I was cruising Craigslist, and I found this nice 1957 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special for sale. As I went through the seller’s many pictures, I saw something that really stood out–and I said to myself, “This demands further investigation . . . “
Amazingly, the seller still has the original invoice that came with the car when it was purchased new! And I saw the name Othmar H. Amman–yes, the great Swiss-born suspension bridge designer and builder. He was the man who designed the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (world’s longest suspension bridge) connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn, the George Washington Bridge, and many other highway bridges.
The George Washington Bridge from New Jersey, c. 1974 (Author’s own photograph)
According to the seller (Mel), Ammann had a tradition of driving a brand-new Cadillac as the first car to cross a new bridge once it was completed. Could this have been one of those cars?
Bust of Othmar H. Amman (1879-1965)
Bridge builder Othmar Ammann, Zurich c. 1948. I want the guy who designs the bridges I drive my car over to be this serious.
Brochure image: “PRESENTING THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENTS CADILLAC HAS EVER ACHIEVED IN STYLING AND DESIGN!”
Original TV commercial: “See how much lower the 1957 Cadillac is than last year’s model? Ibby actually towers above this dream car!” “Elegant new fabrics and richly grained leathers. Go ahead, Ibby–touch them! Oooo, yes!”
Mel says the fellow he bought the car from apparently didn’t know about its famous owner. The invoice was in a stack of papers given to him at the time of the sale.
Argonaut Building, built 1909, Broadway and 57th Street, New York City. Originally a dealership for Peerless automobiles, this became a Cadillac and LaSalle dealership in 1935. No sign of a Cadillac dealer there today. Ammann’s Cadillac was originally purchased here.
Othmar Ammann’s Cadillac is now located in Middletown in upstate New York, about 45 miles north of Ammann’s house in Boonton, New Jersey. How the car made its way up there over the last 60+ years remains a mystery.
Speaking of Ammann’s house, here it is–272 Rockaway Street, just about a mile from my place. It was built in 1870 and remains remarkably well-preserved to this day! I assume this blue Fleetwood Sixty Special was parked in that driveway at one time.
This brings up another interesting point: If your house is about 50 years old or older, there must have been many interesting Curbside Classics that once were parked in your driveway or garage–cars you never knew about, because in most cases that information is lost to time. However, here we have one case where we can match up the car, the house, and the owner. Where will the Cadillac go from here?
Wow, this is interesting stuff! The bridge designer’s name did not ring a bell with me until you gave us the history lesson. And to imagine that he lived so close to your house.
Your closing question is something I have wondered about more than once. My house was built in 1958 by a lawyer and his wife, in a neighborhood largely populated by middle-aged professionals and executives. I have wondered what lived in my garage for the house’s first twenty years. I usually imagine a series of Buicks or Oldsmobiles.
I have also wondered whether he later cursed himself for not having the builder make the standard 2-car attached garage deeper. When I owned the 68 Newport, there was not much room to spare between the front bumper and the wall or the back bumper and the garage door.
My uncle built his house in 1935, with a one car garage under the house. The garage was designed around his 1932 Nash. His last car was a 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88. It was a tight squeeze for the Olds. He hung a golf ball on a string from the ceiling for a guide. When the golf ball touched the windshield the car was an inch from the front wall and the garage door could then be closed behind the car with an inch to spare.
Is that Arlene Francis of What’s My Line? narrating the 57 Cadillac commercial?
Sure sounds like her, considering I haven’t heard that voice in probably 40 years.
They show What’s My Line on the Buzzr network. The 50’s episodes were so formal and that voice jumped out at me.
Arlene, most likely.
Hear her perfect Mid-Atlantic accent?
She was taught that at college, I’m sure.
Arlene Francis was born in Boston, but didn’t have that accent. So her accent would have been learned. She had a very distinct classy voice.
The ultimate in the “Deluxe” era of cars. Endless chrome and endless length. I noticed “antifreeze” was an option! What a beauty.
