By Jesse Kiser

Downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina – the cigarette capital of the world. On a small two-way street in the art district, the noise of an 18-wheeler echoes off the buildings, catching ears that hear the pitter pattering of a beast approaching. People turn to see only a flat black Cadillac with a metal-flake red hard top with four riders inside. Everyone looks down the road past the Caddy to see where the source of that truck-like noise is, and then they are rudely startled by a romp of the throttle and a billow of black smoke coming from the Caddy’s four-inch side pipe in its front fender. That’s followed by some cursing from those on the sidewalk. Jason Livingston and crew laughing from inside the car make a perfect scene at the Heavy Rebel Weekender bash on July 4th.

Livingston, a construction worker who hails from Lenoir, North Carolina, built a Frankenstein of a car: a 1965 Cadillac with a Turbo Diesel Cummings drive train. He, like so many, wanted to do something different, but he had no etchings or drawn-out plan. Rather, a combination of efforts and fate led his wife’s Amanda Livingston Cadillac to become what it is today.

”Plus, I like blowing black smoke on people on the side walk. They’re waiting on a truck to come by or something. This car comes by, and we blow black smoke on them. I guess it makes people mad that we laugh about it and go on,” said Livingston.

Livingston has owned the car for five years. Last year, the car was a flat Carolina Blue color with a gold top, but it was changed for good reasons.

”We did a flat black because with the pipe out the side, it would spew black smoke on the side from the front to the back,” said Livingston. “After a day’s driving you can still see black smoke all the way down the side. Plus, we just needed a change.”

… hold onto your hats, we’ll be back with the rest of the story and more pics …