Bill Mitchell , room decorator of the 1938 Cadillac Sixty - Special , had been with General Motors ’s Art & Colour Section less than a yr when he was promote to maneuver Cadillac and LaSalle styling . The Cadillac Sixty - Special was his first task and it proved the wisdom of his promotion . It was one of the great designs of Thirties and a milestone for Cadillac styling .
It has been judge that Mitchell , who would afterward maneuver General Motors ’s innovation department in the Sixties and Seventies , determined the appearance of 72 million gondola . These included such unclouded designs as the 1963 Buick Riviera , 1963 Corvette Stingray , and 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado . But the 1938 Sixty - Special remained one of Mitchell ’s preferred designs . The Sixty - Special started out as a LaSalle fun sedan chair . Midway through the project , GM realized the motorcar would be too expensive for a LaSalle and it became a Cadillac . Larger and more expensive than Cadillac ’s submission - level Series 60 , but cheaper than the less - flamboyant big Cadillacs , the Special ’s price was $ 2,090 . Built on a double - pearl skeleton , it was three inches low than other Cadillacs . This humble profile improved handling and appropriate for the elimination of running boards – a first for a automobile from the Big Three . The Sixty - Special was the first saloon with a fully integrated trunk . Previously , sedan luggage compartment were upright boxes ingraft on to the posterior of the car . Plus , the Sixty - Special ’s buffer stretched rearward to make the trunk seem even more a part of the railway car , a look that is still with us today . The typical roof seem more like a convertible top than a Thirties sedan cap . The side window were large with thin , refined chrome frames instead of the normal thick , paint stampings . The effect was similar to that of the postwar hardtop .
Chrome trimming was kept to a minimum . The car was sporty , daring , yet elegant . Cadillac organization was worried that it might be too radical for the ultraconservative American opulence grocery store . Their fear were wild ; the Sixty - Special outsold every other Cadillac line in its first year . Sixty - Special feature were adapted to other General Motors railway car and soon copied by competitors .
tycoon was put up by an L - head V-8 putting out 135 bhp . This smooth and durable engine propelled Cadillacs from 1936 through 1948 ( and it serve reliably in tanks during World War II ) . Power was transmit by a baffling , quick - shifting three - swiftness gearbox that was subsequently a favorite of raging - rodders . For 1938 , all Cadillacs moved the gearstick from the trading floor to the steerage tower .
Richard Stanley , of Los Angeles , California , possess the restored Sixty - Special featured here . Mr. Stanley , a realtor , used the commission he made betray a 1938 house to corrupt a 1938 car . The car was a basket case when purchased , but is now rat a Classic Car Club of America Premier Car . It has also take best in class at the Palos Verdes Concours d’Elegance .
