Spotting cars from the ’50s while driving around on everyday errands isn’t quite as common as it was in the 1970s and ’80s when I first started doing it. But following my philosophy of “You never know what the new day will bring”, I found this magnificent example parked in front of Target on Route 46 in Parsippany. A mint condition, 68-year-old Cadillac parked at a strip mall in New Jersey? Yup . . .
Today, September 9th, 2022 was a nice day for driving classic cars. I’m cruising eastbound on Rt. 46 in my 1959 Chevrolet, being paced by a blue ’66 Corvette convertible (sorry, no pictures–had to keep driving). Then in the corner of my eye I see the telltale shape of Cadillac rear fenders as I pass the Target parking lot.
Must pull in for a closer look . . .
. . . and there it was in all its glory! A sparkling 1954 Cadillac sedan in a most beautiful shade of green!
At first I thought Biscay Green, but that looks a little turquoise-y, so I’m going with Arlington Green Iridescent.
A blue-and-yellow New Jersey license plate. These date from the early 1980s. Someone has owned this Cadillac for a long time!
Maybe the original owner won it, and the Caddy has been kept by the same family ever since. It’s been known to happen!
That’s an original 1954 New Jersey plate on the front. Compare this front-end styling with what Lincoln, Packard, and Imperial were offering in 1954. I see some of Harley Earl’s Le Sabre dream car influence here.
The interior–luscious! Two-toned green, with buttoned (“tufted”) upholstery, power windows, Autronic Eye, and a steering wheel and dashboard that reflect the “World of Tomorrow has now arrived” spirit of the 1950s. It’s a car, but it’s more than that–it’s a futuristic piece of precision-crafted machinery designed to waft you silently, smoothly, powerfully to your destination!
I pulled my ’59 Chevy alongside. Which is longer?
Ah, the colorful ’50s! Arlington Green Iridescent and Cameo Coral side-by-side. Nearly all the surrounding cars were either black, white, or gray. A splash of vivid colors and imaginative design in a sea of visual mediocrity. Chevy shows how the fin concept has progressed since Cadillac first introduced them in 1948!
A hood ornament that expresses the unexpressable. Created by an artist-employee, mass produced by a giant corporation (but for one year only). Drive it around for a while, then throw it in the scrapper with the rest of them, and buy more new cars. But not this one! It’s still leading the way–boldly, bravely, into the horizons of the future.
So, kids–remember: keep a lookout for mid-20th century automotive survivors, shiny or tarnished, as you drive. America’s roads, parking lots, back alleys still have lots of undiscovered treasures!
Just gorgeous! Even from a very early age (probably 3 or so) the 50s Cadillacs really spoke to me. I’d be curious if that one has under gone a Concours level restoration or it that’s all original. It just looks so perfect and correct!
Besides the Caddy and Chevy, Target is also but a retro memory here in Canada. Perhaps, the greatest retail debacle in Canadian history. With billions of dollars lost by the retailer. Plenty of hoopla as Target was entering the Canadian market with over a 100 stores initially. Many Canadian consumers thought, they would bring their competitive US business model here. But they didn’t compete with Walmart, with lower prices. And the product selection was less than promoted.
I can remember shopping perhaps 2-3 times in Target Canada. Never went back. Many Canadians reacted the same way. They spent almost a year and a half renovating a local Zellers store, and converting it to two stories. Beautifully presented. Within months, it was closed forever. The Target store below in Ottawa, never opened to the public. Ironically, Walmart bought many of the locations.
Target has pretty much the same reputation down here, but people still shop there out of pure frustration with Walmart.
Many were surprised they threw in the towel so quickly, after investing so heavily. But their reputation was solidly tarnished with consumers, and retreating may have been the best option they considered. A whirlwind startup and collapse.
Didn’t Tim Horton’s have a similar experience in the States? I liked that place when I was traveling through Canada years ago. I had heard that they ventured into the U.S. but it wasn’t successful.
I am genuinely curious: what did you find to like about Tim Horton’s? Did you actually like their offerings, or was it more of a novelty effect?
