For Sale at Auction: 1930 Cadillac Fleetwood in Newport, Rhode Island

Engine No. 701323
Fleetwood Body No. 84
Fleetwood Style No. 4380

Cadillac's decision to build a sixteen-cylinder engine, announced at the New York Auto Show in January 1930, was as audacious as it was necessary for a company determined to defend its "Standard of the World" motto. Owen Nacker's 452-cubic-inch overhead-valve V-16 produced 175 horsepower in near silence, its concealed wiring and polished castings dressed by Harley Earl's Art and Colour Section. Riding a 148-inch wheelbase and priced from $5,350 to $9,200 when a Ford Model A cost $435, the Series 452 found just 3,251 buyers before the Depression closed in.

This exceptional V-16, identified by engine number 701323, positions it as one of the earliest V-16s completed, and it was shipped to New York City on 28 April 1930, barely three months after the model's public debut. Its original sales order provided by the GM Heritage Archive documents that the chassis, fenders, side hood/cowl, and mouldings were finished in Black, offset by the lower panels, vents, and wheel spokes in Surf Green. A Burbank top, body stripe in Argent, Green Grey Radel leather upholstery, and dual side-mounted spares completed the stately factory specification.

According to research conducted under prior ownership, the V-16's first owner was Rudolph Loening of New York City, who kept the Cadillac roughly seven years before selling it to an Army officer whose overseas posting left the car in storage until 1960. Albro Case of Hartford, Connecticut, acquired it then, followed in 1969 by Minneapolis collector Elmer Franzen, from whom it passed to the well-known Darling Collection in the same city. The Cadillac was offered publicly in England in 1996, after which it reportedly entered the private collection of a Swiss owner.

Today, its rare All-Weather Phaeton coachwork wears pale green lacquer with matching, green-finished wire wheels neatly contrasted by black swept panels, fenders, and aprons, with significant flaking in some areas. The light brown Bedford cord interior, matching carpets, and tan Hartz cloth top show an honest patina. Elegant, imposing, and powerful, the Cadillac Series 452 is undoubtedly one of the most desirable and seldom offered automobiles of the Classic Era. This handsome Fleetwood All-Weather Phaeton promises to delight its next caretaker on future CARavan tours and other classic motoring events.