This magnificent V-16 formal sedan came off the Cadillac assembly lines in November 1939. It was sent to the 1940 Chicago Auto Show, where Susan Hammond Rhea, the daughter of a Wausau insurance company executive, bought it “right off the floor,” according to the car’s second owner, Grey Pierson of Wausau, Wisconsin. “She drove it back to her home in Wisconsin…and enjoyed it for the next two years. But then she had to put it in storage during WWII because the huge engine required more gasoline then her rations coupons allowed,” says Pierson.

After the war, Rhea bought a new car; the Cadillac remained on blocks without any tires, as they had been confiscated during the war effort for desperately needed rubber. Following Rhea’s passing in 1956, the car was put up for sale, and Grey Pierson’s father bought the car and kept it with the family in storage until 2003, still wearing its 1957 Wisconsin license plates. Amazingly, after a lifetime of preservation and limited use from three owners, the V-16 has little more than 13,000 miles from new!

Sympathetically restored, the exterior paint, padded leather top, and chrome have been renewed to a high level within the past decade. The consignor, who is just the third custodian from new, notes that the all-original rear passenger compartment appears in near mint condition and features division and intercom. The front driver compartment still retains its original leather and hardware. Manuals and some spare parts are included.

The Fleetwood style number 9033-F formal sedan features a unique leather padded top with blind rear quarters, differentiating it from the more common seven-passenger Imperial sedan. This is body number four of five V-16 formal sedans built in 1940, and one of three known to exist today. Just 61 V-16s in all body styles were built in this final year of production, marking the end of an era for the venerated V-16.