Let’s go back to Dave Gelina’s storehouse of vintage slides, most of the Kodachromes. This time we’ll dip into the all-Cadillac album, as that brand has the magic ability to generate maximum eyeballs. Let’s start with this one, as it rather captures well one of the many sides of Cadillac. This was shot circa 1956, and features a 1955 Cadillac and a 1941 Pontiac somewhere in Nevada. It’s indulging in stereotypes, but the brand has always appealed to a certain kind of mindset that Nevada historically projected, with its mafia-controlled gambling and high-roller mentality. For all I know, this could be a missionary with his latest converts, but then I might well be wrong.
There’s no guesswork involved with this one. Before he was president, he was the Grand Marshal of the 1960 Rose Bowl Parade.
The upscale store Joseph Magnin in Lake Tahoe. Also a favorite spot for the well-to do and mafioso, as we saw in the Godfather.
At the lakeside cottage?
Back then, Cadillacs (and other big American cars) were held in very high regard in Europe. This one is sitting in Cannes, France and dated by the photographer “11-15-56”. A comment left at Dave’s site says: See this same caddy in the movie “To Catch a Thief” with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Parked in exactly the same spot!
Another Cadillac in Europe: 1951 Cadillac Limousine Landaulet – European Street Scene – Strasbourg Cathedral – Alsace, France – Circa: Early 1950’s. Maybe a visiting dignitary or?
The River House in Reno, Nevada. Circa 1960. Quite a few interesting cars to spot including the Lincoln Continental convertible in the background.
Another president, This time Eisenhower while on winter vacation in Key West, Florida. And the Truman Laundrette in the background. Coincidence?
Another presidential coincidence: LBJ on a campaign stop in NYC in front of the Clinton Hotel.
A splendid 1961 Fleetwood in a driveway.
Presumably the same car, from the rear.
And a ’63 Fleetwood also in black. Someone’s pride and joy.
This kid is probably pretty chuffed to have a ’54 Coupe in his driveway. If it is his driveway…or his family’s Caddy.
These tourists getting a view in Hawaii are traveling in style. Some sort of upscale tour, presumably.
Here they are checking out the volcanic activity.
And just who is Teddy Snow Crop?
Cadillac Hearse – Cadillac Flower Cars – Pontiac Flower Cars – Guindon-Durand Funeral Home – Montreal – Circa 1961. Must have been a VIP to have so many flower cars.
Here’s a more modest funeral, from circa 1958.
A wintry street scene from somewhere in Pennsylvania.
These foks got away from the snow in Miami, FL.
Another shot from somewhere in Nevada, a state that is over-represented in the Cadillac album.
A Howard Johnson’s. Not many customers to be seen.
A great shot of a Cadillac and some other cars used by the royals on a visit to Ottowa, Canada in 1954.
And here they (Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip) are, back in 1959 riding in a ’59 Cadillac laundalet. Quite the contrast from their traditional RR Phantom.
That’s it for today, but there’s more where these came from.
I’m not a Caddy fan, especially, but there are some really impressive cars here very much in their time and element. I’ll enjoy a little more sleuthing on these this morning.
“Snow Crop” was one of the early postwar frozen juice (and concentrate) companies, with little mascot “Teddy” the bear—some kind of Safety Day personal appearance, maybe 1953-55?
WOW!!!! Thank you Paul!!! there is nothing like a Cadillac!!! i’ll take the 61′ Fleetwood Brougham please!!
The irony of the picture of Pres. Eisenhower in front of the Margaret Truman Launderette is that Pres. Truman’s daughter was named Margaret Truman. She was well educated and was successful in music and as an author, but I don’t believe that she owned this place.
It’s so named due to its location on the corner of Margaret Street and Truman Avenue (US-1).
It is still there today.
Key West was known as the Southern White House during the Truman administration. It was where Truman vacationed.
Fabulous Cadillacs! That parking lot shot with the Continental – you can identify each car just seeing the last few feet. I know today’s aerodynamic crashworthy unit bodies are far superior, but I sure miss all those exciting shapes.
