Barn-fresh Cadillac V-16 ambulance heads to auction

Paul Steinberg

PCS Life Member President
Staff member
Super Site Supporter
Will appear at Bonhams’s upcoming Scottsdale auction.
The Bonhams description offers little about the ambulance’s origins, other than noting that Fleetwood originally bodied it as a 4375S four-door sedan, the most common of Cadillac V-16 bodystyles, with no center divider between driver and passenger compartments. Cadillac built 501 such cars and another 438 in a similar bodystyle with a center divider. Sometime after 1935, when Cadillac began to offer commercial chassis, an enterprising and apparently unknown coachbuilder rebodied this Cadillac V-16, chassis number 700731, into an ambulance, updating its appearance with a 1935 Cadillac grille, hood and fenders, and 1935 Cadillac wheels and wheelcovers. Bonhams has set an estimate of $65,000 to $85,000 on the ambulance ahead of its Scottsdale sale, which will take place January 17 at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa.

More pictures and full story here....
 

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Mr Langlois is out that way,would tell him about it but his lovely Mrs has told him no more toys,and she told us at our fall meet,if you see something you like come see her,because Len won't sell em but she would:rofl1:ld.
 
wife sells

Mr Langlois is out that way,would tell him about it but his lovely Mrs has told him no more toys,and she told us at our fall meet,if you see something you like come see her,because Len won't sell em but she would:rofl1:ld.

four years ago my wife sold my 70 dodge demon 340 4 speed original car while i was hunting for a week. came home and she said i have a suprise for you! i sold that old dodge you boght for 3k! you paid 2100 and we made a nice profit! showed her one at mecum that was a barn find and it sold for 12500 not running! im mad again just thinking about it. she will never do it again i assure you. yried to get it back but what can you do. buyer just laughed at me and my brother had to grab me and drag me away. slept in the motorhome till i finally just excepted it.
 
Forwarded this on to Tom McP., which I think a few of you also did, and got a little insight to the coachbuilder. He confirmed it's a late '20's Meteor body. Now I wonder how we can get some service history for this beautiful thing...
 
Tom McPherson tells us that this is obviously a late Twenties Meteor body. It is the same body that they used exclusively for application to the Cadillac ambulances and hearses they were building for Cadillac themselves - the vehicles that were retailed through Cadillac dealers from the mid-to the late Twenties. Walt McCall says that a 1935 Cadillac grille has been grafted onto a Model 452 sedan chassis. The grille and hood are not 1935 V-16 issue, nor are the front fenders. The hood louver doors were last used in 1932. He speculates that this may originally have been a hearse. There you have it. The experts have weighed in.
 
OK I know most of you drool at the though of such things fetching these prices but lets get realistic here. restored maybe but un restored. then to top if off the man can't even read the tag. Meteors were well marked. then of all things they sell it as a Cadillac, not what it is. but of course if you advertised a Meteor ambulance(invalid car) who would pay any attention to it. if it fetches the money I would bet it gets turned back into a caddy. after all that's were the money would be. but you guys watch and let me know.
 
four years ago my wife sold my 70 dodge demon 340 4 speed original car while i was hunting for a week. came home and she said i have a suprise for you! i sold that old dodge you boght for 3k! you paid 2100 and we made a nice profit! showed her one at mecum that was a barn find and it sold for 12500 not running! im mad again just thinking about it. she will never do it again i assure you. yried to get it back but what can you do. buyer just laughed at me and my brother had to grab me and drag me away. slept in the motorhome till i finally just excepted it.

You are more forgiving than me. I know I would no longer be married to her, plus she would be charged with theft and selling stolen goods. If it was in both names it might not work, but I would never put my car on a joint title.
 
With all due respect to Mr. McPherson's vast knowledge and expertise on these cars, this does not appear to be a Meteor body... This car still retains the standard length Series 452 Sedan rear doors and standard length chassis and wheelbase. The only extension in the body is in the section behind the rear doors.
My guess is this car was likely built in the mid-'30s by an independent shop, modifying a used 1930 V-16 Sedan.. The grille shell and headlights are standard '35 Cadillac and the fenders appear to be modified '33 items, or possibly the original 1930 fenders modified for a updated appearance. The hood, bumpers, running boards and valances appear original to the 1930 452 Sedan body this car began it's life as.
 
With all due respect to Mr. McPherson's vast knowledge and expertise on these cars, this does not appear to be a Meteor body... This car still retains the standard length Series 452 Sedan rear doors and standard length chassis and wheelbase. The only extension in the body is in the section behind the rear doors.
My guess is this car was likely built in the mid-'30s by an independent shop, modifying a used 1930 V-16 Sedan.. The grille shell and headlights are standard '35 Cadillac and the fenders appear to be modified '33 items, or possibly the original 1930 fenders modified for a updated appearance. The hood, bumpers, running boards and valances appear original to the 1930 452 Sedan body this car began it's life as.

