Vanilla Ice is probably one of the world's most car enthusiast rappers. The “Ice Ice Baby” star strings out car after car, locking them in his garage and barely driving them. He knows that more miles mean lower resale value. His latest purchase is former NFL star Dick Vermeil's 1955 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible that he says he will never drive.
Former NFL star Dick Vermeil grew up dreaming of becoming a Sprint Car driver one day. He had his dad, Louis Vermeil, to look up to. Dick and his brother would spend nights working on race cars with him. "There were three things my family was passionate about: Sprint Cars, football, and wine," he recalls. His Vermeil Wines in Calistoga bottled its first Jean Louis Vermeil Cabernet Sauvignon in 1999.
Dick Vermeil won the Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999 with the St. Louis Rams and retired. He had returned to the NFL as a coach after having spent 15 years away from the sport, working as an announcer for CBS and ABC. Two years later, he led the Rams to their first-ever Super Bowl victory and their first championship title since 1951.
Vermeil retired once again after the success, only to return to the NFL in 2001, signing with the Kansas City Chiefs. At 88, Vermeil is the oldest Super Bowl coach still alive.
What people don't know about the Super Bowl-winning, Hall of Fame coach, Dick Vermeil, is that he has been a car guy for ages. He even took his then-newly restored 1926 Ford Miller Schofield Special Sprint Car to the fourth Annual Philadelphia Concours d'Elegance at the Simeon Foundation Automotive Museum. He affectionately calls the 98-year-old automobile "Black Beauty."
Vanilla Ice parked his 1955 Caddy next to his zero-mile Rolls-Royce Ghost
Robert van Winkle, aka Vanilla Ice, bought his blue 1955 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible back in the summer at an auction but kept it away from the curious eyes and is now showing it on his YouTube channel. It is the car Vermeil paraded in down the Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena in 2014.
The automobile sports cool details, such as the rocket-inspired design that today would terrify pedestrian safety regulators. It also came with the gas tank cap hidden in the taillight on the left side, while the dual exhaust comes out through the extremities of the rear bumper.
This car will sit together with the special models in his collection. "No, I am not going to drive it," Robert says. He would be terrified of putting a single ding on that paint job. He does, however, drive his newly restored Fox-Body 1989 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 that showed up in his "Ice Ice Baby" video 34 years ago.
What Robert van Winkle bought is a fourth-generation Series 62. In 1955, the model came with a redesigned front end, three chrome moldings flanking the rear license plate on either side, and the deck lid decorations consisting of a V-shaped ornament and a Cadillac crest were the new features for that model year.
Cadillac hit a record sales figure of 118,190 in 1955, which was over 80% of what the automaker sold that year. The one that Robert van Winkle has is one of those.
Vanilla Ice's new Cadillac has good company in the garage: it is parked right next to the first Rolls-Royce Phantom VII ever built in Goodwood, in 2003. The ultra-luxury sedan has zero miles on the clock.
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