Two-door pillarless “hardtop” coupes were popular in the 1950’s when they were new and have remained so as collectibles all these years later. I get it, because they have a sportier look that can enhance a car’s proportions and lines. In 1955, GM introduced the four-door pillarless hardtop concept to their Oldsmobile and Buick lines and the buying public liked it. So for 1956, four-door hardtop models were everywhere within the Big Three lineup and even some independents. GM stylists really knew how to make a four-door hardtop roofline look sporty, even on a luxury liner like this that is 221.9 inches in length. Here’s an interesting unrestored survivor that’s been in a family since Grandma bought it from Galles Motors in Albuquerque, New Mexico nearly 70 years ago.
Details are a bit on the scarce side, but according to the family member listing Granny’s Caddy, it was her daily driver up through the 1970’s. From there, it must’ve been tucked in a garage or stored away from the elements based on its condition, especially the interior. The seller says it’s only been driven 1,000 miles since the 1980’s. I bet the Caddy’s Aquamarine paint scheme with a white top was stunning back in the day. The original paint is fading on the trunk lid, but looks okay otherwise. I’m spotting some rocker panel rust, but the chrome, trim, glass, and lenses look good on the old gal.
“The interior furnishing of the Sedan de Ville incorporate all the styling artistry that characterizes the name “de Ville,” gushes the ’56 Cadillac high-style sales brochure. They also brag that the “bright and brushed chrome metalwork, roof bows, and door and seat moldings add a special accent of brightness and drama.” I’m impressed with that copywriting as well as the condition of this Caddy’s original interior. The white leather and textured fabric that adorn the seats and door panels looks to be in good condition and oozes mid-50’s style and fashion. (Photos are limited, but there could be some wear on the driver’s seat.) The padded dash looks good as well with no splits or warps. There’s a blanket on the back seat that may or may not be covering up some seat damage, but I’m guessing the rear seat is okay.
Sedan DeVille’s came standard with power steering and power brakes, and this one was ordered with optional power windows. No photos are shown of the engine bay and the seller claims that the Caddy “starts, runs, and drives.” A 365-cubic inch V8 should be sitting under that long aquamarine hood that generated 285 horsepower at 4600 rpm when new. It is mated to a Hydra-Matic automatic transmission and the odometer reads 85,635, but the seller isn’t sure if that’s the original mileage or not. This nice old survivor is still calling Albuquerque, New Mexico home and is for sale here on craigslist for $16,000. Another shout out to T.J. for sending the cool old Caddy our way. So, what would you do with a highly original survivor like this? I’d be tempted to make it roadworthy, clean it up, put on some period-correct whitewalls, and keep it as original as possible, thin paint on the trunk lid and all. I think Granny would approve of that.
I’m baffled by the photos. The car clearly has a/c. You’ve got the scoops on the rear quarters. It looks like there is a a/c outlet above the the drivers door, but I can’t see a hint of one above the passenger door and all the photos it just out of shot for the rear doors. Plus it’s difficult to tell from the photos (or lack thereof) if it has the clear tubes from the package shelf to the roof a/c outlets. Maybe that thing above the drivers door is something else and it doesn’t have roof vents for the a/c. Iv noticed some just have vents in the package shelf and others have the tubes direction the cold air up into the roof. My ’56 Fleetwood had the tubes & roof vents.
Such an interesting color but looks good on this Cadillac.
@Harrison Reed. Here’s another Caddy that sits low, just like the recent ’55 coupe. These originally sat low from the factory and after almost 70 years it’s probably sagging a little.
Well ANGEL, here’s more useless trivia. This is a dead ringer for Mrs Downeys (Marjorie Bennett) Cadillac featured in 3? Episodes of CHIPS. When Eric Estrada (Ponch) referred to it as her Caddy, she promptly and distainfully responded…It’s a Cadillac! Guess she was also a DIVA! 😉 Yes, I’m still shoveling 💩. But that’s not bad for someone who turned 78 yesterday! 😲
Right on, Rick W! Keep moving; you’re doing just fine!
You share a birthday with a great woman – my Mother, Lois Stone. She turned 95. Raised 5 kids partnered with my Father in the car business and teller of adventures from the Depression to WWII to current days.
Awesome car. The family (and grandma) did a great job taking car of this beauty.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Rick
💝🎉🎂🍾🥂🎊🎈💋💯
Gee John, Life’s a GAS! TANKS! Actually When I see others, I’m truly grateful to still be able to drive the road to The BARN! 👍And enjoy the camaraderie with good folks like you.
If 70 years causes sags, you should see the sags at 78! 😔. 😅 🤣 Don’t ask where! 😲 OMG!
@RickW
😳
Looking from the front picture through to the back, there are clearly no tubes from the package shelf. I know the tubes you mean, and they are not on this car.
Extremely clean interior on this lovely old gal. Love the color combo chosen. I’d retrofit some seatbelts for safety and just drive it (from gas station to gas station :-)).
I know, yet the air scoops are on the rear fenders, so it must have had A/C from the factory. Those plexiglass vents are available for a reasonable price. A/C parts seem attainable. Maybe the A/C was removed for some reason?
