Photo by Darin Schnabel, courtesy RM Auctions.
When we put this pair of Fran Roxas-built V-16 Cadillacs on the cover of the June 2012 issue of Hemmings Classic Car, it began a fun and surprising chain of events. While they’re not unknown cars, they’ve kept a low profile for decades in a private collection. Their gestation is a complicated story, but they were created after a group of designers including Strother MacMinn saw drawings in period Fleetwood catalogs, and built the two cars that never were. They emerged for RM’s Milhous Collection auction last winter, then once again got tucked away.
That’s why they were such a surprise when Clay Dean saw his copy of HCC. Clay is a GM employee… well, that’s perhaps too modest. He’s just been promoted to GM Director of Global Advanced Design, but he spent five years before that as Cadillac Design Director. He, too, had seen the drawings, and was also inspired to build a car. Only his was not a recreation; it was a concept car.
The Ciel phaeton is a knockout and debuted at Pebble Beach last year. Jay Leno’s site has a video of him and Ed Welburn examining it. But until the Cadillac design department saw our cover, they had no idea Roxas and company had actually built cars from the Fleetwood drawings. Needless to say they were excited, and they got GM VP of Global Design Welburn–a genuine car guy–interested, too. They were so excited they thought they’d show the Ciel all over again, but this time in a context which showed its connection to the Fleetwood designs of the Thirties, “The Era of Dramatic Presence,” as Clay called it. Their idea was to build two mock-up design studios, one with the Roxas V-16s, and one with the Ciel, and tie them together thematically. The only problem was, they didn’t know where the V-16s were. So with my name on the story, that’s who they went to.
Speaking of Leno, years ago he called up our editor-in-chief Richard Lentinello to compliment him on a Toronado story; Rich nearly hung up on what he thought was a crank call. I had the same reaction when Clay contacted me: “Get outta here, buddy.” Fortunately, he’s a nice guy, and I was able to help. Fran Roxas can be reclusive, but for some reason he takes my calls, so together we were able to convince the current owner, who for now wishes to remain anonymous, to talk to GM. I think dropping Ed Welburn’s name as backer of the idea may have sealed the deal.
Now all the pieces are in place and the two Fleetwoods and Ciel will be the centerpiece of Cadillac’s display at Pebble Beach next week. Clay and company have located many of the sweeps, templates and drawings used by MacMinn for his designs, and of course have all of their own studies of the Ciel. Their descriptions and teaser images sound incredible, and we can’t wait to see the final result. We provided PDFs of the HCC story for the display, so we hope that will be up, as well.
Hemmings is proud to have been part of making this happen. Cadillac will be making their announcement on Monday, and I’ll include their press here.
UPDATE: Here’s GM’s press release from Tuesday, August 14:
Rare, Historic Cadillacs on Display at Pebble Beach
Custom ‘none-of-a-kind’ Fleetwood V-16s from 1930s featured Aug.16-19
2012-08-14
DETROIT – A pair of one-of-a-kind Cadillac Fleetwood V-16s that were available but never ordered by customers during the Great Depression will be among the cars on display at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Carmel, Calif., this week.
Cadillac’s exhibit, open to the public Aug. 16-19 at Peter Hay Hill, features Cadillac’s newest cars, along with the two custom-built Fleetwood Convertibles from 1934 and 1937. Each has a historically significant pedigree.
A 1934 rumbleseat roadster model 5802 and a 1937 Phaeton model 5859 were part of Cadillac’s made-to-order Fleetwood collection, featured in the “build books” that customers used to select options for their cars. All other body styles were built for customers, but these two lavish models went unselected.
Decades later, noted automobile restorer and coachbuilder Fran Roxas built the Phaeton 5859 and Roadster 5802 from scratch, relying only on the original blueprints of Cadillac designer John Hampshire. Both have won best-in-class awards at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
The two one-of-a-kind models were rarely seen until being profiled in a recent Hemmings Classic Cararticle.
Each recently sold at auction. The Phaeton 5859 sold for $962,500 and the Roadster 5802 for $1,001,000. Both vehicles are powered by Cadillac’s legendary16-cylinder engine. Cadillac designers recently used the original drawings as inspiration for the Ciel Convertible concept car shown for the first time in the Cadillac exhibit at Peter Hay Hill in 2011. It will be on display again this week.
Held annually since 1950, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is a premier exhibition of pre- and post-war automobiles and motorcycles, as well as concept cars from manufacturers across the world. In order to be showcased, vehicles must be a well preserved or accurately restored model of the original and offer “historic value” in the form of engineering and design and craftsmanship among other factors from the vehicle’s time period.
“The Cadillac Phaeton 5859 and Roadster 5802 are literally unlike any other vehicle ever built,” said Clay Dean, Cadillac design director. “The Cadillac design team is still inspired by these two vehicles as we dream and conceive of future Cadillac entries.”
Cadillac will also showcase a 1953 LeMans at this year’s event. The LeMans, a relatively small and athletic design, is one of the famed Motorama show cars of the 1950s.
Cadillac has been a leading luxury auto brand since 1902. In recent years, Cadillac has engineered a historic renaissance led by artful engineering and advanced technology. More information on Cadillac can be found at media.cadillac.com.