+1.
I have to admit, I struggle. But then my main area of knowledge/interest isn’t 1950s and 1960s cars, it’s cars from later. If you showed the same parking lot circa 1985 or 2005, I’d probably be able to identify each car by just seeing the last few feet.
We’re familiar with what we’re familiar with.
“Far superior”, Ha! Today’s crashworthy unibodies are appliances, worthy only of being crashed, then recycled into water bottles and household goods.
I’m just barely old enough to remember when Cadillac was a car with which to impress people. I couldn’t have been too much more than 10 (RIP Aretha) when Cadillac became JustAnotherGM, and if you wanted to display your wealth, You bought a Mercedes 450SEL.
The scenes with multiple 75 Fleetwood seven passenger sedans are of tourist-livery company fleet cars. Generally forgotten now is that about half the long-wheelbase 75’s were sold to such companies for transporting sightseeing tours, hotel chauffeured courtesy cars, airport ‘limousines” for upscale guest. The numbers purchased by wealthy individuals for personal transportation or corporate use were only a partial percentage of the total production for any given year. When one encounters a 75 without the partition window, its most likely one of these that’s survived.
I’m adding a ’58:
Fabulous pics! Really gives a sense of where Cadillac stood at the top of the automotive heap in the 1950s and ’60s. All that brand equity has been squandered now.
Aha! First owner was “Margaret”; it’s on Key West’s **Truman** Street. Still a thing today, evidently:
I’ll bet those flower cars had an interesting second life. They appear to have removable roofs. All sorts of possibilities for a work truck, a beach jitney, or more likely for adolescent messing around.
Regarding presidential motorcades, I used this picture a few years ago for an article here — it’s of President Kennedy hosting the King of Afghanistan in Washington. What I find somewhat amusing is that the dignitaries are riding in a new Lincoln, while the security agents are following behind in what look like hand-me-down Cadillacs.
The folks at Ford Motor Co. must have loved scenes like this.
The Kennedy Clan had a thing for those suicide door Continentals.
I’ve always assumed that if strings were pulled to use Lincoln, they were pulled by Robert McNamara.
I believe the 1956 Cadillacs were acquired new during the Eisenhower administration. They were dubbed Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth and served several administrations. Queen Mary was behind the presidential Lincoln in Dallas when JFK was shot.
Henry Ford II was friendly with Democratic administrations and hence Lincolns were more prominent for a time. Eisenhower had close ties to GM (Charles Wilson, his Secretary of Defense, was GM CEO) so Cadillacs were favored but his administration also used Chryslers (Mrs. Eisenhower loved the Imperial). Ironically, Truman also loved Chrysler products. Both men drove Chryslers when they left office.
No question that Ford got great publicity out of the Kennedy administration and its love for the new Lincoln Continental and Thunderbird (a whole fleet of the latter were brought in for the inaugural parade). More irony in that McNamara was actually a Republican when JFK selected him for Secretary of Defense. JFK, who was a fan of British government and politics, formed what could almost be thought of as equivalent to a coalition government that included several highly placed Republicans (Dillon at Treasury was another). Kennedy did so in part because he won the popular vote by such a slim margin that he thought a bi-partisan approach was needed and could be more effective. Imagine such a concept today…
CA Guy, thanks for the background on this!
The two ’56 Cadillacs 75 open phaetons were specially-built and equipped for the Secret Service to accompany the President’s open limousine. Recall when they went into service the ’50 Lincoln Cosmopolitan bubble-topped convertible limousine was still the primary ceremonial transportation. Because of their initial cost and appropriate features, they were in service well into the 1960’s.
Well you have to admit that in the early 1960’s the Continental made most cars look like hand me down cars. The Lincoln was fresh and attractive and modern and it slammed the doors of the 1950’s. I also think it took other car makers by surprise as 1961 was also the year of the new Cadillac and it looked like a 1950’s finned masterpiece. It is clear most automakers thought 1961 was to be a continuing of the 1950’s for styling.
