1930 Cadillac Barn Find

[James]

Hi. I came across this car the other day in a barn not too far from where I live. It is a 1930 Model 3975. From the information I have seen on the internet this is a fleetwood 7 passenger imperial sedan. It has a divider window in it, along with dual jumpseats and a telephone. The outside of the car is rustfree but the paint is in bad shape. All chrome pieces are there but need to be replated. Not pitted just dull. This car has 30,000 original miles and was originally shipped out of the country but brought back in the 1970s. The owner said the car would run and drive but its been sitting a long time and would definitly need to be gone through before trying to start it. It also has dual sidemounts. The interior of the car is typical of a car sitting for 30 or 40 years. Needs alot of work. The engine number on the car is 511003. This is a V8 car. Doors open and close well. Its a pretty solid car but even from 100 yards away you can tell this car needs alot of work. Any 1930 experts out there who can tell me how many of these were made and what this car sounds like it would be worth? Thanks!

James

[Wayne Womble 12210]

According to the information in the Std. Catalog, this is two serial numbers from the last of production 511005. Just looking at the body number should be a good indication of how many were made. Dont assume that just because it has been a long time since it was running that it isnt in good shape.  My `31 had been sitting since 1941 and had no belts hoses etc left intact. Rust dust by the bucket fulls in the block. It cranked and ran on the first try, and is still running like a new one today 10K miles later, with no service whatsoever other than carb, water pump etc.

[Yann Saunders, CLC #12588]

This is the smart-looking Fleetwood "Fleetdale" limousine for 7-passengers. To my knowledge, production figures for Fleetwoods V-8 models for 1930 has not been attempted.  However, extrapolating from existing figures for V-12s (39 units out of 1,019) and V-16s (circa 550 units out of 3250), one may assume that the 7-pass. Fleetwood limo on the V-8 chassis accounted for between 4percent and 17percent of sales of Fleetwood models that year. Im guestimating Fleetwood put bodies on about 2,000 V-8 chassis, so there may have between 80 and 340 7-pass. limousines.

[James]

I know its hard without pictures but what would be a reasonable price for such a car?

James

[Wayne Womble 12210]

Unfortunately the cost of restoration may be more than the restored value unless you can do a lot of it yourself or you get it very cheap.  My 15 year old Std. Catalog gives a restored value of near $50K, hopefully they have gone up a little, but probably not a lot.