The DeVille debuted in 1949 as a top trim package on the Series 62 Cadillacs. That included the Coupe DeVille, which was one of the first pillarless 2-door hardtops. These cars became a series of their own later in the 1950s and would be a Cadillac mainstay until 2005. The future seller (an auction house) has what appears to be a customized 1950 Coupe DeVille that caught fire and burned up, thus becoming a salvage purchase at best. Located in Los Angeles, California, this yet-to-be-scheduled auction Caddy may be available soon here on IAA Holdings, a global digital marketplace. Kudos to Mitchell G. for the “hot” tip!
When this Caddy was new, it was quite a well-heeled automobile, with leather upholstery and power accessories as standard equipment. A 331 cubic inch V8 and a 4-speed Hydra-Matic transmission were under the hood. The Coupe DeVille found 2,150 buyers in 1949, but sales began to perk up to more than 4,500 units in 1950. A more modern powertrain is under the hood of what’s left of this car now, including an alternator as opposed to a generator.
We don’t know the story of what happened to this DeVille. Whatever caused the fire looks to have started in the back half of the car, as the front clip looks remarkably good. If the car was customized, was it lowered in the process, too, which would explain its ground-level stance today? The listing says the VIN is missing, and there are no keys.
If and when this Caddy finally goes up for auction, what would you do with it, and what would you be willing to pay for it? It’s pretty well burned up, with little behind the cowl that may be usable. And the structure of the vehicle could have been comprised, too. Apparently, the harvesting of parts has already begun, as the carburetor (at a minimum) is no longer a part of the equation. How the actual cash value of $16,504 stated in the listing was determined isn’t mentioned.
472 V-8/M-22 Muncie 4-speed coming up– provided the structural supports under the body aren’t warped. If not, I’d heave ho all that lowered BS. and
get ‘er back to stock height. And since it’s pretty much toast anyway, anything goes when it comes to rebuilding it. But $16k
for a burned out hulk with no VIN
or keys? I smell something fishy
goin on here. Best thing you could hope to get is a salvage title if that. Looks like it may have been stolen and torched or
torched for the insurance money.
Yeah, it’s a basket case, but I’ll pass.
Fire on the mountain run boy run …
Devil’s at DMV and ain’t no fun..
Sorry no vin no dice…
I expect there will be warped panels, but worse than that, the heat can change the temper of the metal. :-) Terry J
Um,,,newsflash, anyone remember the L.A. fires 1 year ago ? Jeez,,this isn’t the only casualty, and compared to what some folks lost, a pittance.
True. Lots of pictures of burned cars in garages, including cars like this.
clear over the damage and paint flames on it, redo the rest and call it a day.
Could use a tune-up.
Ha-ha-ha … $16K – how about $16 – this is a fool’s purchase …
There can’t be many of these around. 4K is all I’d pay for this one and I think most of the damage is on sheet metal shown leaving the underside and frame intact. Majority of heat and fire would have gone out the blown out windows. Have worked on fire rusted metal that we dipped and saved. Especially easy on older cars like this as the sheet metal was twice as thick as our present day cars have.
I’ve witnessed burned cars like this, the metal is warped all over, like rolling hills, doesn’t matter the thickness of the metal.
Fire does bad things to a car body. I doubt it would ever have straight panels since all the strength would be gone. In addition, if a chemical fire extinguisher was used on it, it would have lots of corrosion, which is also bad news. This car would be a good parts car, but not at $16000, unless you could get that much in parts. I wonder how much the insurance paid out.
Chop off the front end, and have a nice wall mounting!
The VIN number would have been stamped on the original engine block. This is one problem with “modifying” older cars, remove the original engine and you’ve removed permanently the VIN. There should still be a hidden VIN stamped on the frame, but a Cadillac expert would have to point it out. The police used to have code books showing all the VIN locations, but for some reason they don’t have these any more.
I don’t think that is the original engine with a spread bore intake manifold. I have seen flame jobs on front fenders. But an ACTIVE fame job on the rear fenders? That is just too much for me.
this caddy is cooked. yard art
Sad!
Yes.