Vehicle Description
Engine No. 5100034
Body No. 3
The Shape of the Future
The Chicago World's Fair of 1933-34, boldly titled A Century of
Progress, introduced the world to a future of bold streamlined
design in virtually every aspect of modern life. Nowhere was this
more obvious than in the fair's automobile exhibits, which included
such now-revered vehicles as the Pierce Silver Arrow, the
Duesenberg Model SJ known ever-after as "The Twenty Grand," and the
unique Packard sport sedan dubbed, for its location, "The Car of
the Dome." To use an oft-overused but entirely appropriate word,
these were legends, all, and today remain so in some of the most
significant collections in the United States.
Also in this pantheon, and as influential as its brethren, was
Cadillac's Aerodynamic Coupe. The use of the immense
154-inch-wheelbase V-16 platform provided a designer's dream to
work upon, with a great length of hood extended over the cowl and
back to a subtly vee'd windshield. The sleek, long roofline sloped
in a clean, interrupted glide down the tail of the car, forming
what would come to be known, years later, as a fastback. Gone were
bulky sidemounted spares, with a single spare - all that was needed
on modern city streets - deftly concealed behind that graceful rear
deck. Its shape was years ahead of its time, built a season prior
to Chrysler's Airstream that aped the curve of its roof, and
forecasting the sport coupes built a season later by LeBaron for
Packard. Even Mercedes-Benz's now-legendary Autobahnkurier was but
a follow-up to Cadillac's Aerodynamic Coupe.
Cadillac had, in typical fashion of this era, triumphed quietly.
While other manufacturers were building wild prototypes that
resembled something out of a Buck Rogers serial, they had stepped
forward into the future with an automobile that was not only
startlingly advanced and beautiful, but in almost every sense fully
production-ready. Indeed, such was the reaction of the public to
the Aerodynamic Coupe that the following year, the design was made
available for purchase, and would remain for the taking through
1937.
The Aerodynamic Coupe for the public appropriated the new,
full-figured and curvaceous body design of all 1934-1937 Cadillacs,
but from the cowl back it was virtually identical to the famed show
car of the World's Fair. They featured a distinctive two-piece rear
window, rather than the three-piece design common to other closed
Cadillacs, and an interior with individual bucket style-front seats
and a folding armrest for rear seat passengers.
Twenty Aerodynamic Coupes were built, eight of them on the ultimate
V-16 chassis as was used for the fair. Just five of these machines
remain extant today.
This Aerodynamic Coupe
According to its build sheet, a copy of which is included in the
history file, this particular Aerodynamic Coupe was mounted with
the third body produced and engine number 5100034 with unit number
51-48, as it retains today. One of but a trio of V-16 Aerodynamic
Coupes delivered in 1934, it was finished in all-over black with a
Wiese broadcloth interior, silver Goddess mascot, Cadillac Master
radio (still intact under the dashboard today), and a concealed
spare hidden under the rear deck, the latter, of course, a highly
distinctive feature which emphasizes the Art Deco streamlining of
the long front end.
The build sheet further notes that delivery was through the main
Cadillac facility in Detroit at "will call," and is marked 'Tag -
C.F. Smith.' This indicates that the car was intended for a client
of that name and would be collected, essentially, at the factory.
Given the Detroit location and intention for delivery to a local
customer, C.F. Smith was likely Charles F. Smith, founder of a
prominent Motor City-based grocery empire that was one of the first
to pioneer the "stock-high-and-sell-low" salesmanship familiar to
customers of modern warehouse stores. However, the "tagged"
customer of a Cadillac was not always the final original owner in
these Depression years, and the steering wheel hub of the
Aerodynamic Coupe, oft engraved with an original owner's name, is
blank.
According to an article by the early V-16 historian Bob Mellin, in
1947 the thirteen-year-old sixteen-cylinder Cadillac was purchased
by William T. Walter, Sr., of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, outside
Philadelphia. Longstanding legend is that when Mr. Walter acquired
the Cadillac, he saved it from the life in which it had survived
the war years - as a beer delivery vehicle! (One ponders how many
cases of Schlitz fit in an Aerodynamic Coupe.) Mr. Walter was a
proud and passionate owner, and a great student of his model; at
one time he served as the Classic Car Club of America's Cadillac
V-16 Technician. He undertook what might be termed a "rolling
restoration" of the car, in which, Mr. Mellin recounted, he tried
"to rebuild or restore something each year." By the 1960s it was
described as being in excellent overall condition, and well into
the next decade was occasionally appearing in AACA and CCCA meets
on the East Coast, including frequently in the fields at Hershey.
It quickly became one of the best-known surviving examples of the
style.
Mr. Walter retained his prized Cadillac until 1984, when he sold it
to Charles Jones of California, then an avid and prolific acquirer
of V-16s, in particular the rare body styles of 1934-37 production.
The car remained with Mr. Jones until 1996, then became part of the
well-known Blackhawk Collection. During its time in the Blackhawk
Collection, the V-16 was restored by Mike Fennel of Saugas,
California, in the present color scheme, a rich and striking deep
violet with a mauve leather interior.
In 2002 the Cadillac was acquired by Arturo Keller, one of the
world's most renowned collectors, whose stable in Petaluma,
California, includes some of the most extraordinary automobiles of
the last century, and who has thrice been awarded Best of Show at
the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Significantly he is
well-known as an enthusiast of the fastback coupe design, of which
the Aerodynamic Coupe was, of course, a major progenitor. The
Aerodynamic Coupe would reside in Mr. Keller's legendary private
museum for several years. Later it was part of actor Nicolas Cage's
large collection of vintage automobiles. Finally, in 2007, it was
acquired from the Cage stable by the Academy of Art University for
their own collection, where it has been maintained since.
The restoration has mellowed throughout but remains largely intact,
with areas of minor wear around panel gaps and shut lines as would
be expected. The interior shows minor stretching of the leather but
is overall quite presentable, while the interior trim would benefit
from freshening. Significantly the car does retain its original,
numbers-matching engine, as well as the Goddess mascot and
concealed rear-mounted spare both described on the build sheet.
The only original and authentic V-16 Aerodynamic Coupe presently
available, this car offers a wonderful opportunity to experience
one of the most advanced designs of the period - one that was
influential on both sides of the Atlantic. It would be ideal to
enjoy as-is, or as the basis for a freshening back to as it was
first delivered in Detroit. Few automobiles, in either case, would
be as much of a show-stopper... and that was the idea.
