[ last update: 06.06.2013 ]

The (new) Cadillac Database©
Dream Cars

on
Cadillac Chassis

1946 - 1947

Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page
or select a year from the list below

 

Pick one   >

1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940 1941 1942

WW2 years

1946 1947 1948 1949
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999-up

 

 


First an unidentified "Custom Cadillac" of the forties (?)

I am guessing this sports roadster on Cadillac chassis (?) was put together in the forties or early fifties.  Does it ring a bell with any of you.  It appears to be on show somewhere and the sign above it (not visible in the photo) reads : "Custom Cadillac":

40sCustCad.jpg (14408 bytes)
[ Photo: Internet (eBay), 2006 ]

 


 

1943-45 [Styling models and clays]

GM [Cadillac] (USA) This styling model dates back to 1944; already the fish-tail fins of the '48 Cadillac models are to be seen

44finpr.jpg (8112 bytes)

 

GM [Cadillac] (USA) This designer's drawing shows the license tag "GM194X". It appears to be a proposal for an early post-WW2 Cadillac.

 

GM [Cadillac] (USA) This clay buck was completed in 1946; a prototype car closely resembling this design was actually built and tested (see 1946, below). Note how the broad rectangular grille openings, front fender sweep and "A" pillar resemble closely those in the colored sketch, above.

46claypr.jpg (6921 bytes)     46artist.jpg (5286 bytes)

46arti2.jpg (5104 bytes)

 

1946

Coachcraft (USA) "The Queen"; customized sedan built on the commercial chassis; no details available other than ¾ RH front view in SSA 1993, p.6

Derham (USA) Fleetwood 60S town car, McC p.265. This Derham conversion of a regular Series 60 Special sedan was commissioned by the Duke of Windsor. It featrured a Haartz pdded top and a smaller, oval rear window. Interior appointments were particularly luxurious; behind the divison (unusual set-up  in a 60S, were a bar, smoking set, vanity case for the Duchess and a car radio. The following text is copied from an Internet website devoted entrirely to Derham coachwork: Derham produced a fair number of “converted” town cars built using existing long-wheelbase 7- or 8-passenger limousines. They would remove the stock windshield and the front portion of the roof back to the B-pillar. Parts of the front door above the belt-line were cut away, and installed extra-tall (by 3”) chrome-framed convertible-style windows in their place. A slightly higher (by three-and-a-half inches) windshield frame was made from cast bronze and a new piece of safety glass installed in it. Derham typically painted the wood-grained dash to match the body color and would sometimes damascene the instrument panel and glovebox door for a more custom look. A division win­dow and storage compartment would be built and inserted directly behind the driver’s bench seat. A lightweight removable canopy was then fitted over the driver’s compartment that could be stored behind it when not in use. The factory upholstery would remain, with only a minimum of work required to cover the lower portion of the divider with matching upholstery. Typically the rear quarter windows were removed and covered with sheet steel over which Derham’s trademark padded-leather top would be installed to finish off the job. A true custom town car was ready for the customer in as little as a week compared to the 2-3 months typically required for a true composite custom body. The body work involved was minimal and its low cost enabled Derham to sell their custom conversions for a fraction of the $15,000 needed to build a true coachbuilt custom. Popular options included a completely new interior, an electric division window and custom paint schemes. For budget-minded customers, the same look could be accomplished using a totally enclosed 7- or 8-passenger limousine that didn’t require the expensive bodywork and new windshield. The padded top could be extended forward to the top of the windscreen, or could be built from the B-pillar giving the impression of a town car but at a much-reduced cost. While Derham was not the first coachbuilder to put a padded-leather top on a vehicle, they were clearly responsible for making it a popular accessory and it ultimately became known in the industry as a “Derham Top”. Enos Derham recalled, "One day a man from the (Cadillac) factory asked how many of these we were selling a year. Like a jackass I wrote and told him. The next year they brought it out at the (Cadillac) factory."

