1943-45 [Styling models and clays]
GM [Cadillac] (USA) This styling model dates back to 1944;
already the fish-tail fins of the '48 Cadillac models are to be seen
GM [Cadillac] (USA) This clay buck was finished in
1946; a prototype car closely resembling this design was actually built and tested (see
1946, below)
1946
Coachcraft (USA) "The Queen"; customized sedan
built on the commercial chassis; no details available other than ¾ RH front view in SSA
1993, p.6
Derham (USA) Fleetwood 60S town car, McC p.265
Fleetwood (USA) Series 75 on 136" wheel base converted for
railroad track inspection (SS 4/92, pp.7-8); initially called "track
cars" or "speeders", these vehicles were fitted with spoked flanged wheels,
sandboxes under the front fenders, a turntable suspended under the car (enabling it to be
jacked up and swung around 180°), pilot, roof-top horns and luggage rack, and red light.
[ Photos: courtesy CLC, Self Starter ]
GM Styling (USA) Concept car project for a post-WW2 sedan
(possible new "Sixty Special"). I for one am happy that this design did
not make it into production!
GM Styling (USA) The artist's drawings below
are by Cadillac designer, Raoul Pepin; they were supplied kindly by fellow Cadillac
enthusiast Eric George who writes: that 1946 concept car [drawing below] isn't
such a dud after all. It's general lay-out is very much as Cadillacs would be by the
mid-fifties. I mean by this the proportions, short hood, long deck. The first concepts for
the Eldorado Brougham from the early 50's have this lay-out in an exaggerated form. There
is of course the aircraft inspired wraparound windshield that probably makes it's first
appearance in this car. The roof form aft of the "A" pillar including the
wraparound rear window is the same as on the 1950 series 61 sedan. As I said before, the
long rounded rear deck and chrome bumper-fender skirts are strongly reminiscent of the
1957-58 Eldorado. Eric mentioned also that he had seen somewhere another black and
white drawing, reminiscent of this 1946 concept car, from the early 1940's; it had a full
Plexiglas roof and a generally more exaggerated, cartoonish, Buck Rodgers rocket ship
style. It too may have been a Pepin design
Early post-war Cadillac designs by in-house artist,
Raoul Pepin
Left: 1946 proposal; right: a similar proposal for 1947
GM Styling (USA) Full-sized clay model of proposed Series
60 Special model for 1949 (photo dated 02.19.46)
[ Information and photo: courtesy CLC and Steve
Wolken ]
GM Styling (USA) Another, later, full-sized clay model of
proposed Series 60 Special model for 1949 (photo dated 08.13.46)
[ Information and photo: courtesy CLC and Steve
Wolken ]
[Unknown, USA] Based on a 1946 model, this radical custom
is distinguished, above all, by its 1941 Cadillac grille. The car was offered for sale on
e-Bay in November, 2003
[Unknown, USA] Based on a 1946 Series 60 Special
sedan, this station wagon conversion was sold at a Kruse auction in Auburn, IN, in the
Fall of 2006 for $51,000
[Unknown, USA] Here's another woody on Cadillac chassis
(probab;ly a modified "Series 75" sedan or limousine.
[Unknown, USA] Based on a 1946 "Series 75" this formal looking people hauler with false landau bars on the quarter panels
was available for sale in 2008.
[Unknown, USA] and unusual too, is this railroad
inspection car, converted from a Series 62 sedan; it was used by the Western
Maryland Railroad corp. Pics are from a story written by CLC Museum curator, Tim Pawl, for
the Self-Starter issue of July, 2008.
Note absence of (pointless) steering wheel
[ Photos: © Self Starter ]
1946-47
[Unknown, USA] an unusual 2-pass. roadster on Cadillac
chassis and drivetrain.
1947
Barris (USA) Featured in Motor Trend, August 1958, p.39, this
customized car was described thus: "Advance design work is indicated in this '47
Cadillac with its de ville-type leather-covered top, removable wrap-around rear window
glass, and the 'floating' separated front bumpers. Body sculpturing is evident in the
front fender crease which fades into the frenched headlight, and the slightly peaked hood,
shaved of its usual ornamentation. Floating-type grille is set into a reshaped horizontal
chrome shell."
