Chassis no. 5100136

Body Style 6075

Body no. 356

Series 60. 452-cid, 185-hp OHV V-16 engine, three-speed manual transmission, coil spring independent front suspension, live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and four-wheel vacuum-assisted mechanical drum brakes. Wheelbase: 154-inches.

At first glance, this car looks like an armored limousine, with inch-thick glass and carefully-drilled gun ports. On closer examination, however, it gets more and more curious.

The Cadillac build records call it “Fltwd Limo,” body style 6275, number 356, and indicate it was ordered by the Chicago branch on February 21, 1935. Painted Thessalon Green, it had black leather in the front compartment and Wiese brown vogue weave broadcloth in the rear. Fitted with six wire wheels, two of them in fender wells, it had a radio in the rear compartment and a flexible steering wheel. There is a further notation about “Special Fleetwood Body Order 310,” the details of which are lost to history.

The online Cadillac Data Base, a meticulous compilation by historian Yann Saunders, gives production figures for Style 6275 as nine in 1934 and just seven in 1935, exclusive of those given suffixes as sedans, formal limousines or limousines with increased headroom. The bodies were the same as the flat-windshield limousine Style 6075, whose Fisher body tags they sometimes wore.

In its current condition, the car has its original brown broadcloth interior, in quite deteriorated condition. The seats have been re-covered at some point in blue cloth. The notion of special order is substantiated by round taillights in the luggage compartment lid, with no holes for standard teardrop lights in the fenders. The silver goddess ornament, sadly, is missing. In need of complete restoration, it presents a new owner with many possible opportunities, including the pursuit of further definitive history.