Louie Mattar, a San Diego garage owner with a big imagination, who turned his 1947 Cadillac into a how-to guide for four-wheeled DIYers everywhere. When he bought a brand new Cadillac four years ago, the extra equipment his dealer offered was not enough and Mattar started to add a weird assortment of things that other motorists can only dream of.
Doing most of the work himself, he put in a shower, coiling the pipes from his 50-gallon water tanks around the exhaust manifold for the hot water. A pumping system was crammed under the hood. Next to the taillight went a drinking fountain and under the dashboard a tape recorder and a bar with spigots for whisky, water and soda. In the back seat he put a washing machine, a stove and even included a kitchen sink. All this took four years to do and cost Mattar better than $14,000.
Later that year, in Sept. 1952, Mattar’s ultra-tricked-out Caddy set a world endurance non-stop record (since eclipsed) when three drivers, working in shifts, traveled round-trip from San Diego to New York and back — 6,300 miles — in one week. It later traveled — virtually non-stop, due to Mattar’s innovations that allowed it to refuel while driving, etc. — from Anchorage, Alaska, to Mexico City.
The car, along with a trailer, which Mattar also custom made, is now in the San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa Park.
