Unknown scale or origin

Unknown, alleged 1931 Cadillac roadster

GUISVAL, SPAIN

   
A pair of cute diecast V-16 (?) convertible coupes
from the author's former collection (circa 3-4" long) 

UNIDENTIFIED, USA (?)

A rumble-seat roadster made of wood
[ Photo:  Internet, 2001 ]

GARTON TOYS, USA

Upper LH medallion reads: Garton - Good Toys since 1879; this tinplate sign
depicts a La Salle pedal car (1:3 scale?) of the late twenties or early thirties

Circa 1:64 scale

RACING CHAMPIONS, USA (?)

Superb Fleetwood-bodied 1930-31 vee-sixteen, style #4276 coupe
by Racing Champions, 1999 (#249); excellent detail despite small scale

Here is a hot-rodded version of the same toy

Circa 1:48 scale

RENWALL, USA

   
Renwall (USA) offered in the sixties (right) a 1:48 scale model of the popular V-16,
style #4260 sport phaeton; the company proposed a simpler kit some years later (left)

Revell 1931 Cadillac Phaeton. 1:48 scale, kit# H-1272; perhaps Revell acquired the
Renwall molds for the above kit, for here is a very similar toy, in identical scale

The built-up kit from my former collection

Circa 1:43 scale

DANBURY MINT (?), USA

   
This pewter special phaeton, Fleetwood style #4260
is believed to be from the Danbury Mint

DEPARTMENT 56, USA

   
The toy car (left) is NOT a Cadillac; I merely included this diorama because
it depicts the showroom of the "Hensly" Cadillac dealership in the early thirties

UNKNOWN, USA (???)

   
Nice replicas of Al Capone's alleged V-16 limousine

Although the underside of the toy reads "Cadillac V-16 - 1931"
those skirts did not appear on Cadillacs until 1933

ELEGANCE, FRANCE
( Claude Thibivilliers )

The custom-built V-16 models of Elegance, France
based on mass-produced Solido toys (France)

   
Left: #1212, Fleetwood Madame X style #4155; right: #503, Fleetwood style #4264-B

   
Left: #32, Fleetwood style #4285 convertible Victoria (with erroneous straight sill instead
of the curved, coach sill); right: #30, Fleetwood style #4302 roadster (missing the folded top)

   
Left: custom-built hearse based on a mass-produced toy by Solido, France [on this one,
the landau bars are mounted upside down!]; right: #36, imaginary fire engine on V-16 chassis

Richly finished replica of Cadillac’s 1930 Fleetwood Fleetbourne Town Brougham for 7 passengers, on the V16 chassis, finished in a deep Merlot/black combination
and red/black, both from Elegance Models. Handcrafted in resin, builder Claude Thibivilliers based his design on the aforementioned Solido die-cast models. Ref. No. 504.
Photo courtesy GM in Miniature, Veloce Publishing. Author, Randall Olson.

Though not always 100% accurate in over-all styling detail, these are among the
finest,  rarest and (quite naturally) the most expensive of all 1:43 scale model
Cadillacs I have ever seen; they are made in France, in limited numbers, by a friend
and master craftsman, Claude Thibivilliers of Pijol, under the Elegance label;
they are of such high quality that I have reserved this full page to them

ERTL, USA

This blister pack hides what could be a V-16 convertible coupe

FRANKLIN MINT, USA

  
1930 V-16 convertible coupe, again Fleetwood style #4235, this time by the Franklin Mint, USA

HALLMARK, USA

   
New for 2001, this 1:43 scale 1931 Cadillac roadster
by Hallmark, depicts  Fleetwood V-16 style #4302

MESQUITE MODELS, USA
ENCHANTMENT LAND COACHBUILDERS, USA (?)

Flanks read: CADILLAC V-12, official 1931
pacemaker, Indianapolis 500 Sweepstakes

MIYASHITA, JAPAN

Click here to see a similar toy by Miyashita, Japan

MINI AUTO EMPORIUM (MAE), CANADA

   
#12 and 112a, issued in 1984
[ Photo: Argus de la Miniature - © 1988, E. Flament ]
The front grille unfortunately is much too wide on this otherwise nice model

R.D. MARMANDE, FRANCE

Hand-whittled and painted balsa-wood and plastic replica by RDM [René Daffaure,
Marmande, France] of a unique, boat-tailed speedster on the V-16 chassis, commissioned
from Gian Battista, aka Pinin, Farina by the wealthy Maharajah of Orccha, ruler
of Bhopal, a former Indian princely state. I'm not sure these were the original
colors but one thing is sure, the car was used for tiger-shooting by the Maharajah!