Coachcraft (USA) a 1941 model converted to a 2-door 1947 roadster
by adding a 1947 grille, after the car had been damaged in a fire. Called the
"William Holden" car, Rudy Stoessl, the man behind Coachcraft did not recall the
screen star ever having been involved with it. No "V" and crest was featured nor
was the 1947 Cadillac script. Photo of ¾ RH front view in SSA 1993,
p.6, taken in 1949.
Derham (???) (USA) I copied from the ZTV
collection, in May 1994, a B&W shot of a special 1947 limousine with cloth top, posing
beside a fire hydrant (photo, below). I wonder if this is the same car shown in McC
p.272 and Sch40, p.119.
I'm assuming all these photos are of the same car,
taken at different venues in the last 20 years
Derham (USA) 4-door convertible sedan on Series 75 chassis;
photo: Sch40, p.118
Derham (USA) town car conversion from Series 75 limousine, Sch40,
p.119
Derham (USA) 4-door state limousine specially outfitted for H.H.
the Pope
Derham (USA) formal sedan conversion on Series 75
limousine, with padded leather roof
Not sure if these two photos depict the same car or
not
Derham (???) (USA) a 4-door formal sedan with small
circular quarter windows and fancy carriage lamps.
Derham (USA) This
mildly modified limousine may have
been made for the funeral trade. It has, in addition to faux landau bars [an
unusual feature on a Derham conversion], the typical front hood chrome markings of the
Sayers & Scovill (S&S) funeral coaches.
[ Photos: Internet, 11/2004 ]
De Rosa, Frank (USA) the Hollywood customizer created this
chopped-chaneled-sectioned 1947 Cadillac Kustom.
Photo: courtesy Tony Wood
Fisher/Fleetwood (???) (USA) modified Buick "Y-Job"
(special order # 13690), Alfred P. Sloan Museum, Flint, MI. Not a Cadillac, but deserving
of recording here as having inspired many future Cadillac dream cars and given typical
Cadillac features to later production automobiles.
Mattar (USA) This oddity was created by Louis Mattar
of San Diego, CA, for his retirement. Sorry, I couldn't resist including it. Its
convenience items include hot and cold shower, electric kettle, vanity case, stove,
refrigerator, washing machine, ironing board, color TV, stereo system, telephone and the
all-important wet-bar. The rear seat converts to a bed for two. Louis wants to add a
computer and a miniature putting green! Article in PS 5/52, pp.130-131. For more
information about this curious Cadillac, check out this French-language Web page
on the Internet [thanks to Brian Grittner in MN for the tip]..
Reinbolt & Christé (Switzerland) custom 4-door convertible
sedan with reversed front "suicide" doors; the front clip is all Cadillac but
major modifications appear to have been done to the rear. I believe this car has
survived. It is not known what chassis was used to accommodate the large convertible
body.
Photos: © 1992, Autovision
Schwartz, Maurice (USA) 6-door station wagon, (2nd unit), for
cowboy star-singer Gene Autry, Sch40, p.120, McC p.272
Schwartz, Maurice (USA) conversion on Series 75 chassis
commissioned by shoe magnate, Harry Karl, for his singer-actress wife, Marie McDonald.
Unknown (UK) At a Kruse auction in Auburn, IN, in Sept. 1999, a
fastback Series 61 Sedanet with a custom body was offered for sale (lot #4456); it
reportedly found a buyer at $#4,000. The catalog mentioned that the car was
previously owned by Lieutenant General Walter Rhodes, USAF, who was stationed in England
from 1941 to 1967. The car was shipped to England as a bare chassis and a body was fitted
there by an unknown UK coach builder; the car was stretched seven inches.
Unknown (probably USA) Possibly a conversion by Derham on the
chassis of the Series 75. The photo below was taken at a meet in the
seventies.
Unknown (probably USA) An unusual camper on commercial chassis
Unknown (probably USA) This pick-up truck, believed
to be from the Le May collection in Seattle, WA, has THREE Goddess ornaments: one on
the hood and one on at the front of each fender.
