Labor of love finally ready

John Ricci has an angel as a co-pilot.

Nearly 51 years after purchasing a 1934 Cadillac Coupe, he has finally completed a total restoration of the car. It’s been a journey of starts and stops and of love and heartbreak.

John’s wife, Donna, met him at the age of 16½ in 1966 when they first started dating. John had recently purchased the car, which was already in poor condition, and Donna said that the car was already his “gem.” They got married in 1968 and built a house on Tara Street in Johnston. Together they had three children, John Michael, Jennifer and Jaclyn.

“He knows the cars better than he knows us, he’s had them long before he had us,” joked his son, John Michael.

The car was purchased in Manton and was towed home by a truck as it had no working brakes. Prior to John acquiring it, the car had been used by a family. Since the age of 15, after he and his friends got involved with antique cars, John has restored many. However, this particular car took longer than others. Reluctantly, he admits that for many years the car’s only purpose was that of a shelf. He’d work on it during weekends or spare time, but he was in no rush.

“Every piece that I touched had to be fixed, it was a huge project,” said John.

“I can recall, when my brother and I were in high school, I only saw him do one thing on the car. The frame of the seat was all wood and he restored it,” said Jennifer. “Then he parked the car in the corner of the garage and piled stuff on top of it, and we didn’t see it for years.”

Christmas, birthday and Father’s Day presents from his family were all used as opportunities to provide something for the car’s restoration. The family also began what they called a “Cadillac fund” as a way to provide money for restoration efforts, as John wanted to rework every inch of the car to exact manufacture specifications, from the engine to wheels. Parts he couldn’t find he made himself. Some, like the car’s grill, he waited 50 years to find.

“When God created him, He gave him magic hands,” said Donna.

John’s proud of his work, showing of the car’s chrome, paint job, reupholstered seats, personalized license plate and the huge photobooks of the project over time. For a novice, it’s hard to keep up with his level of expertise. But the love he has for the car and those who have helped with the project is unmistakable.

“These are all of my friends, they hang around over here and I don’t charge them, but they have to work once in a while,” said John of the nearly dozen people who came out when the Sun Rise interviewed him. “They’d do jobs like ‘hold the other end up’ or something like that.”

John’s road to complete the project was a bumpy one, filled with unexpected potholes…and worse.

In late 2013 and early 2014, tragedy struck his close-knit family. First, he was laid off from Brown & Sharpe as a toolmaker. Then his daughter, Jaclyn (Ricci) Snow, a star with the Festival Ballet Providence as a professional dancer until she retired in 2003, passed away after a long illness.

“We were stunned at her loss, but she had gone through a lot and too many surgeries. I was always taking her to the Lahey Clinic,” said John. “She was so much a part of this car, even though she didn’t get to ride in it.”

According to the family, Jaclyn really wanted to see the car finished. She accompanied John to all the car shows he attended and was an avid fan. Her sister said that Jaclyn always dressed to impress when she tagged along.

“She would sit in it for hours while he was putting the car together, but this car she wanted to get married in. It’s been very difficult for all of us,” said Donna. “Given our faith and knowing her, she would have wanted this done. She would have been the first one to take a ride.”

With time available, John, now 79, seriously went to work to finish the project. His family believes that the project provided him with a necessary outlet to cope with the recent hardships he’d suffered through.

As a tribute to her sister, Jennifer gave her father an ornament of Jaclyn with angel wings, which John’s placed prominently on the passenger’s side dashboard.

While he hasn’t taken the Cadillac to shows yet, John recently took the car out on the road for its first drive a few weeks ago. He said his restoration work would still continue, as he tinkers here and there to make the car perfect.

“It’s what I do. I like the car,” said John.