They were convenient (i.e. they seemed to be at every exit) and I liked the coffee. It was all a welcome change from what I was used to as well, so I suppose the answer is, both.
This was before Starbucks (and similar) sprang up everywhere in the States.
It was long enough ago that I didn’t need anything but a driver’s license to cross the border in either direction. Although they did have some concerns when I was driving a car out of the country they had no record of having entered Canada.
Explanation:
Due to a quirk in Canadian v. U.S. safety regulations, a poor 1994 Kia Sephia LS had found itself orphaned in Canada, unregisterable. I registered it in the my own state, brought the license plate with me into the country, and was driving the car back. It took some explaining, and I was very open about them searching whatever they wanted (in other words, as cooperative as I could be, as I had nothing to hide). It didn’t take long for them to wish me well.
I rescued the horrid little car from its fate in Canada, and it ended up with someone north of Atlanta, Ga., eventually.
It was not fun getting a title previously stamped “VOID” title through the DMV, ended up getting a bonded title. It was a hassle.
Look at the Dagmar’s on that !
Jane Russell is to Dagmar as 1954 is to 1956.
Does anyone still sell green cars? So much for the notorious conformity of the 1950s. A gray flannel suit looks better in this than a gray car.
Is the modern paucity of color choices worldwide or just in NA? Another trend I can’t wait to end.
Door edge guards but still using at least one bumper exhaust port. Didn’t they look at the rechroming bill? It’s nice to see people making that much effort for a mere sedan.
Quite a few green options these days. Toyota has a few shades and Subaru, too that come to mind immediately.
“Does anyone still sell green cars? …”
Yes. There are some great greens (both dark and light) and sand colors offered recently, one is called Army Green and looks it.
Unfortunately auto companies are still dealing with inventory issues and are concentrating on black, white and a few shades of grey.
A Subaru dealer recently told a friend that when a green vehicle comes in it is sold immediately. My friend had his choice of back/black or black/grey.
And I love my Spruce Metalic (dark green) Tacoma.
All I have heard about cars for the last 15 years is how they keep getting greener, based on color pallets I disagree!
Ford offers Eruption Green on the Bronco, I think it’s spreading to others. Lincoln has its own green, too, I believe.
Trying to show Eruption Green Bronco.
Awright, I’ll bite: what part of any kind of eruption is any kind of green?
If you look at the article above this one “ What If, By Andy: 1958 GMC Pickup”, focus on the kid bent over in the foreground. I see a green eruption.
Ha! The kid’s reaction was similar to mine upon viewing that thing.
The Eruption of the color Green on that Bronco, obviously.
Always liked wraparound windshields but never noticed before that the 1959 Chevrolet’s dog leg looks even more pronounced than that on the 1954 Cadillac. Is this an optical illusion or a new observation?
I drove a similar model Cadillac a short distance when I was about 17 and it felt as if the long front hood angled up from the windshield as if it was unlatched (it wasn’t). It felt much bigger, heavier, and quieter than my 1953 Chrysler.
This is a great and rare find; the color is perfect and so much better than the normal old Cadillac-sedan-black. And on rte. 46 in Parsippany no less; at least the parking lot is not full with too-close parked cars and rolling shopping carts.
The dog leg on Stephen’s 1959 Chevy is no illusion; it’s very real!
I paid a lot of attention to GM A-pillar shapes during the late 50s and early 60s. I was a young boy then, and my aunt had a ’59 Bel Air with what I thought was the coolest all-time shape in windshields and A-pillars. (Harley Earl would have been my hero, if I had known he was behind that space-age design inspired by fighter jet canopies.)
But by ’61, the wraparound was gone, replaced by the much more conventional A-pillar with the little scallop at the base. I was familiar with this design as well, because my aunt replaced her Bel Air with a ’61 Olds 88 and we got a new ’61 Bel Air. I thought it was a retrograde step — being too small to get my knee cracked on the dogleg and too young to drive and witness the distortions of the wraparound glass.
