Vehicle Description
1960 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible
Long, low, and sleek...with an elegance all their own, the
formidable "Standard of the World" ruled the road. Cadillac had
them all running scared by introducing technology and advanced
automotive design. As a luxury car, it was complete; its poised
dignity was not an afterthought. Power, performance, and presence
were the true hallmarks of the brand. Whatever one sought in a
luxury car...Cadillac could provide. Luxury and elegance makes
another cameo appearance...in the continuing saga of "As the
Standard of the World Turns."
The 1960 Cadillacs wore some of the tallest tail fins in the
industry. The silhouette is unmistakably Cadillac. The 1960
Cadillacs were probably the most flamboyant in the history of the
brand. They make this model year one of the most memorable and
identifiable Cadillac. This was a Harley Earl design; he was the
master of the motorcar. All of his designs were over the top. It is
the two door models that best showcase the fins...this made the car
appear even longer, lower, and wider. Add on a convertible top and
we have creme de la creme Caddy in our midst. This example, wearing
73,045 non-verifiable miles comes to our Hallowed Halls from our
consignor who has owned the car since 1995 and performed a host of
upgrades throughout the years, not limited to a rebuilt drivetrain,
a new top, new interior, updated brakes and some extra lighting, as
if the opulence of the design wasn't enough...
Exterior
Keeping in true early 1960's mantra, the larger the chrome and
fins, the more it will sell, and this car ranks up there with some
of the largest fins to roll out of Detroit, and the massive chrome
adornments are not too shabby either! Dual visored halo style
headlights with the rounded over trimmed visors almost appear to be
snarling at you in their design. These flank a chromed egg crate
grille with a mid wide chrome trimming with added illumination at
the flick of a switch. At the bottom, the front end is framed with
a large mirror like chrome bumper with its large duo of portholed
lighting on either corner. The bumper wrap arounds start framing
the wheel wells and ground the front quarter panels. A strip of
chrome runs rearward from the headlights to the windscreen and
highlights the edge of the front quarters. A raked rearward
windswept windshield keeps the low and slow look, and the nearly
new dark red canvas convertible top, in pristine condition, almost
appears "chopped" from the side view. Big steel side slabs all
draped in Red Wine Metallic have decent gaps and very few notable
flaws without getting right up against the finish. The side
trimmings have been shaved, much like an El Dorado, as our
consignor felt they hindered the lines and those iconic rear
quarters are the piece-de-resistance, the Harley Earl magnum opus
in the rear tail fins to this day yet to be outdone. These are
topped with a chrome trimming and have integral tail lighting
thatsweeps forward to match the fin design. As they melt into the
rear roll pan, a large bumper takes over with a central egg crate
filled in design, and much like the front grille, has been filled
with extra lighting that illuminates when the brakes are engaged,
and massive jet engine like openings which have the reverse
lighting along with more tail lighting. Large steel for the hood
and trunk, and rear fender skirts have this car looking more like a
land rocket ship than a luxury car. 16-inch chrome wire wheels are
wrapped in white and gold stripedradials for that period perfect
look. Who said wretched excess is a bad thing?? It would be like
someone saying I have too much money!
Interior
Top down and a swing of the doors and more excess can be sniffed
out and create more eye candy. The door panels have a tango going
on between the white vinyl with a cut in of red carpeting, and
chrome trimmings and accenting badging. These trimmings are near
showroom and the only rear flaw we note is some slight staining
that should clean easily. Feasting our eyes on what we are about to
sit on we see white leather tuck and roll stitched inserts with
white bolsters and loads of buttons for the front and rear benches.
The front bench sports an armrest in the center and the chrome tub
with power adjustment controls cradle the front bench, all sitting
in a blood red sea of beautiful clean deep pile carpeting. A
futuristic styled GM dash with and new padded topper and deeply
inset central gauge speedo cluster and dual heater slides of
encased metal controls is in front of a red leather wrapped
steering wheel. Some more toggles in the corners of the wrap around
dash as well as the wiper and washer buttons just below are within
easy reach of the pilot. The dash also has the standard ash
receptacle, a big glovebox, and updated AM/FM/Bluetooth radio and
plenty of shiny trimmings throughout. The trunk also has been
treated to a redux with new side paneling and matting. This begs
the question "I wonder what the poor people are doing right
now??!"
Drivetrain
A heave of the long hood, and we see a restored and detailed engine
bay with a rebuilt 390ci V8 topped by a single 4-barrel carburetor.
A rebuilt Hydramatic 4-speed automatic transmission is attached to
the back, and a 2.94 cruising rear axle is on this model. The
engine bay has been restored and matches the rest of the car in its
nearly pristine condition
Undercarriage
Clearly restored and now showing with a slight patina, some light
road dirt and surface rust, and finely aged but well kept surfaces
and structure on this undercarriage. A reinforced X frame is below
and attached are independent coil springs for the front ride and a
4 link with coil springs for the back. Power brakes are all around
with an upgrade to discs in the front and retaining drums in the
rear. Dual exhaust is solid and ready to expel spentfossils at the
turn of a key.
Drive-Ability
The luxurious cruiser fired right up, and I was off like a land
rocket ship on a mission. She ran swimmingly, turned about 1000
heads, and all worked well. My cohort and I did manage to take up
half of the drive thru at our local McDonalds with the sheer length
of this car. Now if we only had an A&W Rootbeer in the locale
just to see if they kept the parking stalls the same size. We noted
the speedometer, odometer and heater blower were non operational.
While Classic Auto Mall represents that these functions were
working at the time of our test drive, we cannot guarantee these
functions will be working at the time of your purchase.
Cadillac...a realm of motoring majesty!
Harley Earl nailed the excess with the design of this Caddy. In
this writer's mind it is one of the best examples of the Caddy bar
none. Plenty of conveniences, plenty of chrome, and those tail fins
and grilles just bleeds mid century spaceship, pushbutton, pills
for meals lifestyle. An awesome example madebetter with the custom
touches performed by our consignor, and I may have a hot nut for
this as it's the year following my birth, although I'm not nearly
as excessive but equally as high maintenance!
60F078089
60-1960
F-Series 62 Convertible
078089-Sequential Unit Number
TRIM TAG
03D-4th Week March
STYLE 60 6267-1960 Series 62 Convertible
BODY FW7627-Detroit Body #
TRIM 28-Red & White Leather
PAINT 50-Pompeian Red Metallic
TOP 1-Ivory
ACC
E-EZ Eye Glass
H-Heater
Y-6 Way Power Seat
Classic Auto Mall is home to more than 1,000 classic and
collectible vehicles for sale via consignment in a climate
cont...for more information please contact the seller.