I have argued here before that 1959-60 had folks scratching their heads on what was the next big thing. Lincoln turned out to be the ones that found it. Bill Mitchell was right behind them, though, because his 1962 designs from GM (probably the first fully under his control) were much cleaner and headed the same general direction (though less heavy). Exner saw a different direction as evidenced by the Valiant and the 62-63 line but we all know how that worked out.
Ford is a funny case because they eliminated fins completely on the Falcon and on the 62 Galaxie but kept them on the Thunderbird and Fairlane through 63. It is though in the 62-63 Continental and Fairlane Ford won the prize for the most modern and least modern designs in showrooms.
I believe that the 1961 models were the first cars completely styled under Mitchell’s authority. They are much cleaner and tidier than their 1960 counterparts.
The little fins (finlets?) on the 1962-63 Fairlanes never bothered me. They are accents to the overall design. As such, they don’t dominate the entire vehicle.
Ford was never big on fins.
The overall shape and detailing of the 1962-63 Fairlanes was more modern than the 1962 Ramblers or 1962 full-size Dodge and Plymouth, all of which had one foot in the 1950s.
I was thinking that a concensus had developed that Harley Earl still had something to do with the 61 line – they were cleaner than before but still had a lot of stuff going on in terms of trim (as well as their basic shapes). Earl didn’t retire until December of 1958 which was a little over a year and a half before production began on the 61s.
That would make sense, given the timelines. I always felt that GM’s 1961 cars were a big break from their predecessors – slightly taller, shorter and narrower, but also much better looking. The 1961 Chevrolet is the best-looking one until the 1965 model.
You are correct about Ford being funny with offering the modern looking Continental but keeping fins on some of their other cars. However those cars that still had the fins on them made by Ford also looked modern(for the times) the fins were small and paired with the turbine tail lights made the cars very space age looking. The space race was going on and outer space was in for interests and styles. These cars looked like rocket ships with the tiny fins and turbine tail lights.
The Cadillac still had those cartoonish fins that were like the ones on the 59 Eldo. It was like a 50’s sci-fi B movie
Paul, You really made my day with this post! As someone born in 1948, whose family and friends owned many Cadillacs of the types depicted, this is a real memory jogger. One of the things I enjoyed the most about the first “Godfather” picture was the number of forties and fifties Cadillacs shown throughout the movie. I remember staying at the Negresco Hotel in Nice, France in 1973, shortly after taking the NY bar exam. A family of Kuwaiti royals were staying at the hotel, and two of their cars were always prominently parked on the sidewalk outside the hotel entrance: a 1973 Olds Toronado and a 1973 Cadillac Eldorado. Two young, well-dressed ladies, as they left the hotel, asked the doorman to get them a taxi, and pointed at the Eldorado parked several feet away. He had to advise them that it was a private vehicle. The Kuwaiti license plates for the car were, as I recall, KW 2 and KW 5. I was very impressed, to say the least!
Nice shots as always
The PA snow shot was probably Lancaster PA as Martins Dairy was a Lancaster dairy farm and usually those smaller farms only delivered locally.
Older Caddies when kept in good shape seem to ooze class.
I love these old shots! Nixon in the back of the Cadillac in the Rose Parade looks oddly big, like he was a cardboard cutout or a photoshop addition. Probably just an illusion.
That black 63 Fleetwood sedan looks just like the one I had in college, only mine lacked the vinyl roof. And was an elderly and worn example when this one was fresh, shiny and new.
That dark green hardtop at the lake cottage really speaks to me.
The 1961 and 1963 Cadillacs show how well Bill Mitchell brought the marque into the 1960s without destroying its identity. They’re not as clean and trend-setting as a contemporary Lincoln Continental, but, unlike the Lincoln, Cadillac didn’t have to start over to leave the 1950s behind.
All of the Cadillacs featured in these photos reflect their era from a styling standpoint. But they still manage to look like Cadillacs.
I wouldn’t mind having either the 1961 or 1963 Fleetwood today.
