When I saw this Cadillac parked on my street, I was pretty blown away. You rarely run into a driver of this vintage, rarity, and quality. The cherry body, the glam two-tone paint, perfect chrome, gorgeous whitewalls, even the period-correct black-on-yellow license plate. Just magnificent. I knew it to be of mid-50s vintage. But for more precise, and interesting perspective, I turned to my father, Rick Munoz the elder. I’ll let him fill in the details:
This body style came out in 1954. That year the chrome separator between the ‘front’ fender and the rear fender ran all the way down to the sill (same as it did in the previous body style.) In 1955 that chrome adornment was curved forward (or upward, as the case may be) which I found to be a pretty neat change back in the day. For 1956, the chrome spear shooting forward from the exhaust tips in the rear bumper was added. In ’57 they had a totally new somewhat less huge body. The ’56s were the last year with the trademark tail lights in those beautiful towers (aka fins.) In ’57 there was an actual fin atop the rear fenders and the tail lights were down near where the exhaust outlets are on this beauty. The front bumper guards were referred to as “Dagmars” after a healthy-chested Hollywood celebrity of that name. I believe those are hubcaps (full wheel covers) rather than alloy wheels. This car is a beauty in every conceivable way. I love that C-pillar and even the extra thingy on the window sills. Big OHV V8 under that hood. Loverly. These Cads and the ’54, ’55 & ’56 Olds were tops with me.