[ last update: 12.19.2014 ]

The (new) Cadillac Database^©

Photo Pages
Cadillac

1952

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Unless otherwise specified all photos and illustrations are from Yann Saunders'
collection of Cadillac photos, advertisements and product catalogs,
reproduced courtesy of the Cadillac Motor Car Division and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club

 

Cadillac entered its 50^th year of production, the fiftieth anniversary year, in 1952.  To mark the occasion, the cars got the first "gold package" in Cadillac history, an option that was to become highly popular with many auto buyers in the eighties.  The traditional Cadillac "V" and crest went from chrome to "gold" (by anodization) -  a fashion that ended (temporarily, for the next approx. 30 years) with the 1958 models.

The 1952 models were face-lifted versions of those of the previous two years.  The bulbous look remained. The trunk of the Series 62 sedan was shaped differently from that of the basic models; it got similar lines to the Series 75 cars, and a resulting more spacious luggage compartment.

In the words of the copy writers of the time, the new Cadillac models "not only introduce wholly new standards of automotive goodness,  but they represent a full half-century of continued progress in the building of fine motor cars".

Text of a 1952 advertisement

 

The product line was described and illustrated in one double-sided color folder. Again, artist's renderings were used in preference to color photography. The four basic series were represented in the following order:  the Sixty Special, the Sixty-Two and the Seventy-Five series. That is the sequence in which I have presented the illustrations below. No publication date is shown on that product folder.

Cadillacs of 1952 are easy to spot on account of the gold-hued "wing" ornaments beneath the headlights; these "wings" first appeared on the 1941 Cadillac models, where they stood vertically rather than horizontally, as in 1952.

This photo is from GM's annual Activity Report for 1952

 

Innovations for 1952 included a new, 190HP engine with a new, four-throated carburetor and dual exhaust manifolding, a new Hydra-Matic transmission (optional on the Series 75) featuring dual-range "Drive" positions, and new, optional hydraulically-operated power steering.

Additional information on the 1952 models and the related sales literature may be found  in The (New) Cadillac Database© sections entitled "Descriptions and Specifications of Cadillac Cars 1951 - 1955",  "Cadillac and La Salle Sales Literature 1950 - 1954" and "Dream cars of 1952-1953".  Further recommended reading includes:

(a)   "Automobile Heritage's Illustrated Guide to 1950 Through 1959 Cadillac" by Roy Schneider, © 1978,  published by Automobile Heritage Publishing Co., Post Office Box 7, Temple City, CA 91780 [ISBN #0-917104-02-1] and

(b)  The "Standard Catalog of Cadillac, 1903-2000" edited by James T. Lenzke, © 2000, published by Krause Publications, Inc., 700 E. State Street, Iola, WI 54990 [ISBN #0-87341-925-1, Library of Congress #91-61301].

 

The Series Sixty Special

The Series Sixty-Two

The Series Seventy-Five

Survivors

Details

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© 1996, Yann Saunders and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club, Inc.
[ Background image:  1952 front clip ]