This Cadillac has been parked since 1962, meaning it’s a low mileage survivor that hasn’t been touched in years. It also means it’s extremely dusty and in need of an unknown amount of work. That being said, it looks like it could be an amazing find. The owner’s estate is being sold off and the seller is listing it for Wells Fargo as a part of the liquidation. They don’t offer much information, but chances are they don’t know much. This is one you will want to inspect or have inspected before bidding. You can find it here on eBay in Denver, Colorado with a current bid of $8,000.
If you wanted a big, well-built, well-appointed and stylish new car in 1950, the Cadillac Series 62 was one of your best options. For 1950, Cadillac redesigned the car to be sleeker. Motivation came from a 331 cui V8, which featured overhead valves and 160 horsepower. There’s no word on the condition of this car’s engine, but we see more surface rust than we’d like. Hopefully, the internals are in good condition and that the engine can be made to run with minimal work.
The interior looks as you’d expect a 68 year-0ld survivor should. It’s dusty and needs a good detailing, but should clean up nicely. Hopefully, there isn’t any rodent damage, but we don’t see any of the typical signs of damage.
It would be nice to see this car out in the open with the dust cleaned off. It’s really hard to gauge its overall condition from what can be seen in the photos. It looks like the paint could be shiny under the dust and there isn’t any visible rust, but without cleaning it off and getting it out in the light you just can’t be certain. At $8k, this is a pretty big gamble, so hopefully, the seller is willing and able to get additional photos of it and to clean it up a little. So, do you think this Caddy really is a 13k mile survivor?
Although it would require much greater scrutiny than just the limited photographs offered in the ad. Based on what can be seen in the details I’m thinking this one is a legit 13k original. What a nice old Caddy, even being a 4 door the originality makes this car.
I agree– the pictures don’t tell enough, but this one looks very original. And these are gorgeous cars.
Pretty cool, even the battery looks original.
Big car, better have a nice sized shop to work on this one.
I would agree mileage is most likely correct. Interior is too nice for the odometer to have turned over. Someone will get a nice car and a hefty rechrome bill.
Nice find. Reasonable price. Stored since 1962 wouldn’t scare me. Clean, service, check it out and drive. I’d polish the chrome as good as possible.
…and a few necessary safety items repaired. After that, take good care of it, drive and enjoy
I’m a survivor kind of guy and I think a bucket (or two) of sudsy water will make you go “Yowza”
Add another day or two of Simonize and its “Hubba-Hubba.”
We all wish for perfect chrome, but these things can’t always happen.
Interior will please any new owner.
Not a steal, but could be a deal……
P.S…..it is a lot more fun to see than the recent run of clapped out Mopars.
Show me more dammit!! If I’m paying
$8K for a car, I’d need a full side shot of
the vehicle to make an informed decision
as to whether or not I’d want to buy it.
From the pics they provide, this car looks
great. And is it just me, or did they get
the interior lights working, or is it a
hand held spotight? Whatever the lighting, the interior shows wonderfully.
Thankfully, this car didn’t become a mouse motel. The 331 V-8 should
run with proper encouragement, and
the other systems will respond accordingly. All I can say is OMG I
want this car!!!!!
Unless $8000 is mere chump change to you, buying this or any car on the basis of easily manipulated photos is not very smart. From my standpoint, the seller provided photos merely serve to let me know if I’m interested in actually seeing the car in person. Even a thousand photos aren’t worth much if they’re only showing what the seller wants you to see. So don’t complain about the number of photos, call the guy, get a feel as to whether it’s worth checking out, otherwise prepare to be ripped off if all you do is rely on pictures.
Talk about stress relief… cleaning & polishing this car would be a blast. The problem would be stopping once you got started. Yeah, chrome probably won’t come up perfect but who needs reasons not to drive it?
Just came in from doing a wax job, KawiVulc. Truer words were never spoken. And I waxed my first car when I was 11.
It never gets old.
Nothing better except food from a truck at a car show.
My Uncle gave us one of these around 1961. It was dark grey with grey broadcloth,,,what I remember most is the hidden gas cap…..too cool for a car nut little kid. My Dad was a low key kind of guy who drove Plymouths, Chevies and Buicks……….the Cadillac, much to my youthful chagrin, went vamoose………pronto.
You know my refrain….you want to sell a car…………make an effort damnit! And wash it!
I’m not buying ANYTHING that’s part of an estate sale. Been burned too many times.
I hate to be a kill joy but I see bright orange rust on the front passenger door sill the kind that comes from battery corrosion. This just happens to be next to a 50+ year old lead acid leaker that has spent the last five decades eating the battery tray and right front door frame. That area needs a close look before bidding. Other than that looks like a nice car. Sometimes you miss seeing things if a car is all washed up and sometime you miss seeing things when it not.
Mark’s right. When you expand that pic it gets real scary.
Some people buy cars sight-unseen all the time. I did it once, won’t do it again. Having said that, this is a nice looking car – almost makes me want to bid! The interior is incredible for a 68 year old car.