Amazing historical connection! Looks like Mr. Ammann lived in the Rockaway St. house from 1921 to 1957 (I believe he moved to Rye, N.Y.), so this Cadillac would have been purchased shortly before he moved. He almost certainly would have done much of the work for the George Washington Bridge while at this house.
Ammann’s occupation, and your final question about CC’s at your house many years ago, both made me think of the house in which I grew up. It was 1930s-era stone house near Philadelphia, in an area that had once been home to many wealthy people. Our house was originally built as a retirement house for a man who worked as the chief bridge engineer for the Reading Railroad. It was a remarkably solid house that could probably last hundreds of years… just the sort of house you’d imagine someone who designed immense railroad bridges as having built for himself.
I recall a few old pictures of that house that the previous owners had left when my folks moved there in the 1970s. One picture was from the mid-1950s, and there was a blue 1956 Cadillac pulling into the driveway. Very fitting. And I guess bridge engineers had an affinity for Cadillacs back than… can’t say I blame them.
What a great story! I knew the name sounded familiar – I believe he was one of the bridge designers consulted about building the Mackinac Bridge. The Bridge Authority went with David Steinman instead, and I’d say that you can’t argue with the results.
Seems out of character. Most engineers in that era drove ruthlessly practical old strippers, or technically interesting Saabs and MGs. An engineer with lots of money in ’58 would probably go for a Mercedes 300 limo. The ’58 Caddy is the exact opposite on all scales. Wildly impractical and totally conventional.
I would beg to differ on that on a couple of fronts. Auto tech in the ’50s was a mixed bag, the Europeans were slowly getting into post war designs by the late ’50s, and may have been just moving from building almost exclusively low end cars as the postwar rebound finally started to heat up.
Various European car companies may have offered forward looking brakes, suspensions and safety systems while the Americans were offering huge advances in automatic transmissions, powerful engines, HVAC systems, and various power assists and gadgets.
Well off engineers had neighbors that might have sniffed at junkers and wives that wanted power steering and automatics.
For practicality, an American car was far easier to buy, service and repair.
Anecdotally, I had a great uncle that owned a construction company that did road work and commercial projects. He was well known in the family for a new Cadillac every few years until he passed in the mid 1960s.
At this time, Cadillacs were still considered world-class cars. And Cadillacs and other American cars were especially popular in Switzerland, as they had no domestic industry.
It’s not out of character at all. He wasn’t just some ordinary engineer; he was quite famous and undoubtedly well-compensated.
This page from Motor Trend April 1957 illustrates what you write, grouping Cadillac with other European luxury models and matching it head-to-head with Jaguar.
I’ll have to get back to you on that, one of my great grandfathers was a senior bridge engineer in New York City and my mother is enough of a gear head to remember what he drove. My recollection is that his son and some other well off family members were still driving either loaded Buicks or Cadillacs in the 70s and early 80s and my father and uncle were outliers for driving imports. Obviously this changed by the 90s.
Also professionals could drive almost anything as evidenced by two uncles on the other side of the family. One was a statistician and college professor and drove a Checker Marathon while his brother was a pharmacist and former Communist and drove a Mercedes 280 (W114).
Since he was the head of a major engineering firm doing a lot of high profile jobs I could see Ammann driving a Cadillac purely for marketing reasons.
Mom came through, my great grandfather had a La Salle in the forties and bought a Cadillac in 1948. At the time my great uncle was getting started and had an Oldsmobile but upgraded later. For completeness, my grandfather was,a lawyer by 1969 and had an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme a Volvo 164 and a Datsun 810 before he stopped driving around 1980.
All very interesting, but did you buy it?
