Nice Driver: 1959 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe
In the automotive world, styling trends can be fickle. In 1959, owning a Cadillac with the iconic and enormous fins was very much a must-have for potential buyers. A couple of years later, this feature was considered by many to be cringe-worthy. That meant that perfectly good Cadillacs were changing hands for rock bottom prices because some owners didn’t want to be seen behind the wheel of a car that was very much out of fashion. Today, the 1959 Cadillac has become an iconic classic, and pristine examples can sell for amazing prices. Our feature car isn’t pristine, but getting it to that point may not be a complex undertaking. If you feel up for the challenge, you will find it located in Stockton, New Jersey, and listed for sale here on eBay. The owner has said a BIN of $27,500, and 115 people are watching the listing at the time of writing.
Cadillac offered a good selection of paint colors for the 1959 model year, but Pinehurst Green is one of the most attractive to grace their panels. The paint looks pretty consistent across the entire car, with only a few minor blemishes and issues. The panels have a few dents and bruises, but none of them are severe enough to justify wholesale steel replacement. I believe that returning the panels to a laser straight state would not be terribly difficult. The owner admits that the panels do have a few bubbles, which suggests that rust may be developing. If the buyer tackles this early, that should prevent it from deteriorating further. The best news is when we get to see the underside of this Cadillac. The owner says the floors, trunk pan, and frame are clean and rock solid. That means that if the buyer felt inclined, they could continue driving this Cadillac as an original survivor. The tinted glass shows no evidence of chips or cracks, while the exterior trim is acceptable for a survivor-grade car. The iconic bullet tail lights appear perfect, and the wide whitewall tires add the ideal finishing touch to this prestige classic.
There’s no way to sugarcoat this, but the 1959 Cadillac is a heavy car. The Coupe tips the scale at 4,870lbs, meaning that it requires something special under the hood if it is going to make respectable progress. The company came to the rescue with the 390ci V8 that produces 304hp. That power finds its way to the rear wheels via a four-speed Hydramatic transmission. Given its luxury leanings, power steering and power brakes were standard equipment on the ’59 Cadillac. Considering the car’s overall size and weight, the ¼ mile ET of 18 seconds looks pretty impressive. For potential buyers, this is a turnkey classic. The seller only uses the vehicle on weekends, but it seems that it runs and drives well. That means that for any person seeking instant gratification, this classic could provide it with an added touch of luxury.
Things became interesting with this Cadillac when we reached the subject of its interior. As you will see, the original owner didn’t go overboard with luxury items, but there is also a flaw with this interior that will make your eyes water. Overall, the upholstered surfaces look pretty good. There is some wear and sagging on the driver’s side of the front seat, and I think that it may benefit from new foam. The owner includes a complete carpet set in the sale, including the pieces for the bottoms of the door trims. The dash presents well, and the factory AM radio remains in situ. That represents one of the few luxury features inside this car. If you are searching for air conditioning, power windows, or power seats, you’ve come to the wrong place with this car. This interior is about as basic as you could find in a 1959 Cadillac. However, it also means that there aren’t complicated items that are likely to cause grief when they go faulty. Okay, now let’s talk about the eye-watering fault. A quick look reveals that the horn ring has broken away from the steering wheel. This item will hurt potential buyers because a replacement horn ring leaves no change out of $1,500. If you want to go the whole hog and replace the wheel entirely, you need to have $6,000 in your wallet. If I were to buy this car, I would patiently scour online resources like eBay in the hope that I could find a good secondhand horn ring at an affordable price. They say that luxury comes at a cost, but that one seems a little bit too high for me.
What would your approach be if you were to buy this 1959 Cadillac Coupe? Is this a car you would continue to drive and enjoy as an original survivor, or would a restoration be too difficult to resist? Fully restored, it has the potential to be worth more than $40,000. That makes a pretty compelling argument for a restoration. However, I can see no problems with preserving the status quo. Can you?
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Comments
I have a Cadillac CTS and a set of golf clubs barely fit in the trunk. I don’t think I’d have that same problem with this car. Lol But the CTS fits nicely in the garage and this one wouldn’t. Life’s kinda funny that way. Beautiful car though, I hope the next owner enjoys the heck out of it.
I know these can command some pretty serious money in excellent shape, but I don’t think the seller is leaving much meat on the bone with this one. There’s not a panel on this car that doesn’t have serious rot, let alone the damage to the right rear quarter planet and fender skirt. The seller also claims that the underside is solid, but doesn’t show any pics supporting it. If the seller is firm on the price, I’m thinking it’s not gonna be a quick sale anytime soon.
That dash pad should be dark green, and the reflection of its current shade on that massive windshield will be hard to avoid. If the body is solid, priced ok, if not, the cost of putting it right, and a hefty plating bill, mechanics, etc., mean lots of dollars. Been there done that with a 59, but what a car when done.
Yes, taking a closer look at almost every panel it looks like a lot of not very pleasant secrets lurk beneath the surface.
