[ last update: 07.07.2012 ]

The (new) Cadillac Database©
Dream Cars

on
Cadillac and La Salle Chassis

1925 - 1927

Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page
or select a year from the list below

 

Pick one   >

1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940 1941 1942

WW2 years

1946 1947 1948 1949
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999-up


 

1925

Brunn (USA) Phaeton ??? for NY salon.

Derham (USA):  [The text of this entry is copied from an Internet website devoted entirely to Derham coachwork] As far back as the mid-1920s, Derham built a Transformable Town Car (landaulet) for a Cadillac chassis that looked normal when viewed from the outside. While most landaulets rear roofs were rarely lowered, the wheelchair bound owner of this one used it all the time. His chauffeur would lower the top, then use a hoist installed overhead to lift his employer over the side of the body and into the Cadillac’s rear compartment. The driver would then raise the roof and be on his way. Derham installed a removable rear seat that could be quickly fastened to the hoist, speeding up the entire loading and unloading process. How the chauffeur got his employer out of the car once they reached their destination remains unanswered. Later bodies were typically modeled after a side-servicing funeral car. Built using a pair of center-opening passenger doors fastened at a removable B-pillar or center post, the passenger’s front seat was tipped forward, allowing a wheelchair plenty of room to maneuver into the rear compartment, which was also modified with a flat floor.

[ no image ]

 

Daytona Wright (USA) Special sedan

( image)

 

Roberts-LeBaron (USA) Special sport phaeton with special radiator, hood and fenders, 1925 NY salon;

dr25brun.jpg (8617 bytes)
This car is a modified version of the NY Salon car,
built on the 1926 Cadillac Series 314 chassis

 

Schutte, Charles, Body Co. (Lancaster, PA, USA) It is not known whether this Pennsylvania company built, many bodies on the Cadillac chassis; in 1925-26 they did build a  Special 6-passenger touring car on 150" wheel base, for Al Woods (see also "1926", below).

[Unknown, USA] Cadillac chief engineer Earnest Seaholm rides in this unidentified V63 open tourer

v63seahlm.JPG (8253 bytes)

 

[Unknown, USA] Ambulance on 1925 Cadillac chassis.

25ambu.jpg (10134 bytes)
[ Image:  courtesy "Philippe", a French enthusiast and member of ACCF ]

 

[Unknown, USA] Tow truck /wrecker on 1925 Cadillac chassis.

25wreckr1.jpg (5728 bytes)     25wreckr2.jpg (6093 bytes)
[ These images:  courtesy of "Philippe", a French enthusiast and member of the ACCF ]

 

1926

Brunn (USA) Special convertible coupe for NY salon; OC p.66, CC&CC, 9/1982, p.27; McC, p.106 [Photo, Cadillac stand at 22nd NY show, 1926 , Hotel Commodore, Grand Ballroom?] also shown on Brunn stand were a berline landaulet for six passengers and a landau sedan for four passengers [see below].

26brncpe.JPG (9033 bytes)

 

Brunn (USA) Special convertible coupe, very similar to the above car but with doors hinged forward, at the "A" pillar instead of the "suicide" door design of the previous car; McC, p.106.

26jdkcpe.JPG (9528 bytes)

 

Brunn (USA) 4-passenger landau sedan, with folding roof portion over rear seat passengers); McC, p.106

26brunld.JPG (6668 bytes)

 

Brunn (USA) 6-passenger berline landaulet? There was an ad in Antique Automobile the magazine of the AACA dated Sep.-Oct, 1976, listing for sale a 1926 Cadillac touring sedan with body by Brunn, serial #101539, described as having lots of aluminum and port-hole quarter windows. I wonder if it was this car and if it has survived?

Fleetwood (USA) clay mock-up of 7-passenger sedan

Dr26clay.jpg (7105 bytes)

 

Fleetwood (USA) special custom sedan for five passengers.  This is the precursor of a later Fleetwood style of which the designation code ended with digits "55".  Termed a "stationary Cabriolet", this appellation merely indicated that the car had a leather covered roof and, although it sported landau bars, these were merely decorative, i.e. the roof portion over the rear seat passengers was stationary;  it did not fold back like a landau top.

