Well, that didn’t take long. Any opportunity to capitalize on a significant event never gets missed, it seems. In this case, the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II has surfaced this 1951 Cadillac Series Sixty-Two convertible that once paraded Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on a tour of Vancouver, British Columbia in 1951 – documentation included. Larry D surfaced the listing for this Oroville, Washington domiciled drop-top. It’s available, here on eBay for an opening bid of $299,000 (yikes!).
A ’51 Series 62 Cadillac convertible is not an unusual find as research indicates about 6,100 were produced. Not a huge number of course, but not really rare either. A nicely restored, or a very well-kept original, may sell for $75-$90K, depending on the actual equipment, condition, etc., and finding one for sale is not challenging. Throw in some Monarchy Madness, and values escalate rapidly, or so the seller of this example believes. The seller tells us, “The car was specially prepared for her by General Motors and it still has the dash plaque commemorating that they toured“. You can read a bit more about this special car and the Princess’ use of it here.
In the news article, the seller further elaborates, “It was used as a family car and then it’s sat abandoned in a damp, leaking garage, worn out and tired for 45 years, and I took it back to life and drive it anywhere and every time … it gets a lot of attention“. I’d have to say that it looks pretty good today, it is claimed to be restored to its original condition. The restoration was started in 2014 so this Caddy has put on a few years of age since the redo but noting, as can be seen from the few images provided, appears to be out of place.
One area where a change has occurred is inside where the original brown upholstery was replaced with what looks like red leather. Brown seems like an unusual shade to be paired with a black exterior – I’d suggest that red is a better choice if deviating from originality is not an issue. There is no comprehensive interior image provided, just this one of the dash and instrument panel, but if the rest of the environment is this well finished, it should reveal a top drawer presentation.
Power is provided by a 160-gross HP, 331 CI V8 engine coupled to a Hydramatic automatic transmission. There is little said about this convertible’s running and driving prowess other than to say, as previously noted, “ready to drive anywhere“. The mileage recording is 88K miles and the engine, at the least, has had a cosmetic restoration, no indication if it went deeper than that.
Timing is everything I suppose and the Queen’s passing is the likely impetus for a sale offering now. Will the celebrity provenance make a sale? Not to me, it wouldn’t, regardless of who rode in it, but that’s just a subjective opinion – prior ownership or association can positively drive a sale, however. Regardless, with a $299,000 ask, and no bids so far, I’m thinking this one might be a bridge too far, what says you?
Might be a stretch to ask that number. I get the province but geez.
I’d still take the ’65 LTD Limo.
I agree, better drivability for a lot less.
The Queen and Phillip may have ridden in this car what—-a total of an hour or two then? Hardly worth the $299K asking price. Not even remotely realistic. I can see $75K; it’s nice and has had some TLC, but not THAT much!
Interesting story, I wonder if it has a clear top like in the photo?
Back to reality;
Car gets listed on ebay for 299,000….
Seller then reads the listing and shows his friends “look the cars worth 299k, that’s what it doing on ebay”
That’s a convertible with the top down. Bubble tops weren’t popular until JFK was murdered.
But they were available. Just not used very often.
So, the interior used to be brown, and replaced with red leather, which means the Princess, now late Queen’s ass never actually sat on these seats. And you want $300,000? I agree with everyone else, it’s just a ’51 Caddy conv. and garners $75, 000, tops.
She was high on something and so is this seller.
Wow, that’s an awful lot of women to generalize into one group !
Chill, D K, it was a joke. Get a sense of humor.
Chicka boom chicka boom, don’t you just love it?
Wow, DK, hard to fathom your immense knowledge of all American women. I don’t recall you meeting my mother, my wife, my daughter or my sister, and I have a hard time perceiving that you’ve met Angel Diva and all the rest of the remaining American women. You obviously hold the Queen in high regard. From what little I know of the Queen, I never heard her utter anything like the outlandish trash you have foisted upon us.
It’s “arse” in England!
I’m not in England.
I thought you would get the joke. I’m not in England either.
There’s this one but without any royal history, although like Angel pointed out the original interior has been removed anyway and replaced with a non-original color.
Ask 58k;
https://www.hemmings.com/auction/1951-cadillac-62-837812
Highest recorded sale for a ’51 was 8 years ago 63,800;
https://www.classic.com/m/cadillac/series-62/year-1951/
So 235,000 more than the highest publicly recorded sale because they rode around in it for a day, didn’t even own it….
