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1950's Cadillacs

82 messages,  Last post on Feb 10, 2011 at 1:28 PM

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What is this discussion about? Cadillac, Classic Cars

Messages Page 6 of 9

#43 of 82 Re: 1950 Series 62 at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2010 [andre1969] by berri

Sep 24, 2010 (5:13 pm)

Replying to: andre1969 (Sep 23, 2010 2:09 pm)
I know I'm probably a minority, but generally I've tended to prefer the B-O-P lines to the Caddy's.

#44 of 82 Re: 1950 Series 62 at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2010 [berri] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Sep 24, 2010 (5:20 pm)

Replying to: berri (Sep 24, 2010 5:13 pm)
In 1953 you prefer the BOP style? I dunno.....the '53 Pontiac is no show dog, nor the Olds. The Buick is pretty attractive thoug--I could see being hard to choose between Cad and Buick that year.
 
Of course, that was BACK WHEN a Buick was considered a pretty upscale car. It was generally billed as the "doctor's car".

#45 of 82 Re: 1950 Series 62 at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2010 [Mr_Shiftright] by berri

Sep 24, 2010 (5:36 pm)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Sep 24, 2010 5:20 pm)
Yeah, you're right on the 53/54 Pontiac/ Olds, and the 58 Olds wasn't a beauty IMO either. I know the 58 Pontiac isn't necessarily a real popular car, but I actually like that year Bonneville better than the Impala (then again I liked a lot of the 59 GM vehicles!). I know 50's Cadillac were well built and modern for their time cars, but I found most of them kind of dull in the styling arena (except for the '59!). Overall, I'd probably go with the 55/56 Buick or Olds from that decade. But this is what is so neat about the 50's and 60's - you can find a lot of different styles and opinions.

#46 of 82 Re: 1950 Series 62 at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2010 [berri] by wevk

Sep 24, 2010 (5:53 pm)

Replying to: berri (Sep 24, 2010 5:11 pm)
Speaking of "experts" being wrong:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

#47 of 82 Re: 1950 Series 62 at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2010 [berri] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Sep 24, 2010 (5:57 pm)

Replying to: berri (Sep 24, 2010 5:36 pm)
GM was *so* awesome then. Cadillac billed itself as the "Standard of the World" and it was, too, hard as it is for the young 'uns to believe. The Cadillac was coveted by celebrities, star athletes, and heads of state---to say nothing of mobsters---oh wait, I already said heads of state....
 
There was really no other car on earth that could touch it. Oh, the Rolls cost more, but it was a dowdy, unreliable thing....the Ferrari was faster, but noisy and tempermental and hardly luxurious back then. The Imperial and Lincoln were nice but they had no glamor--they were decidedly not "sexy" like a Cadillac.
 
For power, highway cruising, luxury, reliability, curb appeal---nothing in the world could do ALL of those things so well.
 
True, it couldn't stop or steer worth a damn, but in a country with cheap gas, big wide, straight, often empty roads---it was more like driving in the Roman Empire when you owned a Caddy. You didn't *need* to turn very much and as for stopping--well if you hit anything, you demolished it.

#48 of 82 Re: 1950 Series 62 at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2010 [Mr_Shiftright] by andre1969

Sep 25, 2010 (12:33 pm)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Sep 24, 2010 5:57 pm)
The Imperial and Lincoln were nice but they had no glamor--they were decidedly not "sexy" like a Cadillac.
 
Imperial's problem, IMO, is that they never were fully able to distinguish it from lesser Chrysler models. For the most part, they were elongated New Yorkers. Then, for 1955, when they started to try to break away, they were elongated New Yorkers with 300 grilles. They came into their own for 1957, with their own unique body, and incidentally was Imperial's best year ever. According to some sources, they actually beat out Lincoln! But even then, they were forced to share the New Yorker engine. While a 350 hp 392 Hemi was a great engine, the New Yorker was probably about 500-600 lb lighter, so it would be a better performer. But, maybe that wasn't quite the embarrassment by that time? I'm sure a Mercury with the right engine would take a Lincoln, and an upper level Buick or Olds would probably take a Caddy. But still, it was the SAME engine, whereas Cadillac used its own engine, which probably added some prestige.
 
And I never really thought of Lincolns as all that glamorous. Maybe some of the old 30's and 40's specialty models, those first Continentals, etc. But by and large, Lincoln seemed more a competitor to the Buick Roadmaster and Chrysler New Yorker, than full-on luxury cars like Imperial and Cadillac. Until maybe 1956-57. By then they got pretty big, and I could see them being glamorous for the time. And in an era where size mattered, the 1957 Lincoln was king. IIRC, it measured 227" long, whereas the Imperial was "only" 225 inches. Unless you went with the Series 75, or maybe even the 60 special, the Caddies were relatively diminutive. I think the coupes were 221" and the sedans were 216".
 