Then in 1963, the GM A-pillars were straightened, returning to the design used in 1953! I couldn’t understand it — all that “progress” had come full circle!
And we’ve never had a true wraparound windshield since, even though some vehicles would have been naturals for it, such as GM’s “Dustbuster” vans and the recent Fiat 500L.
BTW, here’s the 1956 Buick Centurion show car, which foreshadows the 1959-60 GM production windshield shape.
Beautiful car!
Lovely Cadillac! Character and quality exude! That’s a beautiful green, too. Green was still popular and widely seen in the mid/late 1990s.
None of my cars is black, grey, silver or white. One teal, one blue, one red, one…yes, green. Three green cars in our family over the years, the others a two-tone 1957 Chevrolet Two-Ten wagon and a 1974 Plymouth Valiant Custom.
The differences (in looks, at least), between two cars only five years apart, shows how quickly things moved along back then. Nowadays, five years will often get you a bunch of minor trim changes here and there, with the occasional upgrade of the underlying package.
From a visual standpoint for the Chevrolets, there was the leap from the ‘54 to the iconic ‘55, then the next big jump from the ‘57 to the ‘58, and finally the radical styling evolution to the batwing ‘59. Things happened fast.
The ‘59 actually looks very nice in its original look, and in good condition. By the time I was car-aware, these were older cars and generally run down, or sporting odd rakes and weird aftermarket wheels and tires. Seeing the car as the stylists intended, and as it was delivered, gives it an attractive appearance and a good dose of automotive dignity. Dignity that it quickly lost with age and neglect, back in the day.
This looks like a 1954 Cadillac four-door sedan that was offered for sale at the Hershey AACA meet last year. I do believe, however, that the Hershey Cadillac had factory air conditioning.
Our family had two similar 1955 Series 62 four-door sedans, one in the same green (all one color) and one the same green, with a white top. I notice one anomaly on this gorgeous car: the three vertical chrome strips on either side of the rear license plate only appeared on the 1955 Cadillacs.
It is a terrific car to have, see and experience. It says so much about the times when it was new. Love the color.
One of my standard weekend drives in my 1960’s Packard is to Target, the large trunk is convenient for buying things like toilet paper, and the parking lot is expansive. Why not?
typo: 1950’s
So nice. Love that car. And look, the 1954 color chart actually shows 15 (15!!!) different colors. Now compare that to the silver, white, black, blue and three shades of gray today.
Beautiful Caddy! And yes, that color chart is amazing compared to today’s offerings. I’m trying to keep more interesting colors alive today; my current fleet is comprised of ruby flare pearl (Toyota) and deep crystal blue (Nissan).
That Ruby red is a striking color.
The only non-color we have is a white Accord. Aside from that, it’s a yellow (Sunset Gold) Chevy C10, red Ford Mustang, blue Ford Taurus, green Ford Taurus, Rangoon red w/white roof Ford F-100 Ranger. During many days, when people drive by, they see Red, White and Blue in front of our house, haha.
That Caddy is a beauty. I love that color on cars, and wish that it would make a ’90s-like comeback.
That rouge shopping cart on the parking lot gives me the willies though. And it brings up a HUGE pet peeve of mine, for good reason.
Years ago, my own beautiful green (teal – pictured below) GM car was damaged on a Target parking lot by a runaway shopping cart on a windy day. As much as I like Target (and vastly prefer it to Walmart), their cart clean-up policy leaves a lot to be desired. Despite them reluctantly agreeing to pay for the damages to my car, they still leave the carts rolling around on the lot instead of actively retrieving them. Their solution instead? Posting a sign on the door saying “Notice: Target is Not Responsible for Shopping Cart Damage”.
While true, it’s its customers that refuse to put the carts back, Target should still be trying to keep the parking lot clear of these hazards.
End Rant, and Sorry. The picture of your beautiful ’59 Batwing parked (willingly?) near such a hazard traumatized me a little bit. PTSCDSD* I suppose.