Every time one of these show up here, it brings me back to my childhood and my aunts ’59 Coupe de Ville. A lot more luxury items came standard on the CdV.
As much as I really like these, I’d prefer a 1960. Much more refined.
A Cadillac with roll up windows just seams wrong.
@Scuderia
Doesn’t it?
I remember ads for “de-sabre-ization” from body shops and Cadillac dealers. The yearly customer who disliked the fins could have them professionally hacked off, resulting in a look similar to the soon to be unveiled 1960 model.
Dr, those must be the same body shops that happily accommodated 63 split window coupe owners by removing that pesky divider in the back window for them.
The color is right but no power windows and no power locks & seats? Are you sure this is a Cadillac??
Even though this car predates me, I can’t help but think, what we drove in the late 50’s and what the Europeans drove during this same time period. I know, different regions have different requirements, but look at this and then a Fiat 500, or a British mini. If you could put US auto glitz on a graph, the late 50’s would be a spike and eventual decline, the likes we never saw again. It’s entirely possible someone would order a “bare bones” Caddy, remember, stuff like power windows and gee-gaws were still relatively new, and some people didn’t trust them, and a roll down window, or a key operated lock was a better choice, and in some regard, that’s true. All the car makers poured it on with the glitz, but I think the Cadillac was the best America had to offer and most remembered. What a car!.
I’ve restored and/or owned several 1959 Cadillacs from a Coupe De Ville to an Eldorado Biarritz convertible. In doing so, I’ve done a fair amount of research in them.
I’ve seen several series 62 coupes like this one, same color and interior. All of the green examples had mis-matched [at least in my mind] colors for the dash assembly compared to the door panels and seats. Note that it’s the entire dash assembly in the light green color, not just the dash pad.
Here is an example of a 1959 series 62 hardtop that was sold at B-J about 5 years ago. It has the EXACT OPPOSITE with the dash assembly and door panels! https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1959-CADILLAC-SERIES-62–206090
I restored [to Cad-LaS club 1st place] a 1959 Coupe DeVille that had a black dash assembly, but the seats and door panels were white with the lower trim on the door panels matching the black carpets. These mis-match interiors only happened on the 2-door Cadillacs, not the 4-door cars. The Cadillac brochures I have don’t show the coupe interiors in a way you can see the dash and door panel differences.
We’ll probably never know why the Cadillac interior designers made these decisions, but I believe this car is correct. And based on the photos, I also believe the body panels are hiding massive amounts of “cut and cover” rust repairs, probably performed 30 years ago, and the rust is showing again.
This series 62 coupe was the cheapest car Cadillac offered in 1959. This car has no options, as radio, heater, P/S, P/B and Hydramatic drive were standard [you could still get stick shift on special order]. The base price [plus destination/delivery] was $4,892. A Cadillac dealer might have a car like this one in stock so they could advertise a Cadillac for under $5,000.
How late could one get a stick shift on a Cadillac? Just wondering!
I love a big boat, but I also love the old 3 on the tree. To have a vintage Cadillac so equipped, one from the 1960’s or later, would make me drool like a St. Bernard!
I think I can answer that question. Keep in mind there is a difference between being able [as in the parts books] to order something, and GM actually allowing such an order.
When a GM car dealership submitted a vehicle order, it first went to the zone office where it would be checked for errors, any special orders would require approval by the zone before being kicked up the line to the assembly plant, where it would be assessed again by the order processing office.
A long time friend of mine, Mr. Joe Thacker, was a Cadillac Hearse and Ambulance dealer in Washington, DC, and later a Cadillac Dealership owner in Maryland.
I had seen photos of a 1956 Cadillac Ambulance with column shift, and I asked Joe that same question. He said that because Cadillac cars also shared many mechanical parts with the full size Oldsmobiles, as long as you could get a series 88 Olds with stick shift on the column, You could [in theory] special order the same on Cadillacs. He also was quick to add that these special orders would likely only be allowed for commercial Cadillac vehicles.
The last year you could get an Olds equipped with stickshift was 1966, as something associated with a new automatic trans changed in 1967, and all full-size Olds cars came standard with the automatic from that point on.
Joe said he used to visit the Cadillac zone office where he watched cars being checked for what was, or was not, allowed. He said they would look first at the car model, and pick out a special plastic sheet for that model of GM car. The sheet had holes in it. Each hole was for a specific option. If the option was available, it would show up in the hole. The order checker would quickly visually scan down the page and if the vehicle was ordered correctly, they could see the correct box was checked for each option choice.
For example; In 1967, if the Hi-Po 427 engine was checked, and the car was a Camaro, the requested engine was not shown because that engine was only available in full size cars or the Corvette, and the card would indicate this as an error. The dealership would be asked to correct the order.
Joe said the people who did the order checking could examine most orders in just a few seconds this way.
Thank you Bill for the clarification.
Great car the 59 Caddie, and great color. But that shot of the driver’s side sure says “bondo bucket” to my eye.