1938 Cadillac owners manual

[Jim]

Question on the 1938 Cadillac owners manual.  Shows to be copyright 1937 on page two and contains 56 pages.  Edition information on page 56 is as follows:

Edition 38-62
5M-12-37

I have two manuals; both are identical with the exception of one item.   One has a lubrication chart and the other does not.  The lubrication chart has the same edition information in the lower right hand corner.

The chart is a fold out and not actually attached to the manual.  Is there supposed to be a lube chart with each owners manual or is this just an extra item not included with all manuals?  

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jim

[Doug Houston]

I havent a direct answer to your question, though I have two 38 model Cadillacs. First, the 38 shop manual was a supplement to the 37 shop manual. To complicate things, there was a preliminary 38 shop manual, and there were some interesting differences after the final book came out. For instance, in the prelim book, the series 60 showed only one body style, which happened to be the 60 Special that was new that year. It appears that the "special" part of the name may not have been added. The final manual shows the 60 series cars with all of their body styles, and the 60S shown as we know it: 60 Special.

As far as lube charts go, Im sure that it was supposed to be in all of the manuals. After the 66 years that these books have been around, a chart could have easily disappeared from one of the books. There was a lot of time for it to happen!

[T.L. (Ty) Stinson]

Hello Doug:
Do you know where I can find a 1937 Cadillac owners manual for the V12 four-door sedan, and how much I can expect to pay for a copy?
Ty

[Doug Houston]

I have no idea. Iver had mine for possibly 40 years, and I havent watched ads. There must be some appearing somewhere.

By the way, the 37 manual covers all V8 and V12 cars, but the 16s are covered in earlier books. I think that the 36 manual has V16s in it.

[Yann Saunders, 12588]

I have an original 39 OM marked "Edition 39-61, 4M-9-38", copyrighted in 1938. Like yours, it also has 56 pages.  Mine has TWO lube charts [that have become detached]; there is one for the "39-60S" and "39-61" models, the other for the "39-75" models. The former one carries the same ref. numbers as the OM itself ("39-61, 4M-9-38), while the latter reads "39-71, 40M-9-38 Printed in USA".  Both still have traces of glue, although neither currently adheres to the manual.

I have also what I believe to be a repro copy of a 39 OM (IMHO its just too PERFECT to be an original). It too has 56 pages but is marked "Edition 39-62, 4M-11-38" and is copyrighted in 1938.  It too has TWO lube charts; again, one for the "39-60S" and "39-61" models, the other for the "39-75" models.  The one for the "75"s is glued along the inner edge of p.56; it is marked "39-72, 4M-11.38, Printed in USA". The other is glued to the inner edge of the back cover; it  reads "39-62, 40M-11-38 Printed in USA".

I know that repro copies of similar OMs were made in the 60s-70s for the 1940 and 1941 Cadillacs (have those too).  The repros for 1940 and 1941 have no attached lube charts. They are well made and (unfortunately for us buyers) they DONT mention being reproductions.

[Doug Houston]

YANN:
There are all sorts of interesting wrinkles in factory information on out cars. Since you  mentioned the 1941 manual, this was the yuear that the Hydra-Matic transmission became available on Cadillac. Note that there was no mention of it in the regular shop manual. I have an original copy of it. Later, there was a separate shop manual covering the Hydra-Matic, which I rarely ever see. I have one that looks like its hot off the press. Ironically, I now have postwar transmissions in my 41s.  

They show no views in the 41 book of the large access pan in the front floor of all 41 models for Hydra-Matic servicing. In the Hydra-Matic book, they show it, and the little crane used to remove or install the transmission.

The other 41 manual is the air conditioning manual. Ive looked in mine, and there is no inkling of the publishing date.