In about 1976, a woman offered to sell me her '59 Cad convertible for $150 ... I was a teenager, and said "no." In hind sight, I _should_ have said YES.
for me, she was a '64 Electra convertible and she wore red all over, for just $500. She was more than I could handle. Two weeks later, we saw her in the transmission shop. We kinda wondered if she "had problems" when we first gave her a go-over. I'm glad I waited for good, honest, decent, upstanding Chrysler in blue.
In `83 I bought a copy of the Want Ad Press, and found a bunch of `59s for sale. The one I checked out was being offered for $750, and I had talked the seller down to $650. But my parents had their mechanic check it out. He found a bent control arm. Plus one side of the dual exhaust was flex pipe. He didn't like that. Plus he didn't like the rust, so he recommended against me buying it, so my parents wouldn't let me have it. I later bought a `63 hearse without telling them till I brought it home.
A pretty bad automotive control was the pushbuttons to operate the automatic transmission of the 1958 Edsel. They were located on the hub of the steering wheel and they activated an electric motor that was mounted on the transmission. My dad had a 1958 Edsel Pacer. Shortly before I used the car to take the driving test for my first driver's license, the electric motor burned out, making the pushbuttons inoperable. My dad rigged a lever just to the right of the accelerator pedal to shift gears (DNR). When it was time for the parallel parking part of the test, I pulled up in front of the parking space and, without releasing my grip on the steering wheel, I shifted into reverse with my foot and backed into the space. The examiner gave me a puzzled look because he didn't know how I shifted into reverse. I had my answer ready if he asked, but he didn't ask. If he asked how the car went into reverse, I was going to say "automatic transmissiom". If there had been such a thing back then, this would have suggested artificial intelligence.
I own a 1961 Cadillac Fleetwood that has the cruise control option. It is a Perfect Circle unit that was used by multiple manufacturers (Chrysler, ironically, called theirs "AutoPilot" back then). The unit had some functionality that Adam did not mention. It was governed by the speedometer cable and used a mechanical connection to the throttle linkage to work the accelerator pedal. To just use it as a cruise control like on many of today's cars, you simply brought the car to speed and pressed that small button and the car would maintain that speed. You could also use it as a speed minder without engaging the cruise control by sliding the lever that was next to the button. When the car reached the speed that corresponded to the slider setting, it would push back on the accelerator pedal if the speed was exceeded. The slider lever could also be used when the cruise control was set to increase or decrease the speed. This latter function could be tricky if you moved the slider too fast while the cruise control was set. In any event, the cruise control could be disengaged by simply tapping the brake pedal so it would be hard to get it in an uncontrolled runaway situation.
View any Classic Car or Truck.... These vehicles were owned and driven by people who could actually Drive... Survival of the Fittest right?.. With a Mechanical Link to Throttle input, Cable ... Have faults, wear etc.. conveniently (N) has been granted for your safety... Cheers from Southern California 🇺🇸 Daily Driver 68 Dodge Dart... Keep them on the road
Ford said, "Hold my beer..." A 1977 Ford wagon with the 460 V8 cruise control would not cancel with a brake application when a brake light bulb burned out. My old boss found that out when he attempted to exit the highway after driving some distance with the cruise control on.
To fix that they put in a pressure switch on the brake iine, which only ever actually got used in the event the brake circuit 'failed'. Which then became a problem when they got a bad pressure switch design and they'd short and catch fire.
@@warphammer Fast forward a couple decades and Fords were burning to the ground because they used a cheap diaphragm switch for that and brake fluid is conductive... Everyone else was smart enough to have a switch tied to the brake pedal...but not relying on the bulbs to be functional lol
In college (1973) I had a 1960 Fleetwood with the infamous air ride ( it worked) - it did not have cruise but with good bias ply tires with that air ride it handled like a dream . I would drive it from Oklahoma City to Houston, Tx. leaving at midnight and get to Houston at 05:00 AM - it was a parade float but I loved it.
@@MarinCipollina they were NOT available in '73 and when they later were a Michelin for that size vehicle was $100.00 per tire - a small fortune at the time.
@@myronfrobisher Radial tires became standard on Cadillacs starting in 1973. Those were Uniroyals. You may not care for the brand, but that's how the factory equipped them.
The ’61 Cadillac was, perhaps, my favorite styling year. This is just a stunning car, inside and out, 2door and 4 door. 1961 was, to my eye, a strong year for Pontiac and Buick, as well.
The line Marty McFly sez to the 1955 kids sounds right when it comes to the fins: "Guess you guys aren't ready for this yet, but your kids will love it."
@@amac203 Maybe he means that young adults of 2024 don't like fins, but he predicts that their kids will love them 20 years from now. Such as, fins will make a comeback? Besides that, I can't figure what his comment means either.
While I agree that the '61 cruise control should have been dissimilarly designed to the previous model year's wiper control, it's a stretch to call it "dangerous", as that assumes that car buyers are too dumb to notice the difference and / or understand the dealer's explanation of features on a luxury car. Which for a Cadillac, such details would be most thoroughly explained. An observation isn't evidence.
I agree. Cadillac owners, especially at that time, were some of the most successful people anywhere. Successful people are usually highly intelligent and adaptive. It's also worth noting that, according to the Cadillac LaSalle Club, the least ordered options for all 1961 Cadillacs were power vent windows and Cruise Control.
I agree. the whole "dangerous" word is click-baity at best. And the video doesn't reveal what is so "dangerous" until the last couple minutes of the video.
I agree also. I assumed this video was going to be something about a problem with the actual operation of the system. The location of the switch is something any driver would easily adapt to.
I would disagree. Placing an unlit cruise control cluster (which is used only occasionally if you are mostly used to driving around town) in exactly the same place as the previous year's wiper control cluster while basically re-using the same layout for it looks like a recipe for disaster, indeed. Night, high speed, heavy rain - user error is absolutely within the realm of possibility; in such situations, people tend to rely more on muscle memory than on memorizing the controls - it just isn't about "being too dumb". Can't understand defending this design decision, apparently made due to GM's infamous penny-pinching. What else you can expect from the manufacturer of PNDLR-pattern automatic transmissions, though (which, as a proud owner of a '61 Cadillac deVille, I find confusing at best; it is a gorgeous car nonetheless). This video is overly dramatic about the problem - that's for sure.
I can just imagine what it would be like to buy a pristine 61 Cadillac today and feel that smooth & quiet ride. I remember riding in these cars as a kid and later owning a 64 Pontiac Catalina.
I am a big fan of the original Hydra-Matic transmission. This is a very rugged transmission that could withstand a large amount of torque. If I were to complain about modern cars, one thing that stands out as a weakness is the modern transmissions, they don’t take as much abuse as the old Hydra and Turbo trans did. The Hydra-Matic was the great grandfather of fully automatics. I will mention that the position of R next to L was so that you could rock the car easily if you got stuck, or so I’ve read.
They were good transmissions. The original did shift a little rough compared to today but they were bulletproof and many are still running today. They weighed as much as a baby whale! Then came the Jetaways (1956 to 1963 in Cadillacs) that were also good (I had a '56 and later a '57)) Cadillac was the first GM car to have the TH 400 in 1964. That was like floating.
We had a '49 with the original Hydramatic, but I thought by '59 they went to a different, kind of sucky transmission? I know one thing that was totally defective on all 1959's was the horn ring... They were made of a pot-metal that liked to break.
The Turbo trans lived on in GM trucks up until just recently. The 4l60 was based off the turbo 350 with an overdrive added, and the 4l80 was off the turbo 400 with an overdrive. Now GM has transmissions that drop at 100k consistently
IDK, I am still enamored of the 1961. I love how the upper fins are now more tasteful and balanced by those lower fins with sheet metal extending all the way forward. This makes the car capture the light in such a way as to make it look very aerodynamic. The front end with the egg crate grill is still beautiful and the overall presentation of the car just exudes mid-century class and elegance! But was this particular cruise control set up a precursor to the thumb wheel cruise of the later 1960’s models? All of those model years are unforgettable!
The shifter! LOL. Flashback to the mid 70s, my dad owned a small service station. Bill was a neighborhood youth, about 10 years older than me, who worked for my dad back then, and was friends with my older brother, who also worked there. So Bill had several cool cars including 2 59 Cadillacs. A coupe and a sedan de ville. Bill had the coupe, his real pride and joy, in one of the two service bays, the only one with a lift, the center post variety, as standard then. He told me to back out. NO idea to this day why he asked me to do this, i was a wet behind the ears 16 year old, didn't even have a license! Knew nothing! But i knew where reverse should be! Right? Right?? Bill is standing in front of the car, put it in drive instead of reverse, car went no where until i gave it some gas, and here's poor Bill about to get taken down at the knees by his own 59 Caddy! Good thing i still had 16 year old reflexes i stopped it, but he was so so tight between that car and the work bench. I saw where reverse was and he actually did chuckle while i backed out. Amazing guy. And the backing out of a garage with that car! Just like a horse wearing those blinders on their head. All you can see is straight back!
I think at 16 I'd have been less likely to confuse D and R than I am now, since I hadn't been driving multiple cars with the PRNDL configuration, so I'd have had to watch the display, but even that probably wasn't lighted on a 1961 car. Anyway, there was an old clip of some Bee Gees documentary up on YT (since taken down) and it showed Robert Stigwood, their manager and future music tycoon, trying to the get a borrowed Rolls Royce into R and running into the same problem. Rolls was probably the last carmaker to ship cars with Hydramatic transmissions, and they sold them outside the USA for 5 years after the PNDLR configuration was banned by the feds.
