For most multitude , the name Cadillac evokes images of the finned , chromed , and gadget - laden " Fabulous Fifties " models . And why not ?
These Caddys were the ultimate expression of America ’s postwar prosperity and Detroit ’s high up - flying dream , four - wheeled tributes to the " jet geezerhood , " young technical marvels both serious and silly , and the promised good life of ultra - modern , convenience - filled home in secure , spacious new suburban community .
It was a time when Cadillac ownership conferred clamant condition as a symbol of wealth and accomplishment . Elvis Presley have a Cadillac . So did captain of diligence , Hollywood king , even state of war - zep President Dwight Eisenhower .
No other luxury - car brand had this power in the public consciousness : not Lincoln , not Chrysler ’s Imperial , and certainly not Packard , which fast withered into obliviousness after 1958 . And though Lincoln and Imperial would ride occasional challenges , neither came close to eclipsing Cadillac ’s sales or prestige . Quite merely , in the four decades from 1950 , Cadillac had no serious competition in the U.S. market .
Of course , Cadillac ’s winner and frequent lavishness in the 1950s had detractors . For these folks , Cadillacs were two tons of wretched surplusage , the prototype of the " ugly American " and Detroit ’s " brassy chariots . "
A later Federal Reserve chairman might have termed them " irrational exuberance . " But all car reflect the spirit of their time , and Cadillacs were right on target throughout the 1950s . The only matter better might be a " Solid Gold Cadillac , " the reward for the heroine in a successful Broadway shimmer and Hollywood flick .
In an intriguing forecast of far - distant development , Cadillac displayed several two - ass approximation cars in the ' 50s .
The first was the 1953 Cadillac Le Mans , which looked much like a yield 1954 Eldorado on a pruner , 115 - inch wheelbase . That same dimension serve the 1954 Cadillac El Camino coupe and 1959 Cadillac La Espada convertible , which previewed 1955 Cadillac output - example styling . A restyled Cadillac LeMans was also testify at the ' 55 Motorama .
Wildest of all was the 1959 Cadillac Cyclone , a rocketlike phantasy with a 104 - inch wheelbase , all - self-governing intermission , unit grammatical construction , and a clear - plastic " bubble " top . The canopy was coated within with vaporized silver gray to defy the Sunday ’s rays , and slid away as the door was opened . And those doors were electrically operate on slide types , as on innovative minivans .
Cyclone was a parting gift from GM intent foreman Harley Earl , who crawl in in 1958 . His successor was longtime understudy Bill Mitchell , who would regress Cadillac to more self-respectful styling in the ' 60s .
We ’ll continue our give-and-take of the fifties Cadillacs with more details on 1950 , 1951 , 1952 , and 1953 manikin on the next Sir Frederick Handley Page .
For more infomation on Cadillac, see:
1950, 1951, 1952, 1953 Cadillac
Cadillac start the 1950s with cautiously considered update to its introductory 1948 innovation , which was good enough to stay popular through 1953 . As General Motors decorator Mitchell once noted : " A traditional look is always preserved . If a radiator grille is change , the butt goal is left alone ; if a fin is changed , the grille is not tinker with . "
And so it was : a fresh one - piece windscreen and revamped radiator grille for 1950 , small auxiliary grilles beneath the headlamps for 1951 , a winged badge in that stain for 1952 , one - piece rear window and suggestive " Dagmar " pointed front bumper guard for 1953 . Equally sassy , Cadillac gave up on fastbacks much in the beginning than sis GM makes , switching all of its 1950 coupes to notchback profiles with hardtop rooflines a la Coupe de Ville .
Models also did n’t change much through 1953 . Still account for most sales agreement , the Series 62 extend a four - door sedan , exchangeable , Coupe de Ville , and a less - deluxe hardtop coupe , all on the usual 126 - column inch wheelbase .
The Cadillac Sixty Special remain a solitary crack - luxury four - room access on its own wheelbase , which was now 130 in versus 133 for 1942 - 1948 . The Series 75 still list its accustomed regalia of limousines and long - wheelbase sedans on a 146.8 - inch chassis . Cadillac also continued render physique for various coachbuilder , averaging about 2,000 a year through 1959 .
The " accounting entry - level " Series 61 was still around in 1950 , but its sedan and De Ville - inspired coupe were demoted to a 122 - inch wheelbase ( from 126 in the 1940s ) . Manual transmission remain standard here ( and on 75s ) , but other Caddys now came with Hydra - Matic at no additional cost .
