Special 1938 Job #9006

[ last update: 03.08.2000 ]

The (new) Cadillac Database^Š

The Cadillac V16

Part 5b

Special Job #9006
1938

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Two of these huge convertible sedans for 7-8 passengers were built by Fleetwood on a special chassis of 165" wheel base, powered by the mighty sixteen-cylinder engine. They were used up to the mid-fifties as parade vehicles and security cars by the occupants of the White House and their "guardians".

Communications equipment (telephone and two-way radio) as well as special gun racks and pistol holsters were part of the standard equipment of these two cars. A short flag staff was placed on each front fender, one for the Stars and Stripes, the other for the Presidential flag. A large police siren and red emergency light were mounted on the LH front fender.

Surprisingly, both these cars have survived. Their V-16 engines were removed after WW2 and replaced with less fuel-hungry V-eights. One of them has been owned for many years by well-known Cadillac dealer, Jack Tallman of Decatur, IL. I visited Jack in 1978 and he was kind enough to let me drive it. The other car was acquired in the early eighties by a Belgian collector, Charly de Pauw (the name of the vendor is not known). When Mr. de Pauw died, the car joined the Mahy collection and was exhibited at "Autoworld", the National Automobile Museum of Belgium, in Brussels.

At latest news [1998-99] this car and a similar design on a stretched 1956 V-8 chassis were sold at auction for a reported $1,600,000!

Below are some more photos of this amazing vehicle:

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In this picture we see both of the 1938 security cars.
The one in the background carries the presidential escort

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Harry Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt both used the huge 1938 convertible sedan for official parades and visits of state

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These two photos show the car owned by Jack Tallman of Decatur, IL.
Both photos are Š J. Tallman; they were given to the author by Mr. Tallman in the seventies

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V69006a.jpg (8737 bytes)

The car on the left was on display, until recently, at the National Automobile Museum of Belgium. The pistol-packing 4-year-old in the photo on the right is my son Jamie; he is now considerably older.
Both photos: Š 1978, Yann Saunders

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The two pictures on this row were taken on the occasion of "The Cadillac-LaSalle Experience", in Michigan, in June 1993

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The photo above and the one on the left are reproduced
courtesy of Ms. Katie Robbins, CCCA

This car was reportedly sold at a Kruse auction in Auburn, IN, May 1999. The description of lot #884 reads follows: This car was specially built for the use of the Secret Service and the President of the USA. It is in original cobdition [in fact the V16 engine has been removed and replaced with a V8] and is equipped with siren, flag staffs, pistol holders, built-in gun rack, extra pockets, running boards for six Secret Service agents outside and seats for eight passengers inside. This is strictly a parade car, used with the top down. This particular car was used by three presidents including Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eiesenhower. The car apparently sold for $275,000 [much less, in fact, than the other '38 Presidential that was sold at auction just one year earlier.

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Š 1996, Yann Saunders and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club, Inc.
[ Background image: Artist's view made up by Yann Saunders ]