To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION at RM Sothebys' Amelia Island event, 6 - 7
March 2020.
Estimate:
$225,000 - $275,000
- Known ownership history from new
- Documented with copies of its original build sheet
- Best in Class at the 2017 Amelia Island Concours
d'Elegance
- Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) Full Classic
- Eligible for all club events and CARavans
Among the most significant announcements made in the American
automobile industry late in 1929 was the letter that Cadillac
president Lawrence Fisher dispatched to his dealers and the
motoring press on 10 December. A new sixteen-cylinder Cadillac was
to be displayed at the New York International Automobile Show on 4
January 1930. Simultaneously, the car was to appear at the General
Motors Salon in the Hotel Astor and on 57th Street, just off posh
Fifth Avenue, at the Cadillac Salon of Uppercu Cadillac.
According to Cadillac V-16 authorities Jeff and Sonny Pearson of
Kansas City, this car was sold new from the Chicago, Illinois,
Cadillac distributorship to Tiffany's on 14 March 1930. It remained
in Chicago until sometime in the early '40s, when it was sold to
Willy Christ. He brought the car to California, where it remained
under his care until his passing in 1988. The Pearsons' father,
Jim, who had been trying to buy the car as early as the 1960s,
purchased the Cadillac at the estate sale. A V-16 expert, he knew
that the car remained untouched and all components of the car were
original.
For reasons unknown, he sold the car to Bud Tinny, a Cadillac
dealer in Florida. In 1998 Tinny had the car restored by Lloyd and
Jeff Brekke from Bartow, Florida, keeping it exactly how it was
ordered new as documented by the original build sheet, a copy of
which is included. In 1999 the car was sold to Dave Lindsay from
Manawa, Wisconsin. Under his tutelage, the car received a Cadillac
LaSalle Club Senior badge in Detroit in 2002 and, later that year,
a CCCA Senior First Place badge. In 2015 the car was purchased by
Richard Rollins, who sold the car to Dave Creak in Ohio and Creak
to the consignor.
In the winter of 2016-17, the Cadillac was partially disassembled
receiving a refresh, which included selected refinishing, chrome
plating, and a major detailing. In 2017 the Cadillac was shown at
the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, where it completed the Eight
Flags Road Tour and received Best in Class honors. Finished in its
original colors of black and crimson, the Cadillac remains in
exceptional condition today. Just one in five Cadillacs received
open coachwork when new; few with original bodies and major
mechanical components intact survive today.
Ready for touring or the concours show field, this well-documented
example is truly "the Standard of the World."To view this car and
others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM
website at
rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/am20.