I was looking at a flickr group last night and realized that ’57 and most ’58 Cadillacs don’t have fender skirts. I wonder why the change–and the change back. The quad headlights make the ’58 look like freaky mutants compared to earlier years.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/classiccadillac/pool/page71
Here’s a link which will work better in the future https://www.flickr.com/groups/classiccadillac/pool/with/27728239366/
In 1958 an uncle, who was a crusty WW II vet, bought a very similar ‘58 Sixty Special, fully loaded, including factory A/C. I think it was my aunt’s idea, as it was quite out of character for him, replacing a basic ‘52 Ford. My aunt, who didn’t drive, loved that car and being driven about by my uncle. Then, in 1962 it mysteriously disappeared, replaced by a stripper Chevy Biscayne wagon, the only option being an AM radio.
I’m sure there was a backstory here, but I never did learn why the Caddy left.
Lots of good comments here and great history, Stephen! A few remarks: I am surprised that factory A/C was not ordered on this car, particularly in New York City where A/C-equipped cars caught on quickly. The car is a stunner. The Argonaut Building became the property of General Motors whose realty arm was called Argonaut Realty. In the early 1980’s I worked with a gent at the GMC Truck Center on 58th Street and Eleventh Avenue. At the time, he was putting in a few remaining years to maximize his GM retirement plan. T factory store had been sold to Potamkin but this man then went to GMC. His knowledge of trucks was limited. He had worked for over twenty-five years for the factory Cadillac store in Manhattan. He told of how people bought Cadillacs. They would buy the car, use it for one year, and then trade it in for the new model for a fee of $800.00. This continued for many years until sometime in the late 1960’s (if I remember correctly)when the prices of Cadillacs jumped and the buyer needed to up for $1800.00 each year. That effectively slowed down the one-year turnaround trade-in system. Buyers went to two years and, of course, had even more to pay for the new model but not enough that the two-year deal was a loss. It somewhat evened out the new car purchase money. Interestingly, I knew people in Manhattan who purchased one-year-old Cadillacs from the factory store. (I lived in Manhattan from 1958 until 1966) My favorite was a construction contractor named Henry, a native of Sweden, who thrilled his wife in 1964 with the purchase of a red Series 62 convertible which DID have air conditioning. Stephen you bring back memories!
There looks to be an underdash a/c unit. I wonder if it was mistakenly called a “heating system”?
I think that’s a stock radio speaker, believe it or not; not a/c. I don’t see an a/c compressor on the engine:
Aha. I didn’t look very closely.
I’m a bit surprised the speaker is down there still.
I think 1957 was the last year for that placement of the front radio speaker. I see it in countless images of 1957 interiors such as this one below but not in ones of the 1958 interiors.
That Edelbrock thing in place of the air cleaner is an offence against all that is good, decent and moral.
The orginal equipment is in the trunk and comes with the car. We put the edlebrock in while we got the orginal rebuilt. We also added cats to the car to make it a nice clean drive. No heavy exhaust fumes.
He probably summered somewhere cooler than the NYC area.
My first home was built in 1921, and I purchased it in 1991. I had probably above average intel on the ghosts in the garage.
The first, or at least a very early owner held the home into the early ’80s. I may have been the third owner. Some neighbors had some history on that owner.
Also, the large unfinished attic had a variety of very old stuff stuck in the corners and under the floor boards. Thankfully, not a lot of junk, but just the final flotsom that folks were too tired to worry about when clearing out the house.
What did I know? I had a rare detached two car garage for the neighborhood. It was very old and featured two tri-fold doors that were held together by an amazing number of mending plates. It was also quite deep, and held my 1972 Pontiac Grand Ville. Most neighboring homes had a one car garage, and several had odd extensions on the front to accommodate the longer cars of the 50’s.
There was trailer registration from the 1920’s, what appeared to be a Model A windshield, a wood shipping box stamped Ford, and a variety of literature on a line of kitchen wear in the attic.
Adding the neighbors comments, the owner had built an oversize garage for the times to run a business. The garage likely held held the trailer, inventory, and some early Fords. It was kind of fun to get a feel for the early days of the house.
My ghost from the garage outside the home….
