Miguel Sánchez
The last time we talked to you about a Cadillac V16 was three years ago. Of those, our colleague Unai Ona covered the Peeble Beach Contest of Elegance. Place where, surrounded by some of the best prewar American automobiles, he captured the enormous Cadillac V16 452A bodied by Farina in 1931. A specimen as rare as it is spectacular, commissioned by the Maharaja of the Indian state of Orchha for the unedifying exercise of hunting tigers from the back seat of his Boat Tail body.
Cadillac V16 452A Farina Boat Tail from 1931
Occupation that he finally put aside when his domains were integrated into the Indian Union on January 1, 1950. However, that this brand new Cadillac V16 resisted such atrocities gives a very good idea of how it was built. Endowed with overwhelming quality, This flagship of General Motors was presented against all logic on January 4, 1930 in New York. A true challenge to the times. Since a few weeks before the crash of the stock market in that same city inaugurated one of the worst moments in the economic history of capitalism: the Great Depression.
The abrupt end of the Happy 20s, which called into question the future of brilliant cars like the Duesenberg Model J. The least advisable situation to launch a car of such high price as the Cadillac V16, only manufactured to order and in which General Motors had been working since 1926. In fact, and with the intention of manufacturing its own bodies, the automobile giant that same year bought the Detroit body companies Fleetwood Metal Body and Fisher Body. A fact by which it is understood how rare it is to find a Cadillac V16 with a body that does not correspond to those offered by the brand itself.
Just the case of this brand new unit, which up for auction by RM Sotheby's's within the framework of annual Monterey sign. One of the most important appointments when it comes to pre-war cars.
CADILLAC V16. QUALITY ABOVE ALL
In almost all cases, the large luxury cars before World War II were never bodied by the brands themselves. In fact, both Cadillac and Duesenberg or Rolls-Royce used to sell the chassis naked along with the mechanics. From there, each client went to bodybuilders in California, Detroit, Turin or Paris to complete the car in a personalized way. A fact that makes it very difficult to see at first glance which model is in front of us. Having to resort to track-like details such as the radiator grill. However, General Motors was not interested in continuing this way of doing things in the case of the Cadillac V16.
For this reason, in 1926 it bought two of the main bodybuilders in Detroit to integrate them into the production lines of its most exclusive models. Also, right at that moment the test of an engine began with the utmost secrecy "More powerful and smoother" that all offered to date. Thus was born what four years later would materialize in the Cadillac V16. Achieving not only a luxury car offered in six bodies and some seventy combinations, but also a technological prodigy thanks to its V16 at 45º with 7 liters and 4CV at 165 rpm.
Features designed not to run on circuits. But to travel with maximum smoothness on a chassis with a wheelbase of almost four meters. A flying carpet that, due to the great attention paid to its design and construction, caused General Motors to lose money with each Cadillac V16. And that's despite the fact that more than 4.000 units were sold over 11 years. A fact that, together with the robustness demonstrated by the exemplar of the Maharaja of Orchha, exemplifies the care that was put into the manufacture of this model. Without a doubt, one of the most spectacular luxury cars of all time.
CADILLAC V16 MURPHY CONVERTIBLE. THE ONLY ONE OF THE COMPANY
One of the reasons that General Motors wanted the Cadillac V16s to be bodied by the company itself is due to identity reasons. And it is that, as we said before, the fact that each car was handcrafted by a different company to the full taste of the client ... It makes most of the luxury cars until the XNUMXs are unique pieces that do not obey no brand identity. For that very reason, In the attempt to give collective personality to its creations, Cadillac was very reluctant to sell the chassis and mechanics without bodywork..
Something that was only done very rarely. One of them was consigned to the tiger hunter maharaja, who did have a persuasive power not exercised by other clients. Customers including Charles S. Howard Jr. Eldest son of the West Coast dealer of Buick automobiles and owner of the famous racehorse Seabiscuit, who commissioned this Cadillac V1930 in 16 with a factory body that immediately replaced the one we see. One from Murphy, which is actually the only one from this Pasadena bodybuilder on a Cadillac V16.
A design very similar to that of many Duesenberg Js at the time, since this company was responsible for the bodywork of many of them. A demeanor that was awarded victory in class at the 1997 Pebble Beach Contest of Elegance. All this after a painstaking restoration by the Andrew's Collection. One of the most important collections of North American high-end classics, which has been one of the several owners that this Cadillac V16 Murphy convertible has passed through, which will surely change hands on August 13.
Photographs: RM Sotheby's / Unai Ona