This seller’s hype sets my Bogus-O-Matic Meter off! When new this car represented a substantial capitol investment for someone and that it should have been used less than a thousand miles a year for the first 12 years of it’s life, and then left to fallow really doesn’t make sense. Although we’ve all seen these things legitimately happen too. But notice the toothed fan belt, would that have been correct for 1950, much less 1962?? Everything that old that I’ve ever fooled around with had a solid fan belt. Whether the mileage claim is real or not though is almost irrelevant – everything that would have worn out if the mileage were actually 113,000 or 213,000 will still need rebuilding/replacing/reconditioning simply from disuse. Even the light switch contacts could be corroded from such a long period of time. If there’s no title, there’s obviously no other records to back up the mileage claim. By making such an unsupported claim, the seller simply shows that he will say anything necessary to obtain a sale – and that is not the type of guy I want to buy a car from!
Do you know what a pessimist is? A man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it.
– George Bernard Shaw
@Chinga-Trailer: Respectfully, I disagree. I have been dragging cars out of old barns and garages for over fifty years, and have literally saved over 400 cars in that time.
I frequently find them in this condition with a story identical to this story, and even with cars that had signficantly higher mileage, I have had approximately a 97% success rate with firing up these old engines. They almost always fire right up after proper awakening including lubricating the cylinders, installing a new battery, and cleaning the points and plugs, and changing the oil, especially with old American iron. I have only encountered seized engines or failure to awaken on a few occasions. This car has been stored in a dry location, and should come back easily.
The seller has provided a fair description based upon what he knows about the car, and I don’t read anything that is indicative of deceit or misrepresentation.
What I do often encounter is potential buyers who try to scare off the competition by casting doubt on a seller’s representation of an old car being offered for sale.
I like this car, and I feel that it is accurately represented, and I would not be concerned at all that someone installed the wrong fan belt!
Just my 2 cents worth.
Chas
If it’s a Fleetwood, then it’s not a Series 62. One or the other, but not both.
It is a Fleetwood 60 Special, the Chrome vent slats on the rear doors, and the upholstery are giveaways.
The good thing about this Fleetwood sedan is that it’s got a Hydra-matic transmission instead of a Buick Dynaflow. GM’s only Hydra-matic plant burned to the ground in early 1953, and most of the 1953 Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles were equipped with Dynaflow automatic transmissions. The Fleetwood was significantly heavier than the Roadmaster, and the Cadillac suffered from very poor acceleration when equipped with a Dynaflow. I know from personal experience; In the late 1970s I had a similar low-mileage ’53 Fleetwood with Dynaflow, and it was a slug in stop/go traffic.
Actually, the Hydra-matic plant burned on Aug. 12, 1953, very late in the 1953 model year. The number of Dynaflow-equipped Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles is quite low–just a few thousand, and they are very, very rare today.
https://prezi.com/p54n6eivnejb/hydra-matic-fire/
Pete,
You are correct, I always thought they were more common, but I looked up the fire and it was late in the 53 year.
Clean it up….freshen up the brakes,fuel system, tune it up, new tires….but keep it ORIGIONAL…it’s only origional ONCE!!!!!
I am all about original – Cadillacs do not need ANYTHING!!!!!! If anything, just tint the windows. Cadillacs are meant to be ORIGINAL!!!! This car is worth taking a risk and I feel the risk with pay off….
Wonderfull time warp find.
Too bad its a sedan and uglier than a Dr. WHO Tardis 😁😂🤣
Chinga, I don’t know, there’s a service sticker in the photos that shows the last service was probably 1-30-1962 with the next indicated for 4-20-1962, 13842 miles.
Plates are from 62.
Another sticker:”Cadillac Magic Mirror Polished 4-19-62 Rickenbaugh Cadillac Denver”.
Fan belts https://www.caddydaddy.com/nsearch/?q=1950+cadillac+fan+belt
https://allcads.com/product/1949-60-cadillac-generator-belt/
Toothed fan belts, reproduction.
There are lots of clues here.
Doubtful the estate even cares. It’s good to be skeptical, but not everyone is a crook.
As for the fan belts, toothed belts were in use in the late ’50s & early ’60s, but usually for non-auto equipment. However we are talking about a car that was driven for about 10 years, and belts deteriorate with time as well as mileage. An enterprising service mechanic at the local small town garage [who worked on everything including tractors & farm machinery] may have sold the owner on replacing the belts during an oil change, and used an industrial belt.
looks pretty good… probably origional but storring the car with the emergency brake on will have the brake drums welded to the pads. better be prepared to spend some time in situ before moving the old girl.. did not have park back then so the brake on situation is understandable
I was gonna mention the emergency brake!
Wow, a car like this really blows me away… I’m about to early-retire in a few weeks at age 62, and this car has been sitting parked in the same place the whole time even as when I was a first grade kid carrying a lunchbox to school. Wow.
I was getting on this bus (June ’63, that’s me, 2nd in line with the lunchbox) and the battery in the Caddy was probably run down to where it wouldn’t start the car anymore.