I’m shocked a heater was optional at extra cost on a flossy Cadillac like that, and at the $15 price for licence plate frames (that’s $154.33 in ’22-dollars; what in the hell were they made of?!). The $25 ($257.21) extra charge for “Blue Coral” is a very expensive coat of off-the-shelf car wax; I guess these kinds of upcharges fall into the “If you can afford a Cadillac…” category.
And what do we reckon “post. Seat adj.” is?
Detroit and the dealers had been pulling that kind of fat markup stuff for so long, even to their “best” customers, they probably had become blind to it, by the time the “fixed price, no markups” strategy was introduced.
Despite the fat markups, someone did some math and “checked off” the extras on the window sticker, making sure things added up and were all there. Sounds like something an engineer would do.
I’ve seen Cadillacs of this vintage with heat ducts in the front door bottoms to the B pillar base for rear passengers. That must be the “heating system” option. I’m sure a regular heater was standard.
They offered both 2 and 6 way (standard on Eldorado) power seat adjusters at the time. The 2 way was called “Power seat, two-way posture.”
http://wildaboutcarsonline.com/members/AardvarkPublisherAttachments/9990503332029/1957_Cadillac_Info_1B.pdf
As per the brochure, heating was optional, as it was on just about every American car.
It was standard on the VW Beetle! And it had been since 1939, unlike just about every other car in the world.
I felt a little “left out” about a couple of things on this article. Who and where are the people and place in the T-bird photo, that we are supposed to already know about? And what bridge would Mr.Amman have driven over in 1957, after having designed it and seeing it having been built? Questions…
On the Hudson side, Manhattan had tunnels before it had bridges – the Lincoln, and the Holland. Bridges to Manhattan were on the southeast side, Brooklyn, Williamsburg and Manhattan and Queensboro at Midtown. Finally there was another tunnel at Queens-Midtown. There is a reason ferries were so important for commuters throughout history in NY.
Bridging the Hudson was quite challenging, requiring a remarkable series of engineering feats.
The Hudson was quite a physical barrier for centuries. NYC grew towards Long Island to the east because it was easier to commute over the East River and from Brooklyn. This is why Long Island is in New York, while no parts of New York cross the Hudson for many miles north from Manhattan.
There has always been a joke about being and living in New Jersey as opposed to living in Brooklyn or Queens on Long Island due to needing to cross into Manhattan using a Ferry.
“The GWB [which connects NY & NJ] is like the bridge between Heaven & Hell–although no one has yet determined which is which.”
also,
“What would George Washington think of the George Washington Bridge? He would have to believe in the most incredible kind of miracles.”
Great post, Mr P, and mostly all news to me. Fascinating.
I do like your quip under the c.1948 photo, and I agree – I too want my bridge-builder to be serious, cautious, safety-first type. Though that said, I can’t help but look inside the magnificent old Caddy at all the bits carefully designed to impale and maim our un-belted engineer even in a low-speed impact, and wince.
As to that excellent contemplation question you raise, the things parked in the garage (and driveway) of the 1958 house I grew up are ALL known to me. You see, it was built by my parents, sold to my sister in 1994, and she’s still there!
One of my best mechanical engineering professors, a specialist in strength of materials and failure analysis who was often a consultant and expert witness on major product failures, drove an early sixties Continental. He thought it was a very well engineered and safe vehicle, despite being almost 15 years old at the time. A family friend who was a civil engineer drove a Hudson, and then upgraded to a new mid-sixties Cadillac around the time he retired. Ten years later, I suspect they would have been driving Mercedes.
What an amazing car, the high point of Yank Tank bling. I think it is gorgeous.
The price translates to about $65,000 and that is without a/c. How much would a/c be in today’s dollars? It had to be $5000 or so.
As a comparison, a not well optioned Escalade runs over $100,000.
But this is a really nice Cadillac from before they lost the plot and began downgrading the Escalade is the result of decades of downgrades Cadillac would never have tried to sell you an ugly SUV as a luxury car in the 50s.
