SARANT CADILLAC AND ITS LEGENDARY HISTORY ON LONG ISLAND

Sarant Cadillac’s deep roots on Long Island extend back many decades. Our family-owned Cadillac dealership launched in 1968 – a tumultuous year when Apollo 8 orbited the moon, the mini-skirt scandalized fashion, and Jimi Hendrix rocked the crowd at Stony Brook University.

But Sarant Cadillac’s roots on Long Island run deeper than that – stretching back to the years immediately following the end of World War II, when a young couple – George and Etta Sarant – set forth to claim their share of the American Dream.

Hydroplaning with Guy Lombardo In the late 1940s, George and Etta lived in Freeport, a village proudly billing itself as the “Boating and Fishing Capital of the East.” Freeport’s most notable citizen was bandleader Guy Lombardo, whose hobby was high-speed hydroplane racing.

George Sarant – in the scarce free hours spent away from his busy auto dealership job – began to experiment with hydroplane design, and by the summer of 1949 was test-racing his creation: a custom pickle fork cabover hydroplane powered by a war surplus Allison 1710 engine. He named his unique, powerful racing boat the Etta, and set his sights on winning the Harwood Trophy – an annual, grueling 28-mile around-Manhattan motorboat race.

To claim the Harwood Trophy, George had to win against two veteran Freeport-based motorboat champion racers: Guy Lombardo and Joseph Van Blerck Jr., plus a seasoned pack of 17 others. After blasting off the 72nd Street starting line, George led the pack down to and around the Battery, under the Brooklyn Bridge, and past the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Speeding past Welfare Island, Guy Lombardo overtook George, showering the Etta with wake. But a few minutes later – at the very northern tip of Manhattan – disaster lay just around the bend for the pair, as recounted in the September 12, 1949 issue of the New York Times (reprinted on the Hydroplane History website):

Sarant was 25 yards astern as they came up to the frightening sight of a closed railroad bridge at Spuyten Duyvil, where the Harlem opens up into the Hudson. They couldn’t whistle for the draw tender to open the span so they took a chance, skimming underneath with scarcely two inches between the top of their helmets and the under-girders of the bridge. But a miss is as good as a mile and they were safe.

Turning south, George – near the GW Bridge – again nudged ahead of Lombardo, and never gave up his lead, clinching the Harwood Trophy with a record-breaking time of 27 minutes, 14 seconds and a speed of 64.4 MPH.

In 1950, George raced a new boat, again named the Etta, in the Harwood competition, winning it (and defeating Guy Lombardo) again with a time of 27 minutes, 44 seconds.

Steel from the World’s Fair If you visit the site of the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair today, you’ll find it very difficult to locate any architectural traces of the many pavilions, exhibits, and amusements that once graced the area, many of which were demolished in the first six months following the Fair’s closing.

But some notable monuments of the Fair – including the Skyway cable car, the U.S. Royal tire-shaped Ferris Wheel, and the Belgian Village carousel – survive today, albeit in places far removed from Flushing Meadows Park (the Skyway cable car is in Georgia, the Ferris Wheel in Michigan, and the carousel in Quebec).

You can add Farmingdale, Long Island, to the list of places where vintage artifacts from the 1964-65 World’s Fair live on, in the form of structural steel supporting Sarant Cadillac’s main building. The credit for this unique installation belongs to George Sarant, who was able to acquire this high-quality steel at an advantageous price.

Antiquing with Etta Sarant If you’ve visited Sarant Cadillac, you’ll probably have noticed that it’s a bit different from other Cadillac dealerships. We’re not talking about the amenities we offer, or the friendly people who work here, or our pet-friendly stance: we’re talking about our interior décor, which is decidedly Asian, exotic, and unabashedly Zen like.

You can thank Etta Sarant for these unique design flourishes and treasures, including the hand-painted interior walls depicting dreamlike Oriental vistas. Etta had a tremendous passion for all things Asian and enjoyed sharing her delightful acquisitions with visitors by sprinkling them freely throughout our space.

And yes, we’ve got a Pagoda (and you can thank Etta for that too!).

Community Roots We dearly love Long Island, and quite a few of the folks who work here have been here for 25 years or more. Dozens of Sarant Cadillac’s customers have been with us for years as well (and we like nothing more than when a customer walks in and says, “You sold me my first Cadillac. Now it’s time for my daughter to have one.”).

We also do our best to help needy people on the Island by helping good charities and community groups, including Island Harvest (we’re an official drop off point), Barbara’s Team of Hope for breast cancer awareness, Toys for Tots, and the Sons of American Legion Post 1082.

Sarant Cadillac would like to be known as your “local Cadillac dealer,” and we’d welcome a visit from you to inspect Cadillac’s latest generation of cars, which we believe to be the finest ever made. Call us at 877-212-1682 or use this website’s online contact form.

And thanks for reading our story!

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