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WW2 years

 

1959

A&A Autoparts and Frank Di Rosa (USA) This is what happens to a regular Coupe de Ville when its owners smoke too much of the Mexican weed!  This car's top was removed; it was chopped, channeled, sectioned and shortened 18 inches. Frank Di Rosa did the preparatory work on this Cadster (Cadillac roadster); the pearl-white and lilac paint job was done by Art Himsl.

   
All that is left of the original '59 Cadillac car are the motor, drive train and ...the "bullet" tail-lights

 

Caldwell, Rebecca (USA)  This "Cathedral" is actually a 1971 Cadillac hearse, but modified with 1959 Cadillac tail fins. Welded on top is a VW beetle and metal armatures with fiber glass. It is a rolling, Gothic Cathedral, complete with flying buttresses, stained glass pointed windows and gargoyles.

   
[ Photos:  Internet, 2006 ]

 

D'Agostino, John, (USA) I couldn't resist including these two, showing off the craftsmanship of skilled custom coach builder John d'Agostino:

       
This blue, half-top Eldorado Seville is called "A Tribute to Elvis"

 

Deco Rides [Terry Cook] Used as a prop in one of the "Sonny & Cher" episodes, this 59 coupe was converted to a low-rider by Terry Cook of Deco Rides  in the eighties. It currently resides in Japan. There are [were?] a number of pages devoted to it on the Web: http://www.decorides.com/sonnychercad.htm

   
[ Photos:  Internet, Deco Rides web site ]

 

Deporter, John (USA) This page was not intended for hot rods and the like, but I could not resist this one.  Named Bad Cad, it was built in the early nineties; the chassis and power train were upgraded in 1998. It is powered by a 542 cu. in. Rodeck engine with Dart 360 solid aluminum heads, 1471 Kobelco supercharger, Enderle bird catcher on alcohol. It also has a B & J Big Boy 4 speed transmission, air shifted. It has a 3 disc, Crower glide clutch, McKinney clutch can with starter pocket, and a Fab 9" rear axle with Strange engineering components. There are Wilwood discs on the rear, and Strange struts on the front. It has a steel body with a tilt front end. The wheel base is 130".

Above: one "hot",  pink rod  named Bad Cad

           

 

Fisher/Fleetwood? (USA) Special 1954/55 Le Mans roadster [#4 of four built to special order]) was returned to the Cadillac styling studios in 1959 for restyling, by its owner, J.E. "Bud" Goodman, CEO of Fisher Body. Besides receiving new front and rear clips, including quad headlights, at that time, this car was fitted out with the new Tri-Power engine featuring three double-barreled carburetors. It received lower fender air intakes, a lower, flatter hood on which the former, ornamental "fins" were removed and replaced with a "V" emblem and crest; the imitation trunk "straps" also were removed. I've seen this car offered for sale on the Internet for a MILLION dollars !!!.

More on this car in SSA 1984, pp.22-25, special issue CCON, p.29, CS12, p.102, SIA  #169, 2/99.  I have many photos (including a series of color photos, taken after the 1959 modifications, from the GM/Cadillac Styling library, 9/94). Photo also in  McC p.311

Owing to the sheer bulk of the Cadillac Le Mans roadster file, which includes a large number of photos, I have created a special page for it. Click here.

   
(Above and below) Good shots of the revised front and rear clips


This is an amateur attempt to replicate the 1953 custom Le Mans roadster;
it combines elements of the original with others from the above,  modified car
[ Photo:  Self Starter ]

 

Fleetwood (USA) (???) Cadillac Cyclone, XP 74 (special order #90450) a 2-pass. futuristic roadster with bubble top that rested on an air bag when folded back; radar system in nose cones to detect approaching vehicles. A warning light is supplemented by an audible signal that increases in pitch as an object or vehicle is approached. Harley Earl's last dream car [he retired from GM on 1 December 1958]. Owing to the size of the Cyclone file and the number of photos available, I have created a special page for it. Click here.

       

Factory publicity shots, courtesy GM-Cadillac archives; car in bottom row already has been modified
from the original (GMAT logo removed from tail-fin,  Fleetwood badge added to rear fender

   
The fins were radically shaved down in the 80s; here, the Cyclone is photographed at Pebble Beach, CA, in 2002

Fleetwood (USA) Eldorado Brougham prototype, sans fins, SIA 8/1978, p.35.

Fleetwood (USA) Eldorado Brougham proposal, ELD, P.51

Fleetwood (USA) styling models, ELD pp.55-62

Fleetwood (USA) (???) special Series 62 convertible with Eldorado Biarritz interior and bucket seats; seen in above factory photos of Cadillac Cyclone (in background). Was this a special order for a Cadillac or GM executive (???)

   
It's not easy to see the detail, in these small, low resolution images, but the '59 in the background has the Biarritz interior trim    

 

Fleetwood (USA) (???) special converted, air-conditioned Series 75 landau for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip's state visit to Canada. Photo McC p.333. The news release [from J.-M Roux collection, 8/93] published at 10 a.m., June 12, 1959, reads:

"Ottawa - An air-conditioned Cadillac limousine with a detachable Plexiglas 'bubble' over the rear seats for use by Queen Elizabeth and The Prince Philip during their Canadian tour was placed at the disposal of the Royal Tour Committee by General Motors of Canada.
The car features a maximum of comfort, convenience and luxury for the passengers with the greatest possible outside-inside visibility for the millions who will line the coast to coast parade routes.
The upper portion of the car quarter panel has been removed. from the rear door post on back. It has been replaced with a removable Plexiglas canopy that will permit onlookers the opportunity to view the royal procession even if the weather fails to co-operate [I can see what the copy-writer meant, but his style and construction are lousy!] It is anticipated that in most parade points the car will operate with the top removed in the true landau concept.
The roof is further modified with the addition of a 24-inch by 43-inch sliding panel. Electrically operated, the roof panel can be opened or closed from both the rear and front compartments.
The Royal shield is mounted on the leading edge of the roof, centered above the windshield. A special mast will fly the Royal Standard. Individually powered rear seats are installed with controls for the horizontal and vertical movement located on the individual arm rests [in the right-hand armrest, the Queen's side, was also located a knob for remote-control of the car's radio]. (This marks the first time that an automobile has been built with four-way power rear seat). The seats are tailored in [silver gray] McLaughlin Carriage cloth [with matching cushions] in a distinctive square biscuit and button design. The floor is carpeted with luxurious mouton which extends up the doors.
To provide an even greater measure of air-conditioned comfort, two additional outlets are installed in the rear compartment. The two new air-conditioned outlets are on the back of the front seat.
Other special appointments include mouton covered hassocks, a lap robe carrying a hand embroidered crest of the royal household [in hues of red and gold] and special lights to illuminate the Royal Couple during after-dark processions.
The dimensional specifications of the Queen's landau limousine remain the same as on other Cadillac Series Seventy-Five Limousines. It has an over-all length of 224.8 inches and the width is 80.2 inches.
In order to keep up with the Royal Couple, who will fly between many points in the tour, the car will be loaded into an RCA C-119 Flying Boxcar and transported to the next stopping point at which it is needed.
June 1959.

