1940 Cadillac Fleetwood

Cadillac was formed from the remnants of the Henry Ford Co when Henry Ford departed along with several of his key partners and the company was dissolved. With the intent of liquidating the firms assets, Fords financial backers, called in engineer Henry Leland to appraise the plant and equipment prior to selling them. Instead, Leland persuaded them to continue the automobile business using Lelands proven 1-cylinder engine. Henry Fords departure required a new name, and the company reformed as the Cadillac Automobile Company. The Cadillac automobile was named after the 17th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit in 1701. Cadillac helped to define advanced engineering, luxury and style early in Automotive History and would come to be known as one of the worlds finest made vehicles. Precision manufacturing of truly interchangeable parts was an award-winning industry first in 1908. Cadillac was the first manufacturer to release cars with a fully enclosed cab as factory equipment in 1910. Standard electric engine starting and lighting was another award winner for 1912. Cadillac introduced the first production V8 engine for the 1914 model year. Cadillac was the first manufacturer to utilize the skills of a designer to produce a cars body instead of an engineer (1927). This gave the public a car that looked as good as it performed. Cadillacs engineers were first to design a manual transmission with synchronizers for increased drivability (1929) and were instrumental in the early development of the automatic transmission, beginning in 1932. Cadillac offered a production V16 engine from 1930 through 1940 and introduced the production independent wishbone front suspension in 1934. The marque introduced tailfins for 1948. From the late 1960s onward, Cadillac offered a fiber-optic indication system which alerted the driver of a failed light bulb. This exceptionally nice 60 Special is a top flite example that was completely restored to a very nice level- the paint is exceptional with only one small flaw noted-all the chrome is exceptional-the interior is really exceptional- the Dash and gauges are exceptional- its really one of the nicest 60 Specials I have encountered. Underneath the car is as new, and the engine bay is nicely painted and detailed as well. Nicely equipped with Radio, Heater, and Clock, this car is finished in the Classy Black. The car runs and drives very very well- its owned by a restorer-with no known issues or problems- it starts right up, Runs Smooth, Shifts well and Stops well. This is one attractive car ready for long distance touring, and certainly a welcome participant in any show of important automobiles.