26cussdn.JPG (8177 bytes)

 

Fleetwood (USA) special custom roadster

26cvfltw.jpg (8323 bytes)

 

Fleetwood (USA) special custom town landaulet; this a design would evolve over the next few years into a regular Fleetwood town car and town landaulet offering (styling codes ending with digits "12" and "12-C" respectively); this was a 5-passenger car with enclosed rear quarters;  McC, p.107

26fwdtc.JPG (7412 bytes)

Judkins (USA) 7-passenger berline, McC p.105

26jdkbrl.JPG (8622 bytes)

 

Judkins (USA) Sedan cabriolet

 

Roberts-LeBaron (USA) Same car as 1925 NY salon car [above] but modified for Mr. Harold Russel Rider; CC&CC, 9/1982, p.27; also McC, p.106

dr25brun.jpg (8617 bytes)
Roberts-LeBaron Phaeton on 1926 Cadillac Series 314 chassis

 

Schutte, Charles, Body Co. (Lancaster, PA, USA) This car was advertised in a 1926 publication as having been built for a Mrs.George L. Cronkite of Memphis, TN.  Note the Rolls-Royce type grille surround, the oval quarter windows and the (presumably false) landau bars. The car more closely resembles a McFarlan than a Cadillac

26schutt.jpg (8343 bytes)

 

[Unknown, USA] - possibly Brewster or Willoughby - Formal town brougham; McC, p.108

26custc.JPG (8042 bytes)

 

[Unknown, USA] Custom 2-passenger coupe; poor photo in McC, p.106

[Unknown, USA] Custom pick-up, advertised for sale on the Internet in 2007.

26pickup1S.jpg (19840 bytes)     26pickup2S.jpg (15932 bytes)

 

[Unknown, USA] Custom boat-tail speedster, seen advertised for sale at Christie's auction, CA, 18.8.1996 - no picture.

Van den Plas (Belgium) Town car-landaulet, built for Col. van Strydonck of the famed "Régiment des Guides"; McC, p.108, and ZTV collection, 1994.

26vdptc.JPG (8697 bytes)

 

1927

Brunn (USA) Special town car or "Town Cabriolet"; this elegant landaulet featured a folding roof portion over the rear seat passengers; McC, p.115; three other special models were shown by Brunn at that year's NY motor show [below].

26brntc.jpg (6205 bytes)
This Brunn custom creation cost $4800 at the time

 

Brunn (USA) built for the NY show a special style, #1810; this was a collapsible cabriolet for four passengers [we would call it a phaeton, today]

Brunn (USA) built for the NY show another special style, #1836; this was a sedan for four passengers.

Brunn (USA) built this cute coupe on the La Salle chassis

ls27brun.jpg (9364 bytes)

 

