Being able to trace the complete history of any vehicle that’s nearly a century old is noteworthy, but when that car happens to be a 1929 Cadillac with only 49,000 original miles, things can go from notable to remarkable pretty quickly. That seems to be the case with this 1929 Cadillac Series 341-B, and its 77-year-old owner also reports that this Caddy remains 99% original. This one’s got a pretty great story to go along with it as well, which we’ll get into below, but if this vintage luxury sedan has already sparked your curiosity, it’s in Virginia City, Nevada, and can be spotted here on Craigslist. Priced at $39,900, this example isn’t exactly cheap. However, with all of the originality here, it’ll probably pass most sniff tests from the more discriminating vintage Cadillac buyers. Barney, thanks for your great tip here!
While studying at a university back in 1970, the seller says he acquired this car from the nephew of the original owners, who was in charge of handling their estate. The Cadillac is said to have originally been bought by two aunts, who both passed away in 1949, so the seller is only the second caretaker. No photos are provided of the engine compartment, but these autos came equipped with a 341 V8 engine, which is said to be running. It’s also reported that this one was never driven during the winters, with the aunts also going to great lengths to care for this car, including putting it up on blocks in the fall seasons until spring arrived.
This Cadillac is from an era before many automobiles had sheet-metal enclosed luggage compartments, with a literal trunk on the back! Its covering has a bit of wear and tear, but just the fact that it still exists all these years later is extraordinary. Equally amazing is that the seller states that there’s no rust on the body, with the battery compartment being the only area mentioned anywhere with corrosion. The paint is also stated as original, and while it’s showing some wear, I’d almost hate to see this one get a respray and cover up a nearly 100-year-old finish.
The high level of originality continues inside, with the upholstery said to have never been replaced and still looking far better than average considering the age. The patterned material on the top areas of the door panels was a nice touch for an automobile from the twenties as well, and its condition is also quite good for being almost 100. For the right collector, this one sure seems to check a whole lot of great boxes, and hopefully it’ll bring a decent amount, since the seller reveals he has gotten an unfortunate health diagnosis. Any thoughts to share on this 1929 Cadillac?
What an impressive looking car.The dark blue and black looks great together. 1929 as we all know was a very dark year. Odds are, this may have been purchased before the market crash. And then kept and cherrished all those years. I truly hope this stays all original. Just carefully clean up and gently polish whats there. The fact it’s only been in two families since new is astounding. A tip of the hat to Barney for finding this nearly 100 year old gem. And of course to Mike for the great write up too. I enjoyed this a lot.
I am interested in the 1929 Cadillac what about shipping
cue the 1959 “The Untouchables”( composed by Nelson Riddle) starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness. Never heard? Whoa, you missed one of the greatest TV shows to come out of TinsleTown”. A Desilu production. It took place in the early 30s in Chicago, at the height of the Depression, and consequently crime was rampant. Eliot Ness was #1 crime fighter, and featured cars like this. Can’t you just see some outlaws hanging on the running board with a Tommy guns a blazin’? While Ness never actually drove a Cadillac, ( A 1928 Graham Page), all the scofflaws he chased had big Caddys just like this. Being Nevada, I’d be very suspicious of any “stains”. “2 aunts”, you say? An old Andy Griffith episode comes to mind, 2 sisters running moonshine for Otis,,,hey, it could very well have happened.
Since this is about as close to Al Capones Caddy( 1928, 341) that we’ll get, my story never gets old,,,telling it anyway. In the early 30s, I have a friend whose dad and uncle ran a fishing biz on the Wilson Flowage in Phillips as teenagers. Al Capone, and other outlaws his dad claimed, regularly sought hiding in N.Wis. ( nearby Butternut) and often went on fishing trips with his dad. Naturally, no pictures were allowed, but his dad was a straight shooter, and wouldn’t lie. Got to remember, N.Wis. in the 30s was not unlike the moon, there was nobody around except locals, but when the heavily armored green 1928 Caddy came rolling into town, everybody stepped aside. Even the law, what little there was. I’m thoroughly convinced, there’s a story here we aren’t hearing. Who knows what royalty rode in the back? James Ferguson, Fred Hesse, running through “Bootleg Canyon”. Cool find.
I remember watching reruns of that show with my dad. I believe it ran into the early sixties. When the movie was released in 87, we watched that together too. What a cast that movie had. Connery, Costner, DeNiro, Andy Garcia…Still the best teamwork speech ever performed by Capone. Pull that up on YouTube…it’s called Batter Up. Very motivational!
Did someone stick a couple of forks into the horn button ? I have no more interest in this jalopy than in an Amish buggy. but to each his own I guess. At least it has electric start, I think.
One of those levers is for adjusting the ignition timing. Centrifugal advance was a couple of years away. The other one is for the throttle and supplements the accelerator pedal or as they used to say the “foot feed”. It allows for a crude kind of cruise control.
Cadillac did much to standardize controls in the burgeoning car industry. For many of the early years each manufacturer did their own thing as far as the controls were concerned.
And yes, it would have electric start. Cadillac was the first around 1912 or 1913 or so, but cars retained the means for hand cranking an engine if the battery or starter died.