    

 

Fleetwood (USA) Series 75 on 136" wheel base converted for railroad track inspection (SS 4/92, pp.7-8); initially called "track cars" or "speeders", these vehicles were fitted with spoked flanged wheels, sandboxes under the front fenders, a turntable suspended under the car (enabling it to be jacked up and swung around 180°), pilot, roof-top horns and luggage rack, and red light.

dr46rail1.jpg (9535 bytes)     dr46rail2.jpg (6271 bytes)     dr46rail3.jpg (5749 bytes)
[ Photos:  courtesy CLC, Self Starter ]

 

GM Styling (USA) Concept car project for a post-WW2 sedan (possible new "Sixty Special").  I for one am happy that this design did not make it into production!

46protb.jpg (7039 bytes)     46prota.jpg (6643 bytes)

 

GM Styling (USA) The artist's drawings below are by Cadillac designer, Raoul Pepin; they were supplied kindly by fellow Cadillac enthusiast Eric George who writes:  that 1946 concept car [drawing below] isn't such a dud after all. It's general lay-out is very much as Cadillacs would be by the mid-fifties. I mean by this the proportions, short hood, long deck. The first concepts for the Eldorado Brougham from the early 50's have this lay-out in an exaggerated form. There is of course the aircraft inspired wraparound windshield that probably makes it's first appearance in this car. The roof form aft of the "A" pillar including the wraparound rear window is the same as on the 1950 series 61 sedan. As I said before, the long rounded rear deck and chrome bumper-fender skirts are strongly reminiscent of the 1957-58 Eldorado. Eric mentioned also that he had seen somewhere another black and white drawing, reminiscent of this 1946 concept car, from the early 1940's; it had a full Plexiglas roof and a generally more exaggerated, cartoonish, Buck Rodgers rocket ship style. It too may have been a Pepin design

46desg.jpg (9308 bytes)     47desg.jpg (9218 bytes)
Early post-war Cadillac designs by in-house artist, Raoul Pepin
Left:  1946 proposal; right: a similar proposal for 1947

 

GM Styling (USA) Full-sized clay model of proposed Series 60 Special model for 1949 (photo dated 02.19.46)

46arti2.jpg (5104 bytes)
[ Information and photo: courtesy CLC and Steve Wolken ]

 

GM Styling (USA) Another, later, full-sized clay model of proposed Series 60 Special model for 1949 (photo dated 08.13.46)

46artist.jpg (5286 bytes)
[ Information and photo: courtesy CLC and Steve Wolken ]

 

Schwartz, Maurice (USA) custom Woody wagon on Cadillac "75" Series chassis for MGM studios in Hollywood. Between 1947 and 1949, MGM Studios ordered six Series 75 Cadillac chassis from Hillcrest Cadillac, the Beverly Hills dealer. These chassis were dispatched to Maurice Schwartz ro receive custom, “woody” bodies. This 6-door jitney,  built on a 1946 Series 75 chassis, was ordered by a major Hollywood movie studio; it was used to ferry actors to and from shooting locations. Note that it features the tail-light assemblies of 1940 Cadillac models.

 

[Unknown, USA] Based on a 1946 model, this radical custom is distinguished, above all, by its 1941 Cadillac grille. The car was offered for sale on e-Bay in November, 2003

4146CHOP.JPG (8277 bytes)     4146CHO2.JPG (7304 bytes)

4146CHO3.JPG (5598 bytes)

 

[Unknown, USA] Based on a 1946 Series 60 Special sedan, this station wagon conversion was sold at a Kruse auction in Auburn, IN, in the Fall of 2006 for $51,000

46wagonS.jpg (16988 bytes)

 

[Unknown, USA - possibly Maurice Schwartz] Here's another woody on Cadillac chassis (probably a modified "Series 75" sedan or limousine.

 

[Unknown, USA] Based on a 1946 "Series 75" this formal looking people hauler with false landau bars on the quarter panels was available for sale in 2008.

cus46lim.jpg (12422 bytes)

 

[Unknown, USA] and unusual too, is this railroad inspection car, converted from a Series 62 sedan; it was used by the Western Maryland Railroad corp. Pics are from a story written by CLC Museum curator, Tim Pawl, for the Self-Starter issue of July, 2008.

dr46rail1.jpg (9685 bytes)     dr46rail2.jpg (6411 bytes)     dr46rail3.jpg (5902 bytes)
Note absence of (pointless) steering wheel
[ Photos:  © Self Starter ]

 

1946-47

[Unknown, USA] an unusual 2-pass. roadster on Cadillac chassis and drivetrain.

