1930 Cadillac Series 353 Eight Three Position Double Cabriolet

1930 was a pivotal year for the Cadillac Motor Division of General Motors. While the company introduced a new 16-cylinder motorcar, its venerable V-8 was still its mainstay. The Series 353 Cadillacs were designed by General Motors' new design chief Harley Earl and built on a 140-inch wheelbase chassis and powered by Cadillac's 353 cubic-inch engine that developed 96 hp. The car came with another industry first, a synchromesh transmission.

For 1930, Cadillac cataloged seven Fisher and 14 Fleetwood built-to-order types available in more than three dozen distinct bodies. Discerning customers could also order a chassis to be fitted by the coachbuilder of their own choice, though less than one percent were so equipped of the 14,995 cars Cadillac sold in 1930. Parisian coachbuilder Georges Kellner et Fils prepared this aluminum-bodied, long-wheelbase three-position double cabriolet for famed banker Baron Edmund James de Rothschild.

This car is the 195th engine/chassis combination built by Cadillac in 1930.

Following his death in 1934, the car was used sparingly and stored at one of the two Chateaus Rothschild for special occasions prior to being purchased by collector James C. Leake in 1969. It was then acquired by the Imperial Palace collection in 1985. It was purchased by the current owner in 1998 and is the only Kellner-bodied Cadillac known to exist.

As Leake told Cadillac historian Yann Saunders, 'It is not a landaulet; it is what I call a double cabriolet, that is a closed car, a sedanca deville as well as an open tourer.' Leake restored the car in 1979.