The Series 61 models still lack chrome rocking chair moldings and had plainer interior , but also lower prices ( by about $ 575 ) . But with record 1950 gross sales of 100,000 - plus , Cadillac no longer postulate a " price leader , " so the Series 61 was cancelled after 1951 , this clip for good .
After keep an eye on its Golden Anniversary with a little - changed fleet for 1952 , Cadillac issued a tawdry limited - variant convertible , the 1953 Series 62 Eldorado . Like that year ’s new Buick Skylark and Olds 98 Fiesta , it bluster feature preview on late GM Motorama show car : custom interior , special cut - down " Panoramic " wraparound windshield , a sporty " notched " beltline ( below the side windows ) , and a alloy chapeau instead of a canvass boot to hatch the lowered top . A dramatic piece of music , the Eldorado was a preview of Cadillacs to come , but only 532 of the ' 53s were built , largely because the price was a towering $ 7,750 .
Cadillac sales – and HP – continued to climb from 1954 to 1956 . For more on this Cadillac geological era , take on .
1954, 1955, 1956 Cadillac
Cadillac for 1954 introduced longer , miserable , and wider cars with more king and an all - new General Motors " C - dead body " expect the trendy wrapped windscreen .
Wheelbase lengthen to 129 inches on Cadillac Series 62 role model , and to 149.8 inch on Series 75s . The Cadillac V-8 was boosted to 230 HP , and power steering and windshield washer became standard linewide . A four - way power front seat was a new option .
The 1954 Cadillac Eldorado returned with stock Au - color clipping and genuine telegram wheels , but was much more like the standard Series 62 ragtop and thus far cheap than the 1953 Eldorado , at $ 4,738 . Predictably , Cadillac Eldorado sales rose to 2,150 for the role model yr . That improved to 3,950 for ' 55 , then rose 65 pct for ' 56 , when Eldorados doubled to include a hardtop coupe , surnamed Seville , with the same $ 6,556 base price as the convertible , which was rename the Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz .
Eldorado became more distinctive again after 1954 , bourgeon pointy " shark " fins above orotund taillights . Other 1954 Cadillac models hold back the small taillight - and - fin theme from anterior age .
Cadillac ’s canonical 1954 styling persist through effective , evolutionary facelift for 1955 and 1956 . The latter class brought the division ’s first four - door hardtop , predictably dubbed Sedan de Ville , which immediately scored almost as many sales event as the Coupe de Ville and stock Series 62 hardtop combined .
Cadillac sale continued nowhere but up , reaching 140,777 for 1955 , a streamer twelvemonth for all Detroit . But even that was a temporary tableland . Despite challenges from an all - new 1956 Lincoln and regenerate 1957 Imperial , Cadillac stay America ’s sumptuousness gross sales loss leader by far . Combined Lincoln / purple intensity never outmatch 40,000 cars a year in this era ; at Cadillac , that was good output signal for a calendar quarter .
Horsepower seemed to mount right along with sales . For 1955 it reached 250 in stock tune via mellow compaction and amend manifolding . The 1955 Cadillac Eldorado boasted 270 horsepower , courtesy of double four - barrel carburetors that were optional for other model . For 1956 , the milestone V-8 received the first of several blowup , being bored out to 365 cubic inches , upright for 305 horsepower in Eldorados , 285 in other models .
Horsepower would continue to climb , along with the elevation of those tailfins , as Cadillac was poise to embark a period in which it would cement itself as a symbol of the American Century .
The 1957 and 1958 Cadillac model were flamboyant – even garish to some – yet creatively engineered . These mythical 50s models are detail on the next varlet .
1957, 1958 Cadillac
Cadillac ’s identity as an American automotive ikon hit its stride for 1957 and 1958 . These cable car celebrated the good aliveness with ever - more sonsie styling and lurid chrome appointment , but backed that up with some genuine applied science creative thinking .
For ' 57 , the segmentation ’s 356 - three-dimensional - inch V-8 take in 15 horsepower in standard form , to 300 , and increased by 20 in the Eldorado , to 325 , mostly thanks to a compression bulge to 10:1 .
This railway locomotive power a rebodied 1957 Cadillac lineup . The look was blockier but still evolutionary , inspired by the Cadillac Orleans , Eldorado Brougham , and Park Avenue show cars of 1954 and 1955 .