Late extra (June, 2003):  Cadillac and Cadillac Eldorado Brougham aficionado, Jean-Claude Franchitti, reports that the bubble-top limousine was undergoing a full restoration in Sandusky, Ohio, in 2002, at the shop of my friend Bob Waldock, probably the world's greatest collector of '59 Cadillacs.

   

   

The car was flown from one venue to the next during the royal tour;  thank you, CLC member Jean-Michel Roux
of Switzerland, for sharing with us these superb photos of one such unloading operation

 
   
Two bird's eye views of the passenger compartment, with bubble-top removed
The British royal standard was affixed to the front of the roof

       
The little girl on the back seat of the bubble top is the same one we saw above,
admiring the Cadillac Cyclone.  She is Anne Turnes; the two-tone shoes, ankle
socks and bangs all are the same, right?  Who was she? The daughter of some
Cadillac big-wig, or just a kid who happened to be around the day the pictures
were shot? Were they taken the same day? Does she still model? 
Anne, where are you? We  want an updated picture!
[ Photos:   Jean-Michel Roux collection ]

The royal couple somewhere in the province of Ontario in late June, 1959

   
President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Bouvier-Kennedy
later used the bubble-top limousine for official parades in the early sixties

 

Glover, Gordon (Frog) (Maryland, USA) [previously listed (in error?) as a custom job by GM's Fisher Body Corporation for the late King Farouk of Egypt] This customized Cadillac Eldorado Seville half-top town car [VIN 59H063771 according to a Bonhams auction catalog from 2003] appears to have been the work of this amateur Maryland customizer in 1963-64.  Had he not passed on, Gordon might have been surprised to learn that the work he did on the car was attributed (in error?) to the Fisher Body Corporation. It is alleged to have been commissioned by Egypt's former King Farouk who, it is claimed, paid $100,000 for the car and the modifications!

In fact, Gordon's brother, Ron, contacted me in December 2007, requesting that I set the record straight, in memory of his brother.  Ron sent the initial pictures, below (the dark red car); they lend a good measure of credence to his claims.  Ron asserted that his brother, Gordon,  who sadly passed away three years ago [2004], had bought a second-hand 1959 Eldorado Seville from Maryland Auto Sales, on Fayette St., Baltimore. That car was black, but had been repainted from light green; it did not feature the customary vinyl roof covering specific to the 1959 Seville models.

With help from CLC member, Matt Larson, former Cadillac Archivist the the GM Heritage Center in Detroit, I learned that the 1959 Seville with VIN 59H063771 carried body #634, was painted Hampton Green (a light metallic green, code #96), had a special order roof trim code (#0) and had been delivered to Hagerstown in Maryland, i.e. about 80 miles from where Gordon bought "his" Seville. Two possible scenarios [scenarii?] emerge from these "facts":

(1) Gordon's car carries a different VIN [unfortunately, Ron could find no trace of it among Gordon's papers], which would imply that TWO, almost IDENTICAL custom conversions were made from 1959 Eldorado Seville models, one being the "genuine" Farouk car (sold by Bonhams, in 2003), the other being the "almost replica" created quite accidentally by Gordon who,  Ron believes, never even knew about King Farouk's alleged custom Seville;

(2) the Hagerstown dealer returned Seville #634 to Detroit to undergo important, custom modifications, following the request of Egypt's exiled King Farouk to produce for him a very special town car from the 1959 Eldorado Seville.

Assuming scenario #1 to be true, what happened to Gordon's custom job? May we expect it to turn up one day and prove that Ron was wrong? As for scenario #2, if you were the former King of Egypt, would YOU not want your special town car to be converted from a BRAND NEW Seville, straight off the assembly line, rather than from a factory recall from a dealer in Maryland?

Anyway, to get back to Gordon's custom conversion, according to Ron he first cut away the front half of the Cadillac roof, then he hand-made the bumper extension and the continental kit, which he crafted by bending metal around the floor fan in his garage and one gallon paint cans. Later, he lengthened the tail fins, over his custom bumper extension, to meet up with the original Seville bumper ends.  The last three of Gordon's pictures were taken at his aunt's house, in Florida, in 1964; they show the car with the extended tail-fins. The following year, 1965, he cut off the remains of the original Seville roof and replaced it with the rear half of a "formal" roof from a 1963 or1964 Chevy or Pontiac (in the early sixties, GM brought out this formal, "creased" roof on some models). He welded in a limo-styled back light and removed also the "V" and crest from the front of the hood. Copying a popular option with customizers in the late fifties and early sixties, Gordon did away with the traditional door handles and installed solenoids in the doors as well as small levers [switches] underneath the rocker panels that were operated with the toe of one's shoe; the doors had a compression spring on the hinge side that popped the door open enough to insert one's hand and open it the rest of the way. He also put custom wire wheels on the car; it was not him who added the gold trim currently seen on the car (Gordon did not like gold trim on a car), nor did he shave off the top part of the fins you see on the alleged "Farouk" car. The lakes pipes were on the car when he sold it, although Gordon had shortened them at the time he extended the tail fins. Ron could find no pictures of the car after the new, "creased" roof was added.

In April or May 1965, the brothers sold the car to New York former Rolls Royce dealer, Murray Brand who had to take a Rolls out of the showroom to accommodate the custom Cadillac. Later, Murray befriended Gordon and had him do some custom work for him;  Murray called Gordon "the Man with the Golden Hands."  Considering the month and year of the sale, obviously King Farouk could not possibly have owned THIS car since he had died a month earlier, on March 3, 1965.  In fact, that month (March), as Ron recalls, Gordon's Seville was exhibited at Baltimore's Civic Center, where it won an award.

Gordon lost sight of the car for a few years but saw it again in an issue of "Old Cars" magazine that covered an auction sale in Las Vegas, in 1975.  He saw a photo of the car and noted that someone had shaved off the upper part of the fins; he felt this detracted from the car's looks. In addition, it had been repainted from dark red to white. I would be VERY interested in finding a copy of that magazine article to see if Farouk's name is already mentioned there.