The thing above the passenger door is an interior light. There is one above the driver’s door as well. Perhaps someone should do a writeup of Rita Hayworth’s
1956 Cadillac El Dorado. It doesn’t have the clear tubes from the package shelf either. It’s completely original and unrestored. I could provide some very detailed pictures.
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/956fe0_29be84675ef84071a8cda87556048f3f~mv2.jpg
And about being 78. Remember when we used to say elderly folks were those 10 years older than us? Now folks that old are mostly dead. Well.
A very acceptable profile. Four doors don’t distract from this beauty. I wonder if Grandpa’s matching boat is available? What a combo that would be.
Nice, interior is really good for it’s age. I got one I haven’t started work on, it’s a little ratty compared to this one. Guy parked it in his carport in the 70’s and there she sat all this time. Unfortunately, FL climate is not kind to cars sitting. A lot of things get steam rusted… Like motors, gadgets, rusted out brake lines…
This is absolutely without a doubt one Caddy that needs to be restored. Or at least painted and body work addressed. Its just a beautiful body style. And this color works on the 4 door hardtop too. Of course period correct whitewalls are a must too. I’m very impressed with how solid it looks after all these years. I hope it goes to a good new home.
Just realized, those hubcaps are from a ’61/’62 white Cadillac.
If you look closely, I THINK you can see the tubes in side and rear shots.
Trust me, Rick, I’ve tried looking closely. Considering I’m on a smart phone and not a computer or tablet. I can’t tell if that’s a clear tube or just a reflection on the rear glass.
I DO trust you. Always have. Always will! BUT as noted, I don’t look 👀 so good 🤮 , in more ways than one 😏. Maybe it’s Reflections. Too tired to go back now. I’ve had A Long Day’s Journey Into Night 🌙. And, I just shot you a moon! LOL always!
Angel—I blowed the pictures up to 500. Their IS NOT any tubes(inside ) the back window .Like on some 57 Oldsmobile. Their IS SCOOPs—on the OUTSIDE —-BESIDE THE REAR WINDOW. That is a nice looking car.
Johnny
I kinda surmised that there were no tubes in the rear window for the a/c roof vents. So, no a/c roof vents. What is that thing above the drivers door?
Either a 71 VW Beetle for 9K or THIS car for 7K more. What is wrong with this picture?
I so want this car, I love the color and unrestored condition. Unfortunately my one garage space is already filled.
But you could buy that ’75 Comet and save three grand!
Iwould do exactly as you suggest Ron, fit a new set of wide whites, wash and polish it, make sure that it’s roadworthy, and drive the wheels off it. One lovely Caddy here!
If it does not have air, Vintage Air can make it happen.
This so similar to my 56 Coupe De Ville, though mine had better paint. Its amazing how you hardly notice these are 4 door cars..brilliant styling.I’d love to have this, new whitewalls and leave everything just as granny had it..and cruise in style!!!
Happy birthday, RICK W! Only 78? — you poor fellow! I won’t spoil it for you by telling you what lies ahead in the ever-relentless ageing process. I am older than you are by a good clip (if that offers you any comfort). What shocks me now, is approaching something I carried and put into place when I was older than 78, only to now find that I no longer can lift it. But at least (for now anyway) we are walking UPON the ground — it isn’t lying on top of us in silence. I look at pictures of my great-grandchildren, then at ones of me with my great-grandparents who were born in the 1840s and 1950s, and I realise that, when my siblings and I are gone, there will be no-one left who remembers them or recognises their photographs. I agree, here, that a minimal restoration is called for, to correct the hubcaps and bring the body-paint back to respectability. Personally, I would not add seat-beats, neither update the brakes, etc., but I WOULD get period-correct whitewalls. Thank you, Angel_Cadillac_Queen_Diva, for the observations on “sagging” (smile). If I were to want (and be able to afford) a Cadillac from this era, my car-of-choice would be a near-mint low-mileage 1954 Coupe DeVille survivor, with air-conditioning (he don’t WANT much; DO he?). Maybe I could afford to find and buy and assemble an unwarped original AMT scale model of one (smile). By the way, speaking of this car, and of the 1955 Coupe DeVille featured recently; did anyone notice, in “Driving Miss Daisy”, that her black Fleetwood on the way to Mobile kept switching between a 1955 and a 1956, and that the 1956 was in horrible need of new rear shocks? A woman of her generation (born in 1876) would not have been wearing a badly yellowed and worn 1948-ish wristwatch (that must have been Jessica Tandy’s own); she would have had a World War I to 1920s style of early wristwatch, or a watch pinned to the upper front of her dress. It was strange, too, to see that showroom with 1955 Cadillacs, with a 50-star flag, and having 1956 cars of other makes parked outside. As diligently as the makers of that film clearly aimed at being period-correct, these incongruities amused me rather. Again, to Birthday Boy RICK W: around Christmas time in 1949, Guy Lombardo had a hit record, “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)”. I still have that 78. You might like it.
