[ last update: 02.19.2001 ]     Best viewed with a screen image size of 600 x 800 pixels

The (new) Cadillac Database©

Photo Pages
Cadillac

1927
(Custom "Suburban" construction details)

Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page
or go back to the Cadillac photo index page to pick another year
or go to the  La Salle photo index page 

 

Unless otherwise specified all photos and illustrations are from Yann Saunders'
collection of Cadillac photos, advertisements and product catalogs,
reproduced courtesy of the Cadillac Motor Car Division and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club

 

We are used to seeing completed cars, be they antique, classic or modern.  For those who ever wondered how their classic Cadillac was built, here is an interesting selection of photos that I acquired many years ago, when I was just a novice collector of pictorial automobile memorabilia.  They are unusual in that they illustrate in detail the various stages of construction and assembly of the large, 1927 Cadillac Custom "Suburban" model for seven passengers. 

Remember, 1927 was the year preceding the creation of Cadillac's "Art and Color" section, that is the company's earliest styling studio.  Is it possible that these photos were taken for, or at the request of, Harley Earl to illustrate the then current production phases, with a view to streamlining them? Earl had joined the company in 1927; it was he who effectively fathered the idea of establishing a special department at Cadillac where styling and comfort would be given as much importance as performance and reliability.

 

 

27cusub7.JPG (7577 bytes)
Cadillac Suburban model for 7-passengers

 

 

 

 

P27cons2.jpg (10197 bytes)
This row: the complex body framework
is made up in the best seasoned ash
Right:  rear, RH side of  body framework

 

P27cons1.jpg (6328 bytes)

 

P27cons4.jpg (5387 bytes)    P27cons3.jpg (7432 bytes)
(Left) a limousine body, before paint;  (right) the Custom "Suburban" body, after paint

 

P27cons7.jpg (4653 bytes)
Above, the rear passenger compartment
Right:  the driving compartment

 

P27cons6.jpg (6765 bytes)
Driver's compartment trimmed
traditionally with black leather

 

 

P27cons5.jpg (4895 bytes)
The chassis and motor

 

27subur.jpg (7209 bytes)
The completed car

 

 

Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page
or go back to the Cadillac photo index page to pick another year
or go to the  La Salle photo index page

 

© 1996, Yann Saunders and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club, Inc.
[ Background image:  LH side view of 1927 Cadillac Custom Suburban ]