1953 Cadillac Series Sixty Special Fleetwood Sedan

The Series Sixty Special four-door sedan was expensive and priced higher than all other non-limousine Cadillac sedans in 1953. The Series 62 Sedan was priced at $3,665 and the Series Sixty Special Fleetwood was $4,305. Due to the higher price, its exclusivity was guaranteed, with 20,000 examples built compared to 47,316 of the Series 62 sedan.

This particular example is part of the Andrews Collection and was delivered new with power windows. After it left the factory, it was sent to the distributor in Bridgeport, Connecticut—then the Steele Cadillac-Oldsmobile Company. It is believed to have been purchased new by James King of Bridgeport, and soon acquired by the local Packard dealership, which kept this car and a very similar Packard sedan together in one of its buildings. The two cars would occasionally be pulled out and used for comparison tests before potential buyers.

As the Packard marque soon drifted into the sunset, this 1953 Series Sixty Special was put into long-term storage and there it remained until its retrieval decades later. It later became part of the Charles Cawley collection and remained there in Maine until 2008. It was then sold to Paul Andrews who retained it for the rest of his life.

This car has been driven 8,735 miles with about 1,700 of those accumulated in the Andrew's ownership.

This Cadillac is powered by an overhead valve V8 engine with a 331 cubic-inch displacement, hydraulic valve lifters, five main bearings, and delivers 210 horsepower at 4,150 RPM. Its wheelbase measures 130 inches and there is an automatic transmission.

By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2021