Between 1959 and 1964, Cadillac offered four-door hardtops in distinct “four-window” and “six-window” roof styles. While some customers may have appreciated this array of choices, buyers quickly demonstrated definite preferences for one roof over the other — which changed dramatically with the introduction of a new more formal roof style in 1962.
Cadillac offered its first two-door hardtop in 1949 and its first pillarless four-door Sedan de Ville in 1956. Starting in 1957, Cadillac went hardtop-only except in the formal Fleetwood Series 75 models. While the Coupe de Ville, convertible, and Eldorado were the glamour leaders, the four-door hardtop models represented the biggest chunk of Cadillac sales.
Discounting the Seventy-Five and the Eldorado Brougham, in 1958, four-door Cadillacs looked like this. There were three trim levels — Series 62, De Ville, and Fleetwood Sixty Special — and variations in wheelbase and overall length, but the four-door roof styling was about the same on each.
This is what’s known as a four-window (or four-light) body style, meaning there are two side windows (lights) on each side. Vent windows are not counted if they just subdivide a larger window space, nor are the wraparound portions of the windshield or back glass.
For 1959, GM introduced a new four-door four-window hardtop roof, which was known internally as the “cantilever” or “flying wing.” (People today often refer to it a “flattop,” but GM Styling Staff didn’t call it that, nor did the divisions that used it.)
The cantilever hardtops had a nearly flat roof upper whose trailing edge extended over the edge of a dramatically wrapped one-piece backlight of prodigious area (a daylight opening of more than 1,550 square inches).
Cadillac four-door hardtops had not previously lacked for glass area, but the cantilever roof made for expansive side and rear visibility.
Other than the slim C-pillars, there was nothing to obstruct the view to the rear or rear corner, although the curvature of the glass created some optical distortion at the corners.
The other downside was that headroom with this roof was not great, and Cadillac buyers complained that entry and exit required too much stooping.
While Chevrolet and Oldsmobile were content with the four-window flying wing design for all their four-door hardtops, Cadillac and Buick hedged. The cantilever roof was something of an acquired taste, and I suspect it was a bigger departure from previous styling than Cadillac was entirely comfortable with; Cadillac in those days put a great emphasis on stylistic continuity.
So, Cadillac and Buick also got a separate six-window hardtop for 1959, with separate triangular quarter windows aft of the rear doors and a less curved backlight that was about 15 percent smaller than the four-window back glass. For Buick, this body was essentially a pillarless version of the four-door pillared sedan, a style Cadillac didn’t offer at this time.
The six-window hardtop roof still had abundant glass area, and it had better front headroom and easier front-seat entrance and exit through the taller front door openings.
Rear passengers didn’t fare as well — with the downward sweep of the roof, rear entrance height was 1.2 inches lower than the four-window body, and once seated, back seat passengers had 0.6 inches less headroom.
Buick, which offered this body style only in the Electra 225 line, priced it $9 lower than the flattop four-door hardtop, but Cadillac took care to price the different versions of a given body style identically, I think to avoid creating an implied hierarchy. A De Ville cost more than a Series 62, of course, but within each series, the four-window and six-window four-doors were priced the same.
Cadillac did put their collective thumbs on the scale to some extent by offering the pricier Fleetwood Sixty Special only in six-window form, distinguished from the six-window Sedan de Ville and Series 62 sedan by even more lavish and outlandish exterior trim.
The rare and very expensive Eldorado Brougham had its own six-window hardtop roof.
By year’s end, it was clear that Cadillac buyers had a definite preference for the six-window style. Total production of the four-window Series 62 sedan and Sedan de Ville totaled 26,446, while the six-window versions totaled 42,619, plus 12,250 Fleetwood Sixty Special sedans. Interestingly, Buick buyers felt the opposite; in the Electra 225 line, the cantilever four-door hardtop outsold the six-window four-door Riviera 10,491 to 6,324.
At Cadillac, the trend accelerated with the tidied-up 1960 models. Production of the four-window style now totaled only 19,209 across both the Series 62 and De Ville lines, while the six-window sold 49,403 cars in the cheaper lines, plus 11,800 Fleetwood Sixty Special sedans.
The cantilever four-window roof was distinctive, but it may have been a little too adventuresome for some Cadillac buyers. For people trading in 1956 to 1958 Cadillac four-door hardtops, the six-window roof was familiar, closer to what they were used to getting.
Another possibility is that the four-window hardtop was too clearly related to the same body style offered by other GM brands. GM designers generally did a good job of hiding the structural commonality of the shared bodies, but the cantilever roof was hard to mistake, inside or out. Chevrolet buyers didn’t mind if their cars looked Cadillac-like, but the reverse was seldom true.
The redesign for 1961 trimmed a bit of overall length and brought new styling, but the four-door hardtops were again offered in four- and six-window versions. The six-window took its cues from the 1959–1960 Eldorado Brougham, with more angular sail panels and a sharp crease at the trailing edge of the roof.
