Old car puts new spin on family's Father's Day getaway

When Paul Lederer qualified for his first driver's license in April, he did it behind the wheel of his family's Ford Focus. Now the 16-year-old South Barrington resident is cruising through the West in a 1914 Cadillac he helped restore with his father, Bob.

"The most different part is that when you go in the gears you have to make sure the engine is going the right speed," Paul says of the open seven-passenger touring car that has no automatic transmission, no power steering, no power brakes, no roof, no sound system and no heater.

"It was pretty neat trying to keep warm in the snow," Paul says, recalling how he and his dad rumbled through a light dusting of snow last week on a mountain pass through Wyoming.

"He's doing fine," Bob, 51, says of Paul, noting that this trip reminds him of his childhood with his father, Herbert. "When I was my son's age, we were doing similar tours and adventures."

The groundwork for this excursion began last winter in the family's Chicago Parts & Sound garage in Wood Dale, where Bob and Paul meticulously reassembled the engine and got the car ready for the trip.

"We worked most of the day on Saturdays," Bob says, adding that they both adhered to the philosophy that "it's supposed to be fun."

The hobby has been passed to a new generation.

"I did all sorts of stuff-assembling, sanding, polishing," says Paul, who will be a junior this fall at Barrington High School. "I refurbished a toolbox that goes on the running board."

The fruits of that labor are on display now in a Red Rock Rendezvous antique car rally, where 13 drivers from around the country drive vehicles built before 1915 through the scenic roads of Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park and Colorado. The Lederers used their modern pickup to trailer the Cadillac to Laramie, Wyo., where the rally began June 4 and ends on June 26.

"It's a good way to see the country," says Jackie Lederer, 47, who flew to Colorado with daughter Alissa, 14, in time to meet up with the men in the family for the last week of the trip. "As long as the cars are working, I love it."

A busted metal part on one of the Cadillac's wooden-spoke wheels did require a welder, but the car has held up well, Bob Lederer says. Drivers generally hum along about 40 to 45 miles per hour and cover somewhere between 150 and 220 miles in a day, depending on road conditions, weather and the amount of time spent waiting for buffalo to cross their paths.

"I like riding in old cars. I don't do all the mechanical stuff, but I enjoy the ride," says Alissa, who will start her freshman year at Barrington High School this fall. "It gets annoying if they break down, but I don't really miss the sound system and whatnot. It's fun to see people's reaction as we drive by."

It certainly makes planning for their Father's Day celebration easy. The Lederers know how they'll spend the holiday.

"We are," Paul says, "going to be driving a car."