Topic: Motoring Memories: Cadillac, 1959

[Autos_Editor]

Depending on your perception, the 1959 Cadillac stood as either the pinnacle or the nadir of American automotive styling. The '59 Caddy's most prominent features were tailfins that soared to unprecedented heights and were capped by chrome-plated points.

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[D70]

 Another good review

My school mate from elementary days shipped an 4 door hard top to New Zealand where it will undergo restoration.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/4849514023/

Another friend in Vancouver, in the early 1960s, owned and drove a silver convertible while his wife drove a Mini!

[ax89]

Well written article.  It reminded me of a time I went with a friend to pull an old Caddy out of a farmers field and tow it back to Regina.  One of the wheel bearings seized when we were pulling it on the gravel grid road and it ended up in the ditch.  Although there was some wild fish tailing, the trucked stayed upright on the road.  So we went to Regina to rent an auto trailer, drove back to get the Caddy and then back to Regina again.  What a long day!

[CadMan]

I am afriad that Mr. Vance has missed an important part of the story behind the 1959 Cadillac.  The drame in the 1959 Caddy is in its shape, not its fittings.  Certainly chromium abounded, but that can be said for almost any U.S. car of 1959.  The big difference between the 1958 abd 1959 Cadillacs is that the '59's fittings compliment its overall design, rather than gobbing it up - as was the case in 1958.  This was not the last of Harley Earl's Cadillacs, but rather the first Caddy of the Bill Mitchell era, and led the way to the far more refined 1960.