Had Cadillac known how badly the four-window cars would sell in 1960 at the time the 1961 designs were approved, I suspect the four-window style would have been dropped, or shifted in a different direction. The 1961 version was developed late enough to reflect customer feedback on the 1959 cars, but that didn’t do the design any favors, making it look like a throwback to the 1947 Studebaker.
“The flying-wing roof looked gawky because we had to raise it after customers complained about bumping their heads,” said Charles M. Jordan, then Cadillac studio chief. Most customers stayed away this time; production of the four-window body totaled only 9,547 across both the Series 62 and De Ville lines. The same body style was offered on the 1961 Buick Electra, and did no better, selling 8,978 cars.
Personally, I don’t think the 1961 six-window roof entirely worked either — the combination of the French curve A-pillars with the angular sail panels looks mismatched to my eye. The influence of the 1959 Eldorado Brougham was clear, but the angles just weren’t right.
Once ongoing annoyance with both body styles was that the rear doors were still relatively short, so back seat passengers had to duck around the rear quarter panel when getting in or out.
Despite these quibbles, the six-window hardtop was again the hands-down sales winner. 1961 production totaled 52,631, plus 3,756 of the new short-deck De Ville Town Sedan.
For 1961, the Sixty Special parted ways with the cheaper models, offering its own distinct four-window hardtop roofline with much wider sail panels and a smaller backlight.
The Sixty Special actually outsold both cheaper four-window four-door hardtops for 1961, with production totaling 15,500 cars. With a base price $735 above the Sedan De Ville, the Sixty Special was too expensive to be a big volume model for Cadillac, but its sales suggested that De Ville and Series 62 sedan buyers would have preferred the Sixty Special roofline if it had been offered in the cheaper series.
GM designers seemed to have reached a similar conclusion. For 1962, they dumped the unpopular flattop four-window body for a new one with wider, more angular sail panels, giving a crisper, more “formal” look.
The wider sail panels of the new four-window roof sacrificed the generous rear glass area and over-the-shoulder visibility of the previous few years’ models, but this sort of formal roof styling was all the rage in the early ’60s, and given that only three out of five new Cadillacs were ordered with air conditioning in 1962, passengers may have welcomed no longer feeling like they were sitting in a bubble.
Cadillac also applied the four-window roof to the short-deck four-door models, the Series 62 Town Sedan and Park Avenue Sedan de Ville, although it didn’t really help their awkward proportions. The short-deck cars never sold well, and they would be short-lived.
The new four-window roofline on the cheaper four-door models was not shared with the Sixty Special sedan, which continued to go its own way as in 1961.
Because the six-window style had been so popular in previous years, Cadillac wasn’t about to abandon it, so it too returned for 1962.
Entry height was a bit better than before, although the fixed portion of the door frame remained obstructive.
While the six-window body style had sold dramatically better than the four-window in 1961, the new four-window style jumped ahead for 1962. Production totaled 44,692 four-window Series 62 and De Ville four-doors, plus 5,200 of the short-deck cars, against 32,960 of the six-window models. The Sixty Special, with its own four-window roof, sold 13,350 cars.
The 1963 models continued the same body styles, now with more angular A-pillars that went better with the angular sail panels.
With the arguable exception of the short-deck model, now limited to the De Ville series, all the four-door models now looked about what people expected a ’60s Cadillac to look like. Cadillac buyers of this era weren’t necessarily wealthy; many middle-class customers scrimped and saved to own one of these cars, and I think those buyers strongly favored styling with “traditional Cadillac dignity.”
While the six-window cars offered a reasonable amount of that, the formal roof of the four-window car sang a siren song that buyers were finding increasingly hard to resist. Six-window production totaled 28,075 for 1963, while the four-window tally was 47,559, plus 1,575 of the short-deck Park Avenue Sedan de Ville. The Fleetwood Sixty Special sold another 14,000 cars.
By 1964, the writing was on the wall. Sales of the six-window hardtops weren’t yet disastrous, but it was also clear that the six-window models were no longer needed — Cadillac salespeople were unlikely to have any great trouble selling prospects a four-window model if the six-window wasn’t available. With Cadillac production capacity still straining to keep up with demand, consolidation was the logical step.
For 1964, production of the six-window hardtops totaled 23,870, while the four-window style sold 53,344. The Sixty Special, in its final season as a four-door hardtop, sold another 14,550 cars. The six-window style wouldn’t return for the all-new 1965 models.
With the demise of the six-window car, another link to the Cadillac styling of the 1950s was quietly clipped, much like the once-famous fins. The formal look had triumphed, and it would carry Cadillac through the next 20+ years.
Related Reading
1961 Cadillac Sedan De Ville: Rare Four-Window Hardtop Eye Candy In Fontana Rose (by me)
1961–1963 Cadillac Town Sedan And Park Avenue Sedan De Ville – Cadillac’s Bob-Tailed Nags (by me)
Car Show Classic: 1961 Buick Electra – How Would You Like Your Four Door Hardtop, Sir? With Four Windows Or With Six? (by J P Cavanaugh)
1964 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special: The Last Fleetwood Four-Door Hardtop (by me)
All Those Glamorous Four-Door Hardtops, Part 1: The 1950s (by Paul N)
All Those Glamorous Four-Door Hardtops, Part 2: 1960–1964 (by Paul N)
In end I really like all of these unique Cadillac 4 door hardtop body styles from this period. However, if I had to pick a favourite, it would clearly be either a 1961 or 1962 Six Window DeVille in black or perhaps dark red.
