The Smithsonian Museum‘s recently acquired rock’n’roll legend Chuck Berry’s ’73 red convertible Eldorado Cadillac and Lifting Gear Hire was approached to provide the equipment to lift and move the iconic vehicle to its designated display platform.

Supervisory Collections Manager of the Smithsonian, Jackson Tanner, contacted LGH after discovering the company website and ordered the necessary equipment needed to safely lift and move the Eldorado across the museum. The rented equipment included two gantries on pneumatic casters, designed to protect the museum floor, and (4) 3-ton beam trolleys to help maneuver the car onto its display platform.

The vehicle was safely moved across the museum, gently placed atop of its new platform in its new home, the Smithsonian, and the project was heralded a success.

The car is part of Berry’s personal fleet of Cadillacs and was driven during the filming of Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll, a documentary directed by Taylor Hackford that chronicles two ’86 concerts that celebrated Berry’s 60th birthday. Berry drove this iconic red Cadillac onto the stage of the Fox Theater in St. Louis, which was the same theater that turned him away as a child because of his race. Berry, known for his song lyrics that reference the car would drive himself to and from each performance in his own Cadillac.

The museum’s acquisition of the car will enter the “Musical Crossroads” exhibition in the National Museum of African American History and Culture wing and will help to further illustrate Berry’s impact on the rock’n’roll culture.

For more information about our gantries, please visit LGH’s official product gantry product page here: (link to https://RentLGH.com/product/aluminum-gantries/)