I’d rather see brown leather with Black than “Rental Car RED”
The picture with the Capitol Theatre was taken in Brantford, Ontario – Wayne Gretzky’s home town (not in BC) so they used the car at least twice. It was probably shipped by train to their next destination so it could have been used multiple times. One of my earliest memories was sitting on my dad’s shoulders to see over the crowd as the Queen and Prince drove by in an open car during a 1959 visit to my hometown. I was 3 1/2 years old.
I agree it is way over priced. It is an auction to follow though to verify that it attracts zero bids unless the opening bid is much lower.
Not to get too esoteric and off topic but there was a Capitol Theatre in Victoria in 1952 and Princess Elizabeth and the Duke visited the city for a couple of days. Didn’t know the car was this particular one however.
I belong to a local facebook group where this picture was posted. The person posting it as our town did that in good faith, however someone (not me) did some internet sleuthing and discovered it was in Brantford.
The twin to this is currently in Peachland BC Owned by a custom car guy.
Go to Peachland Wheel nuts on face book for an excellent description.
Nice car, I’d love to have it. The fact that the Queen sat in/on it doesn’t add any value to me, especially not $250K of value. I’ll be watching to see how high the bid goes.
Best of luck to the seller. It only takes one person with deep pockets to buy a car with seats that nobody of importance ever sat on.
In the words of Liam Neeson in the movie Taken; “good luck!”
As in Paterson, NJ?
Unless it still has the clear folding top it’s just another ’51 Cadillac.
Whoever thought up this price must have a very, high, ultimate opinion of themselves. This is still a car and not even a rare model of Cadillac so as to justify such a price. So two famous people rode in it big deal. that doesn’t justify the price.
Does anyone remember seeing one or these new with red interior ? Perhaps a different shade of red ….more of a burgundy ,not fire engine red I have a few black Cadillacs with red interior and they look great
A word of warning I learned first hand If you buy a red car ( carmine red was the name ) same colour top and same interior you BETTER like red ,I do but after about a month it began growing a bit long we might say
But none of that had anything to do with overpriced
but if elvis rode in it it would worth the money
Rode in it, still a hard NO.
Actually owned it, surprisingly another hard NO;
https://www.mensjournal.com/gear/elvis-presleys-cadillac-sold-barrett-jackson-auction-las-vegas/#:~:text=The%20car%20was%20purchased%20for,some%20%2433.3%20million%20in%20sales.
And I think most people would rather have the King’s car rather than the Queens….
Wow, $299,000? I’m sure glad to hear that, as I have a 1961 Vanden Plas Princess limousine with all options, dual A/C, and LHD, ordered by the British Government and delivered thru the New York dealership J.S. Inskip, for the Royal family’s use in America. Inskip handled most of the upscale British cars like Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Daimler, and Princess. The car has a similar plaque on the division panel attesting to when the Queen was presented with the new limo. I’ve got the original sales order from Inskip, and the car was about $14,600, plus I have photos of the Royals using the limo.
So the Cadillac owner wants close to $300k? While my limo needs a restoration, it’s complete and runs, and I would take a lot less, probably what the limo cost when new! And they used this limo until 1974 when as a result of an attempted abduction in London, all 3 of the Princess limousines used by the Royals were retired due to lack of security equipment.
Are you 100% sure ownership of your limo is legit?
“I would demand paperwork showing how the car legally came into the USA, and especially the DOT & EPA import waivers, as well as customs release. Without them, the government can confiscate the vehicle and order it’s destruction.” LOL
Bill,
I was wondering just how long it would take to hear from you on that subject! Yes, I have all the original paperwork on the car. As it was a NEW car in 1961, there was no import paperwork to give to the first owner, & the dealer was responsible for maintaining the import records, as they were the importer of record. It was a lot more lax before the DOT and US Customs began tightening paperwork in 1968.
That said, the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust [BMIHT] has all the records for the Vanden Plas cars, and I have the BMIHT certificate of who ordered it [Inskip] and where it was delivered [NYC]. About 30 years ago I had the limo at the British Embassy in Washington when the former Ambassador Sir Anthony Acland was visiting. He had fond memories of the limo, and I have photos of the car in the front portico of the Embassy, with Sir Anthony riding inside.