I don't know who bought the car at that Kruse auction but the following year (May, 1976) it joined the collection of  J.J. "Jerry" Born, owner at the time of the Antique Auto Museum in Highland Park, near Chicago.  It was around that time that I saw King Farouk's name associated with the car for the first time. The Chicago Tribune had a snippet in its issue for May 17, 1976 asserting that: "Farouk had a white Eldorado Biarritz [that's the convertible model] and LATER had it stretched to the size of a limousine and fitted with a half-top that left his chauffeur in the open and him protected on the rear seat." Where the writer got that information is anybody's guess. When the car joined Jerry's collection it had been repainted vermilion [so it has gone from pale green, to black, to dark red, to white and ultimately to vermilion!] and someone had added lots of gold trim, including a set of gold-anodized "sabre-spoke" wheels.

Jerry sold his collection in 1984 and the town car disappeared again from view, until June 1990, when it was reported sold at another Kruse auction for an estimated $130'000.  The buyers are believed to have been Messrs. Ernst and Claude Fuchs (father and son) of Montreux, Switzerland. Apparently, the pair subsequently had financial troubles, circa 1993/94, and were compelled to sell the Seville to a man in Bienne or Soleure, Switzerland, for a paltry $28,000 [info from my friend, Roger Zimmermann, of Bienne, on  21.2.1995]. The car's restoration was poor according to Roger; it was packed with lots of Italian-made electric relays [including the door opening mechanism, I guess]. There is a flimsy soft top that fits over the driver's compartment [it may be seen in the early photos, below]; it is tied down with a couple of press studs.

An article in the German-language "Auto Illustrierte" (October, 1990) says King Farouk ordered the car by phone from Fisher Body, from Rome, where the King was exiled at the time. The article said the car had been restored in 1987 [where, and by whom?]. A further story by my friend, François Roux, appeared in France's former V8, magazine [#18, pp.44-47]; François simply repeated the information included in the German magazine, adding a few photos of his own.

In recent times, the car was featured at the Villa d'Este concours d'élégance (April 2003), where it was shown by Urs Schönauer of Switzerland [the new owner at that time?]. The car was sold later that year (August 9, 2003) by Bonhams of England, at the Nurburgring old-timers sale where it either fetched 70,000 Euros [about $104,000] or £70,000 [about $137,000] - the currency of the sale still needs to be checked.

Late Extra [8/2005]:  I understand the car was acquired by another Swiss collector who has requested anonymity. I like to consider him as a former "neighbor", since Gita and I lived for 15 years in the same Geneva suburb!

Conclusion: Thank you, Ron, for attempting to set the record straight. I believe this car must rank now with those other "hyped up" cars that have been given a false history in order to try to boost their value among moneyed - but sometimes ignorant - collectors. Among these are (1) the 1937 V-16 roadster by Willy Hartmann of Lausanne, Switzerland, too often falsely attributed to Figoni & Falaschi and now carrying a fake ID plate on the dash, (2) the 1959-60 Cadillac convertible with in-dash TV (included on this page, among the "Unknowns"), falsely claimed by its previous owner-vendor to have been (a) the "star Cadillac" of the 1959 GM Motorama or (b) a design experiment from Harley Earl's skunk works and the first car to have TV in the dash, (3) the Cadillac "Jacqueline", an empty-shell, pushmobile, styling exercise by Pininfarina, labeled by the owner-vendor as a 1961 Eldorado Brougham, given a fake Cadillac Eldorado Brougham VIN and body number, and ultimately mounted on the chassis of a used 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz powered by an equally used 1959 Cadillac engine). 

Caveat emptor: Other, more subtle, cases exist where "collectible Cadillacs" have been portrayed to be what they are NOT; this is true of many convertible coupes, convertible sedans, sport phaetons and all-weather phaetons that left the factory as closed cars and were later "re-bodied" as much more desirable convertible styles. Personally, I have no objections to such conversions, per se (I too prefer open to closed cars),   provided they are described honestly and accurately to potential buyers.

   
The '59 Seville after half the roof was removed; Gordon Glover is the guy in the passenger seat, right)

           
(Left) Here is the car with the hand-made bumper extension and Continental kit;
(Center and Right) this is what it looked like after the tail fins were extended

The photos in above two rows show the car, circa 1964-65, before the roof was replaced and a small backlight
installed; there certainly are great similarities between the "two" cars ...which may be only "one"
[ Photos:  courtesy Ron Glover ]

The car got this  "new look" between April-May 1965 and May 1976
thanks to CLC member, Jean-Michel Roux of Switzerland,
for this calendar image of the alleged "Farouk" Eldorado Seville
[ Photo: Michel Zumbrunn, Zurich ]

   
In these two photos [compared to the next one], the car appears to be missing the Eldorado stainless steel rocker trim and the chrome trim bead
around the front wheel arch; the car also sports the cast alloy, gold-anodized "sabre-spoke" wheels that were available on Cadillacs from 1956 to 1958
[ These photos were taken at a car meet in Switzerland, early '90s ]

 

     
These three photos were taken in Montreux, Switzerland by my friend François Roux. 
The low resolution, compressed digital images on this page regrettably don't do the car justice
Four additional photos, below, were taken in 1994 inValkenburg, a small town in southern Netherlands;
they are shown here courtesy of  their author,  Dutch Cadillac aficionado Jo Thewissen of Voerendaal

       
In Montreux, the car had regular 1956 Cadillac wheel covers [Roux photos], then, later (?) the gold-anodized (cast aluminum) sabre-spoke wheels;
in the centre image, the car appears to be missing the stainless steel Eldorado rocker trim and the chrome wheel arch trim bead
[ Photos: by Jo Thewissen, Netherlands ]

Loewy, Raymond (USA) coupe sans fins, with tail-lights faired in to the rear fenders. Apart from the windshield and roofline, it's hard to tell that this is a '59 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. CA 8/1988, p.22. Photo: McC p.333. In February 2001, there was an exhibition of photos of a number of Loewy-designed automobiles at Paris' Galerie du Square Louvois, including two series of photos of this particular car taken from every possible angle.  All the photos were for sale at prices ranging from 400-1400 French francs each (i.e. from $70-300). You will find a representative selection of photos of the Loewy car, below.  Late extra [November, 2004]:   The Loewy car may have survived ...but where is it hiding ?  Swedish auto enthusiast, Rikard Stenberg, saw an article about it in Sweden's Wheels magazine for October, 1987.  That article said that  the car was in a Costa Mesa, CA, dealership around 1977. It had been repainted from the original gray/blue/green metallic with white roof to gold metallic. Two photos were shown and are reproduced below, courtesy of Rikard and Wheels.