The Six Window pillarless design, in my opinion gives these cars a real formal appearance, while the Four Window design attempts to be a two door pillarless coupe which of course its not.
Above all, a simply great article covering these unique four door pillarless hardtops. Thanks for such a great read.
I preferred the cantilever roof simply because the extended horizontal line complemented the horizontal lower body lines. I did however find the tail fin era Cadillacs looked front-end heavy as the bulk of the rear trailed down with the fin rising up. Styling perfection was achieved with the beautiful and balanced 1965.
’59 Buick had radically different styling so the cantilever roof looked perfect. Bulbous curves of the Cadillac matched the six window roof better. I am not a fan of any ’61 GM cantilever, especially the B body sedans.
I just love the pictures on the old Cadillacs here! I am not much of a fan of the six window body style. The rear window treatment strikes me as kind of awkward, making the four window look much better. There is really no excuse for a lack of headroom in cars this big.
The 1962 Cadillac is by far my favourite Caddy of all time. The rear treatment is just so cool and not over the top like the 1959 models. The Cadillac was still standard of the world, which it was until 1968, when they cheapened out the cars. Sad that Cadillac would kill its own reputation for short-term profits.
I’ll take the cantalever 4-window setup on every one of of these, though the ’59-’60 befefits most from the flast cantilever roof. I still like it the best after the T-Bird/Lincoln look took over
Generally speaking I prefer the 4-window bodystyles over that of the 6, although the 1961 4-window models were very awkward. The 1961 2-door hardtop coupes had styling that was similar to the awkward 4-window 4-door models. The 1962 2-door hardtop models also received a new roofline similar to that of the 4-window 4-door models with wider, more angular sail panels, giving a crisper, more “formal” look.
My favorite would have to be the 1962 4-window Sedan deVille and Calais. A childhood neighbor (the highschool janitor, one of those Cadillac buyers who was not necessarily wealthy) traded his ’57 Buick Special (with 3-piece rear window) for a used light green metallic 4-window ’62 Sedan deVille in about 1964 or so and drove it for 10 years at which time he traded it for a used ’72 Sedan deVille. As a child I really admired that car and it really was beautiful.
Flying roof for me. Make mine a ’61, despite its taller roof. I find the ’61 flying roof C-bodies very compelling.
Great pictures of some rare variations. I particularly like that ’59 Eldorado Brougham, even though I usually prefer the flying roof.
There actually was a six window 1965 Cadillac – the 1965 Fleetwood 75. It was pretty much unchanged from the ’64.
The ’66 Fleeetwood 75 body was brought up to date to fit in with the rest of the ’66 Cadillacs.
The Seventy-Five was really its own thing, both because it was a low-production formal car and because it wasn’t updated every year like the others. It also wasn’t a hardtop.
The 1965 Fleetwood 75 was really a ’64 with the new car’s hubcaps, a fact that amuses me to no end. GM had a lot on its plate for MY65 and cutting had to be done somewhere. In 1966, the restyled big Caddy was finally ready, but I wonder if any ambitious customizers retrofitted the limo with 1965 details just to see “what if?”
The 1965 Seventy-Five’s wrap around, dog legged windshield was its most obvious connection with the past – the distant past. More than its fins which had annually shrunken down.
I think I prefer the cantilever roof version if only for the fantastic visibility from inside, they would have been great cars for highway travel.
The problem with the 6 window is that fixed pane at the rear that is always just sitting there.
Not comparable cars, but Chrysler would get the 6 window sedan style just right in 1965.
I can see why the early 4-window wasn’t as popular; not only did every other division use it, but some of them wore it better. From certain angles the ’59 looks as though the fins are taller than the roof, and their curves and the radiused-in-section sides clash with the flattop in contrast to how Chevy’s bat-wing and Pontiac’s angular look harmonized with it.
For ’61 the B-body post sedans had a better-looking update of the flattop than the C-body 4 window hardtop (and the Corvair kept the original flavor until ’64); among the Caddys I like the ’63-4 6-window best with its’ thin, crisply styled pillars at both ends.
I’ve always admired how Cadillac retreated gradually from the fin excesses of the late 1950’s without dropping them altogether. Instead, each year was a fairly tasteful reduction in fin size, retaining Cadillac identity while not admitting to basic ‘styling errors’ that other marques appeared to acknowledge by dropping their fins entirely, and quickly. It was a gutsy direction, showing both the design skill and the confidence of both styling and marketing departments. It would be interesting to know more about the internal discussions that took place in Cadillac during those years.
Always thought that the ’59 Four Windows looks really unappealing. As over the top as it is I think the ’59 pulls it off it with other body styles fairly well though. More so in retrospective, not sure if that look was as appealing for the buyers in the field back then.