* Post Traumatic Shopping Cart Damage Stress Disorder
That cart was drawing my eye too, on one hand I’m glad that ram shielded the caddy from that errant cart but hate that it is a situation we have to put up with
I know, it’s soooooo hard to wheel the thing to the cart return 15 feet away, the shopper is sooooo busy and life is soooooo hard I shouldn’t expect such courtesy from people.
Nice Grand Prix, excellent color. By far my favorite FWD generation.
Here’s my contribution to the Green Car Society, the 1997 “Turtle Taurus” (LX trim, Duratec V-6) we bought for my partner’s daughter. She loves it. Pacific Green with Willow Green interior, in cloth.
My last Thunderbird, which I would trade in on this Grand Prix was a Pacific Green Clear Coat Metallic example. I loved that color so much, I sought out my GTP in the same (well, similar) color.
Like I said above, I’d love to see these teals make a comeback!
Nice Taurus, John!
Thanks man, it’s doing pretty well so far, after our rehab efforts following it having sat for 3 years. My partner likes it more than his 2011 Accord 4 cylinder (background in the Taurus pic). It really accelerates well for a 25 year old family sedan.
Your Thunderbird brings back sore memories. I had made a deal with my best friend to trade a (green) 1995 Chevy Blazer 4×4 for his (green) 1994 Thunderbird LX V-8 that was running poorly. We traded. I fixed the T-bird and it ran like a scalded dog. He trashed the Blazer and the transmission failed. We never swapped titles so guess what? We traded back, and not at my request. I vowed never to do a car deal with him again.
Here is the only pic I have of the T-bird, along with part of my (green) 1994 Ford Aerostar Sport that I loved dearly. Two green RWD 1994 Fords with 4spd autos, lol. I also owned a green Chrysler at the time.
@John ;
it’s funny how “friends” will do that sort of deal .
-Nate
Exactly, Nate! Lesson learned.
Here’s another green vehicle I’ve owned. ’96 Aerostar XLT.
Y’know John ;
That’s a nice color and a good looking minivan .
Many decades ago I was reading some insurance actuarial tables and they claimed green is the one color that most folks don’t ‘see’, causing more collisions .
Seemed strange to me as I like and have owned more than a few green vehicles .
-Nate
That rouge shopping cart on the parking lot gives me the willies though.
Rouge is their color.
Touché – I do suck at spelling French words…. Obviously I meant Rogue.
Nice catch though, Ralph. 😉
And yes, the shopping cart that slammed into my Grand Prix that day was in fact Bright Rouge.
Beautiful car in a beautiful color!
How can stylists take a car from an era before safety, as we know it, was really a consideration, and make it even worse? Between the bullet-shaped steering wheel hub, the Dagmar bumpers, and the jutting hood ornament, it turns out they had some terrific ideas.
Fantastic find, though!
These are such fabulous cars in almost every way. The style, the mechanical attributes, and the “Cadillac-ness” is off the charts. In fact, when I see the word “Cadillac” this one and the 1963-64 are the first two to come to mind.
That green is fabulous too. What a great find, and thanks for sharing it with us!
Yes, it’s true that the 1954 Imperial looks downright dowdy next to this Caddy, but Ex’s 1955 Imperial more than gives Cadillac a run for its money.
If you go to the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg (Ike’s last house), there’s a 1955 Imperial in the garage, and it is stunning in person.
Here’s Ike’s car.
SO pretty ! .
Truly ‘The Standard Of The World’ ! .
In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s these were just beaters, I had to good luck to ride to school in a few different long body limousines with jump seats in them, even then they were smooth, quiet and comfortable .
Moving to Southern California in 1970 exposed me to many more of these being driven by little old ladies who typically kept them garaged so still in fine shape .
-Nate
Back when a Cadillac was a CADILLAC. Old money class but accessible to the nouveau riche. Quality, luxury, no American car was near it.
Drop dead gorgeous, I believe peak Caddy was somewhere between 53 and 56.
And it’s not a trailer queen!