Reaching into the luxury stratosphere was a production 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham , price at a princely $ 13,074 . One of the most - interesting Cadillacs of the fifties , this low - slung pillarless sedan chair on a " compact " 126 - column inch wheelbase boast center - opening threshold and a ceiling capped in brushed stainless brand , the latter one of Harley Earl ’s favorite touches . stock musculus quadriceps femoris headlamp were an diligence first portion out with that year ’s Nash .
The Brougham ’s most - challenging mechanically skillful feature of speech was air suspension , the work of applied scientist Lester Milliken and Fred Cowin . Based on arrangement used for commercial vehicles since 1952 , this employed an air " spring " at each roulette wheel and was comprised of a vaulted air chamber , rubber midriff , and piston . feed in by a central air compressor , the dome continually adjusted for load and route condition ( via valves and solenoids ) for a liquid , grade drive .
Cadillac ’s system differed from " breeze ride " selection at other GM division in being " open " ( take in atmosphere from outside ) rather than " closed . " sadly , cost and complexness were high relative to benefit . The atmosphere domes leaked , and replacement were frequent , top many owners to junk the system in favor of conventional curl spring . Cadillac and GM abandoned strain intermission after 1960 .
calculate the future , the 1958 Cadillac De Ville became a 62 subseries , and pillared sedans were extinguish . The 62 line also win a hardtop saloon with extensive rear deck .
All 1958 Cadillac example were available with cruise control , in high spirits - insistence cooling system of rules , two - speaker sign - attempt radio , and automatic parking brake sack . A special show Eldorado introduced a " thinking " transmutable top that raised itself and the side windowpane when a sensor detected raindrop ; this thingumajig allegedly take care limited yield , though probably far less than even air suspension did .
An remindful redesign was on tap for Cadillac ’s next model class . We ’ll examine the immortal 1959 Cadillac next .
1959 Cadillac
As flamboyant as the 1958 Cadillacs come out , there was another styling frontier ahead . That doorsill was crossbreed with the immortal 1959 Cadillac .
GM gave its division ’s largest cars , the so - call C - bodies , another new introductory design for 1959 . For Cadillac , that intend more - curvaceous styling organise as a hurried reply to Chrysler ’s resurgent ' 57 Imperials .
trademark include huge kink - top windshield , thin - division rooflines , slim roof pillars – and soaring fins of heroic proportions , adorned with in high spirits - disembarrass bullet taillamps .
Offsetting such excesses were worthy dangling changes and better baron steering . In addition , a V-8 stroked to 390 cubic inches produce predictably higher horsepower : to 345 on El Dorado , to 325 on other model .
The Cadillac De Ville became a distinct series for 1959 , offering hardtop sedans with mat - top four - window styling and a rounded six - windowpane roofline , plus a hardtop coupe .
The 1959 Cadillac Series 62 twin these dead body stylus , and added a convertible .
After just two years and 704 units , the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham was fully restyled , too . Moreover , forum was produce out to coachbuilder Pininfarina in Italy . Only 99 Eldorado Broughams were built for ' 59 , another 101 of the nigh - identical ' sixty . Though appearance was clean ( a trailer of Cadillac ’s 1961 styling , as it grow out ) , these cars were larger ( on a 130 - inch wheelbase ) , heavier , and not put together as well ( body contained lots of lead filler ) . They ’re collector ’s point now , but restore one is a task .
Also still pillarless ( as it had been since 1957 ) was the luxuriant 1959 Cadillac Sixty Special , now on the 130 - inch wheelbase shared with other received manikin , including the line - topping Eldorado Seville , Biarritz , and Brougham .
Cadillac prices were generally mellow for 1959 , with Series 62 models at around $ 5,000 and the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado going for $ 7,400 and up . Still , Cadillac built more 142,000 railroad car for the model year , a mediocre amplification on 1958 .
At the clock time , of course of instruction , it postulate some foresight , or a sure contrarian outlook , to believe that American railway car styling had reached some outlandish zenith with the 1959 Cadillac . But even within GM there was a sentience that things had to be dial back , and indeed they were , beginning in 1960 .
What ca n’t be disputed is that the 1959 Cadillacs , defined by those saber - edged five and missile taillamps , are among the most evocative object of the 20thCentury . What exactly they raise is undefended to interpretation , and that ’s part of the magic .
The 1960s would conjure up a clean , more streamlined Cadillac design , as well as record sale numbers . learn our 1960 - 1969 Cadillac report for more on this Cadillac geological era .
