Cadillacs of the mid-1950s extended the popularity of the new pillarless hardtop look introduced by General Motors in 1949. Facelifted for 1956 to give the illusion of a longer, lower, more stately vehicle, and decked with luxe trim and power accessories, the Cadillac was justly declared the “Standard of the World”. Notwithstanding the historical impact of this Harley Earl masterpiece, the seller has fallen out of love with this 350 V8-powered 1956 Cadillac DeVille after owning it for just two years. He has listed it on eBay, and bidding has reached $24,550, a level high enough to satisfy the reserve. The car is located in Kansas City, Missouri, and the seller believes it was restored in the late 1990s or early 2000s. It remains in solid cosmetic and driving condition.
The engine is a General Motors 350 cu. in. V8 with throttle body injection. The injectors were recently replaced, and the seller notes that the air cleaner and valve covers are new. The transmission is automatic. The car is equipped with air conditioning, which is said to blow cold. I would want to know more about the mechanicals, including which 350 and which automatic we’re looking at here and whether the brakes have been updated. No mileage is quoted. The seller does invite questions.
The interior is cheerful, to say the least – a far cry from the subdued but swanky fabrics offered to Cadillac buyers in the 1950s. The seats, headliner, and dash are in good condition, though a few of the instrument panel components don’t align perfectly. The chrome horn ring shows modest wear. The carpets are spiffy, as is the trunk. The power windows work but are heavily tinted.
Emerging tailfins complement the beautiful flow of the hardtop. Cleverly hidden in the rear tail light is the fuel filler; this photo does reveal pitting in the chrome bumper. A painted-to-match Continental kit is included in the sale. This car won’t appeal to everyone – that’s the challenge of a custom build. But the body is straight, and the price is thus far reasonable: while perfectly comparable cars are tough to find, asking prices range up to $50k. Would you make space in your garage for this Caddy?
If you look at the master cylinder, the brakes have differently been upgraded.
Putting a stock 350 into a car of this size and weight doesn’t make it a sleeper. That term came about from putting high performance engines into unassuming vehicles and catching potential competition off guard. Now here come the comments lol.
No RKS, you’re right. A 350 in this big of a car is not an upgrade. especially when the original Caddy V8 was a 365 4bbl. I would’ve rebuilt the original. A couple cons on this one: Too bad the windows got tinted like that; they should be standard FACTORY tint with AC. The interior, while it looks nice and bright will be a turn off to potential Caddy enthusiasts due to the vinyl seat covers not being original. Also, I’d never degrade this with a Connie kit–they add too much weight and don’t look right on `56 Cadillacs–sell it on Ebay.
Totally agree. My title to this article was changed by the boss.
Hi Michelle well at least they didn’t call it a survivor lol
Ha ha, no kidding. I am trying like heck to avoid “patina”, “sleeper”, and “survivor”….
Will,
Depends on where you live. Here in Vegas, when it gets to 121° in the summer, limo black window tint is pretty much a must, especially if you don’t want your a/c straining.
Really depends on where you live about the tint. If you lived in someplace like Las Vegas or Phoenix or Death Valley and similar places you might change your tune about aftermarket quality tint by a professional place. Or maybe you’d only drive it at night. All depends on where you live. Here in the Southwest it’s almost a necessity unless you want to slow cook your dinner in the car through the day.
I happen to love the window tint. Any vehicle down here in SW Florida could use it. 👍
That is absolutely true a little motor in a car that size but don’t serve no justice
The extra dark tint makes driving at night/in rainy conditions very problematic. Personally, if the tint isn’t OEM, I don’t care for it. Invariably it seems that aftermarket tint will eventually start to separate and bubble. Other than the tint, this appears to be a very nice specimen. GLWTA!! :-)
Moparman I agree with you, 100%. The tinted windows, AND the modern digital instrument panel/80s-90s era Cadillac radio along with the unwanted Continental kit hardware are all deal killers. I’d never buy this car unless the asking price was dirt cheap so I could still remain solvent to have all the resto-mods undone and removed and replaced with all original stuff. But that would add at least another $10-20K and you would still have the holes created by having the unwanted bing removed/replaced. Plus the original instrument panel might be gone so might have to find one in a salvage yard somewhere, in bad shape and not original to the car/correct odometer reading. Which is probably why there is no mention of the current mileage.
Any tint shop will remove tint for a reasonable price. So enough with the whah, you cry babies.