The first thing I thought was not what the car was but that someone parked that car in close to the store. Even in my daily drivers, at a place like Target or Sears in the past, I’d park a 100 yards away at the far end of the lot. I’d drop my wife off first so I didn’t have to listen to her groan about parking so far away and walking. Net effect, no dings.
^^^ THIS ^^^ +1 tbm3fan!!! I am so with you there.
I mentioned my GTP getting damaged by a rogue shopping cart above at a Target on a windy day… even then, you’re not always safe. I was at least 200 yards away, around the corner of the store, and the wind still pushed that cart into my car.
Oh, and I do the same thing with my wife by dropping her off at the door before parking. She knows how I am and will say, “Look, there’s an end space, what’s wrong with that?” While I’ve already calculated wind speed, the fact the space is down hill, next to a bitchin’ Camaro (with its long doors)…. She just doesn’t get it. 😉
Geeze, what a sweet car, made before the fins grew ridiculous. A ’54 Cadillac was the subject of Coupe de Ville, a 1990 movie with that other Daniel Stern in it. From watching it I know where the gasoline filler is on these cars (hidden by a hinged left taillamp).
Quite an attractive car, and a beautiful colour.
Curious: the ‘greener’ the human race becomes, the more greyscale their fashion colour choices. There’s probably a PhD in that somewhere….
Thanks for all your insightful comments!
I’m 68 years late, but here are my 3 entries in Lustre-Creme’s “Complete The Jingle” contest:
No wonder the movie stars’ choice
Is Lustre-Creme Shampoo.
It never dries . . .
It beautifies!
“For your *special* rendezvous!”
“Your hair he’ll stick his nose into!”
“You men should try it too!”
How many Cadillacs do I win?
That car is so many of the things I dislike, GM, Caddy, domestic cars, 50s cars and on. But somehow I have a fondness for those early-mid 50s Caddys. I mean they were these massive, overweight hulks, with a better than average engine for the time, but somehow they pulled it off.
A couple of possibly related vehicles. A cousin had a 47 Torpedo Back Cad thru much of the 70s. It, at the time, seemed a very old car. 25 years old and perfect wool upholstery, at least until he sat down one time with a screwdriver in his back pocket. Faster than my VW Bug and faster than the Ford Pinto that tried to race him on the freeway one night. Then there was a shop in this little town I used to drive thru, that had 3, I believe 54 Caddys converted to tow trucks, with a 4th as a service truck. All gorgeous.
As far as the delightful car as subject of this article, I have but one problem. I thought they were all black. I mean, I know they weren’t, but I see a Cad of this age and think Black. Only Black. I do really like the green, but my minds eye sees black.
No “Target’ stores anywhere in this area where I’d park a pristine , vintage, work of art like this one!! Same goes for he “59 Chevy”!!
Stephen, this is a fabulous find. These early to mid fifties Cadillacs defined the “Standard” for me, even though I was only 8-9-10 years old in that period.
Seems like shopping center parking lots are great places to find CC’s, at least here in the SoCal Palm Springs area. I stumbled across this pristine 1955 Buick Roadmaster Riviera hardtop a few months ago in our local Walmart parking lot, looking like the day it rolled off the showroom floor. It was a leviathan, standing out among all the other nondescript contemporary cars around it like the proverbial sore thumb. Checking the 1955 Buick colors online, it appears to be Belfast green and Dover white two-tone (a very similar green to your Caddy). I took several hurried photos that I posted to the Cohort. And then, just a few weeks ago, at our local Costco, there sitting in the middle of the crowded parking lot was a spectacular 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, windows down, even! White top over yellow body, it was an incredibly beautiful standout. Unfortunately, I did not have my phone with me, and I’ve been lamenting that forgetfulness ever since. But I’ll keep a sharp eye out in shopping center parking lots forever after. Great find and a fun post!
Awww, can’t get the jpeg photo to attach. Oh well, it’s all in the Cohort.
Trying photo again.
Thanks very much Eric, resized as you suggest so trying again.
Beautiful! Nice find.
Try reducing the file size. If the photo is less than 1,200 pixels in the bigger dimension, then it’ll usually post on here.
Now we’re talking!