For 19 years I daylied an '85 Porsche 928S2 5 speed with a "dog-leg" transmission, which means that reverse is where first gear is in most cars, up and to the left. When I let people drive it I made a point of making them look at the shift pattern on the shifter so they knew that there was something odd. I didn't want them backing into the car behind us when a light turned green.....
A lot of people with GM cars (not just Cadillac) had that issue back in the day. The reason GM did that is because they could save a few pennies by putting Reverse next to Low in the Hydra-Matic unit. I think the early Powerglide is like that too.
One thing that I miss is the forward visibility of these 50s and 60s cars. The A-pillars of most cars these days are practically in your straight-ahead point-of-view. The horrendous 'cybertruck' is the worst of the lot, but even cars like my wife's 3rd gen Honda Fit have the issue. So easy for a pedestrian or another vehicle to get completely obscured in that blind spot.
Federally-mandated rollover standards; kinda like peering around the mast when driving a fork truck. An entire vehicle will disappear on the right, especially when approaching a four-way stop. Absolute necessity for the oversized overweight overwrought lumbering monsters passing themselves off as pickups or 'sport' utility vehicles, but pretty much useless in a regular car. I'd rather take my chances and be able to actually see.
This is at least partly compensated by the short hoods on modern cars. I look at those old cars that I used to drive so easily and wonder how the heck I could ever see to pull out of a driveway when sitting behind that long hood. Maybe the thin A-pillar was some help.
@@mattwolf7698 I always drove a "hardtop" that had no B-pillar at all. You definitely wanted to keep that thing "shiny side up, rubber side down". The good news was while it was possible to roll one of those cars it wasn't easy considering the large track and wheelbase and low center of gravity.
Of course the moment when you would want the wipers is when it starts raining. Exactly when you wouldn't want to engage cruise... especially with bias ply tires and oil on the road that hasn't washed off yet.
Luxury car salesmen were more knowledgeable back then. They always pointed out new/changed features to entice new and returning customers. The only way I see this clearly labeled change as being "dangerous" is in the hands of know-it-all types, which isn't a fault of Cadillac interior designers. All new cars come with owners manuals. Back then they were much slimmer and better illustrated. If you read the manual, there isnt a problem.
Oh great so all the people who had the problem at the time actually didn't have a problem? Flawless logic dude but you forgot one thing, this DID happen and people DID have problems and they DID report it to dealers, so what on earth is the point of your comment?
Many people are not aware of how much automatism is involved while driving. When I drove my automatic cars for a week or two sometimes I nearly forget to push the clutch before stopping my manual ones. And when I learned to drive in the Seventies, I would drive various Opels and use the Ford Capri 1 of my parents as well. My habit was to push the gear lever as much to the left and then up if I wanted to put in first gear. The only problem with the Ford was that instead of one I tried to put in reverse while still rolling. The noise of the transmission informed me very quickly of my mistake.
The manuals weren't written in tiny print in three languages with so many innane safety and chemical warnings that they couldn't be read, either. What are you doing? "I'm reading my new car manual", said nobody since 1992.
@@amac203 😅😂🤣....I bet in the time it took you to type your intense response, even you could have opened a 1961 Cadillac owners manual and found the illustrated diagram for the dashboard, which clearly shows where both the Cruise Control and windshield washer units are located. Owned over 40 cars since I was 19. Not stopping and my opinion won't change.
My job required driving Modern Car's and Van.. Prius for example,, if left on, the (safety) features.. Are Numerous.. Most can be turned off or at least.. dialed back... It's apparent that the Car Manufacturers have agreed on.. your all just to damn busy to be bothered by the basic requirement of driving... We got it, lane departure, Impact, blind spot monitoring, etc etc... Every classic car we see was owned and driven by a person who could actually drive... I daily driver a 68 Dodge Dart... Risk is part of life, what can, will always survive...
@@AtZero138 Saw a clip on YT where a Chinese EV wouldn't allow the driver to move the steering wheel to change lane unless the turn signal activated first. As they said on the clip, in an emergency you're not going to have time for the niceties.
I look at the dash and it reminds me when I repaired the ac on a 60 Eldorado and it has separate controls for heat and ac on each side of the wheel. The amount of vacuum hoses behind there is mind blowing
Back in 1960 my grandparents had one of these… they had had a bit of money back in their days!! They had many Cadillacs through the years.. funny thing is in 1988 they purchased a brand new Honda Accord LX-I and they thought it was the best car ever!!! I remember the Accord was pretty cool as a kid in the 80s with flip up headlights and the huge windows!!! Love watching these old reviews!!! I wish had gotten to ride in one of those old Cadillacs
We had a 59 series 62 two door coupe. I passed my driving test in it in 68. My Dad, a welder, bought it new for $4500. That’s about $50K in current $. It was a year’s salary. I know it well, having cleaned and waxed it from 59-68. The front grill consists of 300 pieces of anodized aluminum, clipped together. A work of art in itself. Material quality was very high. Only plastic inside was a fill panel above the armrest. It really sparkled at night under parking lot lights.
When the comment was made that the 59 front end was not as spectacular as the rear, I couldn't have disagreed more. It was fantastic. My Aunt's 59 was an absolute spaceship
@@ianjay5301 In those days, the intricacy of a grill was a cue to product quality and pride of craftsmanship. Compare grills from Cadillac down the line to Chevrolet and it’s obvious what you were paying for. Blame RR, Bentley, Jaguar, and MB for making grills symbolic and aspirational.
The 390 Cadillac engine wasn’t the same from 1962 to 1963. The 62 engine dated back to the OHV engine that was introduced in 1949, while the 1963 engine was new. It had a front distributor for easier service and room to be expanded to larger displacement (like the 429 that was introduced in 1964).
I imagine most people that bought a Cadillac (back then anyway) weren't stupid people and would've been intelligent enough to quickly adapt to the change, I can't see there being a big "safety issue" with it myself!
I don't think I'd assume that about Elvis, hyped up on speed or Frank Sinatra after a night of binge drinking. Money and brains don't always go hand in hand.
those cars didn't have the safety equipment we take for granted, not even seat belts! They had some unsafe characteristics, but the cruise control wasn't one of them
Interesting trivia, the series 75 Cadillacs used the 1959 windshield up to 1964, the rest of the Cadillac lineup used the flatter windshields introduced in 1961. Another interesting thing, the Dual Coupling Hydramatics with reverse all the way to the right where 4 speed transmissions. There was a speed controlled reverse lockout that locked reverse out above 5ish MPH. It was also one of the few automatics that you could push start the car, it had a second pump mounted on the output shaft.
I wonder when cruise control was first available in any car. I remember driving my dad's 70s-something Chevy Impala with cruise control. I remember going down a hill with the cruise control activated with my foot gently resting on the brake pedal. I felt the brake pedal descend automatically to slow the car down. I don't think that happens with the cruise control of my 2017 Camry.
That Impala wasn't capable of braking automatically to slow the car. The cruise control system however did get engine vacuum via the brake booster, so when the cruise control was using engine vacuum to keep the throttle open it would harden the brake pedal feel. The pedal feel would soften when cruise stopped holding open the throttle, making your light foot pressure easily depress the pedal, feeling like it was automatic, but it was not. Dad had an early 80s Blazer and the cruise would do this with the brake pedal. On the 2017 Camry however automatic braking with the cruise control was standard equipment. It won't impact the pedal feel though as it's done entirely within the ABS module.
Unpopular opinion, the '58 Caddy was the best looking of them all. PRNDL shift pattern wasn't federally mandated until I think 1964, until then it was a free-for-all.
Not unpopular at all, at least not now. Initially '58s were looked at as overchromed (the Buick and Olds definitely were at that!) but I liked the '57s and '58 Caddys. Had my '57 from 1983-87 and I went everywhere in that car as the last owner had the engine rebuilt.
Concerning those Caddies of that era, I've wondered over the decades how many folks slipped, or tripped and fell into one of those sinister looking fins and suffered an impalement, or other significant/serious injury...
Thanks for the memories. When I was in high school our family had a baby blue ‘59 Sedan DeVille. Great car for a high school kid when I was able to get my hands on it on a Friday or Saturday night. Our next car was a ‘62 Sedan DeVille.
Your mention of the 1961 Cadillac ambulance taillights reminded me of a 1959 Chevrolet ambulance in my hometown. I do not know which coach body manufacturer did the conversion, but I remember that in order to accommodate the rear door, 1958 Chevrolet taillights were used.
Odd considering there were various wagon models and an El Camino with a drop down tailgate, as well as a sedan delivery with one-piece lift up door that all used a split version of the ‘59 taillight.
I cannot remember the rear door arrangement, but it may have been a custom extra wide door that was hinged on one side. I used to own a ‘59 El Camino. I currently own two Impala Sport Sedans.
Same issue on early 00s e-class MBZ. The cruise control is activated by a stalk located exactly where the turn signal is in every other car I have driven.
That's kind of how it was on my '95 Golf, '99 Jetta and '99 Cabrio, except it was part of the wiper stalk. Not quite as dangerous but I never use cruise control anyway.
I 100,000% agree with you about the 1960 over the 1959 model overall. That is also one of the rare cars that the rear skirt works for me too. I REALLY like the 1961s across the board on the GM cars, and the 61 Cadillac is really something to my eye.
I can remember in 1966 that the newly styled Lincoln Continental had the headlight and wiper switches, apparently intuitively reversed on the new dashboard. Drivers were pulling the wiper knob off accidentally. It was enough of an issue that Lincoln switched the wiper and light switches on the 1967 dashboard and even stated in their brochure that year that they had done it. I sure didn’t know about the 1961 Cadillac. I guess I remember first seeing cruise in the 1962 thank you so much for the great video, Adam.
