[ last update: June 2, 2018 ]
The (new) Cadillac Database©
The Cadillac V-16
Series 452-452A
1930-1931
The European “Tour” Cars
Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page
or go back to the V-16 index page
(en bas de page se trouve un résumé en français)
This revised account of the “V-16 European “Tour” is the
combined effort of three Cadillac enthusiasts who painstakingly went through
dozens of documents and photos relating to the event. They are: Anders Läck (Sweden), Anne Ekström (Sweden)
and Yann Saunders (Scotland and USA). The main “Tour” information and pics were
gleaned from the in-house magazine “General Motors World” issues from June
through December 1930. Some help was provided graciously by Swedish
auto-historian, Jan Ströman.
In June of 1930, the Cadillac Motor Car Division of
GM sent five of the most representative of its sixteen-cylinder models to
Europe, on a promotional “Tour”.
There was initially some debate as to which Sixteens were part of
the “Tour”. In his excellent book Sixteen Cylinder Motor Cars,
Roy Schneider mentions a first group of Fleetwood-bodied Sixteens that traveled
the U.S. auto show, salon and dealer showroom circuits; these included a
close-coupled sedan (style #4330-S), an all-weather phaeton (style #4380), a “sport” or “special”
dual-cowl phaeton (style #4260), a town car with special cane work on the lower
rear quarters - one of only three built this way (style #4264-B) - and a
convertible coupe (style #4235). Roy said that six ”Sixteens”
were sent to Europe, in June; he did not specify which ones but we assume they
included the four listed in this paragraph (#4330S, #4260, #4264B and #4235);
the fifth “Tour” car was a “Madame X” imperial limousine (style #4175).
So,
after scrutinizing the relevant issues of General Motors World magazine
(the 7 issues from June to December, 1930), it appears
that only FIVE (not SIX) cars were part of the “Tour”. A sixth car (a
Fleetwood-bodied “All-Weather Phaeton”, style #4380), traveled separately to Europe
(to Vienna, inter alia, where it is known to have won a prize there in a Concours d’Elégance. All these
cars are illustrated below. Note that a “seventh” V-16 model may be seen
among those that were shown among the “Tour” in Germany; that car probably had
been acquired earlier that year by the local Cadillac dealer in that country,
Eduard Winter of General Motors GmbH. It was a “Tour” PLUS to have it seen
among the five other Sixteens.
In
one of the many reports published in relation to the event, the writer declared: Their
various color schemes were chosen with the idea of having each car contrast
with every other. Regrettably, we have seen no color photos of ANY of
the five “Tour” cars to better appreciate that statement.
Here
now are photos from a rare Fleetwood promotional “photo book” illustrating the
28 basic models in the “V-16” line for 1930 and 1931. Below are extracts from
that superb album Yann was allowed to copy from the
private collection of the late Z. Taylor Vinson (the original is now part of
the Hagley Library and Museum collection in Wilmington, DE. Included are the
five early models that were chosen by Cadillac to participate in the European “Tour”
in the summer of 1930.
It
has not been established with certainty that the 5 cars illustrated are those
that effectively participated in the “Tour” although, being early production
models, it is more than likely that some (if not all) of them did travel to
Europe.
We
have listed the photos in ascending numerical order of the serial numbers
(VIN).
Left: hard cover of
the “V-16” promotional book
Right: RH side view of Cadillac’s superb sixteen-cylinder motor
One
additional V-16 model (Fleetwood Style #4376 Stationary Coupe)
was shown at one or more “Tour” destinations in Germany; we assume it
was provided by the Cadillac dealer there; it was NOT a part of the Caravan
Shipping
dates and destinations
The “Tour” was led by T. W. Henderson, chief of the Cadillac-La
Salle division. On the trip were also G. T. Caroll,
regional Cadillac-La Salle specialist and S. W. King, regional Cadillac-La
Salle service specialist.
There
was some debate as to the actual shipping date from New York as well as the
port of disembarkation in Europe. According to the GM Motor World,
issue for June 1930 (that was probably typeset in April or May 1930), the cars
were scheduled to leave New York aboard the S/S “Deutschland” on June 12, 1930; in fact, and owing to
delays in preparing the five cars for the ocean voyage, they were compelled to
board a later vessel, the “SS United States”. In
the definitive book on Fleetwood coachwork published in 2001,
author James Schild asserted that the “Tour” had
begun in Paris, on June 21, 1930; one factory build sheet provided
kindly by V-16 enthusiast, Steven Nanini of Arizona, shows
that the special phaeton (Style #4260, body #2) was shipped from the factory on June 11, 1930, bound for Copenhagen. That
information ties in with historian Alan Merkel's findings; writing in the 70s,
Alan said the cars had been shipped first to Copenhagen, in Denmark. Later
research conducted by Anders and Anne revealed that the cars had driven the
630 miles from Detroit to New York where they were boxed, loaded onto the
Danish-American Line (DFDS) steamship, S/S “United States” and shipped directly
to Copenhagen.
This is the actual steamship that ferried the Sixteens from New York to
Copenhagen[1]
This ad appeared in New York days before the
cars sailed
( a rare find, thanks to Anders! – Yann’s notes in red font)
Licensing
Until March 2018 we had been unable
to determine with any certainty when and how the five cars got the temporary
French license tags they bore throughout the duration of the “Tour” (except in Germany). Indeed, all the “tour” cars carried
French “tourist” license tags with the suffix “XB”; that suffix is a positive
indication that these temporary tags were issued in France's Seine inférieure region; they could only have been issued in Le Havre (or
possibly Rouen, the district capital of Seine inférieure). Who issued them? Where? When? Why?
Yann had first thought the cars had
been offloaded at Le
Havre (one of the larger, French,
merchant sea ports on the Channel, providing access from the North Atlantic
eastwards to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea) and that they had travelled to
Denmark, by road, via Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. That theory was
proved wrong.
Investigation by Anders, Anne
and Jan confirmed that the cars had traveled by ocean freight directly to
Copenhagen; Anders believes the French license tags (although effectively
issued in France's Seine inférieure
“administrative department” were ordered, at the last minute, at the request
of General Motors (France) in Paris; they would have been delivered
by mail or courier to General Motors International A/S in
Copenhagen. The French authorities certainly must have had all the
necessary vehicle information, model descriptions and VINs to allow the
licensing process to take place without the cars being physically present
in Seine inférieure. Thierry Baudin, a specialist in French automobile history, sent
this interesting piece on licensing, in France, of automobiles issued to
(temporary) foreign visitors. He wrote: The topic is quite
familiar today; the “XB” series was used in France's Seine Maritime region (formerly
Seine inférieure) from 1928 to 1933 to allow
importing temporarily and duty-free, as well as registering the automobiles of
foreigners disembarking at Le Havre (our emphasis) to
visit France and other countries in Europe. In
the case you mention, it would appear that the
Cadillacs did not disembark at Le Havre, but proceeded on to
Denmark; that situation is less common (again our own
emphasis). Since 1919, there has been a preferential trade agreement between
France and the USA that allows US cars to be imported by foreign tourists and
for them to obtain temporary title documents (France’s “carte grise” or gray
card) without the need to present to the authorities any other document than
the US “title”.
Mr. Baudin
was not sure if similar trade agreements were signed with any of the other
countries visited during the “Tour”. He added, “A simple stop at a French port was all that was needed to
provide the cars with a French “identity”, allowing them to drive in all the
selected countries on the strength of their French “carte grise”. This
preferential treatment meant the cars were not required to undergo any
technical inspection (such as required under Department of
Transport – DOT – regulations in most countries, including the USA); the
only requirement was to show the (French)
authorities the US title documents. In addition, requests (for
such French registration) could be made in advance, in
particular by the shipping company on whose vessel the cars were
carried. For example, on arrival at Le Havre, we do not believe the cars had to
be off-loaded; their mere presence as cargo loaded aboard a ship (we
would guess that a copy of the ship's Bill of Lading would suffice) was
enough for customs and licensing authorities to deliver a “carte grise” for
each car. Thierry continued: “Assuming the French ‘carte
grise’ documents still exist (in the archives of the French licensing
authorities) these will show important information relative to each car
such as date of issue of the ‘carte grise’ and the identity of each owner. That
information would be available also for the “missing” tag in the series (i.e. 2147XB ... which may not even be
a Cadillac!).
So far as we have been able to determine, the French authorities have no
record of the cartes grises issued
in 1930 for the five V-16 Cadillacs[2].
We have listed in numerical sequence the French tags you will see in the Table, below. You will
notice a gap in the sequence; we all wonder what car (make and model) got
the out-of-sequence tag #2147XB;
was it a Cadillac? The table of “Tour” cars shows also the factory shipping
dates, the body style and type of each vehicle, their body number (when known)
and the corresponding French (temporary) tag numbers.
|
VIN |
Ship |
Body
Style |
Body |
French |
Notes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
These Fleetwood “Town Broughams” were built, only 3 had
cane-work applied to the rear body |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
86 of these flat-windshield, 7-pass Madame X limousines
were built; 24 others had the Pennsylvania “Split-V” windshield |
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
85 were built; the chassis of this car was used later to
receive custom bodywork by Jacques Saoutchik;
later still, the Saoutchik job was removed and put on another V16 chassis and
VIN701554 got back its original body[3] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Covers
of the seven issues of GM World we consulted for our research
The issues for July and October were silent on
the question of the “Tour” but did provide other interesting information and
photos relating to the General Motors marque, including the Cadillac.
Tour Itinerary
and Photoshoot Locations
The cars were offloaded at the Copenhagen wharf on June 25, 1930. They were taken (or did
they drive?) to the GM factory premises in the south harbor[4].
Anders and Anne provided some Swedish auto club
magazines (all in Swedish!), containing factual historical information about the “Tour”;
they confirmed that it had definitely begun in
Copenhagen on June 26, 1930. Also, in the summary that Anders supplied (in January 2012), we
know that the “Tour” ended in Paris on September 9.
We have a good idea of
the order in which the Caravan effectively advanced through continental Europe
after it left Sweden and entered Germany; this is based on available photos
(most of them unfortunately undated), as well as on some clippings (in Dutch)
from Cadillac aficionado and friend Dirk Van Dorst, as
well as the photos taken in Vittel (France), the one in Spain (from the
book Cadillac Eldorado) and the ones in France (in Hendaye, Cadillac, Bordeaux, La Baule
and Angers).
A reported nine
countries were visited, in this order: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany,
Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, France (a second time), Spain and France
(a third and last time). There were 11 Border
Crossings: (1) Denmark to Sweden, (2) Sweden to Norway, (3) Norway
back to Sweden, (4) Sweden to Germany, (5) Germany to Holland, (6) Holland to
Belgium, (7) Belgium to eastern France, (8) eastern France to Switzerland,
(9) western Switzerland back into France, (10) France to Spain, (11) Spain back
into France to reach the final destination in Paris.
The two inserts, below, show
what might have been the “Tour” itinerary. In our long search we were able to examine all the relevant issues of “GM World”,
from June to December 1930[5],
as well as one issue of General Motors Continental; nevertheless, the
precise itinerary is still not known for sure, but the order in which
the cars proceeded through Europe seems now to be well established.
Let’s look at the actual
countries, dates and towns mentioned specifically in those “GM World” reports. According to “GM
World” for June 1930, the initial planned route was to be:
[1] France (Paris, etc.) June 23-27, [2] Belgium (Brussels, etc.) June
30 to July 5, [3] Holland (Antwerp, etc.) July 7-10, [4] Denmark (Copenhagen)
July 14-16, [5] Sweden (Stockholm etc.) July 21-25, [6] Germany (Berlin,
etc.) July 28-Aug. 8, [7] Switzerland (Basel, etc.) August 10-15, and
[8] Spain ([Madrid, etc.) August 25 and the supposed end of the “tour”). That
is NOT how it happened.
There was a
last-minute change of plans, presumably owing to the late departure to NY, by
road, of two of the “Sixteens”. Note that a press cutting published in New
York's “Daily Eagle” on June 22, 1930 (i.e. eleven days after the cars already
had boarded and left the S/S United States), asserted that the five cars
would “Tour” Great Britain and the Continent. There definitely was NO
visit to GB.
The
mentioned press cutting on the left, provided kindly by Anders, shows just how
much we should take published “news” with a large “pinch of salt”: (1) There
was no tour of Great Britain; (2) the Caravan cars did NOT leave New York on
the S/S France; (3) the itinerary did NOT “begin at Paris on June 21”, but in
Copenhagen on June 24.
The
itinerary and schedule on the right mentions a route to Madrid (correctly it
seems): Geneva > Aix-les-Bains
> Nice > Toulouse > Biarritz > San Sebastiàn.
In this regard, Yann initially had got it wrong; he got confused because
of a “Tour” photo (below) that he believed had been taken at Le Perthus, the border post located on the Mediterranean side
of the Spanish peninsula; in fact, he later discovered that photo was effectively taken
at Hendaye, on the Bay of Biscay.
The
“end of the road”, according to the revised itinerary on the right (above), was
to be Madrid, in central Spain, arriving there on September 8. We have not been
able to establish whether or not the Caravan effectively
traveled to Madrid (i.e. from San Sebastiàn and back
via the same route).
Yann’s (corrected) sketch of the assumed itinerary, based on
published “GM” monthly reports,
photos … and some guess work! The
purple arrows show the (assumed) direction of travel
According
to the revised schedule and time-line, Madrid was to receive the Caravan of
cars on September 8, yet the first cars drove into Paris the very next day
(September 9). We find it hard to believe, in passing, that the Caravan could
have traveled the 1300 kms (800+ miles), from Madrid
to Paris, in a single day, especially in the absence (in 1930) of Spain’s “autopistas” and France’s “autoroutes”, and with so many
stops and activities on route[6].
The various progress
reports mention 31 “formal showings” and 44
cities as having been visited, where the cars were presumably on “controlled
public display” in hotels or dealership settings. We have identified (almost)
all of these, each one being mentioned specifically in one or more of the
published reports: (1) Copenhagen, (2) Helsingborg, (3) Hamlstad,
(4) Gothenburg, (5) Oslo, (6) Carlstad, (7) Örebro, (8) Stockholm, (9) Jönköping, (10) Malmö, (11) Dresden, (12) Berlin, (13) Nuremberg, (14) Münich, (15) Stuttgart, (16) Frankfurt, (17) Wiesbaden,
(18) Cololgne, (19) Arnhem, (20) Utrecht, (21) The
Hague (22) Rotterdam, (23) Antwerp, (24) Brussels, (25-27?) unspecified resort towns along the English Channel,
(28) Vittel, (29) Basel, (30) Zürich, (31) Lucerne, (32) Berne, (33) Lausanne,
(34) Geneva, (35) Aix-les-Bains, (36) Nice, (37) Toulouse, (38) San Sebastiàn, (39) Madrid, (40) Cadillac, (41) Bordeaux,
(42) La Baule, (43) Angers and (44) Paris.
The total distance
traveled by the “Sixteens” was a reported 10,709 kilometers (6,693 miles) from
start to finish (another source mentions 6,654 miles); we guess those figures
are based on the odometer readings of one (or more) of the five cars ... and probably
includes the “thousands of demo rides” performed at various destinations on
route by the #4330S sedan.
Shown below, in
chronological order, are notes about each visit, with whatever photos were taken
at the time; unfortunately, few are of a high quality and resolution, being
digital copies from “grainy” period magazines (Yann is wont to say: “Better a
poor photo than NO photo”).
DENMARK
Copenhagen, Denmark (June 26-28),
Anders
said that on Thursday evening June 26 the
V-16s where shown in the Palmehaven (a
huge glass hall known as the “Garden of Palms”)
of the Hotel d'Angleterre
(established in 1755, that hotel is an icon and a Copenhagen landmark celebrated
for its elegance, luxury and style). Another published record reads: The
first showing (in Copenhagen) was held in the Angleterre Hotel where the convertible coupe and the town
brougham were displayed in the tea room (see photo, below) before an audience of invited guests comprising
distinguished citizens of the town.”. Outside the hotel, where great crowds
surrounded them, the other three models were parked on bright red carpets.
These cars took invited guests on ten-minute demonstration rides and were kept
busy for two hours by many eager applicants. In the same
published record, it is said that: On the following evening about 200
members of the Royal Society of Engineers were invited
to the Industry Building to see the cars on exhibition there and to
receive demonstration rides. Mr. Lundsgaard,
Sales Promotion Manager, gave a short lecture on the V-16 Cadillac and answered
many questions from his audience.
On June 27, the cars where shown by General
Motors International A/S. Next day (Saturday June 28) they were shown off by
the Danish Cadillac dealer, F. Bülow & Co. Anders was
able to provide a photo (see below) taken in front of the Bülow showrooms;
it is from the collection of Danish enthusiast, Uffe
Mortensen.
Two views of Copenhagen's
prestigious Hotel d'Angleterre
Fleetwood’s
style #4235 convertible coupe (left) and #4264B Town Brougham (right)
in the lobby of the Hotel d'Angleterre that was decorated with fine oriental rugs
The V-16 Town Brougham is the center of attention in
front of the premises of Danish Cadillac dealer, F. Bülow
Always on the lookout for photos and
info relating to the “V16 European Tour”, Anne came up (in April 2018) with
three microfiches from local newspapers; not surprisingly, the images are of
very poor quality, so we only describe them here. Anne, a Swede, can handle
Norwegian and is fluent in English but she admits her command of Danish has
limits (we should be so lucky to have a polyglot helping us). Anne has done her
best to give us the gist of the short texts appearing with the images; they are
actually quite repetitive and there is really not much
more to say than what has already been said and shown above.
Photo 1
The column heading reads “POLITIKER”
and shows another view of the #4235 convertible coupe and #4264B Town Brougham
(as above) in the lobby of the Hotel d'Angleterre,
attending a “Tea Dance” (i.e. a dance held while afternoon tea is served; this was popular in the
20s and 30s).
General Motors and Bülow & Co were pleased with their “Tea
Dance” in the Hotel d’Angleterre yesterday afternoon.
Lots of guest were admiring these beautiful 16-cylinder phenomena and there is reason
to believe that orders for the V-16 will soon follow for Bülow. In any case,
everyone admired them greatly. Later in the evening the 5 cars moved to the
industrial site where automobile experts were congregating and where engineer Lundsgaard from General Motors gave an instructive speech
regarding this unique production automobile. Today the five cars are exhibited at
Bülow & Co premised on Toldbodevej, and tomorrow,
early, they leave for Oslo on the first leg of the European Tour. The photo [not shown] is taken
in the Palm tree garden of the Hotel d’Angleterre.
Photo 2
“When the Cadillacs emerged from the containers”
As previously stated, Copenhagen has had honor of being the
starting point for the imposing 16-cyl. Cadillac caravan which is about to tour
Europe. The upscale automobiles, much like the well-known car currently owned
by Minister Booth, disembarked from the steamship “United States” and proceeded
straight to the General Motor’s factory in the south port, where the large
boxes gave up their [precious?] cargo. Tomorrow afternoon already, the cars
will be presented at a huge gala parade in the Hotel d’Angleterre.
Photo 3
“The big day for Cadillac”
(The text is very similar to the
other two clippings, but includes detailed technical data about the cars).
Photo 4
“The 16-cylinders arrived yesterday”
(Again, the text is much the same as
for photos 1 and 2)
In front of the premises of Danish Cadillac dealer, F. Bülow: From L to R:
Fleetwood V-16 models #4330-S, #4260 and #4264-B
[above 2 Photos: courtesy and © Uffe Mortensen,
Denmark]
NORWAY
(June 29-30),
On
the evening of June 29, the cars traveled just 28 miles, by road, to Helsingör (or Elsinore, where Shakespeare's “Hamlet” had contemplated
suicide). There, they boarded the ferry to Helsingborg, in Sweden (just 2 miles
and 20 minutes away). From Sweden’s border area they traveled by road back to Oslo,
in Norway, via Halmstad and Gothenburg (both in Sweden); there was already a
successful showing of the cars in Gothenburg (notification below).
Thanks to my Swedish buddy, Jerry Jansson,
here is the translation:
A procession of five 16-cylinder Cadillac automobiles will be arriving in
Gothenburg
on July 5, 1930 and a demonstration will take place in the Mässhallen
(showroom)
from 9.30 am until 12.30 in the afternoon. No-one should neglect this
opportunity
to view these new carriages by Cadillac, the World's premier automobile.
H.J. WALLIN Automobile Company, Gothenburg,
General Motors authorized dealer
Later that day, the Caravan cars were put on display in the
Norwegian capital; unfortunately, we have no photographic evidence of that particular showing.
|
|
|
SWEDEN
June 29 and July 1 to 5
We owe to
Anders and Anne this most accurate, most detailed and largest collection of
photos and documents relating to the Scandinavian part of the “Tour”. They consulted Sweden's central
library, the Kungliga Biblioteket (“Royal Library”) where they
noted that the Caravan had driven from Oslo to Stockholm on July 1, via
Karlstad and Örebro, reaching Stockholm that
same evening. In Dagens Nyheter (the Daily
News?) for July 2, there is a short article and a photo of the five “Tour”
cars posing in front of Sweden's Grand Hotel.
The Swedish contingent (from L to R): Mr. Winstedt,
C.H. Fleming, P.S. Steenstrup,
Mr. and Mrs. T.W. Henderson, Mrs. Steenstrup, Mr.
Osterman (half hidden),
Mr. S.W. King, Mr. and Mrs. G.T. Carroll (and two unidentified guests)
This “Google Earth” view of Stockholm's Grand Hotel (left) and the Royal
Automobile Club (KAK - in the
center) was submitted kindly by Yann’s
Swedish friend and confirmed Cadillac aficionado, Jerry Jansson
Stockholm’s Grand Hotel was the place to see the
cars … before the crowds arrived
Clip from a documentary
movie shot in front of the Grand Hotel
A group of the “Tour” organizers, led by T.W. Henderson,
chief of the Cadillac-La Salle division of GM
The five “Tour” cars outside the HQ of the Royal Swedish Automobile Club[7]
(Photo: courtesy Autohistorica #3/71 - www.massingnickel.se
The article
reported that the Caravan had effectively started out from Oslo on the morning
of July 1. It was said that for two days
the cars would be in Stockholm’s Marble Halls, the renowned Cadillac
showrooms of Hans Osterman. Sure enough, on Wednesday and Thursday July 2
and 3 the cars were effectively on display there. One photo taken at the
time (below) shows that King Gustaf V of Sweden even paid a visit there on
that occasion; he did not buy one of the big, new V-16 cars even though he was
a keen admirer of Cadillac and LaSalle automobiles; in fact, he already owned
one that he had acquired some time before the start of the “Tour” (photo).
|
|
|
Advertising
by Hans Osterman
Some of the King’s own stable of (stretched)
Cadillacs from 1930
The King had his own (stretched)
Cadillacs; he was not too impressed
with the inner dimensions of the new V-16 closed models
Below: custom stretched 1930 limousine-landaulet by Alexis Kellner, Berlin
[ Photos: Fred Summers, CLC ]
The King had acquired a 1930 V-16 limousine, style #4375 before the “Tour” cars
reached Sweden
The
photo shows the French “tourist” tag on this Caravan car (style #2260)
From L to R: Mr. T. Hendersson, in charge of the Cadillac V-16 European Tour, Hans
Osterman, director of the Marble Halls showroom (also inset, below), HM King
Gustaf of Sweden, Mr. Steenstrup, the showroom
supervisor; the King is wearing a black armband to mark the passing (in Rome,
on April 4) of his spouse, Queen Victoria
We
have it from GM Nordiska AB, in a GM World monthly magazine from the late 20s,
that Hans Osterman’s Cadillac-LaSalle and Buick dealership in Stockholm was the
most magnificent automobile showroom in all of Europe. GM Nordiska's
Cadillac Division chief, Baron Claes Fleming, joined
the Caravan throughout the journey through Sweden.[8]
Hans Osterman had
organized an extensive program to receive the five Cadillac cars. He influenced
crown equerry, Charles 0'Otrante, to allow King Gustav V to enjoy a
semi-private viewing of the cars.
The Fleetwood
style #4264B Town Brougham – so impressive
(only THREE like it were built)
Fleetwood style #4260 Special
Phaeton, with style #4235 Convertible Coupe in the background
Odd as it might
seem, the King was not particularly impressed with the V-16s. This prompted
Hans Osterman to write a letter to Alfred Sloan, CEO of GM (documents and the
correspondence exchanged in this regard are attached as Annex 1 to this
section). The royal host asserted he was more than happy with the Cadillac he
already owned (photos above). In these
cars (the new V16 models) he said, I
cannot sit up straight with my hat on (and hardly even without my hat); I
cannot sit comfortably with my legs, but must sit hunched up, as if I were
sitting in a Ford wagon.
On Friday morning,
July 4, the cars left the Grand Hotel. Two of the cars took the northern route
via Vasteras - Orebro - Motala to Jonkopinq.
There, they meet the three other cars, which had taken the southern route via Norrkopinq to Jonkopinq. Leading
the Caravan was a Chevrolet truck, carrying advertising banners for the V-16s
(photos below).
Jonköping
This advertising truck followed the “Tour” cars throughout the Swedish part of
the trip
The text in front of the truck reads: Cadillac Caravan, Stockholm –
Madrid. On the side it reads:
Look out for the Cars that are following (this truck); they are made by General Motors: the CADILLAC
V-16. The World's only 16-cylinder Luxury Car. The car industry's premier
Creation: V-16
Exclusive dealer for Sweden: A.B. Hans Osterman, Stockholm
After stopping for a hearty lunch (accompanied by quite a
few strong drinks!), the cars continued on route to
Gothenburg. They were on display there until lunchtime the following day, parked
outside the auto sales premises of H.J. Wallin.
From Gothenburg the “Tour” drove south to Halmstad where
they parked at Lilla Torget. The party stopped there to
enjoy a fine meal … doused (again) with a few “interesting drinks”.
Halmstad
where the Sixteens parked at Lilla Torget
Much later, the cars continued on
to Helsingborg, where they made a further (brief) stop. However, because they
were running very late and had to catch the ferry from Trelleborg to Sassnitz, in Germany, they did not stop in Malmö, despite
the thousands of people who had assembled on the square, outside the hotel
Cramer, eagerly waiting to catch a glimpse of the exclusive cars.
The Caravan reached Trelleborg and caught the ferry with
only five minutes to spare!
GERMANY
July 5-6 to July 24
The German portion of the “Tour”
lasted around 19 days ... the longest lap of the entire journey. The first stop
after the ferry crossing was Berlin. The cars are presumed to have left
Scandinavia around July 22-23, embarking in Trelleborg at the southern tip of Sweden
and disembarking the same day in Sassnitz, on Ruden island in Germany after a sea voyage of 60-70 miles south across
the Baltic sea.
There, they were welcomed by General
Motors G.m.b.H. and the local Cadillac dealer, Eduard
Winter. It is our educated guess, looking at the map of Europe, that the cars
probably drove through Germany along this itinerary: Rostok
> Berlin > Dresden > Nuremberg > Münich >
Ulm > Stuttgart > Frankfurt > Wiesbaden > Cologne >
Essen, then across the border into Holland.
That is the order in which we have shown the known photos of that section of
the “Tour”. We have seen only one photo of a V-16 in Berlin (“Madame X” limousine,
style #4175).
The steps in front of this building - and the French number plate on the car
had Yann thinking this location was the cathedral in Cologne; in fact the color photo (right) identifies it correctly as
the Altes [old] Museum in
Berlin
The Brandenburg gate: classical "Triumph" arch today
The cars did pass by it
The “demo” sedan, style #4330S
The oriental rugs on display in Copenhagen’s Hotel d’Angleterre
were used again in Berlin to enhance the displays of the V-16
The precise location of the Berlin venue was not shown GM World for November 1930
This photo of style #4175 limousine (left) appears to have
been taken also in Dresden;
similar oriental-style rugs were spread around also in Nuremberg, a few days
later;
In the same showroom (?); the oval
license tag on the phaeton you can see
in the background, confirms the cars wore German “tourist” tags in Germany
Style #4175 at the old fortress in Nuremburg (“before”
and “after”)
Style #4235 in front
of Münich’s astounding Mittelsbach
fountain
Three “Tour “ cars before the cathedral in Cologne:
styles #4235, 4264B and 4260
HOLLAND
July 24 to 29
The cars drove through Holland, on
route to Arnhem, Utrecht and The Hague. There was a reported overnight stay in Arnhem,
where the five V-16s were displayed in the showrooms of Mr. K. Landeweer, general agent
for GM in Holland and enterprising distributor for
Cadillac and LaSalle cars at General Motors Continental. He met the V-16s at the border between
Germany and Holland on July 24 and remained with the cars for the entire
duration of the Dutch part of the “Tour”.
In Utrecht (Mr. Landeweer's HQ) there was a
2-day showing as well as many demonstration rides, so that prominent Dutch persons might enjoy what the
Sixteens had to offer.
Following a press luncheon and
demonstration, a well-known automotive authority wrote a highly laudatory
article about Cadillac's V-16 models; it was published in Holland's De
Auto. We do not have a copy.
The title of the following piece
is: THE CADILLAC “SIXTEEN-CYLINDER” CARAVAN; it is sub-titled: A
“Tour” along Holland’s highways and was published on August 4, 1930, in
the Limburger Courrier (a provincial
newspaper from the southern part of Holland). The opening line reads:
we have received this from Utrecht; the next line begins: It is a
sensational feeling to ride in a sixteen-cylinder car for the first time.
The actual Caravan of cars is
mentioned only in passing; the onus of the piece centers on past and present
Cadillac automobile production with only references to V-16 performance and
styling. If any Dutch-speaking viewers want to translate the full text to
English, we will gladly post their work here.
Thanks to CLC member, Dirk Van Dorst (coordinator of the club's activities in
Europe) and to Paul Ayres (club Vice-President for International
Affiliates), we were able to get copies of the
article, above, and the two clippings below. Our knowledge of Dutch is limited
so please forgive our NOT attempting to translate the two cuttings into
English. We did make an attempt to translate the
headlines.
This cutting is
from News of the Day, a daily paper
published in Batavia, Dutch East Indies
The preceding extract is dated July
29, 1930; my own translation reads: The international Cadillac Caravan
comprising five deluxe models in the new V-16 Cadillac range were shipped on
June 12 aboard
the SS Deutschland (mistaken information once again; in fact the
carrier was the S/S United States) with the objective of doing a tour
of Europe this summer. The Caravan will visit eight (actually 9) countries; it left Copenhagen on June 24
(actually June 28), to end the
trip in Madrid on September 8 (actually it ended in
Paris, on September 9). In the intervening period the following towns
will be visited (the actual itinerary and the dates of the visits are
not clearly defined but include Stockholm (Sweden), Berlin,
Dresden, Nuremberg, Münich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt,
Wiesbaden and Cologne (Germany), Utrecht, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague
(Holland), Antwerp and Brussels (Belgium), Paris, Aix-les-Bains, Nice, Toulouse
and Biarritz (France), Basel, Zürich, Berne and Geneva (Switzerland) and
finally San Sebastiàn and Madrid (Spain).
Despite the requests for information
made on Yann’s behalf by Dirk Van Dorst (coordinator
of the Cadillac and LaSalle Club's activities in Europe) to
many known Dutch historians and collectors, including Frans Frijaldenhoven
and Koen Ongkioehong, nothing new on the subject has
come to light regarding the Dutch portion of the “Tour”.
This clipping is from
the west Indian De Indische Courant. It reads: The Cadillac
V-16 Caravan that recently made a trip through Europe, visited the picturesque
small town of Cadillac in the South of France, where a wreath was laid on the
War Memorial in honor of Antoine de la Mothe
Cadillac, founder of Detroit, Michigan.
Three photos also were published in General
Motors Continental during the time the cars spent in Holland; the
copies in my possession were scanned
from those magazines and many fall short of what would be needed in the Cadillac
Database; a better copy (below) was provided by Peter Ratcliff of
Melbourne, Australia.
Vollendam, in Holland, featuring the five “sixteens”,
led by Style #4330S sedan
[General Motors World, September 1930]
One report published by General
Motors - Continental in Holland identified the correct location of the
above below. Yann first believed it had been taken near Le Perthus,
on the Spanish border with France; in reality – and this has required a change
of the map itinerary. It was snapped near Doorn, in
Holland, where the Caravan had stopped at the gates to Huis Doorn.
Huis Doorn
is the former home of Germany's late Emperor Wilhelm II (1859 – 1941). He
was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia and
eldest grandson of Britain’s Queen Victoria; he was related to many
monarchs and princes including Britain’s King George V, founder of
the House of Windsor. Kaiser Wilhelm supported Austro-Hungary in
the crisis of July 1914 that led to the First World War. An ineffective war leader, however, he lost
the support of the army, abdicated in November 1918, and fled to exile in the
Netherlands where he bought Doorn Castle in 1919,
after the debacle of World War I. He lived in the Castle until his death
in 1941. The residence is still a museum. Huis Doorn
has become a place of pilgrimage for German monarchists; a small but
enthusiastic group of them gather there every year on the anniversary of his
death to pay their homage to the last German Emperor.
Huis Doorn, Holland,
featuring Fleetwood “Madame X” style #4175
(General Motors World, September 1930 - scanned by Peter Ratcliff,
Australia)
BELGIUM
July 29 to August (?)
Following a successful “Tour” of the
larger cities and towns of Holland, the Sixteens made their
way to Antwerp, in Belgium, on July 24; this was reported by General
Motors Continental around the end of July 1930. There had been cabled
reports to GM headquarters in Detroit about similar successes encountered in
Scandinavia, Germany and Holland. It is assumed there were 3-4 stops on route, e.g. in Antwerp and
Brussels, and possibly also in Bruges and Ostende,
before the Caravan reached the French Channel resorts and then headed south in
the direction of Switzerland.
Unfortunately, the archives of GM's
facility in Antwerp, Belgium, were destroyed either during the war or possibly
during a major “clean-up” of archival material after the war (the same thing
happened with GM in Switzerland – AND with Cadillac on Cark Street in Detroit!).
We put feelers out to friends in Belgium, and others familiar
with the V-16 European “Tour”. So far, there have been no
responses. Shame for we crazy collectors of “old stuff”!
FRANCE (1)
August (?)- August 10
The “straight-line” first stop after
Antwerp and Brussels in Belgium was the French spa town of Vittel, where photos
were taken … but would the Caravan really have made a bee-line from Brussels to
Vittel without first taking in beautiful Bruges, to the north and west? Yann is
thinking of an itinerary that would look like more this: Bruges > Lille >
Arras > St. Quentin > Laon > Reims (Champagne country!) >
Bar-le-Duc > Toul > Vittel (where
a couple of photos were taken) > Epinal >
Belfort (or Mulhouse) > Basel (in Germany).
(Left) Style #4235 convertible coupe at the
entrance to the Hôtel Ermitage
in the spa town of Vittel (eastern France); (right) the same entrance today;
The former Hotel Hermitage is now the Hotel Continental
What we do know is that the Caravan
crossed the border from Belgium into France in the 1st or 2nd
week in August as it headed south towards Switzerland[9]. Strange
as it might seem, there are very few reports and photos to describe the
progress of the “Tour” in France. It was only in 1936 and thereafter that all French
workers began to enjoy paid leave (congés payés); that's when an estimated 80% of the otherwise
active French population ceases all forms of work and heads for the country's
major “recreational areas”, being on the coasts of the Mediterranean, the Atlantic ocean, the English Channel (known in France
as La Manche) and the French Alps; such
vacations usually are taken in the (warm) months of July or August. Perhaps
French workers already had got into the habit of “taking it easy” at that time
of year, which might explain France's apparent “silence” during the “Tour” … even if such essential annual vacation time were
taken at the workers’ own expense.
Style #4260 heading to
the golf course in Vittel
SWITZERLAND
From other reports in
“GM World” we learned that the Caravan was in the country for 4-5 days, from
around August 10-15, 1930. Yann
(a long-time resident of Switzerland) has put feelers out to the two major Swiss
automobile clubs that were already in
operation in that country in the 30s; he contacted also the Tourist Boards of
the principal cities and towns believed to have been visited: Basel (the assumed border crossing point), Zürich
(the banking capital), Berne (the capital city), Lucerne (spelled “Lussan” in one report), Geneva
and finally (logically), the border town of St. Julien-en-Genevois in the Geneva enclave to the south, to re-enter
France in the west. Until now we have seen NO reports of the Caravan passing
through all these beautiful, scenic parts of Switzerland … but we have not
given up hope.
FRANCE (2)
August 15-18 (guess)
To get from Switzerland, to the
Spanish border, the revised itinerary schedule (RH image, above) the organizers
drew up this route: Aix-les-Bains > Grenoble > Nice >
Toulouse > Biarritz > San Sebastiàn.
In the revised itinerary published in the “GM World” issue
for November, 1930, the proposed
itinerary includes San Sebastiàn (the border post at Irún), then northwards through France via
Cadillac > Bordeaux > La Baule > Angers > Paris.
SPAIN
August 18 to 28 (guess)
There are NO known photos of the
Caravan (nor any of the cars) between Vittel (France) and San Sebastiàn (Spain), near the French border. Strange,
wouldn’t you say?
Madrid, the Spanish capital city was shown as being the end
of the “Tour” but there is no record of the Caravan ever stopping there. According
to the GM Motors progress reports, San Sebastiàn seems to have become the starting point of the
return trip to the ACTUAL final destination that
was changed (unofficially?) to Paris, France.
The image below is from the book Cadillac Eldorado by James W. Howell and
Jeanna Swanson Howell. The text that accompanies the image reads (in part):
This picture shows one of several (V16 models) that made an introductory tour
through Europe beginning in the summer of 1930.
We believe the above photo is a Cadillac from the early 20s (it is NOT a V16
model);
it has RHD (?); it appears also to carry license tags from Madrid, in Spain
The text by the authors, that
accompanies the preceding image, reads (in part): This picture shows
one of several (V16 models) that made an introductory “Tour”
through Europe beginning in the summer of 1930. The trip included a visit to
the ancestral home of the Cadillac family in France (Yann has studied
in depth the history of the Sieur Antoine de la Mothe-Cadillac; he asserts that there never was a “Cadillac”
family in all of France; feel free to take a Cadillac history lesson in this
other section of his Cadillac Database: https://www.newcadillacdatabase.org/static/CDB/Dbas_txt/Coatarms.htm.
So far is Spain is concerned, we have determined that there was a change of plans along the way. On the far right of the billboard
(above), that was placarded on the outskirts of San Sebastiàn,
the inset text reads: In San Sebastiàn on 27 and 28 August (at) Miracruz 2 [10]
San Sebastiàn is in the Basque region of north-eastern Spain;
it is officially known as Donostia in the Basque
language and as San Sebastiàn in Spanish. The cars are known to have been in San
Sebastiàn on August 27 and 28 (as stated on the
billboard). What happened between August 28 and September 9? That's almost 2
whole weeks! We have to assume the Caravan made an undocumented
return trip from San Sebastiàn to Madrid, but
we have found NO report(s) of any travel in Spain.
We have convinced ourselves – with
no tangible proof – that following the mysterious trip to and in Spain, the
Caravan proceeded northwards from San Sebastiàn, in
the direction of Paris, through the border posts at Irùn
(Spain) and Hendaye (France).
The cars made a first stop in the market town of Cadillac, whence the name
of our favorite automobiles, even though it is historically accurate to assert
that Antoine Laumet (aka Antoine de la Mothe-Cadillac), founder of
Detroit, the motor capital of the world, had no connection at all with that
town or its ancestors.
FRANCE (3)
August 28-29 to
September 9
In the third and final
part of the “Tour” (which had NOT been initially planned) and took place
from circa August 29 to September 9, i.e. another almost 2 weeks, the Caravan
entered France, coming from Spain at the border post of Irùn
(Spain) and Hendaye (France). The following towns and
cities were visited: Cadillac, Bordeaux, La Baule
and Angers. The route that was followed from Angers to Paris is not specified;
it could have been either Le Mans > Chartres or perhaps the more scenic
route through the Loire Valley, via Tours > Orleans[11],
effectively the (unplanned) final destination.
Entering France, coming from Spain, at Hendaye
The three arches (left) and the “bar” (right) are still a part
of the local scene
The fine detective work was done by my good South-African buddy,
Don Fraser of Dallas, TX;
I simply sent him the photo as a Facebook attachment on May 5, 2014 and Don
identified the spot
Next
stop: the market town of Cadillac and the Château
des Ducs d’Epernon, a
historic old castle which – it is often claimed in error – was the 17th
century home of the founder of the city of Detroit. He was actually
from a village near Castelsarrasin, 4 miles
from the town of Cadillac and 24 miles from the city of Bordeaux.
On
the square in Cadillac, with the five V16 cars grouped behind him, the Caravan
director T.W. Henderson, placed a wreath at the monument to the soldiers who
fell in World War I. It was an honorable
gesture towards one Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, an adventurous commoner, native of Castelsarrasin; his real name was Antoine Laumet. Antoine had borrowed the name of the town
next door to his and given it (indirectly, later) to the cars that bear his
alias since 1902.
Château Cadillac – the (dried up) moat
#4235
in front the entrance doorway to Château Cadillac
The #4235
Convertible Coupe did get around;
here, again in front of the entrance to the Château
Close-up
of the front door to “Château Cadillac”; the inscription is mostly illegible but
you can
still make out these
three words: “Duc D’Epernon”, “construire”
(to build) and “Cadillac”
In
this photo you can probably identify 4 of the 5 “Sixteens” posing in front of
St. Martin’s
church in the town of Cadillac: in front #4235, in the background, left, #4264B,
in the
backbround, center, #4175 and partly hidden in the
background, #4330S
Initially, I thought the above photo (left) and the enlargement (top) was taken
in Paris; but thanks to
Bruno Amiot of Angers, France, I know now that it was
taken in Bordeaux, in front of the
Girondins
monument (a tall column and fountain that stands on Quinconces
Square - color photo); an optical
illusion caused by he
camera lens and the angle at which the photo was taken, makes the #4260
phaeton in the foreground look smaller than the #4235 convertible coupe behind
it
[ Photo: courtesy Barry Dougherty, via Anders Läck ]
The first stop after Bordeaux was La
Baule, on September 6 and 7, 1930. A clipping in a contemporary
newspaper notes that the cars would be on display on September 8 at the Place
du Pelican in Angers in France, having stopped previously outside the casino in
La Baule. In
August 2005, Yann had a contact with Bruno Amiot, a
researcher from Angers town council; Bruno effectively recalled that the
Caravan had stopped there in September of 1930, as evidenced by 2 cuttings he
kindly sent me from the local newspaper, Le
Petit Courrier. He included 2 period photos of
the newspaper ads. Having come from La Baule (circa
100 miles west), where they probably spent September 6 and 7, the ad said the
“Sixteens” would be on display in Angers (from 4 p.m. on September 8 until noon
on September 9), on
the premises of the local GM/Cadillac dealer, Laudreau
& Co. at the Central Garage.