   
All that remains of the 1959 Cadillac on this stylish custom
model is the windshield, the side vents and the instrument panel
...plus a single '59 tail-light "bullet" faired into each rear fender

   
The Loewy car appears to have acquired an additional front fender vent opening
[ Photos:  © 1987, Wheels magazine ]

 

Pininfarina (Italy) [Added to 1957 "Dream Cars" page in April, 2007 - is featured also in 1958 and 1959] Skylight coupe and convertible.  These stylish cars were shown first at the Geneva salon, Switzerland, in March, 1958 (the coupe version) and at the Paris salon, in October 1958 (the convertible). Pininfarina asserted to me, in 1976, that the Skylight coupe and convertible models had been  mounted on Cadillac chassis, standing at 130 inches. Since the wheel base of  the 1958 Sixty-Special chassis is 133 inches, the chassis could NOT be from a 1958 Cadillac "60-S".  Regular 1957 and 1958 Cadillac models used a chassis with 129.5" wb (close enough to PF's stated WB). The chassis of the 1959 Sixty Special and the restyled Eldorado Brougham both have a wheel base of 130 inches; but then the car could not have been shown in Geneva in March 1958, because the '59 chassis were not available until the fall of 1958.  Initially, I had assumed in error that the coupe version had made its debut at the Paris show in October, 1958; in fact it was at Geneva. Late Extra (6/2005):  Michael W. Schultz of Houston TX sent me a startling ad from the December 1970 edition of Hemmings Motor News (p.1324). Offered for sale for $5,000.00, in a ¼-page ad,  is what appears to be the light-colored coupe (shown below) with the hood scoop. The text reads: Unique Cadillac - 1957 motor, chassis, 1959 [1958?] custom body by Pininfarina, Torino, Italy. Perfect condition. Can be inspected at Vicmar Garage, 8 E. 83rd Street, New York, NY 10008. Mileage over 50,000 - Asking $5,000.00. The text was "signed" H.v. T. Schwier, 342 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017. The phone number 697-4639 was listed. When I corresponded with Fredy Valentini of PF's PR department in 1976 (i.e. some six years AFTER publication of that Hemmings ad), he did not hint that the Skylight had survived, even less that it had been sold. If the ad is true, I wonder where that car is now? Did it find a buyer? Is it still around? A Google search in June, 2005 revealed that there is still a Vicmar Garage Corp. operating a parking garage at 8 E. 83rd Street, New York. The telephone number listed is 212-650.0675 ...if anyone is interested! Later still (4/2007): Australian enthusiast, Ron Wilson kindly went through his extensive auto history files and sent me some pertinent information from period magazines in his possession that put a definite time-line on the story of these two PF customs. Ron was able to confirm that the coupe was exhibited first at Geneva, in March 1958. He included a photo taken at that show and published in The Autocar for the week ending March 21, 1958. The caption reads: A sleek Cadillac by the same master [the previous caption had referred to a PF-designed Alfa Romeo]. The article describes the car thus: A new Farina work is a sporting saloon on a Cadillac chassis, commissioned by G.M. [???]. Externally this is sleek considering its vast dimensions, and its functional and delicate grille treatment is an object lesson for transatlantic stylists. It has a more capacious living room – trimmed in pale blue leather – than the Buick he showed at Paris and Turin, but there is evidence of compromise. Thus the floor level is high relative to the waistline [the belt], and the front seat backrest has had to be curtailed [kept low] to maintain this line. The steering-wheel looks oddly high in relation to the lower screen rail [what is the "lower screen rail"?], but cannot be lowered without jeopardizing clearance above the seat cushion. In line with other current Farina creations, there are very deep front and rear windows and side windows of curved glass.  I have my doubts about G.M.'s "commissioning" these customs from PF, even despite the special brochure edited by Cadillac, in collaboration with Pininfarina, in 1999, on the occasion of the Concorso Italiano staged in conjunction with the annual Pebble Beach event in California. PF said that both these Pininfarina designed coupes featured a taut line that created an impression of slenderness in spite of its [the Cadillac's] large frame [chassis?]. The 1959 version [suggesting there had been an earlier - 1958? - version] presented some changes such as a hood scoop and an altered waist line. While the added air-scoop is visible in the later photos, there are, in my opinion, no noticeable changes at the belt line. Ron supplied also a photo of the convertible version, taken at the Paris Salon in October, 1958. That photo was published in The Autocar for the week ending October 10, 1958; that is the week preceding GM's release to dealers of the new, 1959 Cadillac models (an early released 1959 Fleetwood Series 60 Special  was also shown at that Paris show). Ron remarked that the instrument panel of the PF custom job appeared to resemble more closely that of a 1958 Cadillac than a 1959 model; indeed, an enlargement of the Autocar bird's-eye-view confirms Ron's opinion. The article goes on to describe the car as a cabriolet version of the Cadillac coupe exhibited at Geneva last March – another example of [Pinin Farina’s] work as consultant to the styling department of General Motors [???]. The tail fins are thin and mostly horizontal; the front grille is a clean simple design, also with a horizontal motif and the four head lamps blend nearly [neatly?] with the styling. Ron theorizes that the same chassis [one from 1957] was used for all "three" cars: first, the dark-colored coupe with white roof [Geneva show, March 1958], the convertible [Paris Show, October 1958] and the light-colored coupe with the new hood scoop [1959?]. The latter is the car that was offered for sale in Hemmings, in 1970. For want of a better explanation, I will go along with Ron's theory.  What we need now is to find the light-colored coupe with the hood scoop ...and put it under the microscope!