Wow! I fly Boeing 767's for a living and for the most part, every switch and knob is in a certain place regardless of the model, and the shapes of knobs are standard in the industry so that you don't do the wrong thing at the wrong time. We spend a lot of time in training learning where everything is so that we can basically find it blindfolded. I'm surprised that they made this big of a mistake. GM was (and still is) the kind of organization where you do not tell the boss he is wrong or show him/her up with a better idea, so that's probably the explanation. Great video!
@@xpusostomos This is an example of what educators call "negative transfer". People are used to one thing, and when it changes they are prone to make a mistake. The placement of this very different control where a relatively benign one was the year before is something that the engineers should have noticed. I guess it is possible that it was simply missed, but you'd have thought that someone would have spoken up "Hey, uhmm....What if....".
@@Flies2FLL I don't see the cruise control as particularly dangerous, you put the brake on and it's finished. These days most are designed horribly, on the steering wheel, indistinguishable from the media controls, and yet you don't hear about cruise control incidents. What's wild to me is how in the 50s and 60s they'd almost completely redesign the car every year. Those were heady times.
@@xpusostomosExactly. I comprehend the need for instrument placement standardization for commercial airplanes because it's highly unlikely the same pilot will sit in the same cockpit repeatedly. Cars are engineered and designed for personalized transportation. Total standardization doesn't really apply. Different models require different dashboards. I'm the first to admit that I've questioned the ergonomic decisions of modern car manufacturers. Do I think radio controls belong on a steering wheel hub, which to me should only contain the horn pad and airbag beneath it,? No. I grew up with only the horn on the steering wheel hub or spokes. Yet if I drive such a car, I make sure to locate the horn before driving and I've never mistaken a radio button for the horn. My mother bought a new '77 Mercury Monarch Ghia. It had CC buttons to the left and right where cheaper models placed horn buttons. The horn was a separate horizontal bar which ran the width of the singular spoke. Neither of us ever mistook the CC buttons for the horn or vice versa. Other people drove her car. No problem. My aunt had a Mercury Marquis Brougham with a Rim Blow horn. Everyone knew where it was who drove her car. These days so many features have crept their way into our cars it's hard to keep up. I wonder what those who complained about the CC placement would think about sitting behind a new cars dashboard now?...😆😂🤣
In many small towns in the US, they used those "combination cars" for ambulances and hearses.... sometimes just slapping a magnetic red light on the roof for "emergencies". That changed in about 1970 with federal standards for ambulance bodies, as they became more crash-resistant and better equipped for all- EMS work. Not all areas operated with the combo cars but many did right up to the late-60s.
Back in those days, funeral parlors all over used their hearses as ambulances. In the mid-60's. my brother drove one of them for a local funeral parlor that was also used as an ambulance. That was back before paramedics, and you were just loaded up and driven to the emergency room without much first aid given
Many hearses back in those days performed double-duty as ambulances! I know....morose but many private ambulance companies also did funeral business back in the day. Fortunately, I don't remember any of that stuff! A black ambulance with one red light and hearse curtains on the windows driving up to take you to the hospital! I think I'd walk there myself before that!😂
Our school director actually traded his 1961 Cadillac in on a Lincoln because of that. His wife kept turning it on when when she wanted to wash the windows. Never had a crash, but it bothered them both.
@@60gregmaAmen! The first one or two times I can understand. Repeatedly doing it and expecting a different result isn't the fault of the car. Thank God he traded the Caddy in before his wife hurt herself or someone else.
About 10 years ago, there was a study on the IQs and education levels of luxury car owners. Owners of Cadillacs were found to have the highest IQs and education levels. Mercedes came in second with Lexus owners third. BMW owners scored dead last.
@@waynejohnson1304 That’s interesting. Back when I was a kid. Most of the bigger car owners were the business owners & professional people of the community. The used ones (cars) eventually filtered down to the working class. Hey, that’s the way it was. And we respected that. If you wanted better, you got a better job to afford it.❤
Today is course that means something completely different and was made dangerous of course by Elon Musk but also the owners as well. GM got it right this time around though and so did Ford.
Fascinating. I have been dealing 50 and 60's model Cadillacs since I was a teen. My gramps traded Cads every couple years and had a couple in this time period new. Never heard a single comment in 50 years about this being "dangerous". Not once, from anyone. But back then owners manuals told you how a car functioned, instead of not to drink the contents of the washer bottle. Maybe it would be dangerous for today's idiots. Also, the 390 in the '62 and earlier Cadillacs was the direct descendant of the original OHV engine from '49. It was never enlarged to 429CID and ended in 1962. Cadillac introduced a new engine in 1963 that shared little with the prior engine but displacement. THAT engine was enlarged in '64 to 429 and stayed until replaced by the 472.
Beach Aircraft did a similar thing in the early Bonanzas. The flap selector controls were very similar to the landing gear controls for retract and extend, were similar switches and locations.
International straight trucks for a short while had a twist-to-lock knob for winter engine warm ups. Its stamped Trottle Lock. What can go wrong you might ask.
First legal car - '47 Dodge. Current ride - '48 Plymouth (we circle back). Both equipped with twist-lock throttle knobs, useful on long flat stretches.
@@danharasty6686 the Dodge topped out at 70 and I imagine the Plymouth would do the same. The 'Comfort Master' heater in the Dodge cranked out maybe 800 btu, compromised somewhat by a big old hole in the driver's floorboard. Slush would shoot right up through it. Drove it for eight years, cranking the window down to give signals that few understood in every type of weather. The Plymouth has turn signals and...get this...two blowers! But she only comes out on nice days.
Loved my 1964 Oldsmobile Starfire Cruise control. A simple wheel, with various speeds available and a simple button to engage. Was so cool to feel that stop against the accelerator pedal, when you turned it on. Also worked as a rest, if you wanted to just maintain a speed by yourself.
The worst component on any vehicle I ever saw were Chevy truck body panels in the 70's and 80's . That corrugated metal would rust from the inside out.
When I was in high school a 20-something guy showed up at our church, driving a `58 Chevy Brookwood wagon. This was in the late 70s. Well a week later he showed up in a `60 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. That was the first time I ever saw the PNDLR shift quadrant. Then in `83 I bought a `63 Superior Cadillac hearse. This car had the wrap-around windshield of the `59 and `60, as well as the 4-speed Hydramatic. The 1-2 shift was barely noticeable. Also I had to get used to reverse being all the way over to the right. Anyway, this was very interesting, using the same switch and button for cruise. I had no idea. I can imagine how that would be unsafe. Thanks.
The original ones were gold plated. That screw here was something Gramps found in the garage when he dropped the original one in the bucket of used oil while taking that cruise assembly apart to clean it because that button was all jammed up with ketchup and Cheetoh dust creating a hazard not covered under warranty.
Hey! Small correction for you, but very nuanced! I own a 1961 Cadillac, which was the second to last year for the original 390 engine, which was introduced in the 1959 model year. It was a continuation of the 331/365 OHV engine series (same block), which was introduced as Cadillac's new postwar engine in 1949. After 1962, Cadillac designed an entirely new engine for 1963, which happened to also carry the same size in displacement, but was a completely different engine internally that shared almost no parts! It was that engine that was later bored out to 429 cubic inch engine. 1968 was the switch to the 472/500, which was also a new block as both previous designs had reached the limits of their displacement. In short the 390 engine used in the 1961 was not enlarged to the 429, they had already gone to a different block by then! Maybe you knew this and didn't feel the need to include that information but just incase, thought I'd share!
I owned a '62- Series 62 for several years. The 4-speed Hydra-Matic had two 'Drive' positions on the indicator. On the first position, the transmission would go through all 4 gears. If the second position was selected, the transmission would go through the first three gears and hold there. The Oldsmobile indicator of that year had P-N-D-S-L-R positions.
Had a '65 Fleetwood Brougham, 429, big boat, smooth as silk. No idea what curb weight was, probably around 5k. Surprisingly quick. All four vents were powered, so you had eight(!) window switches. Stolen, sadly.
8:01 Are those H and L markings indicating the speed at which the cruise control would be set? That would be very dangerous, since one could accidentally hit the button and have the car zoom up to whatever the maximum position on the dial dictated. I've driven cars with such a dial, but it was roughly calibrated with MPH markings around the drum. Even with that setup, the owner's manual had a stern warning against changing the dial abruptly. This setup seem as if it would be dangerous even if located in a more fortuitous position. It's a good thing Ford invented modern cruise control for the 1966 Thunderbird; since that setup has propagated throughout the industry, they've saved all of us a lot of grief.
the antenna, courtesy light, rear defrost, wiper/washer switches were all of the identical style as the cruise control one on my 68' Electra. They were all located on the dash though. Having drivetrain controls on the doors seems pretty wacky but I definitely wouldn't call it dangerous. The main problem coming from the wiring failing due to fatigue from the door opening and closing. I don't really see how this is any different than cars with multifunction turnstalks tbh
I don't know if I would call the Cadillac 429 all that reliable. The timing chain cover allowed oil blow-by which very slowly stopped oiling the top of the engine. It wouldn't turn on a tell-tale light, but slowly destroyed the engine. Of course GM really could care less if the car lasts past 100,000 miles back then. The only way to fix the problem was a new timing chain cover, which still isn't fixed if it's going to do the same thing again. It sad the most beautiful of the tail finned beats suffered from this problem.
Adam, my compliments on finding such an interesting little screw-up on their designs! Not only is the cruise control button where the washer was, but according to that slider the first section is HIGH speed...
