Hello,
I'm new here. I just purchased a 1955 Series 62 convertible and the previous owner said his brother bought the car new in Florida and has owned it until his recent passing. Is there a way to find out what dealership sold the car brand new? I would love to get a reproduction dealer sticker, keychain or license plate frame with the dealer logo.
Cheers,
Ryan
The most info that is available is on the "build sheet" for your car available from Cadillac. You will need the serial/vin number. This will tell you the options your car came from the factory with, the build date, and maybe the selling dealer. Most likely it will tell you the distributor and not the dealer it came from. Info on how to obtain this is on the Cadillac and Lasalle Club website under "Technical". After that click on "Vehicle Authentication".
I would also suggest you get as much history as possible from the previous owner. Does the original owner have a wife or children still living that you could interview? Do they have pictures of the car through the decades? If so, do not procrastinate.
Thanks for the info!
The current owner is the original owners brother and he doesn't really know anything about the car, other than his brother loved it and had it since new.
I'll check out the technical section and see what I can dig up.
Cheers,
Ryan
When I was selling Cadillacs & Buicks in the mid-nineties, I remember the office manager letting out a whoop at the end of the year, rejoicing that they could "finally" get rid of another year of customer invoices, and free up space in the file cabinets.
The info that you would love to get was merely excess paper that took up valuable room. No one had a clue that the cars would become collector's items.
If the brother doesn't have any interest or knowledge of the car, try the grandkids. I have given the granddaughter of our best friends who are now gone, several pages of the antics and adventures that the four of us got into over the years. She was thrilled to find out what we did for fun.
Perhaps photos were kept, or "what happened" when Grandma put a scratch in the door of the car. Keep at it, and best of luck. If nothing else, join the CLC and through our on-line Directory, you can contact other owners of cars like yours. I've spoken to two members with 1955 Convertibles and they love to talk about their cars. (Just don't call at meal/bed time.) Nice car!
Mr. Liese, the short answer to your question is that GM Heritage Center probably will not be able to tell you where a 1955 Cadillac was sold to its first consumer.
In 1955, almost all of Florida was supplied by a distributor, Claude Nolan, Inc. of Jacksonville. So, if GM Heritage sends you a copy of a production document about your car, it will likely indicate "JAX" as the outlet. That just indicates the distributor who was billed for the car, the Jacksonville distributor. For model Year 1955, Claude Nolan, Inc. was free to sell the car at retail, or wholesale the new car to other authorized dealer in its distribution territory.
In a little more depth, first the window sticker was not in existence till the 1959 model year on any American made cars, it was the result of a law passed in 1958 by a Senator named Monroney. Second, as was stated prior to 1965 not all Cadillac Dealer outlets had a financial ordering ability with GM. They had to order thru a Dealer that did. The Outlet Code stated on the build sheet from Cadillac archives that shows your car will have that code number. The problem is somehow the information that stated what dealer went with what code is lost so unless someone has the original Warranty book with their car that states both the outlet code and the name of the selling dealer the information you are seeking is lost to time. In any case family photos and living memory is your best bet.
Fortunately, Mr. Young, not all of the outlet codes and their corresponding locations are lost.
For the late 1950s and early 1960s, Matt Larson, who is no longer with us, compiled lists of outlet codes for GM Heritage Center when he worked for them. They are on file at GM Heritage Center, and the Cadillac LaSalle Club Museum and Research Center has copies of those lists. So do I. I have continued Matt's work on them and have been able to decode around two dozen of the letter codes that he couldn't decode.
(I would like to correct a mistake I made in my article "Where Did My Car Come From?". It turns out that PVDR is not Providence, Rhode Island.)
Although Matt's lists of outlet codes did not reach into the mid-1960s, mine do. Please contact me privately for further discussion.
With my 55 I was fortunate to trace it back to Coulter Cadillac due to the original order form which was included in my purchase. Evelyn went from Phoenix, AZ to SoCal, then NC, then MD, then VA, and back to AZ. Researching the history of a vehicle is probably as much fun as simply owning it.
Quote from: Tom Hall 7485 on March 02, 2023, 09:55:27 AMFortunately, Mr. Young, not all of the outlet codes and their corresponding locations are lost.
For the late 1950s and early 1960s, Matt Larson, who is no longer with us, compiled lists of outlet codes for GM Heritage Center when he worked for them. They are on file at GM Heritage Center, and the Cadillac LaSalle Club Museum and Research Center has copies of those lists. So do I. I have continued Matt's work on them and have been able to decode around two dozen of the letter codes that he couldn't decode.
(I would like to correct a mistake I made in my article "Where Did My Car Come From?". It turns out that PVDR is not Providence, Rhode Island.)
Although Matt's lists of outlet codes did not reach into the mid-1960s, mine do. Please contact me privately for further discussion.
Hello Tom. Hope all is well with you. Nice write up. Think I got some more info to send you on dealerships/distributors. Chat later. Clay/Lexi
I agree that researching a car is lots of fun. I was lucky that all the original paperwork was in the glove compartment of my ยด60. It sat 45 years before I purchased the car. Still, finding the historical info between the original owner and my purchase in 2016 wasn't too difficult going through the DMV in Texas they were actually a lot of help.