One Family Owned: 1959 Cadillac Series 62 Six-Window Sedan
Bullet taillights and fins large enough to pose a threat to low-flying aircraft? That can only mean one thing. Our feature car is a 1959 Cadillac. More specifically, it is a Series 62 Six-Window Sedan. That it has belonged to the same family since Day One and has a genuine 76,000 miles on the clock serves to increase its desirability. The time has come for this remarkable survivor to find a new home, with the seller listing the Caddy here on Craigslist in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. It could be yours for $55,000, and I must say a big thank you to Barn Finder T.J. for spotting this fantastic classic.
The American public embraced all things aeronautical during the 1950s. With the space race intensifying, it was inevitable that automotive designers would tap into that fervor by adorning their latest offerings with fins and lights that resembled jet or rocket engines. The trend peaked in 1959, with Chrysler and Cadillac producing some of the most daring and, some would say, outlandish vehicles in automotive history. Interestingly, the fins trend would virtually disappear within a couple of years, and those who owned such vehicles found they had to virtually give them away when purchasing a replacement to park in their garage. The 1959 Cadillac is iconic today, and clean examples command impressive prices. This Series 62 6-Window Sedan has belonged to the same family since it was new and is a survivor that presents exceptionally well for its age. The Gotham Gold paint retains a healthy shine, with the seller confirming that apart from some minor touch-ups, most of it was applied by the technicians at Cadillac. The car has always been kept in dry storage, making its rust-free status unsurprising. The seller admits the bright trim isn’t perfect, but the condition of it and the tinted glass is comfortably acceptable for a survivor-grade classic.
Cadillac developed a reputation during this period for producing impressive engines, but power was essential if this 4,940 lb giant was to offer respectable performance. The company came to the party with a 390ci V8 that sent 325hp and 430 ft/lbs of torque to the rear wheels via a four-speed Hydramatic transmission. Some features that were options on other makes were standard equipment on the Cadillac, including power assistance for the steering and brakes. Outright acceleration was rarely a consideration for the discerning Caddy buyer, although this car should cruise happily all day at freeway speed. The seller states that the vehicle hibernated from 1986 until 2011, but its revival was meticulous. The engine, transmission, driveshaft, suspension, and brakes were rebuilt. This brought the vehicle to excellent mechanical health, with only 2,000 miles accumulated since and all work documented. The Caddy has a genuine 76,000 miles on the clock and is a turnkey proposition for its new owner.
The Cadillac cements its luxury car credentials when we examine the creature comforts the new owner will enjoy. It features air conditioning, power windows, a six-way power seat, an Autronic eye, a Wonderbar radio, and a power antenna. The A/C was refurbished as part of the revival, and the luxury appointments work as they should. The front seat received a new cover and foam, with it and the back seat sporting dealer-installed plastic covers. The dashpad is new, and the wheel looks excellent. The door trims have accumulated minor marks, but this interior should still receive positive comments if the buyer rocks up to a Cars & Coffee behind the wheel of this beauty.
Eager buyers couldn’t wait to drive their new Cadillac off the showroom floor in 1959, and those who saw them were typically impressed by the bold styling. However, the enormous fins proved a brief styling trend that would be a distant memory by the mid-1960s. Those once proud owners were suddenly embarrassed because values plunged as if pushed off a cliff. Today, those same cars are highly sought after, and this 1969 Six-Window Sedan should be no exception. A brief online search uncovered a recent unsuccessful auction for this car, with bidding stalling at $27,000. The seller’s price in the current listing is significantly higher, but do you think they will taste success?
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Comments
Not worth 20k let alone 55 k I’d go 15 k topps and would like to pay less
General comment. Sad to see any car in same family for so many years sold. Unfortunately, not often is there such a long tradition. I believe that the asking price may be influenced by love for the car and desire for it to go to a new home where it will be treasured. LOL to sellers and God Bless!
$27K is too much and seller will never see that again…asking price is beyond delusional !!
Hey Sam, whatever happened to your restaurant with Ella Fitzgerald? Guess the name Sam (and) Ella’s didn’t appeal as a great dining place! 😉
It is obvious that the fore mentioned comments have no eye for an impeccable 1959 Caddy…The shear belittling of the price st forth..but yet you All will spend it on a 4 door pickup truck ” all day long”…Get a real grip on life…Try to find these years of Caddy’s in ” get in and go” condition..Go pay thru the nose for your Chevelle’s and Chargers…that are way overpriced.
Well the ask on this Caddy is not the only ‘Ask’ on a car that the peanut gallery sees as unreasonable. Not without reason. Its a 4 door….and generally speaking asks have become unmoored from the reality of a declining market for these cars we hold so dear. But the market will speak….be interesting to see what someone does offer. It is a well preserved example though i find the dash color to be somewhat inconsistent with the banana yellow.