        
These photos show the dark colored "Skylight" coupe that was on display at the Geneva salon in March 1958;
the car in the row below (photos supplied by Pininfarina, in 1976) is painted a lighter hue (possibly the same color as the
convertible below it; an air-scoop has been added to the hood (there is none on the hood of the convertible); the convertible appears to be a similar,
light color to the second (?) coupe, that appeared for sale in Hemmings Motor News in 1970; that car was located  in  New York
and according to the ad was mounted on a 1957 Cadillac chassis; it is now believed that all "three" PF custom jobs
were mounted successively on THE SAME 1957 Cadillac chassis.
[ B&W photo (above, left): © The Autocar, week ending 21 March 1958, courtesy Ron Wilson ]

   
The PF Skylight convertible on show during the Paris Salon, October 1958

           
[ Sepia photo (left) and enlargements (center and right): © The Autocar, week ending 10 October 1958, courtesy Ron Wilson ]

   
The color photo of the PF convertible  shows it to be painted a light metallic gray with bright red upholstery;
that color scheme was confirmed to me by Pininfarina in 1976. 
[ Color photo and enlargement: © 1958, Pinin Farina, courtesy Revue Automobile, 1958-59 ]

   
It is highly likely that the dark-colored coupe on display at Geneva in March 1958 and this silver gray
convertible shown at Paris in October 1958  were one and the same car
[ Photos: © 1958, Pinin Farina archives, courtesy Fredy Valentini ]

[ Image: © 1958 The Autocar, week ending 14 November 1958, courtesy Ron Wilson ]

    
I got these two photos from the PF archives in Turin; they show a light-colored coupe, apparently with a metallic paint finish
and (again) with a white roof; it features an air scoop on the hood; both this car and the Geneva coupe have Borrani spoked wheels
[ Photos: © 1959, Pinin Farina archives, courtesy Fredy Valentini ]

     
This image is from a classified ad in  Hemmings for December, 1970 
WHO HAS GOT THIS CUSTOM COUPE TODAY ?!?!

 

Spohn (Germany) Cadillac-powered 2 door sports roadster;  it is said that many GIs stationed in Germany n the years immediately following WW2 used to turn to this coach builder for this kind of exotic sports car body on regular US chassis, including Cadillac.

 

Stengel, Peter (USA, but built in the UK for an American client).  This 5-door station wagon has an electric tailgate. A particularly elegant car with the more discreet fins of the 1959 Eldorado Brougham and the body set inboard of the fins which ran back all the way from the "A" pillars. Hess & Eisenhardt built a very similar wagon on the 1960 chassis the following year. Ron Wilson of Australia kindly sent me in March, 2008, a snippet from the magazine, Wheels, for May 1960 (p.68); it is entitled "Anglo-American Caddie Wagon" and reads as follows: Built in England for an American owner, Mr. E.D. Hess, this huge Cadillac station wagon was based on a project by  Stengel of Hollywood; the design was prepared by James Young of London and the work was carried out by Panelcraft of Putney, London.  Cadillac does  not include a station wagon in its range so this unit originally started life as a brand new "Sedan de Ville". The car is finished in metallic pink [!!!] and the seats are leather. Rear cargo deck and walls are lined with wood-grain Formica, bonded to plywood and aluminum, giving strong panels with high abrasive resitance."  I wonder if the client, Mr. E.D. Hess, might be a relation of Willard C. Hess (co-founder of the Hess & Eisenhardt company), who was 54 the year this car was built; his grandfather was called "Emil" Hess; was there possibly a brother, a cousin with the initials "E.D."?  This car is believed to have survived; more information is awaited [Dec. 2005]. McC p.333.

Original designer's drawing [photo] from the Stengel archives

   
The finished car [notice the absence of wheel covers when the photo was taken]

   
These (fuzzy) images are from Wheels, for May 1960; they were provided kindly by Ron Wilson of Australia
[ notice once again the absence of wheel covers when the photo was taken - same date, same place? ]

 

The (sole?) survivor - sorry, I'm not allowed to tell you where it is!

 

Break Peter Stengel Muni d'un hayon AR, une Cadillac n'est pas un vulgaire break mais une "voiture domaniale", surtout lorsqu'elle est proposée par le carrossier hollywoodien, Peter Stengel et qu'il s'agit d'un modèle de 1959. Finie à la main en Angleterre par le dernier carrossier britannique centenaire, cette Cadillac exceptionnelle ne coûtait "que" $14'000 à l'époque, soit un poil de plus que la Brougham dont elle emprunte les ailerons distinctifs. Elle se base sur la berline Series 62 à pavillon pagode. Le hayon AR ouvert nous permet de constater que la roue de secours prend énormément de place; les finitions à l'AR sont réalisées en formica aux teintes de bois naturel. Un second break de 1959 fut proposé par Peter Stengel. En l'occurrence il s'agit d'une simple esquisse. A-t-il été construit ou non? A noter le traitement particulier des ailerons. Il s'agit d'une berline 9-places sur base de le berline Sedan de Ville à pavillon pagode.

 

Stengel, Peter (USA): 5-door station wagon. Lots of glass area in this elegant Estate Car by the Hollywood designer. The gigantic 1959 rear fins were cut down and ran level with the lower window frames. The twin "bullet" tail-lights of the '59 were replaced by a single, small protruding lamp à la '58 Chevy [was it ever built?]

Stevens, Brooks (USA), custom wagon entitled the Scimitar; this was in the same vein as his earlier Valkyrie creation in 1954. It is not known if any were built.  It could be ordered with the Cadillac power train.

 

[Unknown, Switzerland] This is a regular Series 62 convertible running on cast turbine-blade wheels from a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham.  It is a convoluted story.  This fine convertible used to belong to a lady doctor in Geneva, Dr. Germanier (color photo, below).  If I left my business card on that car's windshield once, I must have left it a half-dozen times over a period of five years:   it said: The day you want to sell your car, please call me.  But she never called. The car was later acquired, later, by a pig farmer with a hankering after old American tin.  Mr. Muller bought also (for just a few hundred bucks) a 1957 Eldorado Brougham that lay abandoned in a neighbor's yard; the owner, at that time, was the widow of Lebanese businessman, Ali Milantchi, a long-time Geneva resident. The pig farmer took a fancy to the Brougham wheels;  when he sold that car to the late Patrice Geneux (formerly a friend and used car dealer in Geneva ...until he "robbed" me on the sale of our 1960 Eldorado Seville), he kept the Brougham wheels and put them on the Series 62 convertible; simultaneously, he put the regular '59 wheel covers on the '57 Brougham. The story does not end there. Geneux "restored" the Brougham, painting the once Wimbledon Gray car bright red and replacing its gray leather and cloth upholstery with royal blue velour (yuk !!!)  After acquiring our '60 Seville. he put its turbine wheel covers on the Brougham ...and the regular '59 covers on the '60 Seville. In summary, if the current owners of these three cars could have gotten together in the late seventies and traded wheels and/or wheel covers, they would all have done each other a huge favor!   . 

Top photo, Dr. Germanier's beautiful Series 62 convertible was parked for many years in
Geneva's Champel area.  Although I said I was interested in buying it, she must have lost my card. 
In the lower photo the car is seen with the cast alloy turbine wheels off a '57 Eldorado Brougham

 

[Unknown, USA] Should I file this under "1965 custom" or "1959 custom"?  I photographed this amateur conversion of a '65 coupe in someone's front yard during my first ever trip to the USA, in 1978.  I've forgotten the location, but I believe it was Indiana.

