Former Mayor Rizzo's 1980 Cadillac auctioned

Going, going . . .

With an offer in the $28,000 range, George Poulos of Philadelphia, a retired Nissan dealer with a collection of classic cars, Saturday took the keys to the black 1980 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham once owned by the Big Bambino himself, the late Philadelphia Mayor Frank L. Rizzo.

Poulos is a longtime Rizzo fan.

"When he was mayor, I started the fund to buy bulletproof vests for police officers," said Poulos, who firmly refused to reveal the exact price he paid at the Wildwood Classic Car Auction on Saturday.

It's an oddity of car auctions - the seller gets to set a reserve, in this case, $40,000; the auctioneer orchestrates the bidding; and if, as in this case, the bids don't reach the reserve, the seller can pull the car out.

So after someone else's bid of $27,500 was turned down, Rizzo's son, Philadelphia City Councilman Frank Rizzo, who was selling the car to help pay for the upkeep of his father's statue, huddled with Poulos and the two agreed to a sale with the contingency that the precise amount would not be revealed.

Poulos, 72, said he would drive the Cadillac himself - not resell it.

Rizzo was pleased with the deal. "He is a real, true 'car guy,' " Rizzo said of Poulos, "So I know the car will be well cared for."

The Cadillac has just 16,170 miles on it and is in pristine condition, with a shine as slick as the late mayor's hair. Still, a similar Cadillac with no such pedigree might have had a Kelly Blue Book value in the $8,000 range.

At an auction, it's tough to tell who is bidding and who's scratching an itch. It's all done with a wink and a nod. But the auctioneers know that buyers and sellers are the ones wearing yellow lanyards around their necks, and they keep close eye contact.

The Rizzo Caddy was among some 250 cars for auction Saturday, said auctioneer Scott Adcock. Quite a few did not sell, and many others went for far below their asking prices, probably a reflection of the economy, he said.

Councilman Rizzo arrived at the sale at 11 a.m. For much of the morning and afternoon, well-wishers who admitted having little disposable income to spend on a classic car stopped to pose with the councilman and the car.

"We're big Rizzo fans," said Gina Puzzangra of Wallingford, who took a snapshot in front of the Cadillac with her husband, Frank, and son Dante.

At 3 p.m., Rizzo was invited onstage for a brief hello and was greeted with applause, even though it was clear that not many in the crowd were there for the Cadillac.

"What do we have for this huge piece of history?" Adcock called to the crowd of several hundred, some in bleachers facing him and others wandering the convention room floors, admiring the offerings.

Gene Taylor, who grew up in Juniata and owns Gene's Classic Cars in Paulsboro, went as high as $27,500. But Rizzo turned that down.

The Cadillac had been a gift to Rizzo when he retired as mayor in 1980 from his son, Frank, now 67, who has been a Philadelphia councilman at large since 1995.

Outfitted with a wood-trimmed, tilt and telescoping steering wheel, the car has dual-comfort seats of leather and a 6-liter V8 engine. The original price tag was $17,724, including taxes, delivery, and all the extras - the cruise control, opera lamps, twilight sentinel, theft-deterrence system, heated outside mirrors, spoked wheel covers, and whitewall steel-belted radials.

But after a few months of retirement, the former mayor took a job with Philadelphia Gas Works, and that job included a company car. So the Cadillac stayed in the garage, except for occasional Sunday outings.

After the former mayor died of a heart attack in July 1991, the Cadillac's outings were reduced to once-a-year drives by the councilman, who said Saturday he was selling the car with some regret. The proceeds will pay for upkeep of a statue of his father outside the Municipal Services Building.

"When I'm gone," the councilman said, "I want to make sure his statue is well taken care of."

Like the former mayor himself, the statue by Zeno Frudakis is larger than life - a 10-foot bronze that depicts him walking down the steps, waving.

The image stands next to an abstract sculpture titled Government of the People, which, the mayor once famously said, resembled a pile of something not worth repeating.

The remark was classic Rizzo. Throughout his career, as a police officer, police commissioner, and two terms as mayor, Rizzo was both praised and criticized for his tough tactics and frank talk.