Yep, a rusty, dusty two door short bed Ford, Chevy, Dodge old truck will top this price easy and people will rave and rave about the ‘amenities’ of said vehicle!
When I was of driving age starting out, my peers and I would not be caught dead driving a truck lol…
You are correct about the comments. To appreciate this beauty, you need to have a thing called “class” which they may need to look up in the dictionary.
got that right
People kept their Cadillacs so nice that there’s lots of them out there. They will never bring big money.
Think it’s time to put new coil springs on or wait till you fill up the trunk then drag bottom down the street?
Some one will pay this as they are not making any more of these!
Really? Have you ever tried to buy a 59 Cadillac?
Very nice automobile but who today has a garage large enough to accommodate this land yacht !
Back in the 50s, neighbors with small garage built an extension on the front just high enough to accommodate the hood. AMERICAN Ingenuity at its best. 🇺🇸 👍. Today many garages are packed with no room for any vehicle!
I did the same when I brought home my first ’66 Bonneville to my 1930 garage…cut out the lower back wall & built a doghouse extension. Still couldn’t shut the doors flat. Eventually built something better.
A well-maintained 1-owner car is a gem, saves a ton of headaches created by multi-owner hacking. Not $55K but half that is more than reasonable, Carolina stance notwithstanding. Might be $35K as a ’59 4-door HT. Still cheaper than anything new. GLWTS!
Of all the people I know here in UK that have a garage NONE of them park a car in it as they are all full of unwanted crap! My son has even converted his into an office so that he can work from home instead of having to drive 50 miles into London where he would have to pay £12 per day for the “honor” and another, gawd knows how much, for parking!
The seller may be mixing their price research with convertibles. A 4-door version of this car is just not $55k interesting given what else is out in the market at that price.
Man, that’s a lot of car. This ride makes a statement.
Stick a wing between those fins and suddenly it’s modern! 😄😄🇺🇸
I have a 6 window that is in much better condition. I would gladly sell for 55K.
Never going to bring that kind of money. Not for a 4 door. There was a 2 door in excellent condition on the local Phoenix marketplace a few weeks ago for 57k. You can ask whatever you want, but that’s the “I don’t want to sell it” price or “the wife is making me sell it” price.
Here l go again. Ridiculous asking price. I don’t want to be mean but if someone previously offered 27K for this then I think the seller made a mistake turning it down. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a nice car if you’re a fan of these style Caddies. I find them interesting to look at but wouldn’t really consider owning one. If I had 55 large to blow on a collector car this wouldn’t be it.
I never know how to approach a delusional seller. If you give them a realistic offer, they will hate you, and never sell you the car at any price. Here I suppose the price is a function of great sentimental value, or reflects an unconscious desire to not actually sell the car. Anyone have suggestions for dealing with this situation? I’m not a Caddy person so I’m not a bidder but if an unreasonably priced Imperial pops up, I sure would like a strategy.
I have a friend that is a boat dealer, most boat owners are emotionally attached to the vessel. Doug puts his offer this way, “The color is not what I was looking for, but the vehicle is so nice, will you listen to an offer”. If they say no then no one gets mad. Then he follows up every three weeks knowing no smart buyer will pay what they are asking.
I have done a good, long & thorough inspection, then made my offer, noting that they might get a better on it – but if they don’t, here’s my number.
$55K is uhmm, optimistic. I don’t care how nice a single-family car is, it’s just not that rare and it has too many doors. It’s also 65 years old and it will need some things. $30K is right about what the market will bear.
55k and it has a broken horn ring. It is a super decent car but it is also the least desirable model of said car.
Of all the people I know here in UK that have a garage NONE of them park a car in it as they are all full of unwanted crap! My son has even converted his into an office so that he can work from home instead of having to drive 50 miles into London where he would have to pay £12 per day for the “honor” and another, gawd knows how much, for parking!
Not being a real Cadillac person having only owned one, a 1946/7 Series 62, 4 door automatic, I think that the steering wheel is positioned upside down, if it is, why the heck didn’t the photographer turn it around so that we could see the instruments properly?
Horn ring is broken; it’s missing the bottom half.
It is not upside down. It is broken. It is missing the lower half of the ring. But you can find reproduction s for about $1500.
I just have a question about the fuel door. Is that through tail lights or just below. Or does it come under the license plate.
Thank you very much
Gary, I believe the fuel opening was below driver side tail lights. 🤔 or maybe behind license plate. Believe 56 Cadillac was last year with gas opening under rear flip up tail lights.
The fuel door is below the trunk lid, above the bumper, in the center, can’t see it in the photos
I am surprised that no one caught the major error in this listing. The car is NOT a Series 62, it’s a Sedan de Ville. Series 62 and de Villes differ in the interior, and not only does this car have Sedan de Ville scripts, the seats and door panels are de Ville design. Series 62s do not have a center armrest in the front seat.
Front clip is a different shade of yellow.
