The Series 62 convertible offered here was formerly owned by French cartoonist, Albert Uderzo, best-remembered as co-creator and illustrator of the Astérix comic book series, depicting a young hero of brute strength who resists the army of Julius Caesar’s Roman Republic. Uderzo inked the Astérix series for a remarkable fifty years, during which they became, and remain, the best-selling European comic books of all time. With his fame came its spoils, and Uderzo became a passionate automobile enthusiast, best known for his acquisition of highly significant Ferraris, including a 288 GTO, F40 LM, F50, and 512 M. Indeed, in his time, he was an active Ferrari Club member, regularly seen at such venues as Mas du Clos, and among the best-known and most respected of the tifosi.

Uderzo’s Cadillac was, as they say, something completely different, but it had its reasons for being in his collection: he wanted an iconic car of 1959, the year that the Astérix series had begun. Acquired in Belgium in 1988, it was imported to France and between 1992 and 1993 exhaustively restored by the renowned André Lecoq in collaboration with Bernard Afchain, a noted French specialist in American cars, in its original color scheme, Silver over Red leather interior. Assorted invoices from this work are included within the car’s history file. Afterward the Cadillac was preserved within the Uderzo collection until 2012, when it passed to its next French caretaker. More recently, as part of a prominent American collection, the car was fitted with a new windshield and radio, installed by Vantage Motorworks, invoices for which are also in the file.

This is an iconic fifties Cadillac, with probably the most famous styling of any American automobile of its generation, celebrated on everything from postage stamps to fine art. Yet it boasts its own, truly unique provenance, with one of the best-known, most studied European connoisseurs—the fascinating, talented Albert Uderzo.