46_47CusCad.jpg (8015 bytes)

 

1947

Barris (USA) Featured in Motor Trend, August 1958, p.39, this customized car was described thus: "Advance design work is indicated in this '47 Cadillac with its de ville-type leather-covered top, removable wrap-around rear window glass, and the 'floating' separated front bumpers. Body sculpturing is evident in the front fender crease which fades into the frenched headlight, and the slightly peaked hood, shaved of its usual ornamentation. Floating-type grille is set into a reshaped horizontal chrome shell."

Bohman & Schwartz (USA) An unusual camper on commercial chassis. This vehicle came up for sale on Ebay in 2010. It appeared  in poor condition; not surprising after 62 years!

47wheelr.jpg (9032 bytes)

47cmprA.jpg (6744 bytes)     47cmprB.jpg (5247 bytes)     47cmprE.jpg (6246 bytes)

47cmprc.jpg (6339 bytes)     47cmprd.jpg (6163 bytes)
Here is the same car, 62 years later !
[ Photos:  Ebay web site ]

 

Coachcraft (USA) a 1941 model converted to a 2-door 1947 roadster by adding a 1947 grille, after the car had been damaged in a fire. Called the "William Holden" car, Rudy Stoessl, the man behind Coachcraft did not recall the screen star ever having been involved with it. No "V" and crest was featured nor was the 1947 Cadillac script. Photo of  ¾ RH front view in SSA 1993, p.6, taken in 1949.

Derham (???) (USA) I copied from the ZTV collection, in May 1994, a B&W shot of a special 1947 limousine with cloth top, posing beside a fire hydrant (photo, below). I wonder if this is the same car shown in McC p.272 and Sch40, p.119. Haartz cloth coverings were used on some formal jobs, like this one, but the customary top color was black.

dr47derh.jpg (11778 bytes)     47derh7.jpg (13059 bytes)     47dhcole.jpg (5494 bytes)

     47derh6.jpg (23486 bytes)     47derham.jpg (12098 bytes)
I'm assuming all these photos are of the same car,
taken at different venues in the last 20 years

 

Derham (USA) 4-door convertible sedan on Series 75 chassis; photo: Sch40, p.118; commissioned by King Farouk of Egypt.

 

Derham (USA) town car conversion from Series 75 limousine, Sch40, p.119. Informal limousines (those with painted metal roofs) were uncommon. More popular were leather covered roofs and enclosed rear quarters.

 

Derham (USA) 4-door state limousine specially outfitted for H.H. the Pope Pius XI.

47dhmpop.jpg (9775 bytes)

 

Derham (USA) 4-door formal limousine with typical Derham.style oval backlight. Roy Schneider, who wrote the definitive book, "Cadillacs of the Forties", was able to view the Derham archives; these indicated that 12 formal limousine conversions like this one were completed in 1947.

 

Derham (USA) formal sedan conversion on Series 75 limousine, with padded leather roof

Dr47der3.jpg (6990 bytes)     Dr47der7.jpg (11055 bytes)

 
Not sure if these three photos depict the same car or not

 

Derham (???) (USA) a 4-door formal sedan with small circular quarter windows and fancy carriage lamps.

Dr47unk.jpg (7956 bytes)     Dr4647xx.jpg (5952 bytes)

 

Derham (USA) This mildly modified limousine may have been made for the funeral trade.  It has, in addition to  faux landau bars [an unusual feature on a Derham conversion], the typical front hood chrome markings of the Sayers & Scovill (S&S) funeral coaches.

47derh2.jpg (13255 bytes)

47derh1.jpg (10275 bytes)     47derh3.jpg (9607 bytes)

47derh4.jpg (7787 bytes)     47derh5.jpg (5159 bytes)
[ Photos:  Internet, 11/2004 ]

 

De Rosa, Frank (USA) the Hollywood customizer created this chopped-chaneled-sectioned 1947 Cadillac Kustom.