[ missing ]

Another version (#112b) has a non-original secondary windshield
for the tonneau, wire wheels, Trippe road lights and two spotlights

RIO, ITALY

   
Rio of Italy had these two Cadillac 1/43 scale die-cast toys to offer in 1980 and 1981;
Left: #76 open (1980), right # 77 closed (1981); both depict
Fleetwood style #4235 convertible coupe on the V-16 chassis for 1930-31

   
Same toys but ordered in these two special colors (blue and yellow)

TO BE IDENTIFIED

1931 V-16 roadster

Circa 1:32 scale

PYRO PLASTICS, USA

This is the built-up special phaeton kit from my former collection

   
Pyro Plastics (USA) also offered in the sixties these flawless 1:32 scale
construction kits of two superb Fleetwood-bodied vee-sixteen models,
namely style #4260 special phaeton (top) and #4212 town car (bottom)
The Cadillac V-16 models of 1930-31 enjoyed great popularity with the US
model makers in the early seventies; in fact some have been re-issued

Again, the built-up kit from my own, former collection

SIGNATURE, ASIA

   
Fleetwood style #4302 V16 roadster

UNIDENTIFIED, USA

Crystal objet d'art depicting the Cadillac sport phaeton

1:25 scale

JO-HAN, USA

Some of the most finely detailed plastic promotional cars and
construction kits were built by Jo-Han in the USA, from around 1958
to 1980.  The Gold Cup series, that included also a couple of custom jobs
from 1966, offered the three spectacular V-16 models below.  These are
the very toys that started my "collectomania", in the early sixties.
Switch to this page to view the full series of these detailed replicas

The 1930-31 Cadillac V-16 convertible coupe (Fleetwood style #4235) 

The built-up kit from my former collection

   
The 1930-31 Cadillac V-16 sport phaeton (Fleetwood style #4260, special phaeton)
and the built-up kit that was the first ever Cadillac toy in my former collection

   
The 1930-31 Cadillac V-16 town brougham (Fleetwood style #4264B) 

I doubt that any of these elegant models were ever painted red;
mine was finished in more conservative black!
My friend Bob Waldock of Sandusky, OH, who owns one of these
"toys" in 1:1 scale (converted from another town car style) painted it red!

WENGER, TERRY (USA)

This is an amateur-built model of an imaginary pick-up truck on the Cadillac
V-16 chassis for 1930-31;  it was built by V-16 owner-enthusiast, Terry Wenger,
on the basis of Jo-Han's 1931phaeton kit, combined with a '34 Ford pick up body.
[ Photo:  Self Starter, June 2006 ]

   
Custom 1931 V-16 boattail roadster commissioned from Battista Farina, Italy, by the Mahartajah of Orccha,
one of India's "princely States" prior to independence in 1947; the model is a conversion from Jo-Han's
1/25 scale V-16 phaeton; the boattail is carved from a solid piece of balsa wood and the front fenders consists
of modified Duesenberg rear fenders; balsa wedges were attached and shaped to from the rear fenders
[ Photos: © 2008 and courtesy of the builder in India, B.H. Pian, aka "Travancore"]

1:24 scale

BANTHRICO, USA

   
Banthrico 1974 Metal Bank in the form of a 1930 Cadillac V-16 roadster

FRANKLIN MINT, USA

   
The made-up 1:24 scale models of the Franklin Mint enjoy great popularity ...among the moneyed buyers!
this one depicts Fleetwood style #4375 imperial sedan, one of which was used by mobster, Al Capone

       
Revised edition based on the same model - the regular V16 limousine;
it's hard to distinguish on these models if the car has the correct, raised Fleetwood hood;
the origional car is located in the Browning/Kimball Unioon Station Museum, Utah.

