Vintage Snapshots: Cadillacs On The Road – 1950s-1970s

Text by Patrick Bell.

Today’s gallery is another in our series of Cadillac’s, the self described ‘Standard of the World’.  They were for the most part fine automobiles and did set some standards, mainly in luxury car sales.  We also have a few interesting sites to visit in our Cadillac gallery, so let us proceed.

Our first image is a group of happy looking people on a cul-de-sac in a new housing addition.  The center house does not have a lawn yet.  They are standing next to an example of one of two Sedan de Ville’s offered for 1970.  There was the Hardtop Sedan de Ville, and the regular Sedan de Ville, which was a pillared hardtop.  The SDV was traditionally the best selling Cadillac, and the different sedan styles were offered beginning in the ’59 model year.  This ’70 model represented the last year the two styles were available.  They were the same base price ($6118), but the hardtop outsold the regular sedan by an eleven to one margin during the last year.  No wonder they went to one sedan for the ’71 restyle.

This one was purchased at Guy Hill Cadillac in San Diego, and was likely in the same general area in this photo.  To the left is a ’69 Chevrolet Caprice 4 door hardtop, and to the right a ’64 Pontiac Catalina Sports Coupe.

Cruising in style in this ’49 Series Sixty-Two convertible from North Carolina.  1949 was the year Cadillac introduced their new overhead valve V8; this soft top listed for a base price of $3442 and 8,000 units were produced.

The Series Sixty Special was the top of the line non-limousine sedan and this shot of a ’53 model looks like it could have been a promotional demonstrating how easy to drive they could be for ‘the lady of the house’.  It listed for $4305 and ranked second in sales behind the Series Sixty-Two sedan which was $639 less expensive.

Here we have a gentleman that was likely an example of the typical Cadillac owner in this time period.  He is posing with a ’55 Series 62 sedan from New Jersey.  It listed for $3977 and was the most popular with 45,300 units produced.

Another black ’55 sedan, this one from Connecticut, and the series cannot be determined from this view.  It is at least visiting a Shasta camp trailer and maybe it is a tow vehicle.  Both of them are at what appears to be a small RV park.

We are now in Los Angeles in the old Bunker Hill neighborhood.  A ’54 Series 62 sedan is parked at the curb.  It was the best seller by nearly a two to one margin and had a base list price of $3933.  Behind it is a ’53 Chevrolet Two-Ten 4 door sedan.  Parked on the street in the background is an interesting food truck (or ‘roach coach’) based on what looks like a ’54 or ’55 first series Chevrolet Advanced Design Truck.  It is flanked by a ’60-’63 Mercury Comet 4 door wagon on the left, and a ’52-’54 Ford on the right.

Let’s move on to Quincy, Illinois, on the Mississippi river and the western border of the state where the Lincoln Douglas Hotel looms in the background.  It has survived and currently is the Lincoln Douglas Apartments.  At the curb is a ’58 Series Sixty-Two either Coupe or Coupe de Ville. The two were $467 apart in price and sold nearly the same amount of units.  Behind it is a ’55 Buick, and another one across the street, a Super 2 door Riviera in black over maroon.  On the right edge is a ’57 Chevrolet.

Driving down the dirt road looking for the perfect fishing hole in a ’59 Sedan de Ville Four Window with what looks like an Ohio license plate.  The $418 price difference between the Sixty-Two ($5080) and the Sedan de Ville ($5498) apparently was enough to keep the sales in the Sixty-Two’s favor for this year.  The windows are down so it must have been a warm day.

A Cadillac at work.  The spare tire is in the back seat to make room for the cactus plant(s) in the trunk.  Here we have a ’60 Sedan de Ville Six Window from California.  The prices were unchanged from ’59 (how refreshing) and the total sales results were unchanged as well.  But the body style sales changed as the Six Window (this photo) became more popular in ’60 (72%) over ’59 (61+%), while the Four Window (previous photo) dropped in popularity (’60 28% vs. ’59 38+%).  In the background is a ’47-’50 Chevrolet Advanced Design pickup.

Now we are off to Las Vegas in the winter where the De Luxe Motel advertises not only ‘clean’ but also ‘warm’ rooms.  At the corner in front of the ‘World Famous’ Chapel of the White Stars is another ’59 Sedan de Ville Four Window with a ’62 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Holiday Sports Sedan behind it.  At the curb on the left is a white ’59 DeSoto.

A new body style was introduced for ’65 and this Coupe de Ville was the top of the line coupe, listed for a base price of $5419, and was the best seller of the two coupes.  This one looks a little rough around the edges and perhaps even abandoned in this parking lot or wide spot in the road.

This ’71 Sedan de Ville from Texas was also the first year of a new body style and this one is equipped with a white leather interior and it looks close to new.  Its base list price had grown to $6498, and it was the best seller for the year and it represented over 36% of all sales.  It is flanked by a couple of wagons, a ’69 or ’70 Chevrolet Kingswood on the left and a ’66 Mercury Commuter on the right.  Passing by in the street is a ’68 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 with a vinyl roof, and in the parking lot across the street is a red Metropolitan in the upper right parked in a way that really shows its diminutive size.

No, that is not a tall person, it is a shirt and a pair of jeans hanging on a hook.  Here is another ’71 Sedan de Ville, this one parked on a gravel driveway on a lot with many trees probably in the early spring.

Here is a ’65 de Ville convertible with a slightly bent nose.  It is at least seven years old in this photo and apparently was purchased at a Chrysler/Plymouth dealer in San Francisco.  It listed for a base price of $5639 new and was the best seller of two convertibles by over a nine to one margin.  The Eldorado had a price premium of $1100 so I am sure that is why it came in a distant second.  There are four I can readily ID parked below, a white ’71 Mercury Montego MX 4 door sedan, green ’72 Ford LTD 4 door Pillared Hardtop, gold ’72 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and a white ’70 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan.

Our final stop is in a foreign land where this ’69 Hardtop Sedan de Ville stands out in a parking lot of mostly European vehicles.  The base list price was $5954, and along with the regular SDV was the best seller.  Their sales portion was in the same range as the ’71 model above at just over 36%.  A gold Chevrolet Monte Carlo, blue AMC Hornet Sportabout, and a white Ford van are the only other American units I see.  There are two Volkswagen Type 1’s, one Type 2 Camper, and one Rabbit or Golf.  I see two Audi’s, one Mercedes, and a Fiat on the far right.  I don’t recognize the red fastback, or the silver car and red van on the far right.

Thanks for joining us and have a great day!

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