Among the most significant announcements made in the American automobile industry late in 1929 was the letter that Cadillac president Lawrence Fisher dispatched to his dealers and the motoring press on 10 December. A new sixteen-cylinder Cadillac was to be displayed at the New York International Automobile Show on 4 January 1930. Simultaneously, the car was to appear at the General Motors Salon in the Hotel Astor and on 57th Street, just off posh Fifth Avenue, at the Cadillac Salon of Uppercu Cadillac.

According to Cadillac V-16 authorities Jeff and Sonny Pearson of Kansas City, this car was sold new from the Chicago, Illinois, Cadillac distributorship to Tiffany’s on 14 March 1930. It remained in Chicago until sometime in the early ’40s, when it was sold to Willy Christ. He brought the car to California, where it remained under his care until his passing in 1988. The Pearsons’ father, Jim, who had been trying to buy the car as early as the 1960s, purchased the Cadillac at the estate sale. A V-16 expert, he knew that the car remained untouched and all components of the car were original.

For reasons unknown, he sold the car to Bud Tinny, a Cadillac dealer in Florida. In 1998 Tinny had the car restored by Lloyd and Jeff Brekke from Bartow, Florida, keeping it exactly how it was ordered new as documented by the original build sheet, a copy of which is included. In 1999 the car was sold to Dave Lindsay from Manawa, Wisconsin. Under his tutelage, the car received a Cadillac LaSalle Club Senior badge in Detroit in 2002 and, later that year, a CCCA Senior First Place badge. In 2015 the car was purchased by Richard Rollins, who sold the car to Dave Creak in Ohio and Creak to the consignor.

In the winter of 2016–17, the Cadillac was partially disassembled receiving a refresh, which included selected refinishing, chrome plating, and a major detailing. In 2017 the Cadillac was shown at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, where it completed the Eight Flags Road Tour and received Best in Class honors. Finished in its original colors of black and crimson, the Cadillac remains in exceptional condition today. Just one in five Cadillacs received open coachwork when new; few with original bodies and major mechanical components intact survive today.

Ready for touring or the concours show field, this well-documented example is truly “the Standard of the World.”