[ Photo: © 1978, Yann Saunders ]

 

[Unknown, USA] Special Sedan de Ville with single fin running down center of trunk lid [photo]. It was used in several Batman ads. In the early eighties it was owned by Sterling Bochner of Cincinnati, OH. Update: this car [or one identical to it] was sold on eBay, in March 2004, for $3,000. Late extra [July, 2004]:  I was contacted by the new owner, David Strathman, who says: I currently own the car, and plan to customize it further as it has no discernable collector value.

   
[ Photo, right]: Internet, 4/2004 ]

 

[Unknown] Special Cadillac Series 62 flat-top sedan with modified fins; seen on used car lot, route de Drize, Geneva, 1972 [photos]; it had French license tags.  I also saw our (future) 1960 Eldorado Seville on this lot in the late sixties; it was sold to a man in Switzerland's capital city, Berne. When he passed on, it went to his nephew ...who did not like its lilac color. That's when Gita and I bought it..

.   
Not only have the sharp tail fins been cut back but also the bullet tail-light lenses are
gone; only the inner lens remains; these have been spray-painted red from the inside!

 

[Unknown] This gaudy '59, low-rider, complete with continental kit and custom tail-light "V" inserts, is indicative of what you can do to "destroy" an otherwise beautiful 1959  Coupe de Ville. The small photo (first row, right) was taken at a car meet in Holland (?), although the car has German tags; the other two were supplied kindly by German enthusiast, Ingo Marx.  He says this is a 100% German-built custom.

[ Photos: courtesy, Ingo Marx, German Funeral Car Archives ]

[Unknown] here is another "disaster" that used to be a gorgeous and rare 1959 Eldorado Seville. Again, the photos were supplied by German enthusiast, Ingo Marx. This car was originally white. It was thus painted for a carpet store in Austria.

[ Photos: courtesy, Ingo Marx, German Funeral Car Archives ]

 

[Unknown] second Special Cadillac Series 62 flat-top sedan with modified fins (below). Similar fin treatment may be seen on the Fisher-built Eldorado town coupe, commissioned by the late King Farouk of Egypt (above).

Unlike the preceding car, this one has kept its bullet tail-light lenses. 
On the other hand the fins have been shaved even more dramatically.

 

[Unknown, USA] special custom-built Cadillac Eldorado Seville "El Camino" pick-up wagon [photos]. Its owner (in the early eighties) was Joe Padilla of Denver, CO]; at that time it had only 18,000 miles on the odometer and the owner wanted $15,000 for it.  Described as the Eldorado El Camino show car, it garnered 18 first place and 25 second place prizes at various car shows.  Over $30,000 was invested in the project.  Features include:  blue metal-flake paint, sunroof, lateral portholes [photo], twin spotlights, twin rear-view mirrors, sliding rear window, custom hood, custom (1960?) grille, dual exhausts, diamond-tufted interior, custom central console with shift lever, tilt wheel, 472 Cadillac engine, massive chroming of engine and engine-bay parts. The car was included by Kruse International as lot #1044 in their Salt Lake City venue, in April 2005. Bidding peaked at $16,000;  the car did not change hands. Late extra [May, 2007]:  according to Philippe, a French enthusiast, the car is up for sale again, this time with asking prices ranging from $32,500 to $38,000! The vendor describes it thus [sic]: 1959 Cadillac customized Eldorado pick-up, blue/white metallic.  very expensive customized show Cadillac, dual spots, sun roof, Hurst floor stick shift, Eldorado Biarritz trim) bed cover was told customizing cost over $50,000 and car looks like it did, much chrome on eng. air cond. bucket seats, radio plus tape player, cruise, dash padded & chrome, RT holes, custom name plaques, 1960 front bumper very, very unique driver sun roof pick up bed all carpeted.   According to the VIN # [59B022938] the car began its life as a regular 4-window "Sedan de Ville", style # 6339. It is located in Colorado.

   

   
Viewed from the front (RH image) this car could easily pass as a 1960 model

       

       
These color photos show the "Camino" wagon as it appears today [2007]

 

 

Ci-dessus:  pick-up Cadillac, année 1959 Coupé Eldorado Seville de 1959 transformé en pick-up. La calandre, les phares et le pare-chocs AV ont été remplacés par des pièces de 1960 (ce véhicule fut proposé à la vente en 1988 pour $15,000).

 

Fisher/Fleetwwood (USA) [???] This, in fact, is a 1958 model, updated with 1959 tail fins;  what is interesting about it is that it is one of only five or six special 1958 Eldorado Biarritz convertibles which, like the 1950 Le Sabre, were fitted with a rain sensor to close the top and all windows if a single rain drop fell on that sensor; one of these rare cars was offered for sale by Kruse in August 1996; two members of the Cadillac-LaSalle Club, Inc. own one of them: they are Don S. Pike and John W. Vandegrift [see 1997 membership roster]; according to Cadillac enthusiast, Stephen Nadon, a Mr. Rick Raciborski of Chicago also owns one. I have it from Russian enthusiast, Andy Chrisanfov of Moscow's Auto Review newspaper that this car may be the one he saw on display (in 2003) at Classic Corvettes and Collectibles, 304 S.Pinelas Ave., Tarpon Springs, FL. The car features a Goddess hood ornament, which is unusual on a 1958-59 model. Also on  display are/were one of the two 1938 V-16 White House security cars,  as well as a 1958 Eldorado Brougham. All three cars are referred to in the display as being a part of Al Wiseman's collection. More info any one ?

 

Heller, Steve (USA) Steve built this wild '59 Cadillac custom "Fintasia" as one of his multiple art projects involving old cars and parts. Steve is located in Boiveville, NY and you can see some of his creations on this web site.

           

               

   
[ Photos: © and courtesy of Dan Eastwood ]

 

[Unknown, USA] Another, less attractive pickup on the 1959 Series 62 coupe chassis

 

 

[Unknown, USA] special custom-built Cadillac pick-up truck (similar to preceding car)

[Internet image]

 

[Unknown, USA] Here's another pick-up conversion on 1959 Cadillac chassis;  this one was spied on Internet by a member of the Australian CLC.

 

[Unknown, USA] slightly modified Eldorado Biarritz, with extra side trim for added protection ?

