Thanks, PB. Great to see you again!

The Cadillac plant produced its last tank in late August, '45. The first '46 Cad rolled off the line in early October, '45--amazingly fast turnaround. And, yes, due to steel shortages, some '46 Cads were shipped with bumper brackets only. I was unable to find out if they were shipped from the factory with "wooden bumpiz," or if the dealers or customers installed wood. Dealers retrofitted steel "bumpiz" when they became available.

As you said, a great example of FFC's attention to detail--like the short ties worn by men, and the wool hair ties worn by girls, at Connie's wedding (silk and synthetics were needed for the war). My favorite automotive attention-to-detal is the '57 Mercury Montclair that drives Michael in Cuba. It has the original cream and green two-tone paint job, but it's not a collector car--it has slightly askew bumpers and sports a tinny European horn--exactly what a Hispanic driver of that era would have installed. The rarest is the '58 Chrysler Crown Imperial Ghia limo that takes Michael to Tahoe after he returns from Cuba and Vegas. It's one of only about a dozen built for that model year and, at ~$14k,the most expensive US car.