My dad had a 59 and 62 before I was born Then a 64, 68, 69, two 71's (one was handed down to me) While trying to fix the cruise control on the 68, the throttle stuck wife open! That was a fun ride.
3:12 The ambulance that'll take you as quickly to the cemetery. And Dog man! That exposed screw on top of your cruise control switch looks terrible on a very expensive luxury car of that time.
From 1959 onward , styling for Cadillac began to appeal more toward an elderly buyer. 1957 was the best year for styling that appeals to wide age group
Have you done a video on GM’s “Bi-Level” setting? I recently discovered it still works in my ‘84 Fiero. Love these videos on the minutiae of car design. Keep up the good work!
We had a 61 Sedan Deville with no air. The cruise control came on one time by accident. My Dad put it on without knowing. It was exciting to 8 year old me. Great vehicle
The taillights on the big finned Caddys were not styled as rockets they were styled as Jet Engines. The 59 is a B52 engine pod, A 60 could be a English Electric Lightening or a US jet that I cant remember the Designation of Probably a F100 intake and a 61 is a F102 or F89 engine outlet. But many cars back then were covered in military ques. Is it the 61 Grill that uses 50 cal bullets in its styling?
Bias ply tires would hold together OK if they weren't dry rotted or something, but they did NOT stick to the road. Also aerodynamics was kind of an afterthought so over 100 MPH cars were noisy and tended to blow around. Your shocks needed to be good, you don't want sway at high speed. Tires and suspension are amazing nowadays, I remember squealing tires around curves all the time, you never get that now.
@@davidg4288 Hehe! I remember those days. Not just the tires, but no safety features 😮. Safety was not upper most in younger minds. But I made it. BTW, we hardly ever checked the air pressure in those old tires. 😂
@@TomSpeaks-vw1zp My car had lap belts only, which was better than nothing. I finally did start using the seat belt. It made aggressive driving easier since you wouldn't slide around on the bench seats. Bias ply tires did look flat when they were low, like bicycle tires to this day. Radials always look flat and don't look flatter until they hit like 12 PSI, I learned to check them more often.
@@davidg4288 The thing is even with the lap belt you still slam your face into a hard steering wheel which is arguably worse than no belt at all in a lot of cases. That's why I usually don't wear belts in cars like this. In modern cars I usually do if I'm driving very fast anyways
Rather insane that Cadillac being the top car in the lineup could be bought WITHOUT air conditioning. Somehow that still doesn't seem right to me a car of that caliber back then should've had all the comfort and luxury features available unless the customer opted to do without for a credit on the final price. But the 1961 is to this day an awesome looking car. Same with some Buicks too it was a good year for GM. Not to mention 1961 was the first year for a Corvette with the four round taillights. Good year for them.
The first few years of the Datsun 240Z had a very rudimentary "Cruise Control" that would NEVER pass today's safety standards. It was a second lever just to the right of the "choke" lever (not really a choke but actually a bonafide mixture adjustment lever like an airplane has!) down on the console. This "cruise control" lever was just a second throttle adjustment that attached by cable to the carburetor and locked in the throttle setting to where ever the lever was set. Tapping the brake would do nothing to cancel the setting! I have had two 240Zs, a 1971 and currently a 1972. I wish mine was equipped with this relatively rare option, especially on the many cross country trips I've made with the car. I figure I am smart enough to handle the lack of current safety technology this option had.
Remember or if you have ever seen, the old fantastic advertisements in Nat. Geo. and various other publications of stylish couples with ladies dripping in Van Cleef & Arpel diamonds being escorted into their swanky Series 62's? Adam, that might make an incredible video capturing the decadent lifestyle of Cadillac.
When I acquired my 1961 Caddy, I scoured E-bay for several months until I had amassed the entire 1961 print ad campaign. Cadillac was indeed selling luxury and image back then and the "bejewelled" ads started in the early 50's, from what I could find. Mad magazine actually did a parody of the ads in 1961 featuring a diamond, ruby and emerald brooch that spelled out, "Cadillac - We Own One" mocking that the ads were selling jewelry more than cars.
@keetonkatt4621 I loved the episode of Mad Men when the Drapers were having a picnic and Betty flicked the blanket tossing the refuse on the ground before hopping into the Deville.
My grandfather always had Chrysler Imperials...His buddy had a "59 Caddy around the same time that my grandfather owned a "61 Imperial....He would rag on my grandfather all the time saying that his "59 Caddy fins were taller than my grandfather's "61 Imperial fins....Well my grandfather took the bait and backed his Imperial up to the back of his friends Caddy....The "61 Imperial fins were taller by about an inch...My grandfather even took a Polaroid of it which my mother still has....Granted the "59 Cadillac fins are the epitome of outlandish 1950's style but Virgil Exner still had one up his sleeve to show GM how it's done.My grandfather's friend traded his Caddy off within a few months and got out of the tailfin business altogether as he really had his feelings hurt.😭😭😭😭
Back in 1981, I could've had a 1961 Cadillac flower car that one of the funeral parlors in my neighborhood was selling for $600. One of the funeral directors saw me admiring the old tank of a vehicle and offered to sell it to me. It would have been my first car; it was in pretty good shape and well-maintained, with fairly low miles, since it mostly was driven to local cemeteries. Being that it was a two-seater, I guess that it could have served as a sort of Cadillac El Camino. As cool-looking as the car was, I had to politely say no thanks to the director; needless to say, I never would have heard the end of it from my parents, particularly my mom, if I had gone ahead and purchased the car. Oh, and I was told that the car averaged about six miles per gallon of fuel.
To my eyes, the 1961 coupe is the most beautiful Cadillac of all time. It's just purely clean, but still austentatious enough to really make a statement.
In about 1976, a woman offered to sell me her '59 Cad convertible for $150 ... I was a teenager, and said "no." In hind sight, I _should_ have said YES.
Right
Fifty Year storage was not on your mind at the time.
for me, she was a '64 Electra convertible and she wore red all over, for just $500. She was more than I could handle. Two weeks later, we saw her in the transmission shop. We kinda wondered if she "had problems" when we first gave her a go-over. I'm glad I waited for good, honest, decent, upstanding Chrysler in blue.
You refused a Cadillac convertible? Weird!
In `83 I bought a copy of the Want Ad Press, and found a bunch of `59s for sale. The one I checked out was being offered for $750, and I had talked the seller down to $650. But my parents had their mechanic check it out. He found a bent control arm. Plus one side of the dual exhaust was flex pipe. He didn't like that. Plus he didn't like the rust, so he recommended against me buying it, so my parents wouldn't let me have it. I later bought a `63 hearse without telling them till I brought it home.
Those Cadillacs look nothing short of astonishing, both inside and out. They were an absolute class act.
especially the 60-61. And the dash on the '61 is especially beautiful.
A pretty bad automotive control was the pushbuttons to operate the automatic transmission of the 1958 Edsel. They were located on the hub of the steering wheel and they activated an electric motor that was mounted on the transmission. My dad had a 1958 Edsel Pacer. Shortly before I used the car to take the driving test for my first driver's license, the electric motor burned out, making the pushbuttons inoperable. My dad rigged a lever just to the right of the accelerator pedal to shift gears (DNR). When it was time for the parallel parking part of the test, I pulled up in front of the parking space and, without releasing my grip on the steering wheel, I shifted into reverse with my foot and backed into the space. The examiner gave me a puzzled look because he didn't know how I shifted into reverse. I had my answer ready if he asked, but he didn't ask. If he asked how the car went into reverse, I was going to say "automatic transmissiom". If there had been such a thing back then, this would have suggested artificial intelligence.
I own a 1961 Cadillac Fleetwood that has the cruise control option. It is a Perfect Circle unit that was used by multiple manufacturers (Chrysler, ironically, called theirs "AutoPilot" back then). The unit had some functionality that Adam did not mention. It was governed by the speedometer cable and used a mechanical connection to the throttle linkage to work the accelerator pedal. To just use it as a cruise control like on many of today's cars, you simply brought the car to speed and pressed that small button and the car would maintain that speed. You could also use it as a speed minder without engaging the cruise control by sliding the lever that was next to the button. When the car reached the speed that corresponded to the slider setting, it would push back on the accelerator pedal if the speed was exceeded. The slider lever could also be used when the cruise control was set to increase or decrease the speed. This latter function could be tricky if you moved the slider too fast while the cruise control was set.
In any event, the cruise control could be disengaged by simply tapping the brake pedal so it would be hard to get it in an uncontrolled runaway situation.
Some people are just too scared of everything.
Thanks for those tidbits. My '61 that I had in the '70s did not have the CC option.
Thank you for the tutorial, I was curious about the control functions.
View any Classic Car or Truck....
These vehicles were owned and driven by people who could actually Drive...
Survival of the Fittest right?..
With a Mechanical Link to Throttle input, Cable ... Have faults, wear etc.. conveniently (N) has been granted for your safety...
Cheers from Southern California 🇺🇸
Daily Driver 68 Dodge Dart...
Keep them on the road
Yeah thanks for that. He made it sound more dangerous than it really was.
The amount of fine detail that went into design back then is amazing. Just beautiful!
Ugly
9:18 absolutely love that Adam often gets these cars out and lets them take a deep breath.
cadillac with no air conditioner doesn't seem right.
Heaters were still optional in some cars then.
A/C wasn't standard in Caddy's until 1968.
@crankychris2 actually it was 1975 when it became standard across the line.
@@crankychris2 I had a customer who had a 68 Caddy with the 472 and it had no A/C. 1969 is more likely.
Or, as @Gregt8638 said, 1975.
Ford said, "Hold my beer..." A 1977 Ford wagon with the 460 V8 cruise control would not cancel with a brake application when a brake light bulb burned out. My old boss found that out when he attempted to exit the highway after driving some distance with the cruise control on.
Ouch
To fix that they put in a pressure switch on the brake iine, which only ever actually got used in the event the brake circuit 'failed'. Which then became a problem when they got a bad pressure switch design and they'd short and catch fire.
*_Ford has a better idea_*
@@warphammer Fast forward a couple decades and Fords were burning to the ground because they used a cheap diaphragm switch for that and brake fluid is conductive... Everyone else was smart enough to have a switch tied to the brake pedal...but not relying on the bulbs to be functional lol
In college (1973) I had a 1960 Fleetwood with the infamous air ride ( it worked) - it did not have cruise but with good bias ply tires with that air ride it handled like a dream . I would drive it from Oklahoma City to Houston, Tx. leaving at midnight and get to Houston at 05:00 AM - it was a parade float but I loved it.
How I wish I could have one today!
Rarity for sure as most owners had the air suspension uprooted for conventional shocks.
Bias ply tires were terrible compared to radials. No reason to not have radials after they were available.
@@MarinCipollina they were NOT available in '73 and when they later were a Michelin for that size vehicle was $100.00 per tire - a small fortune at the time.
@@myronfrobisher Radial tires became standard on Cadillacs starting in 1973. Those were Uniroyals. You may not care for the brand, but that's how the factory equipped them.
The ’61 Cadillac was, perhaps, my favorite styling year. This is just a stunning car, inside and out, 2door and 4 door. 1961 was, to my eye, a strong year for Pontiac and Buick, as well.
The 62' is my favorite. They improved the look of the back so beautifully.
@@pmn2821 I had a '62 in the late 80s.
The line Marty McFly sez to the 1955 kids sounds right when it comes to the fins:
"Guess you guys aren't ready for this yet, but your kids will love it."
What? No, people at the time liked fins, that's...that's why they were installed
@@amac203 Maybe he means that young adults of 2024 don't like fins, but he predicts that their kids will love them 20 years from now. Such as, fins will make a comeback? Besides that, I can't figure what his comment means either.
While I agree that the '61 cruise control should have been dissimilarly designed to the previous model year's wiper control, it's a stretch to call it "dangerous", as that assumes that car buyers are too dumb to notice the difference and / or understand the dealer's explanation of features on a luxury car. Which for a Cadillac, such details would be most thoroughly explained. An observation isn't evidence.
I agree. Cadillac owners, especially at that time, were some of the most successful people anywhere. Successful people are usually highly intelligent and adaptive.
It's also worth noting that, according to the Cadillac LaSalle Club, the least ordered options for all 1961 Cadillacs were power vent windows and Cruise Control.
I agree. the whole "dangerous" word is click-baity at best. And the video doesn't reveal what is so "dangerous" until the last couple minutes of the video.
I agree also. I assumed this video was going to be something about a problem with the actual operation of the system. The location of the switch is something any driver would easily adapt to.
I would disagree. Placing an unlit cruise control cluster (which is used only occasionally if you are mostly used to driving around town) in exactly the same place as the previous year's wiper control cluster while basically re-using the same layout for it looks like a recipe for disaster, indeed. Night, high speed, heavy rain - user error is absolutely within the realm of possibility; in such situations, people tend to rely more on muscle memory than on memorizing the controls - it just isn't about "being too dumb". Can't understand defending this design decision, apparently made due to GM's infamous penny-pinching.
What else you can expect from the manufacturer of PNDLR-pattern automatic transmissions, though (which, as a proud owner of a '61 Cadillac deVille, I find confusing at best; it is a gorgeous car nonetheless). This video is overly dramatic about the problem - that's for sure.
Wow, that midnight blue '59 Caddy is STUNNING!!!!!! I love the styling of that model year
Call it sacrilege, but I think this car would look even better without the fins.
@@rockets4kids No.. Not that car.
I can just imagine what it would be like to buy a pristine 61 Cadillac today and feel that smooth & quiet ride. I remember riding in these cars as a kid and later owning a 64 Pontiac Catalina.
I am a big fan of the original Hydra-Matic transmission. This is a very rugged transmission that could withstand a large amount of torque. If I were to complain about modern cars, one thing that stands out as a weakness is the modern transmissions, they don’t take as much abuse as the old Hydra and Turbo trans did. The Hydra-Matic was the great grandfather of fully automatics. I will mention that the position of R next to L was so that you could rock the car easily if you got stuck, or so I’ve read.
Ralph Nader, who didn't even know how to drive, claimed that was unsafe.
@@michaelbenardo5695 I guess that’s one way to get famous and make money.
They were good transmissions. The original did shift a little rough compared to today but they were bulletproof and many are still running today. They weighed as much as a baby whale! Then came the Jetaways (1956 to 1963 in Cadillacs) that were also good (I had a '56 and later a '57)) Cadillac was the first GM car to have the TH 400 in 1964. That was like floating.
We had a '49 with the original Hydramatic, but I thought by '59 they went to a different, kind of sucky transmission? I know one thing that was totally defective on all 1959's was the horn ring... They were made of a pot-metal that liked to break.
The Turbo trans lived on in GM trucks up until just recently. The 4l60 was based off the turbo 350 with an overdrive added, and the 4l80 was off the turbo 400 with an overdrive. Now GM has transmissions that drop at 100k consistently
IDK, I am still enamored of the 1961. I love how the upper fins are now more tasteful and balanced by those lower fins with sheet metal extending all the way forward. This makes the car capture the light in such a way as to make it look very aerodynamic. The front end with the egg crate grill is still beautiful and the overall presentation of the car just exudes mid-century class and elegance! But was this particular cruise control set up a precursor to the thumb wheel cruise of the later 1960’s models? All of those model years are unforgettable!
The shifter! LOL. Flashback to the mid 70s, my dad owned a small service station. Bill was a neighborhood youth, about 10 years older than me, who worked for my dad back then, and was friends with my older brother, who also worked there. So Bill had several cool cars including 2 59 Cadillacs. A coupe and a sedan de ville. Bill had the coupe, his real pride and joy, in one of the two service bays, the only one with a lift, the center post variety, as standard then. He told me to back out. NO idea to this day why he asked me to do this, i was a wet behind the ears 16 year old, didn't even have a license! Knew nothing! But i knew where reverse should be! Right? Right?? Bill is standing in front of the car, put it in drive instead of reverse, car went no where until i gave it some gas, and here's poor Bill about to get taken down at the knees by his own 59 Caddy! Good thing i still had 16 year old reflexes i stopped it, but he was so so tight between that car and the work bench. I saw where reverse was and he actually did chuckle while i backed out. Amazing guy. And the backing out of a garage with that car! Just like a horse wearing those blinders on their head. All you can see is straight back!
I think at 16 I'd have been less likely to confuse D and R than I am now, since I hadn't been driving multiple cars with the PRNDL configuration, so I'd have had to watch the display, but even that probably wasn't lighted on a 1961 car. Anyway, there was an old clip of some Bee Gees documentary up on YT (since taken down) and it showed Robert Stigwood, their manager and future music tycoon, trying to the get a borrowed Rolls Royce into R and running into the same problem. Rolls was probably the last carmaker to ship cars with Hydramatic transmissions, and they sold them outside the USA for 5 years after the PNDLR configuration was banned by the feds.
For 19 years I daylied an '85 Porsche 928S2 5 speed with a "dog-leg" transmission, which means that reverse is where first gear is in most cars, up and to the left. When I let people drive it I made a point of making them look at the shift pattern on the shifter so they knew that there was something odd. I didn't want them backing into the car behind us when a light turned green.....
A lot of people with GM cars (not just Cadillac) had that issue back in the day. The reason GM did that is because they could save a few pennies by putting Reverse next to Low in the Hydra-Matic unit. I think the early Powerglide is like that too.
O@@Flies2FLL
Putting L next to R qualifies as dangerous to me.
One thing that I miss is the forward visibility of these 50s and 60s cars. The A-pillars of most cars these days are practically in your straight-ahead point-of-view. The horrendous 'cybertruck' is the worst of the lot, but even cars like my wife's 3rd gen Honda Fit have the issue. So easy for a pedestrian or another vehicle to get completely obscured in that blind spot.
Those thick corner posts would have been considered a safety hazard back in the day for exactly the reason you say.
Federally-mandated rollover standards; kinda like peering around the mast when driving a fork truck. An entire vehicle will disappear on the right, especially when approaching a four-way stop. Absolute necessity for the oversized overweight overwrought lumbering monsters passing themselves off as pickups or 'sport' utility vehicles, but pretty much useless in a regular car.
I'd rather take my chances and be able to actually see.
Those thin a pillars would also cause the roof to crush in if the car rolled.
This is at least partly compensated by the short hoods on modern cars. I look at those old cars that I used to drive so easily and wonder how the heck I could ever see to pull out of a driveway when sitting behind that long hood. Maybe the thin A-pillar was some help.
@@mattwolf7698 I always drove a "hardtop" that had no B-pillar at all. You definitely wanted to keep that thing "shiny side up, rubber side down". The good news was while it was possible to roll one of those cars it wasn't easy considering the large track and wheelbase and low center of gravity.
Of course the moment when you would want the wipers is when it starts raining. Exactly when you wouldn't want to engage cruise... especially with bias ply tires and oil on the road that hasn't washed off yet.
Luxury car salesmen were more knowledgeable back then. They always pointed out new/changed features to entice new and returning customers.
The only way I see this clearly labeled change as being "dangerous" is in the hands of know-it-all types, which isn't a fault of Cadillac interior designers.