Late Sbc with fi is a big upgrade over the original. Probably also has a 4l60e.
Looks like a fun weekender and i dig the interior choice.
I did deepwindow tint on my 39 Chevy coupe…bought tinted glass not film. In the summer trips they get hot even with the aftermarket of course a/c. As far as seeing at night, it was more difficult, especially when I would take it to Hilton Head with no streetlights, all signage behind shrubs etc…the mountains in Tennesseep a ton. were too. I did go to LED headlights which help a ton. To each their own…I build my cars for me and I never worry about resale. A profit is not my goal.
Do you think that the 350 has enough power to move this car? What was the stock motor?
Stock engine was a 364 with 263 horse. My gut tells me this engine is a few ponies less.
I would love to know either way; the measurement of horsepower changed between 1956 and the production of more modern 350s, but who knows.
Depends on the 350. Also difference in wheel horse versus flywheel. As a cruiser the 350 should be fine
Definitely less torque than the original Caddy!
The 56 Cadillacs were the last and best of this design. The 57 revisions were not well received by traditional Cadillac buyers. The forward thrust of fins made the car appear shorter. For 58, Cadillac extended the fins making those 58s (especially Sixty Special) one of the most impressive Cadillacs ever. But this 56 is a magnificent beauty! 👌 🏆
What a beautiful car, stunning design. Why someone would ruin it with a lame 350 Chevy in beyond me
My bet is the original engine failed. Finding another 364 and having it rebuilt would be a pain. I agree that the 350 is lame I would have stuck a big block Chev in it.
Actually specs for ‘56 Caddy engine are 365c.i. 305hp. 400ft.lbs. torque. Chevy belly button is a definite downgrade- but then I don’t appreciate any of the other modifications either.
A big block Chevy engine? Give me a break. Don’t play with toys. 500 CID Cadillac engine all the way!
Well, people do it to Lincolns of the following decade, which is *truly* beyond ridiculous. So why not a Cadillac? At least that brand comes from the same parent company Chevy did.
I would of put a plymouth slant six cylinder in this and called it a Rat Rod.
Needs a 70s 500 caddy with modern F.I
First of all you don’t have to put the Continental Kit on it. It does have some mods that are a bit unusual, but why are you buying it to win a concourse or enjoy owning and driving it.
First impressions were good. Resto-mods tend to reflect the builders personal taste, and are often quickly dated. The dark tint, and digital modified dash kinda spoil it for me. Then there is the 350…… It probably moves the car ” just OK”, but likely produces less HP and torque than the original engine. Probably like a 305 in a Suburban. The ’56 Cadillac was a truly special car, and a 350 does not belong under the hood.
If it needed an engine, a few years ago I would have installed a ’70-’71 Caddy 500 with TH400. These days, I would stay Cadillac, but go with a 6.2 LS (Escalade) backed by a 6L80 transmission. I used that combo in a recent resto-mod pickup, and it worked great.
This car is cool, but needs too many changes for me.
I would say that, if engine swap is called for, one of those LS engines belongs in a Caddy. Too many try squeezing those engines into cars that are totally incompatible, likely destroying those cars in the process.
IDK, the digital dash looks odd in a car of this vintage but I have to admit, they did a pretty good job getting it to fit. If you’re not interested in it as a collectible and just cruise, swap out the engine like some have suggested for a larger Caddy mill. That window tint would get you pulled over in my town though.
Every time someone says the word “SWAP” – it basically equals “thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars “. Sounds fun if you have deep pockets. THIS Cadillac is beautiful! Love what they did with it and I would just leave it alone, and, enjoy it. I wish I could buy it because it represents exactly what I would want. A TOTALLY DRIVABLE CLASSIC. I say – go for it ! It’s worth the money especially in today’s economy! Good luck and have fun! Nice article too….
I agree with everyone above. If, and only If, i couldn’t rebuild the original V8 and restore the original Hydramatic, i would’ve gone with either a 472 or 500 for sure and bolted it up to a THM400. And you lost me with the digital gauges. The original dashes and gauges were a work of art.
But thats me….
Luxury Sleeper?
Depends on who you are sleeping with.
🎵 We can have 🎶a party 🎵 in the back of this KOOL 🎵 Cadillac 🎶.Plush velvet seats 🎵 waivin to my friends 🎶 from this KOOL Cadillac 🎵
I like it just the way it is.
