In 1952 Cadillac offered both a two door hardtop in the Series 62 and a Coupe deVille two door hardtop. What's the difference?
I don't know about 1952, but I owned a 1951 coupe and a 1953 Coupe De Ville. The 1951 coupe had cloth interior including the headliner without chrome cross bars. The 1953 Coupe DeVille had leather trim and seats. The headliner was vinyl or leather with chrome cross bars. The 53 was a much nicer car.
Jim
I believe that the coupes were shorter as well, and had less trim. I don't think the coupes had rocker panel chrome where the CDV did. Hope this helps.
Since past CLC president Barry who is very knowledgeable in all things Cadillac prefaced his statement about the lengths of the 62 coupe and Coupe de Ville in the early '50's with the words "I believe", I went to Walter Mc Call's 80 Years of Cadillac La Salle to confirm my belief that only the 61 coupes were shorter. All series 61 Cadillacs (which were discontinued at the end of the 1951 model year) were on the 122" wheelbase while all 62 cars including the Coupe de Ville were on the 126" wheelbase.
Thank you Rusty, for the correction. My computer is in my office in the basement, and my copy of Schneider's book is in the book case upstairs. Chalk it up to laziness. Just as an aside, a couple of years ago, I sold some 50-53 parts to a guy in tne Pacific NW who was going to "make" a Series 61 convertible. I wonder what happened to that project.
I guess we all have monumental projects in the back of our minds to do that would take an inordinant amount of time and $s. Mine was to convert the 1947-48 Chev passenger car panel truck body into a '41 Cadillac using a Series 61 chassis. Now THAT would be a swap meet car...
Well, Barry, with that rig, you'd be certain to have the smoothest-running and quietest "truck" at Hershey. The runner-up would be a straight-eight Pontiac panel, the delivery vehicle of choice for any upscale shop of the 1950's.
Quote from: Barry Wheeler on August 26, 2008, 03:35:46 PM
Mine was to convert the 1947-48 Chev passenger car panel truck body into a '41 Cadillac using a Series 61 chassis. Now THAT would be a swap meet car...
1950 My sister's '47 Chevy, which I eventually learned to drive on, and 35 years later same guy, but different car.
I like the hood ornament -- it looks like a Packard cormorant -- nice touch!
Actually my sister first got me interesed in cars. As I remember that hood ornament was a swan, wtih extended wings that used to light up at night. Her next car was a early 50's chevy convertible, which had "add-on" minature Cadillac stop light fins.
As with most model years in the fifties the Series 62 Coupe and the Coupe Deville were primarily the same car except for elements of interior styling and some additional chrome on the exterior as well as the Coupe Deville script. The Series 62 interior was most often two-tone cloth in the "biscuit and button" style with a large center armrest in the rear seat. The Coupe Deville uses metallic light tone leathers with coordinating fabric inserts, a single button is placed in the center of the leather on the back of each seat. The door and kick panels are a patterned chrome and a chrome Cadillac crest is centrally located in each diagonally tufted door panel. The robe cords are of light leather with chrome escutcheons. (Roy Schneider's book is a great guide)
The deville didnt become the 'cheap' car until the 70s right? Till then there was usually models below it?
The Series 61 was the "cheap" car until 1952--discontinued for the '52 model year. The 62 series actually comprised the base 62 coupe, sedan, convertible, DeVilles and even the Eldorados. The named cars were sub-series of the 62 line. All had various levels of trim. Power windows and seat were standard on the DeVille line and extra-cost on the base 62. Of course, Eldorados came with practically EVERYTHING standard.
From 1965-1976, the base 62 was called the Calais. They came with base cloth or vinyl interiors and all the toys were extra cost. It was also when the Eldorado moved into the Fleetwood series.
Sales of the Calais were so low that they dropped it for 1977 when the DeVille line became the "cheap" Cadillac.