Brunn (NY, USA) Special custom sedan-landaulet (style #1915?) for 4 or 6 passengers. for New York auto show.  Pete Spalding, an Aussie enthusiast, says this car was bought by his grandfather at the Chicago World's Fair.  The image below is from an old family movie.  Pete is hoping to be able to provide additional photos of this super-rare car.  It is believed that the car may have survived and may still reside in Australia.  Pete wrote, in March 2010, to Peter Ratcliff, a CLC member and   friend from Melbourne who kindly relayed the message he thought might interest users of the "Cadillac Database". He said:  Hello. I am trying to track down a Cadillac owned by my Grandfather from  around 1935 to the 1950's. The car was bought to Australia by Sir Sidney Myer1 after it was purchased at the Chicago Worlds Fair. I have a photo of  the car that I can email. The main difference I can see is the car is a 7-seater with suicide doors front and rear. The original colour was yellow with black guards and hood. It had fold down dickie seats [opera seats], carved ivory door handles, etc. The car was last seen in 1990 in Melbourne. We were of the impression it was sold to a neighbour in Red Cliffs and turned  into a rabbit truck! [!!!] Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please send me an email if you would like me to forward the photo. Regards Pete Spalding. PS.  My grandfather was Dr Harold Zimmer of Red Cliffs, Mildura [Australia].  I recognized the car the minute I saw the photo. It is a custom job with coachwork by Herman Brunn of NY, built for the 1927 NY auto show. I had never seen a photo before; I have only an artist's drawing of it (below) from an advertisement; this and another Brunn creation were used to advertise Egyptian Lacquers  in Automotive Industries on 3rd December 1927 [BTW, I would be grateful for a photocopy of the other page (p.4), from the same magazine].
_________________________________
1 Russian Jewish refugee, Simcha Baevski, arrived in Australia  in 1899 with only a few pennies to his name. Sidney Myer, as he became known, took up peddling, hawking goods around the Victorian countryside. From these inauspicious beginnings the enterprising Sidney engineered a retail revolution and opened Melbourne's first department store, the Myer Emporium. He moved quickly through the ranks of society, shocking the stuffy Melbourne establishment with his marriage to Merlyn Baillieu, a debutante 22 years his junior, from one of city's most powerful families. He died a millionaire and is remembered for his civic leadership and philanthropy, a legacy his descendants continue to this day.

dr27brun.JPG (8212 bytes)     27BrunnStearns.jpg (20861 bytes)
(Left) This artist's drawing is from an automobile ad of the period; note that
it closely resembles a Brunn design on the 1924 Cadillac V-63 chassis
(Right) Here is a very similar Brunn design on the Stearns-Knight chassis;
this one has center-opening doors and sidemounted spare wheels;
[ The text that accompanied the RH image read: This exceptionally smart Stearns-Knighht "Eight"
has a custom town car
(body?)  built by Brunn. Wire wheels are a feature of the design ]  


The foregoing designer's drawings may have resulted, the following year,
in this custom offering that is listed in the next section
[ Photo (left): courtesy Pete Spalding, Australia ]

 

Buhne (Germany): 2-3 seater "Luxus cabriolet" [luxury convertible]. Appeared in the German "Motor" for September 1931 but was built on the 1927 La Salle chassis. Features include twin, rear-mounted spares, large, rear-opening "suicide" doors each on three large hinges, oversized landau bars, deep dip in rear body to house convertible top when folded, low trunk, custom hood with numerous, rear-slanting louvers.

      
[ Images: Z. Taylor Vinson collection, courtesy Hagley Library and Museum, DE ]

 

Cadillac (USA) Although Fleetwood was acquired by the Fisher Body Corporation, for GM, in 1925, the company continued to manufacture custom and semi-custom bodies like this one on the Cadillac chassis:

27cpfltw.jpg (9989 bytes)

 

Nordberg  (Sweden) Custom open touring car. Unfortunately, I have found no photo(s) of the car. The image below is a still I shot from a YouTube video (from a Swedish movie of the time) that was brought to my attention on a Swedish web site).  I wonder if that car has survived?

 

Unknown  (USA) Special armored car attributed to Al Capone, featured in a YouTube presentation by owner and  inventor, Greg Zanis  http://www.dreamcar123.com/

[ photos ]

 

Weinsberg (probably Germany) In the German magazine "Motor Klassik" for 8/86 [on p.33, is reported to be a special LaSalle with a body by Weinsberg (year unknown, manufacturer probably German)

Willoughby (USA) Special town car; McC p.115.

dr26will.JPG (7992 bytes)     27custc.jpg (12864 bytes)
Could these be one and the same car (from designer's drawing to reality?)

 

[Unknown, USA ?] "Hot Rod" on 1927 La Salle base

DRLS27RO.JPG (9478 bytes)

 


Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page
or select a year from the list below

 

Pick one   >

1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940 1941 1942

WW2 years

1946 1947 1948 1949
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999-up

 

© 1996, Yann Saunders and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club, Inc.
[Background image: 1940 Cadillac V8 Town car by Inskip, New York]