Enthusiast and Product Expert

Biography: Like most kids raised in Detroit in the 1940s I grew up with cars in my blood. Who didn’t ride for hours in their parent’s automobile pointing out the model and year of all the cars on the road? And who didn’t thrill at seeing that rare Cadillac or, even rarer, Duesenberg? No one I knew!

Well that interest became passion as I progressed through work and education. From a porter at a used car lot in high school (where I bought my first car at 13) to a degree from the University of Detroit to zone manager at a major auto manufacturer I pursued my dream of automobiles. Later I moved to the retail side of the business with both management and ownership of a metropolitan Detroit dealership. Those many years experience led to my role as an auto manufacturer consultant for dealers around the country and now for approximately 5 years with the General Motors Media Archive team.

It will come as no surprise that my recreation today is collecting and restoring fine automobiles. A handful of classics from the 30s, 40s, and 50s keep me busy. The history General Motors is preserving wraps around these automobiles so that when young people of the future touch and see one of these great classics they will also know where it came from and how it came about.

Articles Written by Jim McDonald:
The Standard of the World... 1947 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible