[ last update: 10.23.2014 ]

he (new) Cadillac Database©

Photo Pages
Cadillac

1946


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

 

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

 

 

46tank.jpg (5331 bytes)

 

 

No passenger cars had rolled off the assembly line since February, 1942.  Instead, more than 50,000 reliable Cadillac V8 engines and Hydra-Matic transmissions had been built and had served with distinction in every theater of war. They emerged toughened and hardened to new standards of efficiency and dependability.   According to Cadillac, "their development [during those war years] was far greater than would have been possible during four peacetime years".

 

46Factory1.jpg (14008 bytes)    46Factory2.jpg (55233 bytes)   

46asslin.jpg (9642 bytes)    46_First.jpg (21206 bytes)    46frst.JPG (7215 bytes)
Left: The first post-WW2 models proceed down the assembly line
Right: leggy model poses in showroom with long-awaited new,  post-war Cadillac

 

 

 

46engn.jpg (6803 bytes)    46hydr1.jpg (4194 bytes)    46hydr2.jpg (4223 bytes)
The robust V8 engine and Hydra-Matic transmission had been tried and tested over the preceding
four years in all theaters of the world war; clutch-less gear shifting was becoming increasingly popular

 

 

When peace returned, there was a high demand for new cars from all over the country.  There were long waiting lists, including for the new Cadillac models. The first new, 1946 Cadillac (a Series 62 sedan) came off the assembly line on October 17, 1945, less than two months after the last wartime tank. In appearance it was not much  different to the Cadillac of 1942 that it replaced. The front grille got six heavier bars; new bumpers wrapped around the front and rear of the car; hood and trunk both got for the first time Cadillac's famed "V" and crest; on all models the name "CADILLAC" was spelled out in stubby, block letters on the front fenders.

 

46vcrst.jpg (2648 bytes)
New Cadillac
"V" and crest

0911.JPG (16636 bytes)
Introductory advertisement

 

The new, 1946 models were classified in the catalog into the following groups (in ascending order of value):  the series "Sixty-One", "Sixty-Two", "Sixty Special" and "Seventy-Five".  That is the order I have chosen to follow in this presentation.

The artist's drawings, below, are from the prestige color catalog of new Cadillac models for 1946, published in December 1945.  The latter is very similar in design, format and presentation to the deluxe Cadillac catalog for 1942.  In addition to this catalog, there were also two, large, full-color fold-outs; one for the Series 62 cars and another for the "Four Distinguished New Series", being the traditional 61, 62, 60 Special and 75 Series; the latter two folders are undated.  According to the larger of the two, never had Cadillac "...built finer cars than those which today bring a new postwar ease and comfort to motoring".

The easiest way to distinguish the 1946 Cadillac models from the rest  is to look for the name "CADILLAC", in block letters, on the front fenders.  In subsequent years, a script version was used.

 

46name.jpg (6209 bytes)
Easy ID:  "CADILLAC" in block letters above front fender spear

 

Additional information on the 1946 models and the related sales literature may be found  in The (New) Cadillac Database© sections entitled "Descriptions and Specifications of Cadillac Cars 1946 - 1950",   "Cadillac and La Salle Sales Literature 1946 - 1949" and "Dream cars of 1946 - 1947"Further recommended reading includes:

The "Standard Catalog of Cadillac, 1903-2000" edited by James T. Lenzke, © 2000, published by Krause Publications, Inc., 700 E. State Street, Iola, WI 54990 [ISBN #0-87341-925-1, Library of Congress #91-61301].

 

The Series 61

 

4661cpe.jpg (10198 bytes)
Series Sixty-One coupe, style #6107;
a scant 800 units were built

 

 

4661cpi.jpg (5402 bytes)
Rear passenger compartment,
plain and functional

 

 

 

4661sdn.jpg (9275 bytes)
The Series Sixty-One sedan, style #6109;
2,200 units were built

 

 

4661door.jpg (3506 bytes)
Front door trim

 

4661int.jpg (7104 bytes)
Rear seating area

4661dash.jpg (5063 bytes)
The driving position

 

The Series 62

 

4662cpe.JPG (9640 bytes)
The Series Sixty-Two coupe, style #6207
2,323 of them were built

 

 

4662sdi2.jpg (7015 bytes)
Folding front seat back facilitates access...

 

4662rri.jpg (5534 bytes)
...to the broad, rear seat

 

 

4662sdi.jpg (6274 bytes)
Rear  seat of the 62 sedan

 

4662sdn2.JPG (10040 bytes)
The Series Sixty-Two sedan, style #6269
14.900 were built, making it the most prolific of the '46 models
 

46sdn.jpg (10506 bytes)    4662sdn.jpg (8342 bytes)     46_62GMroof.jpg (7808 bytes)
(Left) factory publicity shot; (Center) a survivor on the Internet, 2000; (Right) Factory shot, atop the GM building in Detroit

 

 

 

4662cnv2.jpg (9678 bytes)    46cvtop.jpg (6911 bytes)
I modified the original catalog illustration (left) to show the car with its top down

 

 

4662cnv.jpg (10131 bytes)
The Series Sixty-Two Convertible Coupe, style #6267-D;
1,342 units were built

 

46cvi.jpg (7826 bytes)
Seating in the convertible;
sumptuous red leather throughout
 

46cvvolo.jpg (7788 bytes)    46cvvolb.jpg (8146 bytes)

46cvvold.jpg (7130 bytes)    46cvvole.jpg (7453 bytes)
A fine museum survivor [for sale on the Internet, 2000]

46cnv.JPG (9530 bytes)
Factory  photo of the new, 1946 convertible model

 

 

The Fleetwood Series Sixty Special

 

4660ssed.jpg (10854 bytes)
The Sixty Special sedan, style #6069;
5,700 were built

 

 

4660sin.jpg (5264 bytes)
Rear seat of the Sixty Special sedan;
Cadillac luxury at its best

 

4660shas.jpg (5022 bytes)
Folding foot rest provides
an added measure of comfort
 

4660s.jpg (8391 bytes)
Factory publicity shot


A survivor found on the Internet; nice ... apart from the "sombrero" wheel discs

 

 

The Fleetwood Series Seventy-Five

 

46755p.jpg (12142 bytes)
Series Seventy-Five, sedan for 5 passengers, style #7519;
only 150 units  were built; the body is almost identical to my 1942 model

 

46755pi.jpg (6562 bytes)
Rear passenger compartment
is oh-so-plush, and roomy

 

 

46757p.jpg (11053 bytes)    46757pi.jpg (7063 bytes)
The spacious sedan and limousine styles #7523 and #7533 (left) look identical from the outside; both have
double throw-back auxiliary seats (right) that fold neatly into the partition (below) when not in use; unlike the sedan,
the limousine has a partition and division glass (below);  production numbers for this series totaled  635 units of which
[in ascending order of rarity] were 225  sedans for 7 passengers (style #7523),  221 limousines for 7 passengers (style #7533),
150 sedans for 5 passengers (style #7519), 22 business sedans for 9 passengers (style #7523-L) and 17 business limousines
for 9 passengers (style #7533-L); an additional  1,292 chassis/engine combinations were delivered to independent
coach builders and were put to commercial use (e.g. hearses, ambulances, flower cars, airport limousines, etc.)

4675div.jpg (6004 bytes)    4675rnbd.jpg (5465 bytes)
Running boards (right) were retained on the Series Seventy-Five cars through the 1949 model year

4675.jpg (10235 bytes)
A fine survivor

     

     
... and some equally fine survivors found on Internet in 2014

 

 

 

Details

 

46gril.jpg (8203 bytes)
Front clip

 

46ornam.jpg (2431 bytes)
Goddess hood ornament
activates latch
mechanism

 

46bmpr.jpg (5725 bytes)
New, wrap-around bumpers

 

46trnk.jpg (5538 bytes)
Spacious trunk on all models

 

46dash2.jpg (9010 bytes)
The design of the instrument panel
remained basically unchanged from 1942

 

                         

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

 

© 1996, Yann Saunders and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club, Inc.
[Background image:  1946 front clip ]