That’s the spark retard/advance control, I would guess, connected to the distributor by a cable. Full retard when starting, then adjust for fuel octane and driving conditions. Center of steering wheel was ideal because this was a not to be overlooked procedure.
Ah to be ignorant of what was that made today what it is.
Wow, that was the information we were all waiting for. Now back to your room.
Of course it had electric start, Cadillac invented that! The electric starter actually freed many women that could drive but could not crank the car, now they were able to drive by themselves and not depend on any man. The things on the horn ring had to do with the choke and timing advance.
No interest? No knowledge either!
I bought a truck from an elderly woman on the edge of town, the truck belonged to her brother, got to know her and helped her out when I could. I asked her one time why she never learned to drive, She old me she was learning and practicing in the lane when she stalled and had to get her brother to crank the car for her, said if she couldn’t start her own car she wasn’t going to drive and never did.
I wouldn’t think lack of interest would be something to be proud of. I’m not in the market for this amazing automobile, or an Amish Buggy. Doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate them.
At least you didn’t recommend an LS swap.
Thank you for sharing.
49k miles was a long way to drive a car from that era. Even into the 50’s and 60’s getting a car over 100k miles was a rare thing. They would just sell them for a couple of hundred dollars and get a new one.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA ~ my ’62 Impala had 230,000 miles with one engine rebuild when the odometer stopped working a few years ago. It’s running great and goes on trips regularly. The last one was a 700 mile round trip a couple of weeks ago, with zero issues. Why do you assume those cars wouldn’t last? You take care of them, they’ll take care of you.
Unfortunately, it costs too damn much nowadays. Gotta keep your rig going as long as you can.
As the Depression deepened, big luxury cars like this were often to work trucks!
If I had lotsa $$$$$$, would love to be the current Barney Pollard and then Bill Harrah: collect all the ‘nobody wants it’ cars, restore for no other reason than it’s a crime to allow them to rust into the soil and lost to history.
The story made me think of the Baldwin Sisters on The Walltons.
This made me laugh out load Mike. The Baldwin Sisters was my first thought reading the history of the car.
Beautiful automobile! Needs to be in a museum. Those that have the want and the means are getting thin. At least the current owner can give you the whole story, the next seller will probably a great nephew who knows or cares less. Very sad but this will probably be the last go round for this classic.
If I were a rich man, a very rich man, I’d restomod that puppy and drive it. Hey, it’s better then bribing people, playing geo-political games and hanging out with curious people who do strange things. A guy needs a break from all that stuff every now and again!
What a cool find! Thanks for the writeup Mike, and to Barney for bringing it to us. I just love old cars, trucks, tractors etc and this is a magnificent example of bygone days, and it’s and an amazing find considering it’s condition and that it’s running and driveable. If I owned it I’d leave it just as it is and put a few more miles on it.. or maybe more than a few.
Ken batte,
The first place to check for shipping is Bring-A-Trailer shipping. They’re easy but not usually the cheapest. The big buck enclosed haulers like Reliable Carriers are usually pretty good, but expensive.
You can save a lot of money with the “open carriers” but that’s the wild west. Most of the ads for open car transport are brokers who are dealing with the real haulers. You never know what you’re going to get with them.
My experience was decent, the broker charged $250 and the transporter showed up on time and wanted another $1500. That’s San Francisco to western PA. The truck (1998 GMC Yukon)_ was on good shape but had a quarter sized chunk out of the drivers side door panel that wasn’t there when I bought it. Given the whole thing, I’m happy with it. But there’s a bunch of horror stories out there about subcontract shipping companies.
GLTWA!
what a rare and impressive find! I don’t have the kind of money being asked for this car, but if I did I would love to have it. I would gently use pre-wax cleaner, then polish, then wax on the finish and show it proudly. Surviving in this condition for a century is remarkable. I would love to drive the car. If it weren’t so far away from me, I would go look at it but Nevada is a couple of miles from Georgia. So glad to learn of this car.
For that price he will likely die still owning it ..
Even though we saw this car last
year, it’s still quite impressive for
the age and condition it’s in. I still remember the late 1960s when you could find cars like this
squirreled away in some old person’s garage– up on blocks with canvas tarps covering the
outside and inside too. You’d ask
the person if they wanna sell it and they’d tell you flat out that they won’t sell it because if another depression came along,
they’d dump their new car and start driving whatever was under
the tarp again. Why I went to a
friends aunt’s one time and his aunt had a 1925 Baker Electric on blocks and in near perfect shape!
It was wrapped in a large tarp and the interior was wrapped as well. I opened the door and was
nearly knocked flat by the smell of mothballs! What a cool find that was! I ran into my friend a
A few years later, and he told me
that his aunt was driving the Baker again when gas hit 60¢ a
gallon. And since she didn’t go too far from home, driving the
Baker just made sense to her. She did have someone install a set of turn signals on it so that
the other drivers would know what she was doing. I would love
to ride in this car just to say I did.
The wooden artillery rims scare me a bit though after Dad told me
stories about them folding up like
accordions if you cornered too sharply. Wow! This car would make a great print! But I wonder
who’d buy one.