All new cars come with owners manuals. Back then they were much slimmer and better illustrated. If you read the manual, there isnt a problem.
Oh great so all the people who had the problem at the time actually didn't have a problem? Flawless logic dude but you forgot one thing, this DID happen and people DID have problems and they DID report it to dealers, so what on earth is the point of your comment?
@@amac203That some people are thick Dude!!!🤔🤨🧐🙄Doh!
Many people are not aware of how much automatism is involved while driving. When I drove my automatic cars for a week or two sometimes I nearly forget to push the clutch before stopping my manual ones. And when I learned to drive in the Seventies, I would drive various Opels and use the Ford Capri 1 of my parents as well. My habit was to push the gear lever as much to the left and then up if I wanted to put in first gear. The only problem with the Ford was that instead of one I tried to put in reverse while still rolling. The noise of the transmission informed me very quickly of my mistake.
The manuals weren't written in tiny print in three languages with so many innane safety and chemical warnings that they couldn't be read, either.
What are you doing? "I'm reading my new car manual", said nobody since 1992.
@@amac203 😅😂🤣....I bet in the time it took you to type your intense response, even you could have opened a 1961 Cadillac owners manual and found the illustrated diagram for the dashboard, which clearly shows where both the Cruise Control and windshield washer units are located. Owned over 40 cars since I was 19. Not stopping and my opinion won't change.
In recent years, the worst technologies have been Engine Stop/Start, Cylinder Deactivation, and the CVTs.
And no class. I really miss those days of style and class. It was pride in ownership.
My job required driving Modern Car's and Van.. Prius for example,, if left on, the (safety) features..
Are Numerous..
Most can be turned off or at least.. dialed back...
It's apparent that the Car Manufacturers have agreed on.. your all just to damn busy to be bothered by the basic requirement of driving...
We got it, lane departure, Impact, blind spot monitoring, etc etc...
Every classic car we see was owned and driven by a person who could actually drive...
I daily driver a 68 Dodge Dart...
Risk is part of life, what can, will always survive...
@@AtZero138 Saw a clip on YT where a Chinese EV wouldn't allow the driver to move the steering wheel to change lane unless the turn signal activated first. As they said on the clip, in an emergency you're not going to have time for the niceties.
100% correct!!
Those are dangerous to the car's reliability, not for the driver or other people. I'd argue the giant touchscreens everywhere are far more dangerous.
I look at the dash and it reminds me when I repaired the ac on a 60 Eldorado and it has separate controls for heat and ac on each side of the wheel. The amount of vacuum hoses behind there is mind blowing
Back in 1960 my grandparents had one of these… they had had a bit of money back in their days!! They had many Cadillacs through the years.. funny thing is in 1988 they purchased a brand new Honda Accord LX-I and they thought it was the best car ever!!! I remember the Accord was pretty cool as a kid in the 80s with flip up headlights and the huge windows!!! Love watching these old reviews!!! I wish had gotten to ride in one of those old Cadillacs
Cars of that era were absolute beasts.
Very informative.
My parents fussed about a Ford Thunderbird they got, cause the cruise buttons were in the same area as the horn buttons on their LTD they traded.
We had a 59 series 62 two door coupe. I passed my driving test in it in 68. My Dad, a welder, bought it new for $4500. That’s about $50K in current $. It was a year’s salary. I know it well, having cleaned and waxed it from 59-68. The front grill consists of 300 pieces of anodized aluminum, clipped together. A work of art in itself. Material quality was very high. Only plastic inside was a fill panel above the armrest. It really sparkled at night under parking lot lights.
When the comment was made that the 59 front end was not as spectacular as the rear, I couldn't have disagreed more. It was fantastic. My Aunt's 59 was an absolute spaceship
@@ianjay5301
In those days, the intricacy of a grill was a cue to product quality and pride of craftsmanship. Compare grills from Cadillac down the line to Chevrolet and it’s obvious what you were paying for. Blame RR, Bentley, Jaguar, and MB for making grills symbolic and aspirational.
The 390 Cadillac engine wasn’t the same from 1962 to 1963. The 62 engine dated back to the OHV engine that was introduced in 1949, while the 1963 engine was new. It had a front distributor for easier service and room to be expanded to larger displacement (like the 429 that was introduced in 1964).
I imagine most people that bought a Cadillac (back then anyway) weren't stupid people and would've been intelligent enough to quickly adapt to the change, I can't see there being a big "safety issue" with it myself!
I don't think I'd assume that about Elvis, hyped up on speed or Frank Sinatra after a night of binge drinking. Money and brains don't always go hand in hand.
We're talking about people who couldn't even pump their own gas...
🤷♂️
It wasn't. I had several GM cars from that era, and I never selected Reverse when I wanted to go forward.
People drank and drove more then. Not even kidding.
those cars didn't have the safety equipment we take for granted, not even seat belts! They had some unsafe characteristics, but the cruise control wasn't one of them
Interesting trivia, the series 75 Cadillacs used the 1959 windshield up to 1964, the rest of the Cadillac lineup used the flatter windshields introduced in 1961. Another interesting thing, the Dual Coupling Hydramatics with reverse all the way to the right where 4 speed transmissions. There was a speed controlled reverse lockout that locked reverse out above 5ish MPH. It was also one of the few automatics that you could push start the car, it had a second pump mounted on the output shaft.
The 59 is my absolute favorite 😍
Loved the speedometer type font. It was used throughout the GM line for a long time. Newest car I know of is the 1989 Cadillac Brougham.
I prefer the 59 over the 60. Just more flash and chrome. But to each their own.
The 59 is the most valuable between the two.
.I’m way old school and the 59 GM models were too radical of a change & looked cheap to me.
But to each his own. No offense intended.
The 1961 and 62 are my favorite Caddy's 💋
I wonder when cruise control was first available in any car. I remember driving my dad's 70s-something Chevy Impala with cruise control. I remember going down a hill with the cruise control activated with my foot gently resting on the brake pedal. I felt the brake pedal descend automatically to slow the car down. I don't think that happens with the cruise control of my 2017 Camry.
That Impala wasn't capable of braking automatically to slow the car. The cruise control system however did get engine vacuum via the brake booster, so when the cruise control was using engine vacuum to keep the throttle open it would harden the brake pedal feel. The pedal feel would soften when cruise stopped holding open the throttle, making your light foot pressure easily depress the pedal, feeling like it was automatic, but it was not. Dad had an early 80s Blazer and the cruise would do this with the brake pedal.
On the 2017 Camry however automatic braking with the cruise control was standard equipment. It won't impact the pedal feel though as it's done entirely within the ABS module.
Unpopular opinion, the '58 Caddy was the best looking of them all. PRNDL shift pattern wasn't federally mandated until I think 1964, until then it was a free-for-all.
Not unpopular at all, at least not now. Initially '58s were looked at as overchromed (the Buick and Olds definitely were at that!) but I liked the '57s and '58 Caddys. Had my '57 from 1983-87 and I went everywhere in that car as the last owner had the engine rebuilt.
I'm a big fan of the '54 personally
I love 60s cars.
Concerning those Caddies of that era, I've wondered over the decades how many folks slipped, or tripped and fell into one of those sinister looking fins and suffered an impalement, or other significant/serious injury...
Heard stories about kids riding bicycles not paying attention.
@@jeffrobodine8579 Heard stories of old ladies getting impaled, while standing behind one.
The '59s especially.
Very few. We actually looked where we were going back then.
Nobody, really.. There's no confirmed episode of that ever happening.
In those days there were no mobile telephones...
Thanks for the memories. When I was in high school our family had a
baby blue ‘59 Sedan DeVille. Great car for a high school kid when I was able to get my hands on it on a Friday or Saturday night. Our next car was a ‘62 Sedan DeVille.
Your mention of the 1961 Cadillac ambulance taillights reminded me of a 1959 Chevrolet ambulance in my hometown. I do not know which coach body manufacturer did the conversion, but I remember that in order to accommodate the rear door, 1958 Chevrolet taillights were used.
Odd considering there were various wagon models and an El Camino with a drop down tailgate, as well as a sedan delivery with one-piece lift up door that all used a split version of the ‘59 taillight.
I cannot remember the rear door arrangement, but it may have been a custom extra wide door that was hinged on one side.
I used to own a ‘59 El Camino. I currently own two Impala Sport Sedans.
Same issue on early 00s e-class MBZ. The cruise control is activated by a stalk located exactly where the turn signal is in every other car I have driven.
That's kind of how it was on my '95 Golf, '99 Jetta and '99 Cabrio, except it was part of the wiper stalk. Not quite as dangerous but I never use cruise control anyway.
I 100,000% agree with you about the 1960 over the 1959 model overall. That is also one of the rare cars that the rear skirt works for me too.
I REALLY like the 1961s across the board on the GM cars, and the 61 Cadillac is really something to my eye.
I can remember in 1966 that the newly styled Lincoln Continental had the headlight and wiper switches, apparently intuitively reversed on the new dashboard. Drivers were pulling the wiper knob off accidentally. It was enough of an issue that Lincoln switched the wiper and light switches on the 1967 dashboard and even stated in their brochure that year that they had done it. I sure didn’t know about the 1961 Cadillac. I guess I remember first seeing cruise in the 1962 thank you so much for the great video, Adam.
Wow! I fly Boeing 767's for a living and for the most part, every switch and knob is in a certain place regardless of the model, and the shapes of knobs are standard in the industry so that you don't do the wrong thing at the wrong time.
We spend a lot of time in training learning where everything is so that we can basically find it blindfolded.
I'm surprised that they made this big of a mistake. GM was (and still is) the kind of organization where you do not tell the boss he is wrong or show him/her up with a better idea, so that's probably the explanation.
Great video!
I don't see this is as a big deal, every year then was a year to completely reinvent motoring and that's why we love them.
@@xpusostomos This is an example of what educators call "negative transfer". People are used to one thing, and when it changes they are prone to make a mistake. The placement of this very different control where a relatively benign one was the year before is something that the engineers should have noticed. I guess it is possible that it was simply missed, but you'd have thought that someone would have spoken up "Hey, uhmm....What if....".
@@Flies2FLL I don't see the cruise control as particularly dangerous, you put the brake on and it's finished. These days most are designed horribly, on the steering wheel, indistinguishable from the media controls, and yet you don't hear about cruise control incidents. What's wild to me is how in the 50s and 60s they'd almost completely redesign the car every year. Those were heady times.
@@xpusostomosExactly. I comprehend the need for instrument placement standardization for commercial airplanes because it's highly unlikely the same pilot will sit in the same cockpit repeatedly.
Cars are engineered and designed for personalized transportation. Total standardization doesn't really apply. Different models require different dashboards.
I'm the first to admit that I've questioned the ergonomic decisions of modern car manufacturers. Do I think radio controls belong on a steering wheel hub, which to me should only contain the horn pad and airbag beneath it,? No. I grew up with only the horn on the steering wheel hub or spokes. Yet if I drive such a car, I make sure to locate the horn before driving and I've never mistaken a radio button for the horn.
My mother bought a new '77 Mercury Monarch Ghia. It had CC buttons to the left and right where cheaper models placed horn buttons. The horn was a separate horizontal bar which ran the width of the singular spoke. Neither of us ever mistook the CC buttons for the horn or vice versa. Other people drove her car. No problem.
My aunt had a Mercury Marquis Brougham with a Rim Blow horn. Everyone knew where it was who drove her car.
These days so many features have crept their way into our cars it's hard to keep up. I wonder what those who complained about the CC placement would think about sitting behind a new cars dashboard now?...😆😂🤣
I’ve driven a 1959 Cadillac. The steering is absolutely effortless. What a cool car to drive!
These videos have been interesting and entertaining, Adam. Any chance we’re going to see more of your collection soon? Thanks! 👍👍👍
🤣 1961 ambulance is the final ride.
Same curtains as a hearse too. 😂
@@bradleyhammer5615 It looks like a hearse.
@@siddrajput1029 I think in small towns, it was common for one vehicle to assume both roles.
In many small towns in the US, they used those "combination cars" for ambulances and hearses.... sometimes just slapping a magnetic red light on the roof for "emergencies". That changed in about 1970 with federal standards for ambulance bodies, as they became more crash-resistant and better equipped for all- EMS work. Not all areas operated with the combo cars but many did right up to the late-60s.
can you explain how high low set the cruise control ?
Is it an early version of the dial they used through the 1968 models year, only without the MPH markings?
Pretty sure the early 60s Thunderbirds going into reverse by themselves was the worst automotive control of all time 😂😂😂😂
All Fords
Id be very upset if that hearse turned up to take me to hospital 😆
Yeah, now that you mention it.
Is black the new white?
Goodfella station wagon.
Back in those days, funeral parlors all over used their hearses as ambulances. In the mid-60's. my brother drove one of them for a local funeral parlor that was also used as an ambulance. That was back before paramedics, and you were just loaded up and driven to the emergency room without much first aid given
Many hearses back in those days performed double-duty as ambulances! I know....morose but many private ambulance companies also did funeral business back in the day. Fortunately, I don't remember any of that stuff! A black ambulance with one red light and hearse curtains on the windows driving up to take you to the hospital! I think I'd walk there myself before that!😂
It's a "combination". Well into the 1970s, many funeral home were also ambulance services.
I wouldn't call it bad design, just bad placement.
Our school director actually traded his 1961 Cadillac in on a Lincoln because of that. His wife kept turning it on when when she wanted to wash the windows. Never had a crash, but it bothered them both.
@@ethelryan257 If you can't relearn a simple item like this, you shouldn't be driving at all.
@@60gregmaAmen! The first one or two times I can understand. Repeatedly doing it and expecting a different result isn't the fault of the car. Thank God he traded the Caddy in before his wife hurt herself or someone else.
About 10 years ago, there was a study on the IQs and education levels of luxury car owners. Owners of Cadillacs were found to have the highest IQs and education levels. Mercedes came in second with Lexus owners third. BMW owners scored dead last.
Any idea which organisation ran the tests and what the tests were?
@@htimsid No. Come to think of it, it could have been more then ten years ago too. Time goes by fast.
@@waynejohnson1304
That’s interesting. Back when I was a kid. Most of the bigger car owners were the business owners & professional people of the community. The used ones (cars) eventually filtered down to the working class. Hey, that’s the way it was. And we respected that.
If you wanted better, you got a better job to afford it.❤
@@TomSpeaks-vw1zp I agree. :)
That is not the passenger door, it is the driver’s door.
Hopefully by hitting the brake (even back then) the cruise control would disengage. I hope so............
It did.
That ambulance looked like a hearse.
That's because it WAS! 😂
That’s because if you needed to be hauled away in one you were probably on your way to the grave anyway
Often times the hearse and ambulance was the same vehicle back then especially outside of big cities
now *that* is a fallout-lookin' car 👌🏿💚
I liked cruise control more when it was called autopilot
Today is course that means something completely different and was made dangerous of course by Elon Musk but also the owners as well. GM got it right this time around though and so did Ford.
@@rockerdriver Don't be a self liker.
Fascinating. I have been dealing 50 and 60's model Cadillacs since I was a teen. My gramps traded Cads every couple years and had a couple in this time period new. Never heard a single comment in 50 years about this being "dangerous". Not once, from anyone. But back then owners manuals told you how a car functioned, instead of not to drink the contents of the washer bottle. Maybe it would be dangerous for today's idiots.
Also, the 390 in the '62 and earlier Cadillacs was the direct descendant of the original OHV engine from '49. It was never enlarged to 429CID and ended in 1962. Cadillac introduced a new engine in 1963 that shared little with the prior engine but displacement. THAT engine was enlarged in '64 to 429 and stayed until replaced by the 472.
FACTS!
True. Forgot about the two 390s
Another great vid, Thanx Adam.
Petey Pablo won’t drive it unless it’s got at least 26’s, dangerous cruise control be damned!
Beach Aircraft did a similar thing in the early Bonanzas. The flap selector controls were very similar to the landing gear controls for retract and extend, were similar switches and locations.
International straight trucks for a short while had a twist-to-lock knob for winter engine warm ups. Its stamped Trottle Lock. What can go wrong you might ask.
First legal car - '47 Dodge. Current ride - '48 Plymouth (we circle back). Both equipped with twist-lock throttle knobs, useful on long flat stretches.
@@ssbn6175 l agree. Bare bones on options. Barely had any heater nor defroster. And the SEAT ! Pain in ass. Rotton truck. No power. 56 mph
@@danharasty6686 the Dodge topped out at 70 and I imagine the Plymouth would do the same. The 'Comfort Master' heater in the Dodge cranked out maybe 800 btu, compromised somewhat by a big old hole in the driver's floorboard. Slush would shoot right up through it. Drove it for eight years, cranking the window down to give signals that few understood in every type of weather.
The Plymouth has turn signals and...get this...two blowers! But she only comes out on nice days.
@@ssbn6175 Was lots character in the Oldie cars. Holes in floor so car could share the slop slush
That 59 looks like something Batman would drive.
I don’t know about that. But I knew a lot of crazy old bats who drove some
Loved my 1964 Oldsmobile Starfire Cruise control. A simple wheel, with various speeds available and a simple button to engage. Was so cool to feel that stop against the accelerator pedal, when you turned it on. Also worked as a rest, if you wanted to just maintain a speed by yourself.
My grandma had a very functional cruise control: She held dead on 80!
Air conditioning was a pricey option even for a Cadillac back in 1961
$500.00 and up. Mostly up.
10% of the price.
The heater controls behind the steering wheel don't seem like much fun either.
The worst component on any vehicle I ever saw were Chevy truck body panels in the 70's and 80's . That corrugated metal would rust from the inside out.
Very true. I love my 73 GMC, but if I lived in a different state, I would have to have it rust-proofed, or else it would soon dissolve.
When I was in high school a 20-something guy showed up at our church, driving a `58 Chevy Brookwood wagon. This was in the late 70s. Well a week later he showed up in a `60 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. That was the first time I ever saw the PNDLR shift quadrant. Then in `83 I bought a `63 Superior Cadillac hearse. This car had the wrap-around windshield of the `59 and `60, as well as the 4-speed Hydramatic. The 1-2 shift was barely noticeable. Also I had to get used to reverse being all the way over to the right. Anyway, this was very interesting, using the same switch and button for cruise. I had no idea. I can imagine how that would be unsafe. Thanks.
8:29 The boldness of that Phillips screw says quality.
The original ones were gold plated. That screw here was something Gramps found in the garage when he dropped the original one in the bucket of used oil while taking that cruise assembly apart to clean it because that button was all jammed up with ketchup and Cheetoh dust creating a hazard not covered under warranty.
Hey! Small correction for you, but very nuanced! I own a 1961 Cadillac, which was the second to last year for the original 390 engine, which was introduced in the 1959 model year. It was a continuation of the 331/365 OHV engine series (same block), which was introduced as Cadillac's new postwar engine in 1949. After 1962, Cadillac designed an entirely new engine for 1963, which happened to also carry the same size in displacement, but was a completely different engine internally that shared almost no parts! It was that engine that was later bored out to 429 cubic inch engine. 1968 was the switch to the 472/500, which was also a new block as both previous designs had reached the limits of their displacement. In short the 390 engine used in the 1961 was not enlarged to the 429, they had already gone to a different block by then! Maybe you knew this and didn't feel the need to include that information but just incase, thought I'd share!
