Ill be looking at this car Sunday. Will be back in the afternoon with the vin # and pictures.
:<:
Note: -our Lead/field-man -JeffMaltby indeed came back with various photos showing this to be a splindid candidate for restoration (no rust, nor dents, -just 70+ tired!!); --and turns out it is a very rare V16-Towncar (w/partition & fender-mounts, but no Landau-bars ala the MarlenaDietrich version), -whereto the aft/quarter-panels have a vented-window which was thus adapted to filled-in Landau-bars as a more formal option on others. Great potential for someone with the bucks to do proper restoration on top of the $75k asking-price... ~Bob vH
I have a funny feeling this is the car that started out as a closed car and the top was cut off to make a town car. Pics will confirm.
-the pictures i saw indicate that the door & roof -structure is identical to that of two other known V16-Towncars, --but perhaps that was simply the way they did it back then; -essentially modifying a division-Limo.? ~Bob vH
Sounds like Fleetwood style #5591. Only four of these so-called Town Broughams were built. They featured a metal roof finish with quarter window in the rear, whereas most town cars of the time were more formal, with leather roof covering and fully enclosed rear quarters.
When you see the car, do check on the firewall (drivers side) for all stenciled numbers there. Please also check dash for owners ID plaque (though I doubt it survived through 70 years of possible neglect !).
I believe these URLs show (1) a designer drawing and (b) a photo of the surviving car in question
www.car-nection.com/yann/Dbas_ima/v6335591.JPGwww.car-nection.com/yann/Dbas_v16/V633TC5.JPG
The bottom V16 in your picture Yann. It has a black hood and black side mount covers. along with the same body color in primer.
I was looking for a metal vin plate not knowing it was stenciled on. Ill go back and have another look when the deceased owners son comes back down to unlock the collection. The story told was they purchased the V16 3 years ago. The V16 is all there, along very being very straight and solid with no rust that I found and sporting what appears to be the oem interior but needing a full restoration.
My camera was acting up that day so I didnt take all the pictures I intented to but did take some decent shots of it. At this point, they are not sure if the car will be for sale or not, as they also own a gorgous blue 1936 packard limo with new paint-rebuilt engine tranny-glass etc, but needs a complete interior, so its a toss up at this point.
Ill be back with further information on this car.
Thanks
Yann. When did you first add the bottom V16 picture to your data base and what was the story behind the car ?
Jeff
Hi Yann, the numbers were NOT stenciled on, they were on a data plate. I think further information will show this car was not originally a town car. Bob
[Replying from Dallas, en route to LA > Auckland - will be out of touch (camping) for next 10 days]
I cant remember where I got that image (possibly the Internet, on a tip from a Cadillac enthusiast). It goes back from 6 months to a year.
I had the car listed previously as a Fleetwood style 5525 town car, until this thread began when someone pointed out the quarter windows.
As I recall there was no story with the pic, otherwise it would have been included in the Database.
Bob. Where is the vin plate and engine # located on this car ?
Thanks
Hope to have vin-engine-dash #s by 4pm today.
Stay tuned and have a nice holiday in Kiwi land.
:<)
Hi Jeff, the VIN tag is on the LH lower cowl. The engine # is on the RH front of the motor. Is this car near Turlock? Bob
-Although Daniel and B.Hoffman are skeptical, my further observation from having seen Jeffos recent-pix of it, is that this car is entirely oem-original to the period; --however, before i peel-off $75k, would like to know more about what Daniel was eluding to just above here... :-) ~Bob vH
Job #33225 Body #8 has survived and is indeed,located in N.Calif.
John, whom showed me this wonderful car last weekend, can tell you further details about what he found today, while researching his grandfathers V-16 when he posts here. Thanks John
Bob. Tell Tom J. hello for me.
Bob,
According to the data my friend dug up, the car is a fake. He checked it out when the car was owned by the previous owner. He submitted the VIN/tag info and $50 to the Cadillac club and got the buiild sheet data. It started life as a closed car. Unless you can rationalize this discrepancy, Id have serious questions about authenticity.
One thing is for sure, the linked picture of the car is doctored. My friend John gave me an actual photo he recieved form the previous owner and it is the SAME EXACT PHOTO. The reason I know this is that in the actual photo you can see the building behind the car if you look through the windshield and the dirvers side windows. The car isnt really sitting in an open field under a blue sky. It is in front of a buidling, and the part of the building behind the windows was not "massaged". The same goes for the view through the rear window.
Dan
It was modifiyed professionally. Also. Looking at yanns picture out in the desert and comparing it to mine taken last weekend, it looks to me like it the picture was taken in the same building the car resides in today. I see sheetrock with taping mud through the rear window and the right front wheel is turned in the same Exact position.
Regardless. The car has Survived, so the real story now is when-where and whom modifiyed this car ??????
Ill be waiting. Whos Tom J. ???
Tom Johnson in Pacifica-known Vic Fink for many a year.
-OK, so this quasi/Cad.Towncar is now confirmed via JeffM. and Daniel above NOT to be a factory-conversion in the manner of the well known "Madam-X Cadillac-V16", -yet it may well be essentially equivalent Town-car conversion! However, because it was an aftermarket-conversion so to speak (many highly regarded classics were actually taken to professional carrossiers apart from the factory craftsmen like that of 1930s-FleetwoodCo.), it is realistically probably worth more like $36k(in presently unrestored condition) rather than the N.Calif.-owners asked-figure of $75k (still, supply-&-demand is the name of the game)!! Personally, if it were me, since it is aready modified from oem, i would go the next step and fill-in the presently windowed aft/quarter-panels and add the Landau-bars thereto and a leather/top-covering so as to thereby at least nicely emulate the two or three originally made with the more formal-style Landau-bars (along with a small brass-placard somewhere confirming its being a pvt.modification); --which cars are probably presently worth at least $275k, and thus the subject specimen in black/copy-cat motif would probably be worth $175k-restored (with said Landau modification); --after all it is still a very together rare/desirable motorcar, just needing TLC&$... ~BobVonheck
If I owned it, Id restore the roof and doors to bring the car back to its original configuration.
Hi Jeff, thanks for the pictures. What we all REALLY need is the motor # stamped on the aluminum crankcase. I have ALL the numbers on file. I still dont know who Tom Johnson is. Bob
Bob..Believe its engine #5000117 but will be back there this weekend I hope for a better look.
Im sure that is the #, just as I suspected. Bob