🎵 That’s the way I like it! 🎶uh huh 🎵 uh huh🎶 That’s the way I love it! 🎵 True 🎶MOTOWN 🎵 GOLD! 🎵 Now some folks think it’s too BIG 🎶 and uses too much gas 🎵Some folks it’s too OLD 🎶 Well they can just kiss 🎵my A😉S 🎵 I’d love to be driving 🎵 in this 🎶 KOOL 🎵 Cadillac.
A 350? Are you nuts?
In most states, there are rules on tinting windows too dark on passenger cars. Our state also doesn’t allow added tint on the windshields of any motor vehicle (car, SUV, or truck). You can be pulled over, and ticketed. Get ready to scrape the tint off most of those windows if you buy it, and live in a northern state.
All you need in Delaware for that tint is a Dr.’s note saying you need it.
I started out really excited, the came to”350 V8″ and immediately scrolled down to comment. What a disappointment.
Well, RICK W., I suppose we cannot ALWAYS agree. The resto-mod, regardless of its reasons, is a total turn-off for me. If it ain’t original, I deem it valueless. And, for me, the nicest of the 1954-1956 Cadillacs was the 1954: it was classic, dignified, and not in need of a face-lift (ditto, the 1954 Buick!). But if I had the money, and I could afford the sheer thirst of one of these, I would hunt for an all-original 1954 Coupe De Ville in #1 near-showroom condition. And yes, these hard-top coupes in G.M. 1954-1956 senior makes are an exception to my general disdain for coupes: they have graceful sweeping lines that make the sedan versions look mundane and uninteresting. Nearly all coupes look awkward and disproportionate with shrunken roofs: but these coups are a flowing exception.
A 350 Chevy is a good engine if it’s in a Chevy pickup, but it aught to be a Felony to put it under the hood of a 56 Cadi when the body’s in this condition! If you want to call it a “Sleeper” you have to have something under the hood that makes it much faster than it was originally but looks the basic same as stock Cadillac parts! My choice of engines would be a Mid 60’s 429 and find a GOOD MACHINIST who can put larger valves in the heads with a porting & polishing and bowl blending as well as proper milling or custom pistons to crank the compression ratio up to around 11.5 to 1. Put a custom ground cam in it and then use all the stock covers etc on it but top it off with a set of Dual Quads off a 56 Eldorado Seville with serious messaging in both carbs making them flow! Put a good street/ strip shift kit in the stock Jet-A-Way transmission since the creeper gear in eliminates the need for a higher stahl converter and makes the launch much better than a lighter TH400! Now the people looking at your Cadi at the show think you have a 325 HP 365 2X4 56 Eldorado engine and not the over 500HP 429 2X4 with a built Trans to match setting there! Since the 331, 365, 390, and 429 were all the same block no one will know what you have unless you tell them! Officially “A SLEEPER” This one’s a Beautiful car but would cost too much to put into Stock Show Quality, and Equally costly to put into “Sleeper” Quality, and is already been bid up to a price that makes it too much for a Cruiser Quality! I guess I’ll just keep looking for a restorable Quality and start from scratch!
This Cadillac is not a Coupe de Ville, but rather a Series Sixty-Two Coupe, a more basic model. A Coupe de Ville would have script letters identifying it as such beneath the Cadillac crest on the front fenders, which this car does not have.
Nice yellow color with complimentary interior. One can pick the car for sale apart about lack of original 1956 equipment especially the engine swap. However, this Cadillac shows how great American cars of the 1950s were styled each in a distinctive way reflecting the post war optimism of the time. No antilock brakes, air bags, all wheel drive, traction control, rare fuel injection and variable ratio power steering but they looked like works of art on wheels.
I also live in Kansas City. Where are you located? I’d love to come and see the car.
“If it ain’t original I deem it valueless”. Hahaha, I literally laughed out loud reading this. I could get carried away with a further response so I’ll just leave it there
Some are “trailer Queens”while others are mere “Trailer Queers”! …I’ll just leave it there!
Pardon me?
Pardon Me, Do you have any GREY POOP ON? 🤔. 🤮 🤮 🤮.
Pardon Me! Do you have any GRAY POOP ON? 🤔. 🤮 🤮 🤮
Anna must be sooo disapointed..
I hope you have lane departure warning/lane keep assist on your car.
I think its awesome. I’d remove the tint and drive it.
Could never restore for the asking price! But for a perfect everyday driver when I’m retired its perfect!
This Cadillac is a driver. My car is too, never been on a trailer.