Bryce, you are correct. The Escalade is a hideous thing, but a hideously profitable one, too.
to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, circa 1992:
We knew the Sixty Special.
The Sixty Special was a friend of ours.
Escalade, you’re no Sixty Special.
Stunning car. I love the blue and that light on the edge of the passenger seat to “light the way” for the lady getting in or out.
By the turn of this century, the ancient Reservoir Bridge on US-202 connecting Boonton and Parsippany (not one of Ammann’s designs, to be sure) was on its last legs – heavy trucks and buses were banned. When its replacement opened in 2005, it was named the Othmar Ammann Bridge. At the opening ceremony, his daughter Margot Ammann Durrer, then in her 80s, was in attendance to accept the honor on her father’s behalf. Another nice part of the story is that they didn’t demolish the old bridge; it was refurbished into a pedestrian/bicycle thoroughfare, spruced up with new benches and lights.
I’ve lived in Boonton since 2010 and never knew that bridge was named for Ammann. There should be a plaque signifying that. All I found was this:
They wrote ALDERMAN instead of ALDERMEN
(Oops!)
I’ve seen that plaque a hundred times, and never noticed the alderman/aldermen goof!
That sign is toward the Boonton end of the bridge. Near the Parsippany end, a similar plaque immortalizes their town officials of 2005 as well.
In the middle of the bridge, though, is a third plaque. In addition to listing all the Morris County Freeholders, the name of the bridge is finally revealed (in a none-too-big font).
You’re definitely right that there should be a more obvious plaque, say at the pedestrian approach to the bridge, with more info about Mr. Ammann and his accomplishments. The old bridge, as part of its sprucing up, got a set of plaques about the history of the bridge and the reservoir it spans.
“Every car has a story.” Beautiful car, beautiful story!
This is one of my favorite Cadillacs. I had a ’57 Sedan de Ville, they were all hardtops that year. I drove it during my last two years of college in ’79 and ’80. I loved the forward canted, flat topped fins and the basket handle C pillar of the roof. This was later used on the late ’70’s Camaro and Firebird. It was great to drive, note that the hood was flat, like a modern car, not with the center hump that made it feel like a truck or bus. The deck lid top was also flat, just so modern. I later had a ’56 model and it felt more than a year older than the ’57. In ’57 the wheelbase of the Deville and Sixty Special was identical, the Fleetwood was just dolled up more.
My house was built in 1914 and we bought it in 1986. It is a Four Square design with no attached garage when built. There was a one car garage behind it built sometime later with the driveway running across the rear of the house as the property is located on a corner. I have lived in this town since 1970 and worked locally for a number of years. In the ’70’s I used to pass by this house a lot but didn’t pay much attention to it as I was always focused on the turquoise and white ’57 Chevy parked at the curb on the side street. It belonged to the owner’s son. When we were looking for a larger house in 1986 it had an attached 2 car garage with master bedroom suite over it built in 1972. The original garage was turned into a woodworking shop but has since burned and been replaced 2 years ago. The attached garage faces the side street. What amazes me is what they had parked in there. How they fitted a Lincoln Continental Mark III and a ’78 Cutlass fastback four door in there at the same time is a real puzzler. My 2009 Mustang and my wife’s ’21 Nissan Kicks are very crowded. It was worse when she had a Toyota Solara. I really wish I knew what cars had been parked in the old garage. I did have a ’33 Ford street rod project body in there for a couple of years but that doesn’t really count.
” Out of character?” Cadillacs led the world of automobiles in engineering then !
The slogan American Standard For The World , really meant something then .
GM threw everything they had into Cadillacs.
Nor where they ” impractical “.
Driving a hard to get Saab , and diminutive MG for successful people surely would be ..
Cadillacs V- 8 was an incredible engine, the cars build quality amazing..
The bridge engineer chose a Cadillac for its beauty, reliability & excellence to open his creations for this reason .
” Wildly impractical?”
Nobody thought so then .