For me, the appeal of Cadillacs of the fifties and early sixties is heightened by the fact that they reflected the optimism of post-war America, including the earliest stages of the U.S. space program. During frequent travels to Europe in the sixties and later, I always found Cadillacs to be held in high regard, especially in France. Perhaps the French name was part of it, but whatever the reason, Cadillacs were front and center wherever they were found. Many Cadillacs were located in Belgium, where GM had an assembly plant, I believe, and also in Switzerland. Today, when M-B S-Class sedans serve as taxis in Zurich, I can’t imagine a Cadillac C6 being given the star treatment that its Fleetwood 75 ancestors enjoyed. If the U.S. has an international automotive presence today, it is more likely represented by a Jeep, a Corvette, a Mustang or a Ram pickup. How times change!
Agree with you, the space programme really enhanced the USA’s international reputation, I remember seeing the moon landing on TV as a 9 year old as thought it was fantastic, I still think NASA is incredible and avidly listen to the new space missions.
Cadillac did mean something to Europeans back then as something a bit special and the car of film stars.
The whole Kennedy era was impossibly glamorous and a high point in American style.
It was not just the cars though, on British freeview TV there are reruns of the Mission Impossible TV series which I enjoy watching, the cars are glamorous, the suits worn by the men are really smart and Barbara Bain is hot.
The US seemed much more sophisticated than it is represented today on TV, even the people sounded better educated with a much greater vocabulary.
Don’t know if it is noticed in the US, the accents and manner of speech I hear on older US TV shows are very different to those I hear on current US TV programs.
In the same way, in the UK over the past 30 years the generic accent has changed, you almost never hear BBC English spoken
A lot of our perception is due to reality TV and sorry to say Cadillac is not regarded at all, its as if Europe caught up then surpassed the US, in our minds at least
James Burke was the BBC reporter for the Apollo program. Sadly, because of poor archival practice, little of his footage survives (see YouTube), which is a pity since he was perhaps the finest science journalist ever. His series “Connections” was good, too.
What a very delightful selection of photos! Thanks, Paul!
Nixon is riding in a 1960 Eldorado Biarritz and that green one at the lakeside cottage is a 1953 Coupe Deville with factory air, optional Kelsey Hayes wires and a continental kit. I had one. The A/C takes up half the trunk.
The hearse and flower cars shot is neat. The flower car on the far right (next to the Cadillac) looks like a ’61 Oldsmobile.
I agree, Oldsmobile or Buick
Interesting pictures, decades ago I encountered a book in our local library, American cars of the 1950s ( Olyslager Auto library) which started my interest in US cars, soon followed by Cadillac Standard of the World by Maurice D Hendry first edition . Then book on Lincoln and Packard followed until I had quite a library of my own
I was captivated by the 41 fastback and convertible , 49 60 special, 53 Eldorado and 57 Cadillac,
That picture of the 53 coupe is lovely except for the wire wheels or hubcaps and continental spare they would have to go.
I progressed to owning a 75 Eldorado but ultimately was disappointed with it as it lacked any real quality of construction and it was just too big to enjoy driving in UK towns, my tastes changed and now prefer old Lincoln, Packard and Imperial but I still like the older Cadillacs
“I progressed to owning a 75 Eldorado but ultimately was disappointed . . .”
I do not believe it would be a controversial statement here to tell you that you chose a Cadillac ten years too new for the experience you sought. One up through 1965 or 66 would have been more in keeping with your (legitimate) expectations. My 1963 was elderly when I owned it and suffered from many problems, but the aura of top quality was one thing it carried all through its life.
From a distance, the ’67 looks much like the ’66, but in reality, I think that model year changeover was the beginning of the end. Interiors, especially the dash and steering wheel became more modern and generic. I cant speak to build quality, having never driven either one.
Safety advances were good, disk front brakes, more seat belts, safety dash and padded steering wheel hub were all necessary, but detracted from the luxury look and feel of the previous era.
