Cadillac Records Fires Up Wright's Car Craze

The actor, who plays 007 informer Felix Leiter in the new Bond movie, admits it pained him to hand over the keys to the rented vehicle he drives in the film about the birth of R+B label Chess Records.

And now he's determined to track down and buy classic Cadillacs whenever he can.

He explains, "I was driving across the Triboro Bridge in New York and there was a guy in a yellow '55 Eldorado on a flatbed (truck). Traffic was slowing up and I said to him, 'You know whose car is that?' He said, 'Oh, somebody overseas bought it.'

"I'm tracking these things down now. I fell in love with these Cadillacs. They're just exquisite pieces of art. It really is the height of the automobile industry in this country."

In the film, Wright plays blues great Muddy Waters. All of label boss Leonard Chess' artists were handed the keys to Cadillacs upon scoring their first hit record.