As hideous as the '59 Cadillac is considered to be by many, look at its competition. The Imperial was a '57 with a very clumsy facelift, and GM did to the industry in 1959 what Chrysler did in 1957...made the competition look old. The Imperial is a hulking, outdated looking thing compared to the Caddy, while the Lincoln is a heavily sculpted brick with slanty headlights.
 
Lincoln definitely had a resurgence for 1961, but Cadillac was far and away the leader in luxury cars in this country. And would continue to be, until two gas crises, recession, shooting themselves in the foot with bad engines, and a poorly-timed second wave of downsizing would finally set the seeds to bring them to their knees.

#49 of 82 Re: 1950 Series 62 at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2010 [andre1969] by hpmctorque

Sep 25, 2010 (7:14 pm)

Replying to: andre1969 (Sep 25, 2010 12:33 pm)
Which brings us to the present, when Cadillac is, if not re-emerging, at least re-establishing itself as a serious contender in the luxury market. Meanwhile, Imperial is no more, and Lincoln is struggling to figure out what it wants to be.
 
I know that this discussion is about classic cars, but if we can look ahead for just a moment, any guess as to where Cadillac and Lincoln will be in five years, relative to Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Infiniti, Audi, Acura, Volvo and, dare I say, Hyundai's RWD models?

#50 of 82 Re: 1950 Series 62 at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2010 [hpmctorque] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Sep 26, 2010 (9:34 am)

Replying to: hpmctorque (Sep 25, 2010 7:14 pm)
Sure okay, as long as we refer back to 50s Cadillacs and that concept of "luxury", yes? Otherwise we'll fly off into Topic Drift Hell.
 
Modern luxury cars are morphing their "glamour" or 'sexiness' into high-tech forms, so cars will compete on how gadget-y they are, how fast they go, how many Gs they pull in a turn-- it's going to be a sort of "electronic/technological prestige". I mean, really, the average 13-15 year old of today is not going to much notice the newest Cadillac or Chevrolet, and probably cannot identify most new cars from 10 feet away.
 
So what I mean is, that unlike 50s Cadillacs, which based prestige on how they LOOKED, modern cars base prestige on what they DO.
 
When American luxury cars, operating on home turf, had such a remarkable advantage in size and power over their foreign competition, it wasn't necessary to advertise what the car DID--it wasn't even necessary that it excel at much. As long as that Cadillac nose rose up when you hit the gas, and as long as you were as isolated as possible from the noise and bumps of the road, as long as you glimmered and sparkled with chrome, then you were the object of desire.
 
1950s was the "Rolls Royce Model" (bulk, quietness, torque, luxurious interiors) for luxury cars
 
2000s is the "Lexus/Benz/BMW" model (technical superiority, handling, braking, acceleration, tasteful styling that is not vulgar or ostentatious, and still, that luxury interior!).

#51 of 82 Re: 1950 Series 62 at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2010 [Mr_Shiftright] by andre1969

Sep 26, 2010 (10:10 am)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Sep 26, 2010 9:34 am)
1950s was the "Rolls Royce Model" (bulk, quietness, torque, luxurious interiors) for luxury cars
 
Yeah, I think that's the problem...Cadillac was great at building cars like that, and when that's what the people wanted, they did just fine. But, nobody really wants a car like that anymore. I think Cadillac did a pretty good job modernizing that type of car with the DTS, but even it's considered too big by most people these days.
 
The Lincoln Town Car's not too bad, and probably fits that traditional mold better as it's full-frame, more traditional full-sized, and RWD. But they just don't feel all that luxurious inside anymore. I swear, the 80's and 90's Town Cars had more of a quality, luxury feel to them, where the current one seems more like a taxi with leather seats.
 
The Town Car's days are numbered though, if it hasn't been killed already. And the DTS isn't long for this world either.
 
To be fair though, I don't think that they sell a whole lot of 7-Series, S-class, A8, LS460 etc cars, either. The bulk of BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Lexus cars are the smaller models. In the past, that was the bread-and-butter of Cadillac sales. There just aren't that many people anymore who want a large-ish luxury car.

#52 of 82 Re: 1950 Series 62 at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas 2010 [andre1969] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Sep 26, 2010 (10:22 am)

Replying to: andre1969 (Sep 26, 2010 10:10 am)
Cars reflect the world their drivers live in.

Messages Page 6 of 9

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