1930 Cadillac V16 Series Dual-cowl Phaeton

1930 Cadillac V16 Series 452 Dual-cowl Phaeton

Coachwork in the style of Fleetwood
Chassis no. 700665
Engine no. 698

•The ultimate luxury car of its era
•The 665th example produced
•Matching chassis and engine numbers
•Wonderful condition

'For both its visual and technical attributes the V16 itself is a thing of beauty, delivering 175bhp. Even more impressive was its all important low speed torque: 320 pound-feet at 1,500rpm, which assured velvet-like low speed operation. Thanks to a hydraulic valve-silencing device created by General Motors Research Division, the V16's overhead valves were well mannered and quite as they went about performing their tasks.

'The sum total of the V16's features was so impressive that even the Europeans found it impossible to describe its super silent operation without using terms such as "magnificent" and "outstanding".' - Robert C Ackerson, Standard Catalog of Cadillac.

Cadillac's bold attempt to 'out-cylinder' the opposition commenced in January 1930 with the introduction of its magnificent 452ci (7.4-litre) V16, of which engine it has been said: 'There is no power plant in any motor car so smooth, so quiet, so flexible.' Astonishingly, before the end of the year a V12 had been added to the range! The Cadillac V16 was the world's first production sixteen-cylinder passenger car, beating the rival Marmon to the marketplace by ten months. Conceived in the Roaring Twenties, these Leviathans made little sense in the post-Wall Street Crash, Depression years of the early 1930s, despite which Cadillac had managed to sell in excess of 15,000 of them before the decade's end. Harley Earl had been directing GM's Art & Color Department since 1928, and the master stylist and his team used the opportunity afforded by the new V16 chassis to create some of the most sublimely beautiful automobile bodies of the period. More than 50 body styles were offered, the vast majority being 'catalogue customs' by Fleetwood, though most were variations on a handful of basic designs.

Completed in March 1930, the Cadillac V16 offered here, chassis number '700665', is the 665th car produced and its engine is number '698', in accordance with the figures quoted in booklets issued by the manufacturer when it left the factory. Subsequently re-bodied in Fleetwood style, it is one of only 6,750 produced. The dual-phaeton body is superbly finished in black lacquer, which is enhanced by thin red coachlines, while the interior is sumptuously trimmed with contrasting red leather and matching fitted carpets. The dashboard is engine-turned aluminium, with a central instrument panel incorporating a Jaeger clock and speedometer in MPH. The windscreen between the front and rear passenger compartments can be wound down out of sight within the bodywork's central bulkhead. The latter incorporates it own set of instruments for the rear-seat passengers, and features Art Deco motifs. One cannot help but admire the curves which so gracefully marry the body to the wings at the rear, where there is a foldaway luggage holder.

The current vendor purchased this wonderful motor car at Bonhams' Paris sale in January 2010 (Lot 230). It comes with US registration documents and a European customs clearance certificate and, prior to its sale in 2010, had passed the strict German technical inspection (TüV) with flying colours.