Fins ‘n’ Caddies

It’s like stepping into Ali Baba’s cave.

You gaze upon neat piles of silvery and gilded baubles everywhere, plus dozens and dozens of much larger trophies of wealth and power lined up in rows.

That’s the sensation when you walk onto the display floor where Ed Cholakian keeps his private collection of ‘40s- and ‘50s-era Cadillacs and accessories.

These classic cars, and the ceiling-high shelves of neatly arranged spare parts in vintage chrome, gilt and burnished metal, fill a half-acre industrial building in Sylmar.

More than 20 years ago, Cholakian started the collection with a single 1947 Caddy. At the time, he had a successful business manufacturing parts for high-performance cars that were often tested at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Now he runs a specialty hat and T-shirt business, and has managed to increase his private car collection to 180 Cadillacs. (And that’s after selling off more than three dozen autos and a few tons of parts in the past few years.)

About 50 Caddies are on display, including slick gangster-era sedans such as one recently rented for an upcoming Richard Dreyfuss HBO movie, “Lansky,” and glorious chrome and fin-bedecked convertibles from the Marilyn Monroe era.

Visitors will spot a Rolls-Royce--but Cholakian said he’s just storing it for a friend.

Admission is free, but visitors must call for an appointment. Individuals or groups can call even on the day of the desired visit.

Cholakian conducts the tours personally, and he obviously enjoys doing so. “These are cars you can touch and sit in,” he beamed during a recent tour.

Indeed, once you’ve accepted his offer to step into an immense, luxuriously appointed ’48 Cadillac limousine, you’ll never want to leave. “People have never seen anything like this,” he said. “They love getting in these cars.”

But you won’t linger for long, because Cholakian has a sure-fire way of getting you to the next stop on the tour.

He pointed out the next model, an even larger 1941 limo painted a strange drab color--it was Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s staff car when he was in the Pacific during World War II.

You gotta see that one up close. It is, oddly, like something out of “Star Wars”--big, powerful, mysterious.

Maybe it’s the karma. Indeed, Cholakian says Cadillac engines were chosen to power tanks during WWII--two per tank.

That’s just one of the anecdotes he tells that helps explain why for years--especially during the ‘40s and ‘50s--Cadillac was able to call itself “The Standard of the World.” Go see for yourself.

BE THERE

“Ed Cholakian’s All Cadillacs of the Forties and Fifties,” a private collection of 50- and 60-year-old restored and semi-restored Cadillacs. Open Saturdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 12811 Foothill Blvd. Sylmar. Free, but reservations are necessary; call (818) 361-1147.