Derosa1.jpg (8337 bytes)
Photo:  courtesy Tony Wood

 

Fisher/Fleetwood (???) (USA) modified Buick "Y-Job" (special order # 13690), Alfred P. Sloan Museum, Flint, MI. Not a Cadillac, but deserving of recording here as having inspired many future Cadillac dream cars and given typical Cadillac features to later production automobiles.

Mattar (USA) This oddity was created by Louis Mattar of San Diego, CA, for his retirement. Sorry, I couldn't resist including it. Its convenience items include hot and cold shower, electric kettle, vanity case, stove, refrigerator, washing machine, ironing board, color TV, stereo system, telephone and the all-important wet-bar. The rear seat converts to a bed for two. Louis wants to add a computer and a miniature putting green! Article in PS 5/52, pp.130-131. For more information about this curious Cadillac, check out this French-language Web page on the Internet [thanks to Brian Grittner in MN for the tip].

 Dr47cmpr.jpg (13611 bytes)

Dr47cmp2.jpg (14207 bytes)

 

Reinbolt & Christé (Switzerland) custom 4-door convertible sedan with reversed front "suicide" doors; the front clip is all Cadillac but major modifications appear to have been done to the rear.  I believe this car has survived.  It is not known what chassis was used to accommodate the large convertible body.

47Swis1.JPG (10579 bytes)    

     47Swis3.JPG (4906 bytes)
[ Photos: © 1992, Autovision ]

 

Schwartz, Maurice (USA) custom Woody wagon on Cadillac "75" Series chassis for MGM studios in Hollywood. Between 1947 and 1949, MGM Studios ordered six Series 75 Cadillac chassis from Hillcrest Cadillac, the Beverly Hills dealer. These chassis were dispatched to Maurice Schwartz ro receive custom, “woody” bodies. This 6-door station wagon, (2nd unit), was built for cowboy star-singer Gene Autry, Sch40, p.120, McC p.272

 

Schwartz, Maurice (USA) conversion on Series 75 chassis commissioned by shoe magnate, Harry Karl, for his singer-actress wife, Marie McDonald.

49hrkarl.jpg (10134 bytes)

 

Unknown (UK) At a Kruse auction in Auburn, IN, in Sept. 1999, a fastback Series 61 Sedanet with a custom body was offered for sale (lot #4456); it reportedly  found a buyer at $#4,000. The catalog mentioned that the car was previously owned by Lieutenant General Walter Rhodes, USAF, who was stationed in England from 1941 to 1967. The car was shipped to England as a bare chassis and a body was fitted there by an unknown UK coach builder;  the car was stretched seven inches.

Unknown (probably USA) Possibly a conversion by Derham on the chassis of the Series 75.  The photo below was taken at a meet in the seventies.

Dr47tc.jpg (9619 bytes)

 

Unknown (USA) but probably Fisher or Fleetwood; Series 60 Special sedan. The phot was taken at the Cadillac Grand National meet in Las Vegas by me friend and fellow 1942 Cadillac owner, Jeff Hansen

 

Unknown (probably USA) This pick-up truck, believed to be from the Le May collection in Seattle, WA, has THREE Goddess ornaments:  one on the hood and one on at the front of each fender.

47LEMAY.JPG (12718 bytes)     47LEMAY2.JPG (12945 bytes)

 

Unknown (possibly converttd in Cuba) Another "work horse" on a Cadillac chassis.

 

Unknown (probably USA) Low rider on 1947 Cadillac base

47custC.jpg (15579 bytes)     47custB.jpg (11625 bytes)
[ Photos:  Internet, May 2006 ]

 

Unknown (probably USA) Another Low rider on 1947 Cadillac base; these conversions are not "my cup of tea"!

47cust.jpg (8767 bytes)
[ Photo:  Internet, May 2008 ]

 

Unknown (probably France) Series 62 sedan converted (massively) for use as a "camera car" by a French film company.

47camcar.jpg (17968 bytes)

 

 

 

Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page
or select a year from the list below

Pick one   >

1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940 1941 1942

WW2 years

1946 1947 1948 1949
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999-up

 

© 1996, Yann Saunders and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club. Inc.
[ Background image: Custom 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Seville by the late Gordon Glover of Baltimore, MD ]