In that era, I think it was fairly common to "update" specialty cars.... look at how many times the White House's '39 Lincoln "Sunshine Special" was revamped before the "Cosmo's" came on the scene in the early 50's
 
OK I know most of you drool at the though of such things fetching these prices but lets get realistic here. restored maybe but un restored. then to top if off the man can't even read the tag. Meteors were will marked. then of all things they sell it as a Cadillac, not what it is. but of course if you advertised a Meteor ambulance(invalid car) who would pay any attention to it. if it fetches the money I would bet it gets turned back into a caddy. after all that's were the money would be. but you guys watch and let me know.

I was actually thinking that this ambulance will fetch around $20K. I agree that it may be worth more, but it just seems to me that a professional car needing a restoration will not have people fighting to pour money in to it. Having said that, if one of our famous PCS restoration gurus got hold of it, well then in would really be special.
 
four years ago my wife sold my 70 dodge demon 340 4 speed original car while i was hunting for a week. came home and she said i have a suprise for you! i sold that old dodge you boght for 3k! you paid 2100 and we made a nice profit! showed her one at mecum that was a barn find and it sold for 12500 not running! im mad again just thinking about it. she will never do it again i assure you. yried to get it back but what can you do. buyer just laughed at me and my brother had to grab me and drag me away. slept in the motorhome till i finally just excepted it.

You are not a husband Kyle, you sir are a saint !!!
 
To those that are members of the Cadillac Lasalle club, they know that the cadillac V-16 is one of the documented cars made. Many articles have appeared in the self starer about the V-16 and were most of them are. To have a matching V-16 and chassis, it does not matter what car it is. It will easily fetch that kind of money.
 
To those that are members of the Cadillac Lasalle club, they know that the cadillac V-16 is one of the documented cars made. Many articles have appeared in the self starer about the V-16 and were most of them are. To have a matching V-16 and chassis, it does not matter what car it is. It will easily fetch that kind of money.

like I said for the caddy stuff. one more piece of Hx is gone. be nice if some one close could get some pictures of the car inside and out before it's sold and striped for parts.
 
The main interest in this car will be from people that will be looking at doing a rebody. Most of them will only be interested in the chassis and drivetrain. I love the car for what it is, but looking at it from an investment standpoint even I would rebody it.

Jeremy
 
To those that are members of the Cadillac Lasalle club, they know that the cadillac V-16 is one of the documented cars made. Many articles have appeared in the self starer about the V-16 and were most of them are. To have a matching V-16 and chassis, it does not matter what car it is. It will easily fetch that kind of money.

I can understand the interest in the V16 Cadillac chassis and engine. Oh well, another rare ambulance may be gone, what a shame.
 
I certainly hope someone restores this as an ambulance. I think with the combination of the '30 Cadillac chassis, the ambulance body, and '35 hood and grille, it would be a very unique and attractive ambulance.
 
I'd like to find it........

I will be in Phoenix on 14 January......can someone tell me where it will be that day? Unfortunately, I return to Illinois before the auction..........
 
Hi,

I'm a Cadillac-LaSalle Club member who met some PCS members at our region's fall car show near Washington, D.C.

The ambulance that Bonhams is offering began life as a 1930 Cadillac V-16 Series 4375-S seven-passenger sedan. The engine is from a Series 4361-S 5-passenger town sedan. The coachbuilder kept the original wheelbase (148") but lengthened the rear quarter of the body significantly and created a side-hung rear entrance. That job would not have been easy, and it appears to have been done very professionally. The fenders appear to be customized 1930 Cadillac parts, with skirting and a streamlining effect. The rear fenders are extended to go with the new body length. The fronts are styled to look like 1934 Packard fenders. The stock 1930 radiator is enclosed in a shell that looks like a 1934-1935 Cadillac V-8 or V-12 part, but matches up nicely with a 1930 hood and allows the 1930 radiator filler neck to protrude. The grille is very similar to (but different from) the '34-'35 Cadillac counterpart. I believe that the grille and radiator shell were fabricated for this car. The engine has a second generator on the driver's side and a voltage regulator for it on the firewall (understandable in view of the extra lighting and siren an ambulace would carry). Somebody did a LOT of work on this beast. License plates are 1956 California. I'm speculating from the grey paint and the shape of the scraped-off lettering that it may have served a naval base, perhaps during WWII. It would be great to know the story behind this very unusual and interesting car.

Chris Cummings
 
thanks nice to here from some one that is up on these set of years. if it is a meteor body they did build there own. and were known to out source there radiators from people other then were the chassis came from. they would literately build from scratch using assembles modified to fit the needs of the car being built. this of course made rebuilding them a problem so when a complete surviver comes up it's a note worthy find. one from back in the days when they were hand crafted cars
 
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