The Cadillac V-16 was Cadillac’s top-of-the-line model from its launch in January 1930 until 1940. It was the first sixteen-cylinder production car in the United States, extremely expensive and exclusive, with every chassis custom-finished to order, and only 4,076 were built in eleven years.
Cadillac V-16 at a glance
| Maker | Cadillac, General Motors |
|---|---|
| Production | 1930-1940 |
| Engine | 45-degree overhead-valve V16, 452 cu in (7.4 L) |
| First shown | New York automobile show, 4 January 1930 |
| Bodies | 70 different jobs by Fisher and Fleetwood |
| Wheelbase, 1934-1937 | 154.0 in (3,912 mm) |
| Weight | up to 6,600 lb (3,000 kg) |
| Price, 1930 Town Brougham | $9,200 |
| Total built | 4,076 |
| Series names | 452, 452A to 452E, Series 90 |
| Last year | 1940, as the Series 90 |
Based on one source: the English Wikipedia article on the V-16.
History of the Cadillac V-16
Cadillac began work on a multi-cylinder car in 1926, aiming at something simultaneously more powerful and smoother than anything else on the market. Development went ahead in great secrecy with prototypes built and tested while Cadillac chief Larry Fisher and GM stylist Harley Earl toured Europe looking for inspiration from the finest coachbuilders. Unlike most luxury makers, GM had bought both Fleetwood Metal Body and Fisher Body to keep the work in-house, though a rolling chassis could still be bought by a customer who insisted; one English dealer, Lendrum & Hartman, ordered right-hand-drive chassis for Vanden Plas and Farina bodies.
Launch in the Depression
Cadillac announced the V-16 Series 452 after the Wall Street crash of 1929 and showed it in New York on 4 January 1930. Despite the timing and the price, the launch exceeded Cadillac’s fondest expectations: January production averaged a couple of cars a day, then rose to twenty-two, and 1,000 cars had been built by April and 2,000 by June. The Fleetwood catalogue for 1930 listed ten basic body styles, with drawings for some thirty more, and the Cadillac-La Salle Club counts 70 different job numbers built by Fisher and Fleetwood on the chassis. Five new V-16s toured European cities from Paris to Madrid in 1930, and on the way back from Spain the caravan stopped at the town of Cadillac in south-western France.
Decline and end
After the peak of mid-1930, production fell sharply: 54 cars in October 1930, seven in August 1931 and six in November 1931, and only 50 in 1935 and 50 in 1937. Cadillac later estimated that it lost money on every V-16 sold. The body was redesigned as the 452C in 1933 with Fisher no-draft vent windows, again as the 452D for 1934 and the 452E for 1935, when the Fisher Turret Top all-steel roof arrived. With a 154-inch wheelbase and a weight of up to 6,600 pounds these were among the largest standard production cars ever built in the United States. The model was renamed the Series 90 in 1936, sold 52 that year, gained hydraulic brakes for 1937 and lasted, in a new 7.1-litre form, until 1940.
Design and features
- First American V16: a 45-degree overhead-valve engine of 452 cu in in a production car.
- Custom finish: every chassis completed to order, with 70 body jobs catalogued.
- Enormous size: a 154-inch wheelbase and up to 6,600 pounds in 1934-1937.
- Loss leader: Cadillac lost money on each car, but the V-16 established the brand at the top.
Cadillac V-16 versions
- Series 452 (1930-1932): the original sixteen-cylinder car.
- Series 452C to 452E (1933-1935): annual body redesigns and the Turret Top.
- Series 90 (1936-1937): the renamed 452 with hydraulic brakes from 1937.
- Series 90 (1938-1940): the new 7.1-litre sixteen, about 500 built.
The V-16 was the larger brother of the V-12 and the ancestor the Sixteen concept of 2003 referred to; the engine family is covered in the V8 article. More Cadillacs are in the Cadillac collection.
Video: We take a ride in a 1931 V16 Cadillac
Video by RideswithChuck on YouTube.
Sources
- Cadillac V-16, English Wikipedia: origins, launch, bodies, production, Series 90
