Pink Cadillacs have become something of a cliche — you used to see at least one at any car show, often in some wilder shade of pink or mauve that definitely didn’t come from GM — but this gorgeous Sedan de Ville is still worth a look, since it’s the rare and unusual four-window hardtop body style, the last of the Cadillac “flattop” hardtops.
This metallic pink shade, paint code 48, had various different names at Cadillac over the years. In 1960, it was called Persian Sand; for 1962, it became Heather. In 1961, they called it Fontana Rose, which is a bit jarring to me as a Southern California resident. The City of Fontana, located in San Bernardino County at the intersection of the I-10, I-15, and 210 freeways, has some interesting bits of automotive history (it was once home to both Ro-Val’s auto museum and the Fontana International Dragway), but it’s not exactly what I’d call a glamorous locale.
Names notwithstanding, this is a sharp-looking color, and it was fairly popular at the time. Cadillac offered 15 standard paint colors in 1961, but nearly half of production left the factory in Olympic White, Ebony (black), or Tunis Beige. Fontana Rose tied with Sandalwood for 5th most popular choice (after Newport Blue, which was 4th). It was applied to 5.6 percent of 1961 Cadillacs — around 7,600 cars, give or take.
What makes the pink car relatively unusual is not its color, but its body style. The four-window Sedan de Ville, body code 6339, was the successor to the 1959–1960 “flattop” hardtops, which featured a nearly flat “flying wing” roof with a massive wraparound backlight and no rear quarter windows.
During the design process for the 1961 Cadillac, the styling studios got some negative feedback on the 1959 cars; customers were complaining about bumping their heads on the low roof. So, the leading edge of the 1961 roof upper was raised somewhat, increasing the front door opening height by 1.8 inches from the 1959–1960 cars. The Cadillac designers weren’t very happy with the results. “I always thought it looked a little awkward,” admitted Chuck Jordan, then Cadillac studio chief.
Four-door hardtop buyers shunned this body style in 1961 in favor of the more orthodox-looking six-window hardtop body. The four-window Sedan de Ville sold only 4,847 cars this year, compared to 26,415 of the six-window model. The cheaper Series 62 four-window sedan (body style 6239) didn’t do any better, selling 4,700 four-window and 26,216 six-window sedans. Four-window sales for both series were roughly half what they’d been for 1960.
Unsurprisingly, the four-window flattop roof didn’t return for 1962. Since the 1961 version is somewhat different from the 1959–1960 flatroof, that makes this a one-year-only variant. It wasn’t quite as unpopular as the short-deck De Ville Town Sedan (which sold only 3,756 cars this year), but it wasn’t a common sight.
Even with the raised roof, neither entrance room or headroom was particularly good in this body style — a relatively high seat and a low roof will do that. (The four-window hardtop was still a half-inch lower than the six-window body.)
The unusual S-curve of the 1961 A-pillars was the major contribution of outgoing Styling VP Harley Earl, who retired in December 1958. Earl accepted that it was time to move past the “dogleg” pillars of the previous wraparound windshield, but he insisted that there be some design flourish to take their place.
This car has power windows, which were standard on the De Ville. It lacks the optional power ventiplanes, but I think those are the controls for the optional 6-way power seat on the driver’s armrest ahead of the window controls. It also has air conditioning, which went into 51.7 percent of 1961 Cadillacs at a cost of $473.60, and presumably also a heater, for which Cadillac still charged a hefty $128.70. (It became standard for 1962.)
I’m very keen on the rose-colored leather of the seat bolsters, but not so much on the Cromwell pattern nylon cloth inserts. Unfortunately, I don’t think you could get all-leather upholstery in this color in 1961, except perhaps by special order. (The Eldorado Biarritz was available with mauve leather seats, but it wasn’t quite the same color.)
Rear seat room was not impressive for a car this size. Cadillac claimed 44.3 inches of rear legroom, but that presumed you stuck your feet quite far under the front seat. The length of the rear compartment (from the the back of the front seat to the rear seatback) was 31.8 inches, which was only okay for a car 222 inches long on a 129.5-inch wheelbase.
The 1961 Cadillacs were 3 inches shorter than in 1960, subtracting a half-inch of wheelbase, 1.5 inches of rear overhang, and 1 inch of front overhang. Shipping weight for this body style was down 100 lb, although with a heater, air conditioning, and other typical options, a Sedan de Ville still weighed over 5,000 lb at the curb.
Its standard 390 cid engine had 325 gross horsepower with a single four-barrel carburetor. (The previous Q-code three-carburetor option had been dropped.) With the standard 4-speed Controlled Coupling Hydra-Matic, this heavy car nonetheless had decently brisk acceleration. Car Life recorded a 0 to 60 time of 9.5 seconds with a slightly lighter 1961 Coupe de Ville, estimating a top speed of 115 mph.
A lot of people were critical of the 1961 Cadillac. Dealers were uneasy about making it smaller, even a little bit. Styling VP Bill Mitchell didn’t like the grille, which he thought looked too Chevrolet-like, and he wasn’t too keen on the lower-body skegs, which would disappear for 1963. The four-window and short-deck body styles went over poorly, and their unpopularity meant their resale value took a hit as well.
Nevertheless, a Cadillac was still a Cadillac in those days, and total sales were outstanding for a luxury car: 136,170 units for the model year, including the Series 75 formal cars. The styling has aged well too; I think I’d prefer a Coupe de Ville (here’s one in the same color that showed up in 2025 on Bring a Trailer), but this is a lovely car.
This California car showed up in a now-deleted craigslist ad and briefly on eBay in 2022. Someone reposted the photos on the AACA forums, which worked out well for the seller: An AACA member then bought the car, I’m guessing for a bit less than the last $29,500 asking price. At that, I think it was quite a deal.