I owned a '62- Series 62 for several years. The 4-speed Hydra-Matic had two 'Drive' positions on the indicator. On the first position, the transmission would go through all 4 gears. If the second position was selected, the transmission would go through the first three gears and hold there. The Oldsmobile indicator of that year had P-N-D-S-L-R positions.
Wow that powertrain is smooth and powerful. Probably not great with emissions or fuel economy, though!
If you can afford the car, you can afford the gas.
Had a '65 Fleetwood Brougham, 429, big boat, smooth as silk. No idea what curb weight was, probably around 5k. Surprisingly quick. All four vents were powered, so you had eight(!) window switches.
Stolen, sadly.
8:01 Are those H and L markings indicating the speed at which the cruise control would be set? That would be very dangerous, since one could accidentally hit the button and have the car zoom up to whatever the maximum position on the dial dictated. I've driven cars with such a dial, but it was roughly calibrated with MPH markings around the drum. Even with that setup, the owner's manual had a stern warning against changing the dial abruptly. This setup seem as if it would be dangerous even if located in a more fortuitous position. It's a good thing Ford invented modern cruise control for the 1966 Thunderbird; since that setup has propagated throughout the industry, they've saved all of us a lot of grief.
Really? All anyone had to do to disengage cruise control was to lightly tap the brake pedal.
The heavy bumpers were way cooler and the 60s ones were too Jetsons for my taste. But that's just me, I like the big slabs
the antenna, courtesy light, rear defrost, wiper/washer switches were all of the identical style as the cruise control one on my 68' Electra. They were all located on the dash though. Having drivetrain controls on the doors seems pretty wacky but I definitely wouldn't call it dangerous. The main problem coming from the wiring failing due to fatigue from the door opening and closing.
I don't really see how this is any different than cars with multifunction turnstalks tbh
I don't know if I would call the Cadillac 429 all that reliable. The timing chain cover allowed oil blow-by which very slowly stopped oiling the top of the engine. It wouldn't turn on a tell-tale light, but slowly destroyed the engine. Of course GM really could care less if the car lasts past 100,000 miles back then. The only way to fix the problem was a new timing chain cover, which still isn't fixed if it's going to do the same thing again. It sad the most beautiful of the tail finned beats suffered from this problem.
Adam, my compliments on finding such an interesting little screw-up on their designs! Not only is the cruise control button where the washer was, but according to that slider the first section is HIGH speed...
My dad had a 59 and 62 before I was born
Then a 64, 68, 69, two 71's (one was handed down to me)
While trying to fix the cruise control on the 68, the throttle stuck wife open!
That was a fun ride.
Had a 62 Series 62 in the mid 90s....51k miles and original T3s....the only year of color keyed wheel Covers......
Beautiful timeless classic, cruise control be damned. Cheers!
Wow! . . . the ass ends of those '59, '60 and '61 Caddys are simply stunning . . . beautiful . . . like a full, gorgeous woman!
3:12 The ambulance that'll take you as quickly to the cemetery. And Dog man! That exposed screw on top of your cruise control switch looks terrible on a very expensive luxury car of that time.
I have to say, these vehicles look astonishing
From 1959 onward , styling for Cadillac began to appeal more toward an elderly buyer. 1957 was the best year for styling that appeals to wide age group
Have you done a video on GM’s “Bi-Level” setting? I recently discovered it still works in my ‘84 Fiero. Love these videos on the minutiae of car design. Keep up the good work!
We had a 61 Sedan Deville with no air. The cruise control came on one time by accident. My Dad put it on without knowing. It was exciting to 8 year old me. Great vehicle
The taillights on the big finned Caddys were not styled as rockets they were styled as Jet Engines. The 59 is a B52 engine pod, A 60 could be a English Electric Lightening or a US jet that I cant remember the Designation of Probably a F100 intake and a 61 is a F102 or F89 engine outlet. But many cars back then were covered in military ques. Is it the 61 Grill that uses 50 cal bullets in its styling?
I had 1961Caddy hearse, and I loved it. It would pass anything on the road, except agas station.
GM needs more of these vehicles now
And nowadays we have to watch at a stupid touchscreen while driving to open a simple glovebox.
On 70 years, lessons have not been learned.
Haha, there may be an app for that😂 But you have to know your password 😂
Great video. I can’t imagine going 90+ MPH in cars back then with the tires available at the time.
Bias ply tires would hold together OK if they weren't dry rotted or something, but they did NOT stick to the road. Also aerodynamics was kind of an afterthought so over 100 MPH cars were noisy and tended to blow around. Your shocks needed to be good, you don't want sway at high speed. Tires and suspension are amazing nowadays, I remember squealing tires around curves all the time, you never get that now.
@@davidg4288
Hehe! I remember those days. Not just the tires, but no safety features 😮. Safety was not upper most in younger minds. But I made it. BTW, we hardly ever checked the air pressure in those old tires. 😂
@@TomSpeaks-vw1zp My car had lap belts only, which was better than nothing. I finally did start using the seat belt. It made aggressive driving easier since you wouldn't slide around on the bench seats.
Bias ply tires did look flat when they were low, like bicycle tires to this day. Radials always look flat and don't look flatter until they hit like 12 PSI, I learned to check them more often.
@@davidg4288 The thing is even with the lap belt you still slam your face into a hard steering wheel which is arguably worse than no belt at all in a lot of cases. That's why I usually don't wear belts in cars like this. In modern cars I usually do if I'm driving very fast anyways
Dad’s 59 caddy coupe held all of us 10 children
Rather insane that Cadillac being the top car in the lineup could be bought WITHOUT air conditioning. Somehow that still doesn't seem right to me a car of that caliber back then should've had all the comfort and luxury features available unless the customer opted to do without for a credit on the final price. But the 1961 is to this day an awesome looking car. Same with some Buicks too it was a good year for GM. Not to mention 1961 was the first year for a Corvette with the four round taillights. Good year for them.
Times & people were different as to their needs. I remember when you could opt out for a heater or a radio 😂
Now some new cars come with out spare tires & jacks. Now that to me as an old timer is unthinkable. $30+ thousand dollars for a car without a spare 😮
The first few years of the Datsun 240Z had a very rudimentary "Cruise Control" that would NEVER pass today's safety standards. It was a second lever just to the right of the "choke" lever (not really a choke but actually a bonafide mixture adjustment lever like an airplane has!) down on the console. This "cruise control" lever was just a second throttle adjustment that attached by cable to the carburetor and locked in the throttle setting to where ever the lever was set. Tapping the brake would do nothing to cancel the setting! I have had two 240Zs, a 1971 and currently a 1972. I wish mine was equipped with this relatively rare option, especially on the many cross country trips I've made with the car. I figure I am smart enough to handle the lack of current safety technology this option had.
Remember or if you have ever seen, the old fantastic advertisements in Nat. Geo. and various other publications of stylish couples with ladies dripping in Van Cleef & Arpel diamonds being escorted into their swanky Series 62's?
Adam, that might make an incredible video capturing the decadent lifestyle of Cadillac.
When I acquired my 1961 Caddy, I scoured E-bay for several months until I had amassed the entire 1961 print ad campaign. Cadillac was indeed selling luxury and image back then and the "bejewelled" ads started in the early 50's, from what I could find. Mad magazine actually did a parody of the ads in 1961 featuring a diamond, ruby and emerald brooch that spelled out, "Cadillac - We Own One" mocking that the ads were selling jewelry more than cars.
@keetonkatt4621 I loved the episode of Mad Men when the Drapers were having a picnic and Betty flicked the blanket tossing the refuse on the ground before hopping into the Deville.
The amount of chrome on those old Caddys is amazing. The dealers should have issued sunglasses when they sold them.
My grandfather always had Chrysler Imperials...His buddy had a "59 Caddy around the same time that my grandfather owned a "61 Imperial....He would rag on my grandfather all the time saying that his "59 Caddy fins were taller than my grandfather's "61 Imperial fins....Well my grandfather took the bait and backed his Imperial up to the back of his friends Caddy....The "61 Imperial fins were taller by about an inch...My grandfather even took a Polaroid of it which my mother still has....Granted the "59 Cadillac fins are the epitome of outlandish 1950's style but Virgil Exner still had one up his sleeve to show GM how it's done.My grandfather's friend traded his Caddy off within a few months and got out of the tailfin business altogether as he really had his feelings hurt.😭😭😭😭
Back in 1981, I could've had a 1961 Cadillac flower car that one of the funeral parlors in my neighborhood was selling for $600. One of the funeral directors saw me admiring the old tank of a vehicle and offered to sell it to me. It would have been my first car; it was in pretty good shape and well-maintained, with fairly low miles, since it mostly was driven to local cemeteries. Being that it was a two-seater, I guess that it could have served as a sort of Cadillac El Camino. As cool-looking as the car was, I had to politely say no thanks to the director; needless to say, I never would have heard the end of it from my parents, particularly my mom, if I had gone ahead and purchased the car. Oh, and I was told that the car averaged about six miles per gallon of fuel.
To my eyes, the 1961 coupe is the most beautiful Cadillac of all time.
It's just purely clean, but still austentatious enough to really make a statement.
I love the '61s too! Also, it was a one year only design (tail lights were the same as 1960, turned sideways) which made it extra special..