 

[Unknown, USA] special custom-built Cadillac station wagon based on Superior limousine style hearse or low top ambulance [photo below from Hard Rock cafe, Honolulu, Hawaii]

 

 

[Unknown, USA] Sabre Custom a special convertible conversion, sans fins, by Cadillac Steel Products, 2148 E, Slauson Ave., Huntington Park, CA and 7447 S. Aubin St., Detroit, MI [photos].

 

Cadillac 1959 Le Sabre Cadillac de 1959 à carrosserie spéciale. Elle a pour nom Cadillac SABRE Custom. Il s'agit d'un cabriolet de la Série 62 auquel on a amputé les ailerons. Curieux comme effet, mais assez plaisant tout de même. J'ai rencontré en Suisse, au cours de mes pérégrinations cadillaquesques (ou cadillaqueuses?), une berline 60 Special à laquelle on avait fait subir la même "intervention chirurgicale" (malheureusement, je n'ai pas de photos).

[Unknown] Special Cadillac Series 60-S sans tail fins, seen in Bienne, CH, in 1980; subsequently destroyed and parted out by my buddy, Roger Zimmermann.

   
I got the dash board and the rear bumper off this finless 60 Special;
the bumper hung for years above the garage, in Switzerland [right]
(the tail-light assemblies came off an ambulance found in an Oklahoman wrecking yard)
[ Photo (left): © and courtesy of Roger Zimmermann ]
[ Photo (right): © and courtesy of Yann Saunders ]

 

 

[Unknown] Here's one like it. It's a custom job with lowered tail-fins.

 

[Unknown, USA] special custom Cadillac 4-dr. convertible Sedan, seen US movie Every which way but Loose [with C. Eastwood and S. Locke]. I have a few photos of some 1959 4-door convertibles (below); my guess is that all these were non-factory conversions. One appears in McC, p,333

   

 

   

 

[Unknown, USA?] Here's another conversion to a 4-door convertible, this time using a Series 60 Special sedan as the base car. It was offered for sale on Ebay's German web site in January, 2008. According to the description, the top was the "Florida style", which I imagine to be just a sun canopy and not a fully automatic (nor weather proof) top.

       

   
[ Photos:  Internet ]

 

[Unknown, USA?] Yet another conversion to a 4-door convertible, probably from a Series 62 sedan this time.  This one was advertized for sale, in France, in the first quarter 2008, as a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado ...I guess on account of the fact that it is a "convertible" and that it is painted pink !

       

 

[Unknown, USA] mildly customized 4-door flat top (SS 8/90, p.3)

[Unknown, USA - possibly George Barris] custom convertible with modified fins, Eldorado/60S rear grille, complete with continental kit:

 

[Unknown, USA - possibly also George Barris] custom Eldorado convertible with modified rear grille and continental kit:

 

[Unknown, USA?] custom continental kit mounted on Series 62 coupe, photographed at the 100th Anniversary Cadillac Grand National in Detroit, 2002.

[ Photo: © 2002, J. Scott Harris ]

 

[Unknown, USA?] custom continental kit mounted on Eldorado Biarritz

 

[Unknown] Photo of 1959 Eldorado Biarritz with diesel engine (conversion?), in LVA, 15.10.1987, p.4

[Unknown, USA] stretched, front wheel drive Series Sixty-Special; check it out!

[Unknown, USA] this appears to be a regular 1959 Series 75 limousine to which has been grafted the side trim of the Series 60 Special. The car is purported to have belonged to former US First Lady, Ms. Eleanor Roosevelt.

[ Photo:  Internet, June 2002 ]

 

[Unknown, USA] Aluminum camper made up of  1959 Cadillac chassis and an airplane body.

[ Photo:  SIA ]

 

[Unknown, USA] camper built on  1959 Cadillac chassis.

 

[Unknown, USA] I couldn't resist including this one:

Proposal for 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Day Ville wagon

 

[Unknown, USA] This hydraulically-operated "hi-lo rider" Coupe de Ville was offered for sale on e-Bay in July 2002. The car may be raised from 3 to about 16 inches off   the ground at the push of a button, even as the car is under way. A custom, rear exhaust "flame thrower" also is installed and controlled from the driver's seat.

[Unknown, USA] Seen on Internet:

 

[Unknown, USA] Featured in a CLC Self-Starter circa July/August 2003, this car is the pride and joy of one of our members. It is a "three-in-one" classic:  it may be either as (a) a fully enclosed hard-top coupe, (b) a regular 6-pass convertible or (c) a custom roadster with appropriate hard boot over the tonneau.

[Unknown, USA] This Series 62 convertible with rear seat tonneau cover was found on the Internet (12/2001)

Is this perhaps the same car ?

 

[Unknown, USA] Now here's a '69 Cadillac with a '59 Cadillac trailer, for the man who has everything !

 

[Unknown, USA] Here are cars you might take for 1959 Eldorado Biarritz models ...unless you look closer and see that they are conversions from regular Series 62 convertible models.  Nice looking cars nevertheless !

   

   

       

 

[Unknown, USA] Pickup on 1959 Cadillac chassis by unknown US (?) coach builder.  This one is in Australia

[ Photo:  courtesy, CLC Australian chapter ]

 

[Unknown, USA] Another pickup on 1959 Cadillac chassis by unknown US (?) coach builder.  This one features a Carson top, with old-style landau bars that gives it the look of a convertible. It has also amidships mounted spare wheels.

[ Photo :  Courtesy Mano Forsman, Sweden ]

 

[Unknown, USA] Few Cadillacs look good with a Continental Kit attached.  The 1959 model year is probably the worst of all. Check out these pictures if you're not convinced [this Eldorado Biarritz was for sale on eBay]:

 

[Unknown, USA] Few Cadillacs look good converted to so-called "hot rods"

"Red and green should NEVER be seen..."
nor should anyone be allowed to do THIS to a '59 Cadillac !

 

[Unknown, USA] Custom Eldorado Biarritz with "shaved" fins. This car came up for sale on Ebay in 2007.   The owner does not know when the fins were removed or who did the work.
The fin treatment is similar to the "Farouk" car, created by Fisher (above), so it could be a factory custom order.