UNIDENTIFIED, USA

   
Left: 1930-31 V-16, Fleetwood style #4260 sport phaeton
Right: 1930-31 V-16, Fleetwood style #4264B razor-edged town brougham
[ I can't remember where I found these beautiful,  hand carved, wooden
scale models of the 1930-31 Cadillac V16 - possibly  in the CCCA magazine ]

LACHMAN &CO., DETROIT, USA

This 24kt gold-plated, circa 1:18 scale model of the bespoke Cadillac V-16 roadster (Fleetwood
style #4302), is believed to have been  commissioned by the Cadillac Motor Car Division of GM,
from Lachman & Co, Detroit, to be awarded annually to worthy service personnel in Cadillac's
national service organization.  Like the 1906-07 Model K and the 1912 "award" models
described earlier, I imagine it is VERY RARE [again, possibly fewer than fifty pieces]; I guess
it too was issued in the mid-eighties; this one is also from the Ansell Sackett collection  
[ Photo: Self Starter, CLC ]

Circa 1:16 scale

MARX, USA

   
This early tinplate is described as a 1930 Cadillac.  Well, with a little imagination
it might pass for a 1929 model [hood louvers];  it is 11½ inches long

??? Circa 1:12 scale ???

??? WEST COAST PRECISION DIECAST, USA ???

This possibly unique model in 1:12-scale depicts the 1931
Cadillac dual cowl, sport phaeton by Fleetwood on the V-16 chassis
[Photo:  © W.E. Bomgardner,  AACA]

Does anyone have a finshed model that I could show here?

Circa 1:3 scale

UNIDENTIFIED, USA

This possibly unique model in 1:3-scale depicts the 1931
Cadillac dual cowl, sport phaeton by Fleetwood on the V-12 chassis
[Photo:  © W.E. Bomgardner,  AACA]

 

Lorsque j'ai vendu ma collection à un Monsieur de Zürich, au mois de juillet 1989, elle comportait à l'époque environ 750 pièces différentes. Depuis lors, de nombreux nouveaux modèles sont apparus sur le marché; par ailleurs j'ai découvert plusieurs jouets parmi les anciens qui manquaient à ma collection. J'estime aujourd'hui à plus de 900 le nombre  de jouets et miniatures Cadillac et La Salle proposés aux collectionnaires sérieux, voire illuminés.

En revanche je constate que les fabricants sont nombreux à innonder le marché de modèles ayant déjà paru chez d'autres, quoique de couleurs ou d'échelles differentes. Parmi ces jouets populaires "à répétition" figurent la voiturette Cadillac de 1903, le coupé de 1913, le spider et le convertible V16 de 1930-31, le torpédo V16 de 1932, les modèles Eldorado de 1953, 1957 et 1959 de même que le coupé Eldorado de 1967 à traction AV.

J'ai longtemps souhaité voir apparaître sur le marché de la minaiature les Cadillac et La Salle les plus belles, y compris les voitures de rêve, fabriquées dans les années vingt, trente et quarante. Nous savons plus ou moins tous à quoi ressemble le spider V16 de 1930; à quand, enfin, des torpédos, torpédos sport, coupés, coupé Victoria, berlines, berlines d'apparat, limousines, coupés chauffeur et grandes remises de la marque.

Il y a regain de popularité pour certains modeles d'après-guerre et notamment les berlines et coupés à pavillon fuyant, le premier Coupé de Ville (1949), les rares berlines Eldorado Brougham de 1957-58, quelques modèles des années soixante, les coupés Eldorado à traction AV et gros V8 [8 litres] des années soixante-dix, de même que la Seville des années quatre-vingt "à malle anglaise".  On en souhaitetrait d'autres encore.

Qui n'a pas rêvé de posséder un jour, pour de vrai, un superbe cabriolet Eldorado de 1953, dont seuls 532 exemplaires furent construits? Malheureusement, il n'y a pas un nombre suffisant de survivants pour satisfaire la demande. Cependant, ceux d'entre nous qui ont la chance de rouler ou d'espérer rouler en Cadillac "ordinaire" d'avant ou d'après-guerre, nous aimerions bien pouvoir nous procurer des modèles réduits de celles-là aussi, en dehors des modèles de rêve hors de portée de nous tous.