the steering wheel is on the “wrong” side. Elsewhere in Europe, American cars tend to be oversized. They certainly look out of place; even compacts with “European” styling tend to have a brawny look to them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-guesses-why-this-cadillac-was-here/424737.md?page=1)