       

 

[Unknown, USA] This strange, "hybrid" 1959 Cadillac Series 62 convertible is fitted with the body from a 1960 Series 62 convertible. It is the imaginative creation of, in my opinion, an unscrupulous used-car vendor in Florida by the name of  "Marv", a "Power Seller" on eBay who uses the ID,"luvdg".  Marv appears to have restored a '59 Series 62 convertible that had got a '60 body put on it during the first 45 years of its life. He used a simplified Series 62 design for the leather upholstery. Despite an alleged restoration cost of over $110,000 (!) he "cut a few corners" (e.g. he did away with the recessed buttons on the seat backs and the distinctive, embossed Cadillac "V" and crest between the rear seat backs (costly and difficult to make up from scratch). He restored  the B&W TV that a previous (?) customizer had installed in the modified dash. Then he attempted on a number of occasions and at different venues in 2005 and 2006 to sell it at auction for a HUGE sum of money); it was advertised, first, as "the" 1959 GM Motorama showcar, then later as a unique GM design experiment direct from Harley Earl's skunk works and, finally, as the first car in the world [and the LAST, we hope] to have TV installed in the dash. Fortunately, nobody fell for "Marv's" outrageous claims, although in one instance (August 2005) bidding appeared  to reach nearly $167,000; however, it failed to meet the vendor's reserve.  He eventually got himself tied in a knot with his incessant false claims. He even had two "witnesses" supply written testimony asserting they both had seen the car at the NY venue of the GM Motorama in October 1959 [when, in fact, it had taken place in October, 1958].  Both witnesses asserted the car was blue; in my opinion, this was because the vendor had "coached" them by showing them a copy of the factory build-sheet with a code "20" in one column.  Unfortunately, "Marv" confused the trim code (#20 - black & white leather) with the paint code (#12 - Dover white). He tried to wiggle out of his obvious mistake asserting, later, that the car first had been white, then re-painted blue.  Even later, he included as further "proof" of his fanciful claims, a picture of a "future Cadillac design"  taken in the Cadillac styling studio; he had found that photo in a GM publication and immediately asserted that this "probably was his car". Trouble is, that car was painted red ...despite "Marv"s insistent, prior claims that it was blue, as attested by the two "reliable" witnesses who had seen it close up,  in New York, in 1959. In fact, the paint code on the build sheet (#12) shows that the car was initially white. Many Cadillac enthusiasts raised doubts as to the car's authenticity and a lively debate ensued on the Cadillac-LaSalle Club forum. Anyway, after three unsuccessful attempts to sell the car on eBay (although there were - apparently - "private" bids, the highest being in the region of $170,000), "Marv" consigned it with the Barrett-Jackson auctioneers at their "no reserve" Scottsdale venue in January, 2006.  Bidding topped out around $50K (for a UNIQUE GM show car that he had offered, in August 2005, to a collector friend of mine, for ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!  Just after the auction ended, I learned from the consignor himself that HE had bought the car "back". I learned also (and to my great surprise) that a "valid sale" may occur even if an auction item remains in the ownership of the consignor ...provided he/she pays the sales commission! Well, well, well! Who among us will ever believe an auction result again? Late Extra [Summer, 2006]: apparently the car found a new home, in Colorado [as per its license tags] ...but the buyer put it up for sale AGAIN! Despite it being "a UNIQUE creation for GM by Harley Earl", someone has undertaken to make a few modifications: for example, the Fiberglas hard boot has been replaced by a cheaper, vinyl tonneau cover, the expensive, Fleetwood wheel discs have been replaced by modern wire wheels, the steering wheel has been changed from a 1960 to a 1959 model, seat belts have been added, the floor mats have been replaced by a modern set, the engine bay has been detailed following many suggestions by enthusiasts who saw errors there.  CAVEAT EMPTOR !!!   Latest [4/2008]: this message was posted on the Forum of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club by Peter Kulzer, the son of the current owner: Ok, let me set this straight for everyone.... My father now owns this Cadillac.  It is a '59.    It is titled as a '59 Cadillac. Let me start off by saying that this is one of the worst resto jobs ever. The thing is a bondo bucket. It sat outside for several years before the resto and it still had leaves under the dash when my father and I pulled the dash to rewire it all. The seats were beat up when we received it and now they are reupholstered. The motor was never rebuilt. The engine was repainted in the car; parts of the chassis are spray painted blue due to overspray. The car had tons of rust on it and it shows where they covered it. The finish of the body has terrible orange peel. The car was white with black and white interior originally. When we got the car off the car hauler when we got it, the driver's side window was broken and all the other windows were un-aligned. The only brake that was working was the left front and it isn't easy stopping a 6-7 thousand pound Caddy that way.

In this bird's eye view you can see the open door that encloses the TV set;
the seat pattern and interior trim are neither from 1959 nor 1960; there
is also no chrome radio grille in rear seat back; vendor probably will argue
that this is "normal"; why install a radio in a car that has a TV in the dash !

   
Note how Eldorado-type stainless steel molding along the body sill stops abruptly, level with
the wheel skirt and does not extend up to to the trailing edge of the rear fender;
Eldorado turbine vane wheel discs and hard boot also are intended to accentuate the car's custom nature

       
Seat pattern is similar to the 1960 Series 62 design but does away with the seat back buttons
as well as the elaborate, embossed  Cadillac "V" and crest between the rear seat backs
[ Photos:  Internet, 2005 ]

 

[Unknown, USA] Conversion to trike from 1959 Cadillac

It's not even a car ...it's a trike !

 

Winfield, Gene [Rod and Custom Shop, Los Angeles, CA) This pick up was actually built by the Scandinavian collector, Henric Forsman, in Winfield's shop. Photos are from Henric's private album, courtesy Mano Forsman.

   

 

Yann S. (Switzerland and USA) And here is my very own proposal for an Eldorado Estate Wagon on the commercial chassis for 1959. It is based on a technical drawing found on p. 9 of the 1959 Miller-Meteor product brochure entitled Outshining Them All. The pickiest among you will note that all I did was to add "Eldorado" side trim and tail-lights to a Miller-Meteor funeral coach design.

 

Trivia 1:  the 1959 Cadillac tail-fin has become such a popular American icon that many an automobile buff has been inspired by it. Example, this early sixties Ford Mustang !

Trivia 2:  You thought that was bad? Try this for size (!) It's a  "59 Miatallac" (or a "59 Cadimiata"). I got the tip from Database user, Merrill Gibson. The pics are from Miata's "Wild Rose Club", in Canada:

   

 

Trivia 3:  This photo of a 1959 Cadillac wannabe on Chrysler Imperial chassis was sent to me kindly by European enthusiast Wouter Kloosterman.

 

Trivia 4:  From Los Angeles, for sale on eBay in 2005 (?) was a genuine army tank with a fiberglass replica of a 59 Cadillac and a real titanium jet engine attached.  The "car" was not intended to be driven around.  It was for show; the jet engine does not actually power the vehicle. No one will ever forget the success of General Norman Schwarzkopf during Desert Storm;  this killer show car immortalizes the power of "STORMIN NORMAN" !