It’s the only British Royal limo ever sold to the public, as all the other ones were in the UK and remain in the family’s collection at Sandringham [I’ve been there on a private tour of the vehicles]. The decision was to sell it because with left hand drive, it would not be suitable to bring it back to the UK, as the driver and footman would be on the wrong side of the car due to driving on the left.
I’m the 3rd owner, the 2nd owner who also bought it from Inskip, was a wealthy Surgeon in New Jersey.
All of the Royal limousines have a special blue “police” light in the center of the outside front area of the roof, and this car has one of the blue lights, factory installed. [For North America, the light is purely ceremonial, but in the UK if the light is on, the police are not to stop the limo unless it’s an emergency.]
So when do you want to come and buy the limo? $14,600 takes it, with paperwork and photos of course!
I’m sure you’ve all heard that Cadillac is coming out with a $300,000 electric Cadillac in 2025.
Hmmmm, $300,000 for a 71 year old car or $300,000 for a brand new electric Cadillac. Tough choice.
Oh, and I’m surprised no one has mentioned the 1959 Cadillac limo with the back end drop top that her Royal Highness and the Duke rode in on one of her visits to the U.S.
Angel,
They also used a 1959 Chrysler Imperial Ghia limo with a removeable plexiglass section over the rear seat. That car had been sitting on concrete blocks in a farm shed for 30+ years until rescued and restored about 15 years ago, and it’s now in the Kuwaiti royal car collection. The former owner’s father used to race Chrysler 300 letter series cars, and he bought the limo just to get the wider factory wheels! and left the limo on blocks for years.
I wasn’t aware of that, Bill. Come to think of it, I believe the Cadillac also had the plexiglass top. I’ve got to go through my books to see if I can find it again.
But I always thought for a ’59 Cadillac, it was just fugly with the back half convertible top down. The steel part of the roof looked chopped off when the top was down.
The roof does not appear to be plexiglass. In the one photo of the clear top it looks like clear vinyl installed on the top frame the same way regular top fabric would be.
If you look at the lower rear the clear vinyl appears to be attached to a strip of canvas with snaps.
Just like would be done on a boat.
It wouldn’t have to last long either, just for the one tour.
Bill,
Angel and I were referring to the 1959 Royal Canadian tour in which 3 cars were provided by the big 3; a Cadillac 75 limo, an Imperial Ghia limo, and a Lincoln Mark IV sedan that had a modified as a landau-style convertible over the back section. When folded, the Lincoln top looked like the bulky folded convertible top of a VW beetle.
The Caddy and Imperial both had a removable hard plexiglass top section over the rear seat, and the Lincoln was a folding black cloth affair. Cadillac added a 3rd A/C unit in the lower part of the division where a normal series 75 limo would have housed the folding jump seats. GM was worried with the “glass” top in place, the normal trunk A/C unit wouldn’t be able to keep it cool in bright sunlight. The Ghia limo was apparently a 1957 that had been updated with 1959 Imperial trim.
About 40 years ago I had an extended talk with a Mr. George Kelly who was part of the ’59 Royal tour vehicle service staff. He said that Cadillac and Chrysler each provided a black vehicle [Chevy Suburban and a Dodge Carry-All if memory serves me correctly] to store the Plexiglass roofs, and both vehicles followed the line of tour vehicles just in case the weather went thru a sudden change!
As for this 1951 Royal tour Cadillac, you are correct, the material was indeed early clear PVC vinyl, basically a copy of the normal convertible top design, and as you point out, a strip of black canvas top material was used where the top material was fastened to the body structure. I suspect GM realized the PVC Vinyl had very little shear strength and would certainly have torn at the points where the top was fastened down. I’ve always wondered if the various seams on the PVC top were heat-welded or sewn. Back then thin PVC tended to tear at the sewing lines when stretched tight.
I’ve often wondered if GM replaced the clear vinyl with a normal Haartz-type black fabric convertible top after the tour, or if they sold the car with the clear top still in place.
I wonder how his head feels because I’m sure he bumped it hard!
Still delusional, but slowly returning to earth. Relisted at 79k
https://www.ebay.com/itm/295238959877?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11011.m43.l1123&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=49b0a55738d2421eb84f5e3c44c876e9&bu=43205311404&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20220926053806&segname=11011
Then again it has a reserve so who knows…..