Flamboyant '37 Cadillac V-16
This is for Steve Brown who just uploaded a full pic of this supremely outrageous Cad Roadster. The backstory is fascinating so get a drink, sit in the shade and settle into a chair.
“It was almost bigger than the Swiss streets at the time could handle,” says Don McLellan, president of Chatham, Ontario-based RM Restoration, which led the recent two-year effort to return the car to original condition. But holding the title of “wildest Cadillac in existence” comes at a price. McLellan says the skirted fenders and long wheelbase make for a turning circle so massive, they had to three-point some of the turns on the Pebble Beach driving tour.
“It offers no practicality whatsoever,” says McLellan, noting with no trunk, and the huge spare tire tucked behind the seats, and the skirts, changing a tire would take about three hours.
It doesn’t matter—this V16 Cabriolet wasn’t supposed to be practical. It was supposed to be extravagant, impressive and iconic. It succeeded!!
In 1937 Cadillac built fifty of their most expensive Series 90 V-16 chassis, and all but two were bodied in-house by Fleetwood. This chassis was delivered to Lausanne, Switzerland, to be bodied by Carrosserie Hartmann per an order by local resident Philippe Barraud, a wealthy playboy of the 1930s. Barraud wanted an outrageous, bespoke automobile to suit his stylish lifestyle. Stretching 22 feet in length, the car was designed in the sweeping cabriolet style of the Delahaye built by Figoni & Falaschi for the 1936 Paris Auto Salon. The car soon suffered several accidents, possibly because its size was unsuitable for small European roads, and it was permanently parked in 1939. Then it was all but abandoned until the summer of 1968 when a second owner acquired it for just $925. Over the following 50 years it changed hands many times and gained several non-original embellishments, but this unique and imposing Cadillac V-16 now has been meticulously restored to its original configuration and its original off-white paintwork with distinctive gray body stripe and fender skirts
This Cadillac is probably the most extreme cabriolet ever built. Wealthy playboy Phillipe Barraud personally commissioned this design through local Cadillac dealer in Lausanne, Switzerland on one of the finest chassis that America had on offer.
Phillipe chose the Cadillac V16 for its monstrous 452 cu engine and robust chassis that could support any coachwork that adorned it. Cadillac shipped a bare chassis, one of only two that year, around the world to Switzerland and there it was bodied in Lausanne by Willy Hartmann. Barraud wanted to body the chassis in his own home town so he could personally suprvise the work.
The final result was stunning. Stretching 22 feet in length Hartmann created a sweeping cabriolet that was almost too dubious to drive on regular roads, proof of which was that it was involved in several accidents. The design was accented in chrome and definitely mimicked the French masters Figoni et Falaschi which pioneered the trend from a painting by Geo Ham.
Philippe Barraud was the heir to a brick-and-tile empire who wanted to turn up to Europe’s fashionable concours d’elegance in the “ultimate car” (and, it’s said, to draw in his pick of the women he drove by on the Swiss Riviera on the shores of Lake Geneva).
He needn’t have worried—Hartmann delivered. The French, flowing lines on the fenders he hand-shaped were complemented by the finest componentry – Marchal and Bosch lighting; a custom, finned grille – and, of course, that 452-cubic-inch Cadillac V16 engine, fitted with dual everything, from the twin exhaust to the twin ignition.
If that somehow failed to impress, the sheer size of the car would certainly do it. The two-seater’s titanic 22-foot length was visually exaggerated by a radiator and firewall cut down three to four inches, which lowered the hood-line. When Hartmann finished the Cadillac, it weighed in at around 6,000 lbs, and required special reinforcements and heavy-duty springs to handle the tonnage.
Over the top in every way!!
COMMENTS & INVITATIONS with AWARD BANNERS will be respectfully DELETED!
Flamboyant '37 Cadillac V-16
This is for Steve Brown who just uploaded a full pic of this supremely outrageous Cad Roadster. The backstory is fascinating so get a drink, sit in the shade and settle into a chair.
“It was almost bigger than the Swiss streets at the time could handle,” says Don McLellan, president of Chatham, Ontario-based RM Restoration, which led the recent two-year effort to return the car to original condition. But holding the title of “wildest Cadillac in existence” comes at a price. McLellan says the skirted fenders and long wheelbase make for a turning circle so massive, they had to three-point some of the turns on the Pebble Beach driving tour.
“It offers no practicality whatsoever,” says McLellan, noting with no trunk, and the huge spare tire tucked behind the seats, and the skirts, changing a tire would take about three hours.
It doesn’t matter—this V16 Cabriolet wasn’t supposed to be practical. It was supposed to be extravagant, impressive and iconic. It succeeded!!
In 1937 Cadillac built fifty of their most expensive Series 90 V-16 chassis, and all but two were bodied in-house by Fleetwood. This chassis was delivered to Lausanne, Switzerland, to be bodied by Carrosserie Hartmann per an order by local resident Philippe Barraud, a wealthy playboy of the 1930s. Barraud wanted an outrageous, bespoke automobile to suit his stylish lifestyle. Stretching 22 feet in length, the car was designed in the sweeping cabriolet style of the Delahaye built by Figoni & Falaschi for the 1936 Paris Auto Salon. The car soon suffered several accidents, possibly because its size was unsuitable for small European roads, and it was permanently parked in 1939. Then it was all but abandoned until the summer of 1968 when a second owner acquired it for just $925. Over the following 50 years it changed hands many times and gained several non-original embellishments, but this unique and imposing Cadillac V-16 now has been meticulously restored to its original configuration and its original off-white paintwork with distinctive gray body stripe and fender skirts
This Cadillac is probably the most extreme cabriolet ever built. Wealthy playboy Phillipe Barraud personally commissioned this design through local Cadillac dealer in Lausanne, Switzerland on one of the finest chassis that America had on offer.
Phillipe chose the Cadillac V16 for its monstrous 452 cu engine and robust chassis that could support any coachwork that adorned it. Cadillac shipped a bare chassis, one of only two that year, around the world to Switzerland and there it was bodied in Lausanne by Willy Hartmann. Barraud wanted to body the chassis in his own home town so he could personally suprvise the work.
The final result was stunning. Stretching 22 feet in length Hartmann created a sweeping cabriolet that was almost too dubious to drive on regular roads, proof of which was that it was involved in several accidents. The design was accented in chrome and definitely mimicked the French masters Figoni et Falaschi which pioneered the trend from a painting by Geo Ham.
Philippe Barraud was the heir to a brick-and-tile empire who wanted to turn up to Europe’s fashionable concours d’elegance in the “ultimate car” (and, it’s said, to draw in his pick of the women he drove by on the Swiss Riviera on the shores of Lake Geneva).
He needn’t have worried—Hartmann delivered. The French, flowing lines on the fenders he hand-shaped were complemented by the finest componentry – Marchal and Bosch lighting; a custom, finned grille – and, of course, that 452-cubic-inch Cadillac V16 engine, fitted with dual everything, from the twin exhaust to the twin ignition.
If that somehow failed to impress, the sheer size of the car would certainly do it. The two-seater’s titanic 22-foot length was visually exaggerated by a radiator and firewall cut down three to four inches, which lowered the hood-line. When Hartmann finished the Cadillac, it weighed in at around 6,000 lbs, and required special reinforcements and heavy-duty springs to handle the tonnage.
Over the top in every way!!
COMMENTS & INVITATIONS with AWARD BANNERS will be respectfully DELETED!