In the late 1980s Zanetti fell in love with 1950s American cars, and the Cadillac, in particular - especially the 1959 model. Those mile-high fins, the tonnes of chrome that look as if they were slapped on with a trowel..."These cars look like they were designed by cartoonists!"

On a trip to LA, he came home with a 1954 Corvette, a 1957 Thunderbird...and a 1959 Cadillac convertible. Explaining all this as carry-on luggage to customs proved sticky, but they all ended up in Paul's backyard in dire need of restoration. The Thunderbird was sold and Paul gave the Corvette (restored and red) to Michelle if she would marry him.

The 1959 Cadillac convertible was restored in metallic pink (Persian Sand), and Paul & Michelle drove this car all around the east coast and inland of Australia, from Cairns in Queensland, to Warrnambool in Western Victoria, out to the Western plains of NSW, meeting newspaper editors, while establishing his newspaper syndication.

Front pages the following mornings usually consisted of reports that a UFO had landed.

The '59 was soon sold as Paul grabbed an opportunity to own Australia's most famous and sought after Cadillac - 'Priscilla', a then-red 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible - the only one in Australia, and believed to be the only right-hand-drive one in the world. Subsequent research revealed it to be one of the most unique and desirable post-war American car worldwide, being the only known survivor with all the rarest and most desirable factory specifications and options of America's most definitive collectable car. (see next page, for more about this car). To Paul, the car is priceless (and is used as a daily driver, to be passed onto his son, Dylan).

As anyone who falls in love with cars will tell you, it's very hard to stop at one. Some have called it an illness.

Paul soon added a 1956 Cadillac Sedan DeVille to his garage...then a pink 1959 Cadillac Sedan DeVille...a white 1959 Eldorado Biarritz...and an assortment of other chromed and finned classic Cadillacs.

Paul had assembled the finest collection of 1950s Cadillacs ever seen in Australia.

After being chased regularly down the road by hysterical couples wanting the cars for their wedding, in the early 1990s Paul's wife, Michelle, set up Wild Weddings, specialising in the classic Cadillacs of the 1950s & '60s...

In September 2000, Paul and Michelle sold the business, keeping their favourite cars, including the Biarritz - and Michelle's 'new' metallic turquoise 1964 Thunderbird convertible.

In early 2002, Paul undertook a complete re-restoration of Priscilla, returning her from non-factory 'red' (previous owner's colour-change) to the original factory triple 'Persian Sand' (metallic pink), and converted the car back to its factory original left-hand drive.





During the restoration, Paul tracked down the original factory 'Warranty Book' for the car from the files of a previous owner. Using the Warranty book as a starting point, in 2005 Paul established the complete history of the car from original owner, through all the previous 12 owners and joined the dots, revealing a colourful and rich history and pedigree. (More at the Priscilla page, for history and specs).