1976 Bicentennial Identification Myths and Info

[Ross DeVore]

I have a 76 Bicen, (BDY # 13993) that folks at the club and the Cadillac Historical Services helped me to authenticate. My need for authentication was that my understanding of Bicens WAS that they all had the plaque on the dash that affirmed that they were indeed one of the last two hundred cars off the line.

A recent Ebay auction featured a car that turns out to be BDY # 13983 that also doesnt have the dash plaque present on the dash but is separate and it seems to have a Certificate of Authentication from Cadillac which I never heard of.

This post isnt really much of a question but seing how I have a car without the dash plaque, this other car seems to shown that not all the cars had the dash plaques installed. Indeed I came across a junk car in Indiana from Ebay that was billed as a Bicen but was nothing but an elaborate ruse with a real dash plaque! Still kicking myself for not buying the junker just for the dash plaque.

The certificate is interesting since in researching the car I dont believe anyone mentioned the cars every having one. Maybe they all didnt, I dont know. Just fun FYI from a Cadillac nut.

BDY Plate
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/auctioncornerinc/detail?.dir=/9fb7&.dnm=4cd0.jpg&.src=ph TARGET=_blank>http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/auctioncornerinc/detail?.dir=/9fb7&.dnm=4cd0.jpg&.src=ph
Dash Board without Plaque
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/auctioncornerinc/detail?.dir=/9fb7&.dnm=9ed5.jpg&.src=ph TARGET=_blank>http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/auctioncornerinc/detail?.dir=/9fb7&.dnm=9ed5.jpg&.src=ph
Plaque off the car
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/auctioncornerinc/detail?.dir=/9fb7&.dnm=fb40.jpg&.src=ph TARGET=_blank>http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/auctioncornerinc/detail?.dir=/9fb7&.dnm=fb40.jpg&.src=ph
Certificate
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/auctioncornerinc/detail?.dir=/9fb7&.dnm=3576.jpg&.src=ph TARGET=_blank>http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/auctioncornerinc/detail?.dir=/9fb7&.dnm=3576.jpg&.src=ph

[Jay]

Hmmm - the Certificate is noted Cadillac Motor Car Company.  I thought that Cadillac did not start calling itself that until the early 1990s.  What was the correct name for Cadillac during the 1975 - 1976 era?

[Jim Skelly, CLC #15958]

The local Cadillac dealer in Plymouth, Mi. had one on its showroom floor when they came out.  The dash plaque was not mounted because of concern that someone would steal it.  On the car it was noted that the plaque would be provided to the purchaser of the car and that Cadillac would not be making any additional plaques available (above the 200).  This would prevent fake Bi-Centennial cars from appearing on the market.  If you lost or damaged the original, you were out of luck.  A junked Bi-Centennials plaque or a stolen plaque could be used to create a fake, but the Bi-C VIN numbers were probably sequential.

[Ross DeVore]

Interesting bit about the Plaque not being originally placed on the cars however, the VIN numbers of Bicens are not sequential. Eldorado coupes being built at the same time as the convertibles were interspersed with the Bicens creating gaps in the VIN codes. The BDY numbers are the only ones that are sequential to the cars ranging from 13800 to 14000. This number is found on the body identification Plate on the firewall.



Ross DeVore CLC #21573

[Yann Saunders, #12588]

The expert on the 76 bicens is Tim Pawl, curator of the CLC Museum and Research Center.  Wait for his answer.

[Barry Wheeler #2189]

Hi, From the beginning, I believe the company was known as the Cadillac Motor Car Co. They did stop doing this during downsizing, or just before, but I always thought it was a lot classier than Cadillac Division, General Motors.