Ryan submitted a new blog post: The Death Of John Cacciola & Pauline Middaugh Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Media bias of the time. Ironic how much things change only to remain the same. It used to be comic relief to have a cop pull over a completely blotto drunk driver only to ask if he could "make it home" in TV and movies.... when those "funny drunks" killed far more people than those "scofflaw hoodlum hot rodders" ever did.
It's pretty clear that John was killed in this wreck, but apparently he was riding in somebody else's car. A mystery for sure. .
The last name is Cacciola Ryan... You might want to change that in the title. Here is a LINK to a story I did on the car, that tells a bit more on how the the '38 Chevy on the tombstone and the car in the photos from the Ron Brooks Collection were identified.
@Ryan - yet another typo in your Blog ... the owner/driver of the Cadillac was Manuel Gonsalves (not Gonzales) ... damn spell-checkers!
See. I'm not sure about this one. The Oakland paper has it as Manual Gonsalves. The Santa Cruz paper has it as Gonzales. Does anyone know for sure?
I find the details in the story most interesting. Such as how the names and addresses of the injured and dead are given in the next (or same) day's paper, and that the highway was blocked for only one hour. In our modern "information age" none of that is generally released by the cops. And the tragic small item after the main article about a toddler being accidentally strangled in a swing is pretty poignant.
I hope this helps Mrs. Middaugh's great granddaughter find more closure. It's a really sad story that also leaves the hope that a magnificent Westergard custom still survives somewhere. A car like that would have never been scrapped as it aged.
I read this with mixed reflection...Terrible Story highlighting that no one is immune to Highway Tragedy...It really doesn't mention what caused the drift but vehicles meeting this way usually have death involved. We lost a Hamber (Surf City) recently to a similar accident...in His Vintage Chevy... May they all RIP... I am recovering as we speak from avoiding a head on under similar description...just weeks ago... Things haven't changed...keep alert and focused...no guarantee you'll come out alive but I was watching while the other wasn't so I acted and still crashed missing severe injury and death by inches...the distracted walked away. If I had of been in the Hotrod I wouldn't be writing this...Glad and lucky to be alive. There is no surprise that Custom is highly regarded. I would have liked to have seen the Caddy. If the Chevy survived there must be a dusty trail to follow. If not, a clone would be nothing short of a stunning form of tribute to many things. Lots of sad stories in this Car Culture discussed here. Hope it shows up. It would be a powerful reunion. Thanks for sharing @Ryan
I wonder if "Los Gatos Highway" was what predated what was to become Hwy 17. Hwy 17 goes from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz. Beautiful drive, but plenty of curves and places where many accidents have happened over the years.
That story is chilling to me. Around 1984 I was traveling in the same area, coming back from Santa Cruise to Los Gatos. I came to a traffic halt at the scene of an accident. There was a car chassis being dragged onto a slide back recovery truck. You had to be a car guy to tell it was a mid seventies corvette! The entire body was gone other than a few shreds of red fiberglass panels still attached. There were red pieces in the trees that over hang the road in the area, as well as pieces strewn along the road way for many yards. The traffic was delayed while another corvette was being drug up from the ravine on the opposite side of the roadway. It was also a mid seventies model. The story in the papers the next day stated that the vettes were driven by two young fellows who were friends. The young men were each accompanied by a girlfriend and had spent the day at the beach in Santa Cruise with the girls. Witnesses stated they were racing at a very high rate of speed and swapping lanes back and forth passing one another. They banged together losing control with the red vette slamming into the boulders lining the hill side of the road. The blue vette blasted into and over the low metal barrier on the opposite side. There is a deep ravine on that side with the tree tops just about even with the road way. The blue car landed at the bottom leaving blue shreds of glass in the trees as well. All four young people were killed instantly the reports stated. It was a startling scene to say the least.
A very sad, but interesting story. I look forward to your next post on this Ryan! Would love to know more about the 1946 Cadillac, and of course, the whereabouts of Sal's Cadillac.
Aussie '37, Holden body. One of under 200. Original paint. Would be a shame to restore, but just look at the potential.. Originally that trunk housed a Haberdashery shop and would tour the west Australian outback, selling goods to townsfolk. The trunk lid is huge- it wobbles. I'm 6'+ and reckon I could sleep in there.
It's a fascinating story and I hope that Ryan can come up with the answers to his questions. I wish him good luck in his search. Not to be morbid, but both articles emphasize that death comes to us all and no one is guaranteed tomorrow.
I can't prove it is the right Manuel Gonsalves, but there was a Manuel Gonsalves born in 1927 in Oakley. He appears to have lived in Oakley until at least 1946. He was an Able-Bodied Seaman. This Manuel Gonsalves died in Contra Costa in 1991. Pittsburg and Oakley are cities in Contra Costa County. On his WWII draft card, John Sal Cacciola listed his employer as U.S. Maritime Service (i.e. also a seaman). I couldn't pin down any of the Tony Fernandez's to Oakley in 1950. The 1950 census won't be available for at least another year to get more details.
@Atwater Mike might know of the area. I think Highway 17 was always 17, much of it north is now 880...wonder if they were talking about the lower end of Skyline drive? I know when I was in the Bay Area it was a major course for the rice rocket bikes
Hello, Any time something like this happens, it is a sad day. We have had a history with this pristine area of Northern California from the early 1960’s days. We frequented San Francisco, San Jose, and along the coast, Half Moon Bay and our favorite, Santa Cruz. That Highway 17 from Santa Cruz inland until it reaches the outskirts of San Jose is one of the prettiest drives in that whole area. It has expensive land these days, as it leads into the Silicon Valley area and the craziness there. In 1967, we had decided that we would buy a 5 acre area on a hilltop in Soquel, CA. It is a stone’s throw from Santa Cruz. Some friends were also thinking of moving to this area. The property had almost one/half acre on a forested hilltop with views in all directions, while the rest was on the sloping surrounding lands. https://www.google.com/maps/place/C...d81a461ad50b9!8m2!3d37.1561221!4d-121.9827325 "Center Lane of A Three Lane Highway..." The accident information of a “center lane of a three lane highway” suggests that the cars or one of the cars was passing a slower moving vehicle. From experience, being a little tired can cause havoc on this pristine winding road. In 1965-67, I drove the El Camino on Highway 17 many times. A few times on that winding road was a little scary, even during the daytime. A friend and I decided to spend the day in Santa Cruz as a reward from the hectic college curriculum. She loved the beach and I was going to Santa Cruz, since the swell was up. The whole area breaks as good as anywhere along the Northern Coast. Jnaki We went to Pleasure Point for some fantastic waves and I surfed all morning, took a long nap and surfed again until it got crowded in the late afternoon. We both had classes on Monday, but decided that we could stay overnight to make things easier on the drive back to the apartments. But, after dinner, we decided to head back to San Jose. That Highway 17, in the bright sunny day is very beautiful and distracting. At night, it is dark and foreboding. If there is any inkling of being sleepy or tired, we are all in for a dangerous trip to and from the Santa Cruz shoreline. I was dead to the world, but had to get back for a Monday morning 8 AM college class in San Jose. Luckily, on that trip, this girl was my companion and she took over driving all the way back to San Jose. She was an excellent driver as we made it safe and sound. I slept most of the way, but I could hear rock and roll music blasting somewhere… http://www.mobileranger.com/losgatos/is-highway-17-that-dangerous-or-is-it-just-laurel-curve/ It sounded like the accident took place in one of the areas that did not allow alternative exits from Highway 17. These days, like a lot of California winding roads or narrow curving roads, concrete barriers have been put in place to separate oncoming traffic. Back then, no barriers but, a sight line could have been hindered to think a pass was OK in the third lane... or a misjudgment in depth perception. But, accidents still happen, regardless of barriers or just poor judgment.
California State Route 17 (SR 17) opened in 1940 and (originally) ran from Oakland to Santa Cruz. In 1957, the Holland Corporation open their second "SANTA'S VILLAGE" theme park on some property in the Santa Cruz mountains next to SR 17 (in what would become the city of Scotts Valley circa 1966). A circa 1961 "SANTA'S VILLAGE" postcard lists the theme park's address as "6348 Los Gatos Highway, Santa Cruz, Calif." So ... in 1950, that stretch of Hwy 17 was referred to as the "Los Gatos Highway".
Looking online for the names Middaugh & Cacciola, I found several articles from the Santa Cruz Sentinel about the aftermath of the crash, but both of my sources appear to be missing Jan-Aug 1950, so I couldn't find the article about the crash itself. There are three suits filed, but only two defendants. Interestingly, the Middaughs sued Tony Fernandez and Tom Cacciola, not Manuel Gonsalves: The next article was mostly procedural: Gonsalves then sues the Middaughs. Here the claim is that he was not driving, contradicting the earlier reports: In Feb 1951, a trial date is set for April: Apparently, that trial never took place, since a trial date of Aug 13 was set in June, with (at least) two of the suits consolidated: The suit was settled out of court just before the trial: I couldn't find anything else about Gonsalves' suit against the Middaughs.
It's the Santa Cruz Highway now, and while divided, it is still the site of accidents all day, every day. Every traffic report is a story of rollovers, kissing the K-Rail, running up the embankments, or down into the ditch.