This
photo from General Motors World magazine for November 1930
shows the five Sixteens lined up in front of the casino in La Baule
(General Motors World, November 1930 - scanned by Peter Ratcliff, Australia)
Another view of the same line-up, courtesy
(Photo: courtesy Barry Dougherty, via Anders Läck)
Crossing the old
bridge at Angers
The Pont de la basse chaîne in Angers, with its fortress (in the center and
below)
Originally, this castle was built as a fortress in Roman times. The huge fortresse
was built starting in 1234 before King
Louis IX turned 21 (before that, he was known as Saint-Louis); in 1246, he gave
the fortress to his brother, Charles (General Motors World, November 1930 – LH
image scanned by Peter Ratcliff, Australia)
Somewhere in France
(?); note the French flags in the background, behind the convertible coupe
From
San Sebastiàn, back to the actual final
destination in the City of Lights (Paris), the selected route took the
Caravan through the border posts at Irùn (Spain) and Hendaye (France); there were a number of stops thereafter
in the market town of Cadillac, the Casino in La Baule,
a public viewing of the cars in Angers and, finally, the arrival of the Caravan
in Paris on September 9. On September 9 the cars rolled into Paris, the final destination. The
total mileage for the trips from Copenhagen to Oslo was 577 kilometers
(360 miles).
Summary: During the ten weeks they had been
on the move, the cars were shown at 21
formal views, 44 different cities were
visited, 9 countries were visited and 11
different border crossings was passed without problems or delays. Each
country's sales organization had posed one person at each border crossing to
explain to customs the purpose of the Caravan. It was done so effectively that
the group's accompanying luggage passed all duty stations without any bags
being searched. The record shows that the cars had driven 10,709 km (6,650
miles) in total, from Copenhagen to Paris. The cars certainly could have been
sold several times in the demonstration trip so great was the interest. The
sport coupe model #4235 was sold later to a prominent banker from Basel, while
the 5-passenger sedan, type #4330S, was sold to another Swiss gentleman, this
one in Geneva; he had retired after having made a fortune in business ventures
in (South?) America. The 7-passenger so-called “Madame X” limousine, type #4175,
appears to have made its way to Morocco; a period photo shows the car being
loaded onto a ship for the journey there.
The other two cars were used for demonstration purposes in Paris during
the annual auto show in the “City of Lights” in October. The first one, the
sports style #4260 special phaeton with dual cowl was acquired by renowned
French coachbuilder, Jacques Saouchik; he removed the
phaeton body and created an enclosed sedan featuring a special sliding roof
with a glass “observation panel” which – when the roof was opened
up - matched the car’s back light (details of what happened to the
“Sixteens” follow, below).
Unidentified locations
We are hoping that some travel
buffs will help us pin-point (for sure, with recent photos) the “mystery”
places where these snapshots were taken. We are guessing France, but perhaps
also Belgium, where French and Flemish both are spoken
Publicity shot of the
research library at the REVS Institute in Naples:
Yann and Gita
spent 2 days here, on research for this (revised) story
What became of the Five V-16s?
Let’s look at them, one
by one, in the order of their French tag numbers:
2145XB, style #4260,
Special Phaeton
This V-16 went from one
“adventure” to another, starting with the fact that it was wrongly identified (from
the very beginning, in the factory build sheet) as an “All-Weather Phaeton”;
were that the case, the style number would have been “4380” and not “4260”. It
remained in Paris through the 1930 Paris Salon (auto show) that opened its
doors on October 2, 1930 and closed on Sunday October 12.
The (clipped) photo,
below shows the five V-16s parading down
the Champs Elysées, between the 1st and 2nd
weeks in October
Much of what follows
should be considered anecdotal unless and until the story Yann was able to piece
together is proven to be 100% accurate. After the Salon (i.e. after Sunday October
12, or perhaps even later), the Phaeton appears to have been acquired by the
wealthy German Countess von Opel, spouse of the grandson of Adam von Opel who
first built the cars that still carry his name. The Countess took the car to Switzerland where
it got Swiss tags #VS18439, from the Canton of Valais.
While on those Swiss
tags the car won the “Grand Prix” (Concours d’Elégance?) in Cannes on France’s Côte d’Azur (see caption
to the original GM World photo, below),
Later still (no dates
found), the car was acquired by Jacques Saoutchik, one of France’s premier
coach-builders from pre- and post WW2 days; he removed the Phaeton’s (rear)
body (what happened to it is anyone’s guess) and built on the chassis (which
included the V-16 mechanicals as well as the hood and the firewall) a custom
“sliding-roof” sedan.
The latter had some
adventures of its own, which need not be related here; suffice it to say that
the sedan found its way back to the USA in the mid-80s. A well-known American
auto restorer did an in-depth face-lift to the sedan (photo #4) and put it on another
V-16 chassis (VIN700979); he then created an exact replica of a #4260
Special Phaeton and put that replica body onto the original V-16
chassis (VIN701554). The latter was later acquired by a well-known
collector of classic cars who, even later, sold it to the current owner.
2146XB, style #4330S,
Sedan
Like 2145XB the 5-passenger
sedan - the demo car - made various appearances around Paris’ many
monuments and avenues. After the Salon closed its doors, this V-16 was acquired
by a Swiss gentleman with obvious good taste. We don’t know the date of the
transaction nor what happened to the car after it moved to Geneva. According to
the report in General Motors World for November 1930, that
gentleman had made his fortune in America and had returned to Switzerland after
retiring from business. We wonder if that sedan survived.
Style #4330S, here, went to Geneva
2148XB, style 4175,
Limousine
Like the other four
“Sixteens”, #2146XB spent (at least) a month in Paris before moving to other
climes. We have little information about this one, other than it appears to
have gone to North Africa, to the country of Morocco. We nay only assume this
is what happened, based on a “fuzzy” photo of the car being loaded onto a ship
bound for that destination; it is (barely) identifiable by the French tourist
tag (2148XB) it was assigned in Denmark. Thank you, Peter Ratcliff,
long-standing member of the Cadillac Club of Australia, for bringing this photo
to our attention and sharing it with us. Could this “Tour” car have been
acquired by HM King Mohamed V, who reigned over of Morocco from 1927 to 1961?
We know his eldest son, HM King Hassan
II, was a keen car collector. Anyone seen this collection?
Style #4175 (possibly) went to Morocco
2149XB, style #4264B,
Town Brougham
We are unsure of the
fate reserved for this fabulous vehicle (one of only THREE built with the
French cane applied to the rear body). Like the other V-16s, it remained for a
time in Paris, in October 1930, and was seen “about town” with its sister
“Sixteens” throughout the duration of the Salon. There is a strong resemblance
between this Fleetwood style #4264B and a Town Brougham converted by the now
extinct Dutch coachbuilder Bronkhorst, in Holland.
Yann discovered in the French magazine “Auto Carrosserie”
for March-April 1931, the existence of such a car and is convinced it is the
“Tour” Town Brougham. There is indeed a remote possibility that style #4264B
found its way back to Holland, where it had been on display already from circa
July 24 to 29, before proceeding to Antwerp, in Belgium. The Bronkhorst car features large quarter windows and a body
extended a few inches, we guess to accommodate twin, forward-facing, full width
auxiliary seats. It is a shame that such a grand “classic” should apparently have
disappeared, It may well be that it was seized by the
Nazis, as a “spoil of war” during their occupation of Holland; if that were the
case, it is doubtful it would have survived the massive allied bombings of
major German cities during WW2.
The Dutch car on the
right is “stretched” and has got ¼ windows; the door handles are different as
is the trim on the tool-box below the driver’s door; it is also possible (but
unlikely) that the base car was bought directly from GM
It would be a “crying shame” to learn that this exceptional limousine-brougham
was destroyed!
Factory photos of town car style #4291 (left), the donor car, and style #4264B
with canework (right)
You can tell the body
has been stretched a few inches; note the large ¼ windows and the distance
from the rear door hinge pillar to the arm rest (with what appears to be a
microphone beside it
By comparison, this is
the interior of a “re-created” #4264B Town Brougham, converted
from a style #4291 Town Car (B&W photo above); note the absence of quarter
windows
2150XB, style 4235,
Convertible Coupe
This sporty convertible
coupe was also put to work during the Paris auto show. It may be of interest to
note that GM omitted (deliberately or not?) to make any reference, in its monthly “GM
World” magazine for December 1930, to the recent participation of all five
cars in the “V-16 European Tour” that had ended in Paris two months earlier, after
a 3-month and more than 6,000-mile trip to 9 countries.
Style #4235 went to Basel
By now the cars all were
“used”, or “pre-owned” or “second hand” and may have been offered for sale at
“unbeatable” prices, to avoid costly repatriation to the USA. We don’t know the
price paid for the “used” convertible; we do know that like the style 4330S
sedan it was acquired by a Swiss gentleman in Basel.
Information Wanted
Missing from this
revised Database section relating to the “V-16 European Tour” also photos and reports
from a number of the countries through which the Caravan
passed but (apparently) did NOT get any press coverage, even less photos. Could
it be that comments and pics were suppressed? Indeed it
may be that when Mr. Sloan got from Mr. Osterman the many negative comments
about the cars and the general situation that had obtained in Sweden, during
the “Tour” in that country, as well as the bad press he had got via GM’s
Export office in Paris, he simply decided to curtail the program and keep
published comments (especially negative ones) to a minimum. It seems very odd,
that countries like Belgium and especially Switzerland, for example, got NO
coverage at all in GM World or GM Continental.
Mysterious also is the fact that there appears to be NO photos or press
releases relating specifically to the “Tour” cars visiting Spain.
In order to complete the story of the “V-16 European Tour” story, we are
looking for any articles or photos relating to that “Tour” that may have been
published, at any time, in any of the countries that we know to have been
included in the final itinerary. At this writing, Sweden has been the most
prolific in supplying the kind of information we need. France comes
second, but with only two small cuttings from a single regional newspaper in
Angers, as well as just a few photos taken in Paris, a month or more after the
“Tour” had ended. There are some photos from Holland as well as three press
cuttings (thanks to research carried out by Dirk Van Dorst).
“Tour” Trivia
Trivia 1: It is worth noting that England's Motor
Sport for November, 1962, recalled (p.894)
that “several” V-16s were seen in Cologne in 1930. The writer did not
question why the cars had not come to Britain that summer. It seems
strange, in my opinion, that England was not on the initial itinerary. But
perhaps a visit to that country was not considered essential at the time,
considering that the company was planning to show a couple of Sixteens at
the Olympia show in London that coming Fall (October,
1930).
Trivia 2: Interestingly, in all the photos we have
seen that were taken during the “Tour” (some of them are shown above), you can
see that none of these cars seems to carry a Goddess hood
ornament or any of the (later?) optional sidemount
covers. In addition all but one of them have regular,
black-wall tires. The convertible coupe (#4235) has the optional, chrome-plated
hood louvers, as does also the special phaeton (#4260)d.
Trivia 3: A reported seventy orders for V-16 models
were taken during the “Tour”. This number corresponds to the recorded export
sales of the V-16. Of these, fourteen units went to Antwerp (Belgium), twelve to Madrid (Spain),
eleven to Berlin (Germany) of which one style 4325C town car landaulet, licensed
#1A75825, seven to Mexico City (Mexico), six to Paris (France) of which
at least one style #4130 and one #4330 - possibly the “Tour” car - or #4375
with French tourist registration #2017XB, five to Stockholm (Sweden), four
to Copenhagen (Denmark), two to London (England - possibly because the Caravan
did not stop there), two to Buenos Aires (Argentina) - engine #701530 was
one of these (it is currently in Spain, mounted in a custom-bodied V-16 racer),
two to Havana (Cuba) of which one was a style 4391 Town Car Brougham; the
other may have been a style 4175 Imperial, one to Bombay (now Mumbai,
India) of which one style #4260 special phaeton with RHD for the
Maharajah of Tikari, one to Manila (Philippines),
one to Honolulu (Hawaii … that did not become a State of the Union
until August 21, 1959), one to
Moscow (then the USSR) and one to Port Elisabeth (South Africa), it was a RHD style 4380 all-weather phaeton). One
additional unit (Fleetwood style #4291) went to the Royal Thai household in
Bangkok (then Siam, now Thailand); the latter unit appears to have been a
domestic purchase that was subsequently exported to the Far
East and, therefore, is not included in the official “export” total.
EPILOGUE
We have scoured all the
newspapers and magazines of the time but have found very little material about the
trip that followed the visit to Sweden. GM executives might have moderated the
news value of the trip owing to Hans Osterman's scathing criticism of it.
Osterman was not gracious with his verbal remarks letter to the head of GM's
European office about the way the Caravan had made its way through Sweden. Despite
(or because of?) the negative “press” that had come from the Swedish royal
household, some improvements were wrought during the trip from Sweden to
Holland; it is a fact that K. Landeweer, the Dutch
general agent for GM, was quite enthralled with the cars and showered praise on
them at every occasion during the reception they got in Holland. It is possible
also that GM's European HQ in Paris had got Osterman's bitter criticism and so
the “Tour” organizers may have been rebuked by Paris and “ordered” to “get
their act together”.
To ensure the success of the Caravan through Sweden, Osterman had devoted substantial resources. In one letter he wrote: “… (it) cannot be called a GM Caravan but it is more like a picnic party”. He pointed out that his objections, which might seem overly severe, in fact (in our opinion) they were quite tempered. Osterman was extremely disappointed with the American officials who led the Caravan, and not just because they seemed to sleep late every day (and enjoy the local “refreshments”, but also because they failed to keep the cars in tip-top condition. He had managed to interest in the “Sixteens” some of the country's wealthiest auto enthusiasts, but they were far from impressed by what they saw. A general complaint which, was no fault of the Caravan participants, was the inner dimensions of the cars; they all found the space “cramped” for such a costly car. The King himself complained he had room neither for a hat nor for his long legs. Torsten Kreuger said that the Cadillac was inferior to the Rolls-Royce cars with overhead valves he had test driven; he did find them superior to the Duesenberg he had just acquired. For Osterman, the Caravan, which of course had required a great deal of organizing as well as costly advertising, must have been a major disappointment ... as it had been, also, for the 3000 inhabitants of Malmö!
As you have seen, the
“Tour” organisation and itinerary are covered – but
only in part – in part in “GM World”, an in-house magazine distributed to all
GM offices and distributors outside the United States. After much searching, a
complete set of the issues from June to December 1930 was found in the REVS
Institute and Library in Naples, Florida, in March 2018.
In conclusion, our sincere thanks go
out to the REVS Institute and Library in Naples, Florida, and especially to
Mark Vargas, its Director. He and Paul Kierstein, a
library volunteer, received Yann (and his wife Gita) most graciously, for two whole
days in March 2018; they had come to the library to study and photograph the issues of
“GM World” that related to the “Tour”; what they discovered was not only a
fabulous collection of classic and sports cars, but also many bound volumes of
the pre- WW2 French magazine, “Auto Carrosserie”,
that Yann had been searching for some 40 years!
The “Tour” story has
been published previously (in Swedish) in the club magazine Autohistorica; the latter graciously
provided some fine photos for this report signed hereunder by its authors:
Anders Läck Anne Eckström Yann
Saunders.
ANNEX 1
Here is a selection of letters and
other communications relating to the V-16 European tour. Most of them were
found (and copied) in the archives of Hans Osterman, General Motors dealer in
Stockholm, Sweden. Mr. Osterman obviously was unhappy with the way the “Tour”
organizers had dealt with their responsibilities. While the publicity made
around the Sixteens is flattering, to say the least (and we should not expect
less from the new Standard of the World, it was ascertained from Hans
Osterman's correspondence (discovered in the firm's archives) that he was actually quite disappointed at how Mr. Henderson (the tour
organizer from Detroit) and his party had done their job. He reflected that
they had not acted in a very professional manner. In addition, there is a
letter (cropped copy below) from Mr. Osterman to the Paris office of GM Export
Corp., another to Alfred P. Sloan, as well as the latter's reply, indicating
that Mr. Osterman was NOT particularly impressed with the quality, style and
reliability of the five V-16 cars he got for the tour:
- It was
discovered that the ignition was altogether wrong ...
- I think it is a disgrace that cars as expensive
as this should be in an inferior shape after such a short drive ...
- These cars do not nearly live up to
the distinction which you wish to give them ...
- The 7-passenger Imperial Sedan could
not seat 7 people comfortably ... it was crowded.
- [there is] no more space than in any ordinary, medium-priced car."
That could be one of the reasons
why so little information seems to have been published, about the tour,
subsequently, in the other European countries that were visited.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mr. Sloan, center |
A
CALL TO FRENCH READERS
(Appel aux lecteurs français)
Qui connaît cet endroit? On
dirait Paris, mais nous nous trompons peut-être (transl: who knows
this location? It looks like Paris but we could be mistaken).
ANNEX 2
The V-16 that won a prize in Vienna
In the in-house
“Cadillac-LaSalle Sales Bulletin” #37 for July 21, 1930, there is a snippet of
information (above) that was brought to light during Anders’ thorough research;
it is from the Harrisburg Evening News for July 9, 1930 and
refers to the presence of the Cadillac V-16s in Europe; it refers specifically
to “… a V-16 Phaeton, with a special Fleetwood body”. There was no photo of the
car. Anders immediately jumped to the conclusion (and we all agreed) that the
“Phaeton” in question was one of the five V-16s sent on the promotional “Tour”
of Europe.
NOT SO!
The “Baroness” in
question did indeed acquire in July 1930 a Fleetwood-bodied phaeton; however,
THAT car was the “All-Weather” model, style #4380, as may be seen in the photo
below that we found also in an old issue of “GM World”. That “phaeton” is
believed to have been shipped to Europe also in June,
1930 … but probably on a different,
earlier ship than the S/S United States that carried the (other) five V-16s cars
to Copenhagen; two of them had been delayed in Detroit and finally left the
factory only on June 11, 1930; they reached New York (by road) but it was too
late for them to board the ship that had been originally booked (S/S
Deutschland).
There is no evidence that any of the “Tour” cars made the
trip to Vienna; firstly, that European capital was NOT listed on the initial or
revised “Tour” itinerary; secondly, the Concours in Vienna happened during the week
the five Tour” Sixteens were traveling through Germany; Vienna
is more than 200 miles from Münich, which would have
been a 5-6 hour drive in 1930. Surely someone would
have heard about the “Tour” caravan, other than this “phaeton”.
Anders had another interesting theory;
he pointed to the
blurb in the heading of the “GM World” report for December,
1930. It underlined how the experience gained by the “Tour” – and notably in
Paris – had put considerable publicity value on having such De Luxe models in evidence
at focal points in large cities … like Vienna!
Perhaps the 5-car Caravan did bypass Austria, but GM Export Co in Paris certainly
must have mulled over the idea of wanting to show a V-16 at the Concours in Vienna. Baroness von Rosenberg’s V-16 saved the
“Tour” some time and expense!
Baroness Catherine von Rosenberg in her V-16 Cadillac, Fleetwood style #4380 All-Weather
Phaeton that won first prize in a Concours d’Elégance held in Vienna; note the Bugatti “Prancing
Elephant” mascot used in lieu of the Cadillac “Goddess”!
According to another clipping provided
kindly by Steven Nanini entitled Looking back
... the 1930 V-16, the writer
asserted: In July [1930] the V16s [plural] won
prizes in Vienna. In the same article it was asserted that the
five V-16s were loaded onto the S/S Deutschland in New York (again
erroneous information). The writer went on to mention a visit to the
ancient seat of the Cadillac family in the Bordeaux region of southern France,
as well as the Dukes of Epernon, claimed by the
writer to be the ancestors of the Sieur
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.
More “fake news”
In a second, similar
paper supplied kindly by Steven, from circa 1992 and entitled
welcome Home - Goodwill Ambassadors, the writer (Donald S. Hoeft of GM International Export Sales), stated
the same erroneous facts, possibly gleaned from (or supplied to) the writer of
the earlier clipping. Hoeft said King Gustav of Sweden
was in admiration of their (the Cadillac's) excellent
coachwork and mechanical perfection (our emphasis). That statement
is at odds with the general opinion of Hans Osterman, Sweden's highly regarded
Cadillac dealer; in a letter of July 21, 1930, to then GM President Alfred P.
Sloan, Osterman wrote: His Majesty expressed as his opinion that these
cars did not give a real comfort, especially in insufficient leg and head room (Osterman
did omit to mention the fact that the King stood more than 6’3” tall!). Hoeft mentioned also the V-16 Caravan's visit to the
French town named for the family of the founder of Detroit; he refers also to
the Dukes of Epernon as being the ancestors
of Le Sieur Cadillac, describing him
as the town's illustrious son. Once again, this is all “historical
misinformation”; there is no (known), noble “Cadillac family” in all of
France; the self-styled Sieur
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac was a commoner
(albeit an adventurous one); he was born simply Antoine Laumet in the small township of
St. Nicolas-de-la-Grave, located some 80 miles south-east of Cadillac and some
100 miles south-east of Bordeaux; Laumet created for
himself the alias “de la Mothe Cadillac”
at the time he married in 1687 another commoner, Marie-Thérèse Guyon, niece of French-Canadian
privateer, François Guyon. The true facts about le Sieur Cadillac are
to be found in this section of Yann’s “Cadillac Database”.
Steven recalled that GM’s
Cadillac Division published a confidential Cadillac-La Salle Sales
Bulletin; during the summer of 1930, all dealers (in the US and Europe) got
updated information on the “Tour” from those bulletins. Unfortunately, Steven
has found only a single example of that in-house publication; it is issue #37 of
July 21, 1930, mentioned above. In it, the writer makes no specific reference
to the European Tour of five V-16s.
Interestingly, Steven
told me in June 2014 that he had owned at
one time the Fleetwood Style #4260 special phaeton that was one of the
five European “Tour” cars [VIN 701554]; in fact he had “only” the chassis, motor, hood and firewall
from the original car; a “replica body” was fashioned for him in Colorado by the
late Wayne Merriman, obviously a highly skilled artisan. We don’t know what
happened to the actual phaeton body #2; perhaps it will turn up one day!
Steven asserted that the original car
had been acquired by Baroness Von Rosenberg of Vienna.
That information, again, is at odds with the facts AND with the photo shown
above. The Baroness’ car was a Fleetwood V-16 style #4380 “All-Weather Phaeton”;
she had acquired that car independently of the five V-16 “Tour” cars.[12]
Steve said: I am also sending a copy of a letter from [the
late] Wayne Merriman dated March 11, 1987 which conclusively
proves 701554 was the Sports Phaeton (#4260) that I restored and ultimately
sold to Dennis Sobieski. As you can see from my Bill of Sale
from Alain Rouhaud[13],
my Sports Phaeton was sold during the European “Tour” to Baroness
Von Rosenberg[14] and later received a Saoutchik body and was
purchased by Alain Rouhaud who then sold it to me on
January 28, 1987. I purchased 701554 under the advice of Wayne Merriman. Fred
Weber of St. Louis, MO purchased the Saoutchik body and I fabricated a
Sports Phaeton body [that was put on an authentic V-16 chassis - VIN 700979] to
return 701554 to its original European configuration[15]
(all emphases by Yann).
This is the “Tour” car Special Phaeton, style #4260, purported to have been
acquired (after the “Tour”
ended) by Mrs. Fritz von Opel; it carries Swiss number plates from the Valais
region (“VS”);
she showed the car in Cannes where it won the “Grand Prix” (photo); the date of
that event is not
known, nor is the time-frame when the car was acquired by Saoutchik and
converted to a sedan
This is the “sliding roof” sedan that was put on VIN 701554 circa 1930-31 by
Saoutchik;
restored in Paris, in 1964, the car was repainted
the original dark-blue, with
matching dark-blue upholstery and brown top, as per Saoutchik’s original specs
This is what the Saoutchik sedan looked like in the mid-80s, after restoration “à l’américaine”
by Chicago restorer, Fran Roxas (in Yann’s opinion it
is “over-restored”); the body was
repainted silver-blue with dark-blue fenders and belt molding; the original Marchal headlights
were removed and replaced with Grebels; he added a
large, centrally-mounted fog light; the
original dark-blue upholstery was replaced with off-white; finally, the top was
changed to
dark-blue and the six wheels got wide white-wall tires (Photo: “Torque”
magazine, CCCA)
Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page
or go back to the V-16 index page
© 2018, Yann Saunders and the Cadillac-LaSalle
Club, Inc.