For 1969, Cadillac equipped all cars with a black steering wheel and column – regardless of the interior color. That made the cars look cheap. (Apparently Cadillac realized this, as the only complete, head-on photo of the instrument cluster in the 1970 brochure is in a car that features a black interior.)
Which is a shame, as the 1969 cars incorporated worthwhile mechanical improvements – in particular, standard power front disc brakes and variable-ratio power steering.
On that 53 coupe, I don’t think those are wheel covers. I believe they’re actually wire wheels. Which is how it was done back then.
The really sad thing today, in my opinion, is that Cadillac has success mainly in its line of SUVs, particularly the Escalade, which is nothing more than a Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon clone with a bit more chrome and flash. Unlike Mercedes-Benz or BMW, which have great success with both cars and SUVs, Cadillac has become an also-ran when it comes to automobiles. Once the Standard of the World, now the Cadillac of trucks.
Nice cars from an era when Cadillac meant something great.
I saw Kennedy’s motorcade come through Oakland in 1962. My school (I was 5) was about 1/4 mile off the motorcade route and the whole school, students and teachers, walked over to see the President drive by for a few seconds. I found this picture courtesy of jfklibrary.org which shows his Lincoln and a ‘50’s Cadillac as well. I can visualize that day well though I seem to remember it less sunny … unless he came through town another time, which I doubt.
I wasn’t alive when these pictures were taken but it must have been really special to own/drive something like a Cadillac back in the day when it had such panache.
Sadly, by the time I was into cars (late 1970s), Cadillacs were starting to lose their cache as a status symbol.
I’m always amazed at the speed of change in American car styling in the fifties. Look at a ’54 Caddy compared with, say a 57. They look so different; the three year old car looks almost ancient.
I can see the pressure on the Cadillac owner to have the new model, even though the old car would be barely run in given the quality of the time. I imagine there would have been a glut of nearly-new Cadillacs on the used market – but how much prestige was there in owning a few-years-old Cadillac that looked so visibly different?
I wonder whether this rapid style change affected Cadillac’s prestige?
It’s called “planned obsolesence”, and fortunes were made from it.
Back in the day, a friend of mine used to say that a Cadillac was a rich man’s car that a poor man could own three years later. Perhaps an exaggeration, but he had a point.
Indeed, Cadillac used to put year or two old cars in their ads to tout the resale values of their cars, and to suggest that for the cost of a lesser car, one could own a lightly used Cadillac.
That advertising strategy was very affective in building the sales momentum Cadillac enjoyed then. Purchasers of new Cadillacs were absolutely assured that when they traded in two or three years for a new Cadillac, the highest percentage of their original investment would be returned in high trade-in value. That was exactly the case because demand for well-cared-for, late model used Cadillacs was the highest of any of the luxury or upper medium-priced near luxury model then.
Lincoln management finally realized for 1961 that a consistent styling theme and high quality were the ingredients that would finally challenge Cadillac’s segment dominance. It took fully a decade and a half for Lincoln’s reputation to catch up to Cadillac, by which time, its management had begun destroying their hard won reputation by continual cheapening.
A luxury car reputation is a fragile thing, hard won, easily lost.
If that’s a missionary and his converts I’m going back to church!
My lady tells me the Queen and Prince Phillip were photographed driving past Birks Jewelers, Meghan Markel’s jeweler of choice.
The J Magnin parking lot is for some reason 100% GM cars.
That first shot may be taken in Texas – that’s the license plate on the Caddy. The Nevada plate’s from Clark County (Las Vegas).
The owner of the blue 1954 Coupe deVille was enough of a bigwig to get a low-numbered New Jersey plate on the car.
I couldn’t afford a collector car back in the early 80s, but I was young and wanted one anyway. I got a 55 Cadilac because I knew their build quality was unsurpassed and I couldn’t afford to keep a normal car running. I was right, it would sit for months and start at the first turn of the key.
Don’t give much credit to that Galinas guy, plastering his name in the corner of every image as though he actually took them. These gorgeous pictures belong to history, not to a self aggrandizing slide collector.