Gas pedal looks wee. Down right dainty, even.
As mentioned above, this is a Sedan de Ville, maybe the seller can’t read. The Series 62 was the “Entry level” Cad. Lol. I bought a 59 Series 62, 4dr, 6 window, from the 2nd owner in 1973, when I was 16 for $500, in almost new condition, what a party wagon. Mine had an auxiliary foot switch for the Wonder Bar radio, I used to freak people out changing radio stations without touching the radio live Iol. Good memories here, but not $55,000 worth
Hagerty has it at $52,300 for #1… they are California dreamin’… its more like a #3 which would be just what the last auction ended at… $27800.
Yep. A little optimistic on the asking price. That baby should have its own zip code.
After looking at the ad pics again, I’d say this is more like a #2 car. Good luck to the seller.
Actually #3.
@ Bob McK… I meant #4…oops, can’t edit posts…
I noticed both the sagging rear and the different yellow paint on the left front fender. If this car were in pristine #1 condition, to the right buyer, it MIGHT bring $45,000, tops. But this is a #2-#3-grade — very nice survivor, but well shy of show-quality (without at least some dedIcatedly serious restoration of this and that). $27,000 was a fair price. That said, this is an UGLY automobile! (I always hated this era and mid-century modern styling[?], generally — it was hideous when new). Given all of that, this Caddy is a case of something so horrible in styling, that it almost is “attractive” also — in an Addams Family sort of way: one could not own a more profound “period-piece” statement of American excess. And, for my money (if I had any), I would much prefer the four door version! What can I say? — I LIKE four-door sedans! — and, back in the 1950s and early-to-mid 1960s, automobile manufacturers put their most opulent luxuries into their four-door sedans — particularly at the upscale end of the market. And since COMFORT was the primary sales-pitch, the four-door car was by far the most accommodating to get into and out of. Now just LOOK at and ADMIRE this ludicrously over-stated land-yacht — then picture yourself behind that steeering-wheel. But, pray tell me, once you floatingly cruise to ARRIVE at some destiny-place, WHERE will you find room to PARK this monstrosity??? Now, HERE’S a mystery, for any of you mental-health professionals in this space: after all of my castigations and casting of aspersions upon this poor 65-year-old vehicle that innocently never hurt anyone… what within me would still absolutely LOVE to OWN it? — because I WOULD! In, “My Fair Lady”, Rex Harrison sang-talked the immortal words, “Women are irrational — that’s all there is to that! — their heads are full of cotton, hay, and rags!”. Are we “guys” any less devoid of reason, when our tastes run to out-moded old automobiles? (just asking…) Have FUN!
My opinion you look at these and you can see they put a lot of thought into their designs. unlike today’s way overpriced trash cans they make!!!
To Oldschoolmuscle: I totally agree with you! When AMERICAN STEEL and DETROIT RULED, and Americans still were optimistically patriotic on BOTH sides of the “aisle”; American automobiles were uniquely works of industrial ART — unlike the many unchanging “pill-boxes” on wheels throughout Europe and elsewhere. You LIKED a particular one — or you perhaps didn’t quite do much as another — but each one vaunted a STATEMENT, and bespoke hard working hours and sometimes arguments in a dedicated designing studio, whose entire job it was, to craft and plan a concept that (hopefully) would attract buyers into a showroom! Far more hours went into styling and technical advancement, perhaps, than toward designing mundane hidden things (such as rust-prevention). But it was a time when Americans seemingly could dream and conceive most anything — and the gleaming four-wheeled expressions which graced (or, SHOCKED!) our auto-showrooms, bespoke all aspiration that landed America on the moon when others (and often, we ourselves) thought that impossible. To-day’s cars run more miles with less trouble and far fewer periodic “maintenance” projects on the way… they are the common-denominator stuff of practicality, but not of reaching ever higher because we can. Remember when we all longed to see the next “dream-car”? Now, all we reach to do, is go out to that anonymous blob in the driveway, start it remotely, let it heat or air-condition, then get in it and go somewhere or haul something. What parked in our driveway used to say something about who we were; now it’s just another appliance — like an ice-box.
No cruise control I see( actually don’t see). No fog lights either like my 1960 had but I’m not sure they were available in 59. But many other goodies. A beautiful Caddy but still the 1960 was much better.
Is it just me, or did anyone else notice the driver’s side trim not looking exactly right? Personally, I think it is a bit overpriced. Would like to see pictures of the trunk and more pictures of the interior.
That $55k asking price is based on very largely, sentimental value by the seller. $25-27 is more than generous for a four door sedan 62 series. If it were a 2 door hardtop Cadillac 1959, maybe. That rear end is dragging abit too.
As for the trim and the front clip not appearing to quite match the rest of the car: perhaps it was involved in a “fender-bender” some years ago, and we are looking at time-passage added to some second-rate bodywork?