Related Reading
Vintage Car Life Road Test: 1961 Cadillac Coupe DeVille – Still “The Standard Of The World”? (by Paul N)
Cohort Outtake: 1961 Cadillac Series 62 Four Window Sedan – On Vacation, In Style (by Paul N)
Curbside Classic – 1961 Cadillac Four Window Sedan deVille (by tbm3fan)
1961–1963 Cadillac Town Sedan And Park Avenue Sedan De Ville – Cadillac’s Bob-Tailed Nags (by me)
Amazing car in a stunning colour, the white one looks anaemic in contrast.
A beautiful car; the pink shade really highlights the lines of the body and complements well the chrome. While I’d also choose a coupe, this is the next best thing compared to the 6 window.
I don’t really see Chevy in the grille; those had a much flatter and simpler design, and I think Cadillac made a wrong step in 62, with a blander look
The 63 Chevy copied the 61 grille and also the lower side trim copied the skeg fin.
The featured car is a stunner.
Indeed, but I do not understand why Mitchell would complain about that – in 1961 that grille was original, it is no fault of the designers that it was copied by a sister company
correct, Bill Mitchell said it didn’t look Cadillac enough. I think the flat 62 grille is not as sharp.
If you’ve ever seen pictures of him in a red suit I would say he tried a little too hard.
Auto styling witnessed a paradigm shift in 1959. Before that date, most cars had a “three-story” face: The headlights were in the “attic”, the grille was on the second floor, and the bumper was on the ground floor. A quick glance at the ’59 Pontiac and Oldsmobile shows a “two-story” face, with the headlights and grille in a straight line. But Cadillacs were a tad more vertical (like the 1959 Ford), to project more authority.
But in 1961, every make had a two-story face, in an effort to avoid seeming stodgy. Lincoln buyers embraced the sleek look, however Cadillac ran into choppy waters when potential buyers didn’t find it “glitzy” enough. Thus, the ’62.
The soft metallic pinks of those years looked great when they were brand new, but after a few years, it would fade into an awful shade of puke brown. Its nice to see this one restored back to its original shade of Fontana Rose with modern paint finishes that will hold up far better.
Absolutely beautiful Car.
If one never saw any previous Cadillacs, it would be hard to imagine that this was actually a “Toned Down” version of what Cadillacs once were.
I love it.
Impressive, show car.
I am not a fan of Mary Kay/Barbie pinks but this metallic color is stunning. And though I’m a Northern California native and have maybe never even been near Fontana, I associate the name with a big steel mill and smokestack industry … a Southern California version of Cleveland or Gary, without even a lake.
I have always had a major thing for this particular year and body style Cadillac. It’s got the wonderful flying roof but without the excesses of the ’59-’60. I would have this in a heartbeat. Peak Cadillac, along with some of the ’53-’55s.
Paul: I couldn’t agree more about this car. Even though I’m not into the large fins, this car does it so well. And you hit the nail on the head when you say without the excesses of the 59-60.
There are a tiny handful of locations in the US where it might never be useful to have a heater in your car. If you want to buy the cheapest Chevrolet Biscayne or Plymouth Belvedere and you live in one of those places, you might have been happy that you didn’t have to shell out $100 (a fair bit of dough in those days) to get a heater that you didn’t want or need.
But on a Cadillac? The Standard of the World? It was pretty egregious of Caddy to charge extra for a heater.
The good ole days, when no matter what the exterior color was, you could probably get a matching interior color.
What? You don’t like black, gray or tan? haha.
The 1961 is by far my favourite Cadillac. All of the styling elements come together and that rear end is to die for. Cadillac was indeed the best car in the world in 1961. It was a shame that GM chose to sully the brand for short term sales. We all know what happened with that.
I love the skegs!
A lovely car but this particular pink isn’t for me .
In the 1940’s some cars came in “Desert Beige”, this had a faint pink tone and was really beautiful .
Nice to see this car being well kept and looked after .
-Nate
I’m a huge Cadillac fan and have been since my parents purchased their first of two Cadillacs: A used 1975 light green Sedan DeVille. Due to my age then (10), my love stems from the 70’s and I love the 1975 up to the 1993’s the most. Not exactly Cadillac’s glory days, but glorious in my eyes.
When it comes to the big fin cars such as a 1959, I really don’t like them. I find the huge fins awful looking and since those Cadillac’s go for much greater money, I am grateful that my tastes don’t go for them. So when reading this article, I found it interesting that I’m drawn to this specific car. There’s something very interesting about it and even with those still too big fins, it works much better. Then to see that white 1960, it looks awful to me. So I kept scrolling back and forth (up/down) comparing the white 60 to the pink 61. Interesting how much I like the pink one and dislike the white one. But then go a couple years later and I absolutely love the 1965 and 1966’s with their really long and straight lines.
61 Caddies are my most favorite Caddies ever. Especially the Coupe Deville.
I think a whole article could be done on Cadillac hubcaps alone. The ones here are one of my favorites. It’s as if they took the classic sombrero and put it thru an additional stamping process.
I usually prefer the toned down and more formal 1962 Cadillac, but this space age beauty is almost too much to behold! I’d make room for it in my garage!
Beautiful car! And, imagine the visibility for driver and passengers-in an era where few, if any cars, had a right side mirror, and when a driver’s side mirror was optional on most!
This is a very beautiful car. I’m pretty sure this ’62 I caught a couple of years ago (obviously not as pristine) is the same color but called Heather according to Aaron:
A very sexy beauty…
When I saw this blue ‘61 Series 62 four window four door hardtop at a local show last weekend my jaw dropped but the featured pink deVille brings it to a whole new level.