There was a band in the 1980’s called the Specials that did a remake of “enjoy yourself “
@Harrison Reed
Yes, that’s the first thing I noticed in “DMD”. Even though the cars are very similar, it’s stuff like that in movies that drives me nuts. Sure, the layman won’t notice the difference but car people do!
“Did you have the air conditioning checked? I TOLD you to have the air conditioning checked”
“Yes, I had the air conditioning checked. I don’t know why, you never let me turn it on.”
“OH, hush”
She went from a ’55 to a ’65 to a ’70.
The Cadillac showroom scene was really interesting. I full size model of the ’50s woman in her gown. Typical of a 50s Cadillac magazine ad. Big difference from the windshield of the convertible and the overhang of the Fleetwood. (Very unaerodynamic)
here’s a far worse blooper. On the movie American gangster when they tried to hit Denzel Washington walking from his Lincoln into the store and they tried to start the Lincoln, guess what, it was the dash of a 1966 Cadillac amazing
Great post. Don’t know why my thumbs up button is so finicky and won’t let mew put one on half the time.
Thanks Angel for the Birthday Party! Of course I’m familiar with that GUY and 78 records. Growing up with only two other kids in the neighborhood kids, we had an RCA crank up VICTROLA in the garage with numerous 78 records. My favorite was FLAMIN MAMIE by Ailene Stanley (I actually found the song on the net). And IMO the cars were stars in Miss Daisy. Unfortunately, I often wonder who would feed me pumpkin pie! No HOKE! 😅. I’m the last of the line. I have an extensive collection of 1-18 Diecast models and have created collages of several favorite cars which are hanging on my walls. So many family heirlooms will be Gone With the Wind after I’m finally UNDER granite 🪨. But, yes we are STILL able to go out WALKIN AFTER MIDNIGHT. I recently found a plaque… Just When I got it ALL together,I forgot where I put it. Finally, I guess one of the best things about older movies is they create imaginary worlds. I’ve always believed, To hell with reality! Give me a good fantasy any day! Like Gladys Knight, I got to go, but we’ll always be bosom buddies! Sealed with a 💋. OH, regards to Uncle Vito and the Mambo Italiano. Like many others, I would still kiss HIS and ONLY his 💍, and NOTHING else. 😲
Hey Guys On 1956 Cadillac the sedan had the air ducts extending up into headliner ver the window, BUT on hardtops, the air blew out of grilles on the rear package shelf. Also, the a/c control is clearly pictured hanging under the center of the dash board on this car.
My parents owned 2 of these among all the other Cadillacs they
owned over the years. One was a 2 door hardtop and the other was a convertible. And what a blast it was to go to church with the top down and WLS blaring over the radio much to the disapproval of our stiff as starch pastor and some of the deacons who wanted to expell us from the church for that reason. Didn’t care for the pastor after he told my Mom that I was born nearly blind because of her sins. What a lover! Anyhoo, the ragtop was pea green with a dark green top with real
wire wheels and a Connie kit out back. And those wide whitewalls made it all pop. We had the car a little over a year before Dad traded it for a creamy yellow ’59 coupe Deville. The church got a new pastor and thats how I met pastor J8m. And yeah, we still blared WLS over that car’s radio too. . G5rat
times nice looking Caddy.
gone.
To Kenneth and Cadillac Kid…Fun fact. Several years ago at a car show, two early 20 year olds were ogling a 57 Chevy which had smaller DAGMARS. After explaining the name and the INSPIRATION for those infamous bumpers, both seemed to be inspired! 😉 One thanked me, saying he’d never view similar extensions the same way. As I mentioned on today’s 62 Starfire, those of us of a certain age CAN help the hobby continue by sharing information and enthusiasm. As long as possible, keep drivin down the road and sharin the load! As usual 🙄, I’m Ramblin on like a Vintage Compact NASH. Memories really do light the corners of what’s LEFT of my mind. STILL crazy after all These gears ⚙ 🙄
They don’t have to be alcoholic
drinks TCK, Sodas or iced tea suit me fine these days. Been
clean and sober 47 years now
and don’t wanna mess that up.
And who says you need alcohol
to have a good time anyway.
That is correct. I have been known to have 2 chocolate milks, but only one if I’m driving! LOL
Shake! Shake! SHAKE YOUR CADDY! Good to be back on this Cadillac. 👍 Where’s the DIVA? And other members of The GREAT AMERICAN LAND YACHT SOCIETY?
Shake! Shake! SHAKE YOUR CADDY! Good to be back on this Cadillac. 👍 Where’s the DIVA? And other members of The GREAT AMERICAN LAND YACHT SOCIETY?
I had one of these. Briefly. Back in ’73 or ’74. Exact same color, so when this one came up my heart did a pitter-patter. Sigh!. I was 20yrs old back then and in the very beginning of my lifetime auto mechanic career. Don’t remember what I paid for it but it couldn’t have been much as I was fairly broke back then. It was the middle of midwest winter. I was living in an apartment complex. Car sat out in the cold and wouldn’t start, even with a service-station jump. Let it go cheap but kick myself every time I see a ’56. I’ve had over 100 project cars since then, but you always remember ‘your first’.