1932 Cadillac Series 452-B Sixteen

Sold for $940,000 at 2021 RM Sothebys : Monterey.
The Cadillac V-16 was superbly engineered and wore fresh new styling with a lengthened hood, lowered roofline, more curved fenders, and streamlined headlamp shells. For 1932, some of the V-16 styles once produced by Fleetwood were now handled by Fisher, and among them was the Sport Phaeton, style number 32-16-279, one of no fewer than three variations offered on the phaeton theme. While previous V-16 Sport Phaetons had incorporated a rear seat windshield concealed within the front seat back, the 1932 Sport Phaeton had a full hinged tonneau and a traditional folding windshield - a genuine 'dual-cowl' design.

Cadillac sold 300 examples of the V-16 in 1932, including this example. It is powered by engine number 1400219 and is the only original V-16 Sport Phaeton definitively known to have been built in 1932. A second example may have been built, but its factory shipping ledger indicates that it was not delivered as a dual cowl phaeton.

This car was acquired new by Francis Lieber after it had remained unsold in the Philadelphia showroom for several months, and at a $2,000 discount. This romantic story may not be exactly accurate as the car was 'tagged' for him and already noted as 'sold' on its build sheet. In 1934 he sold the car to an oil broker, Joseph Dexter, who used it for family trips to Vermont and the Jersey Shore.

By 1937 the car had returned to Main Line Cadillac, which sold it to a local livery company that used it for funeral processions—mainly as a flower car. It was later sold to one of the company's employees and sat in Brewerytown until December 1942, when a young student, Gene Matlack, bought it for $42 in ration stamps. After refinishing the Cadillac, it was sold for $175 around 1944 to Bayard Badenhausen. Badenhausen later sold the Cadillac to Fred Wetherill, who later sold it to pay for his wedding. Several short-term owners followed, bringing the car to Wilmington, Delaware, where it escaped one owner's plans for a tow truck when lumber salesman Paul Brake bought it for $275. While driving it in a local parade in Cambridge, Maryland, it was noticed by Walter Tilghman who fell in love and soon bought the V-16. He listed it, by its engine number, in the AACA roster for 1954, and owned it until his death in 1958.

Mrs. Tilghman sold the Cadillac and a pair of Rolls-Royces from her husband's stable to Judge John North II of Easton, Maryland. Judge North, in turn, sold the car as part of a package to Mary Hecht of Alligerville, New York. It was from Ms. Hecht that the Sport Phaeton was purchased by George Stuart, who completed its original restoration, with the rear tonneau reproduced and refitted (the rear tonneau had been removed when it served as a flower car).

Mr. Stuart sold the Cadillac in 1972 to Otis Chandler and while in his care, the car was featured in Roy A. Schneider's well-known tome, Sixteen Cylinder Motorcars: An Illustrated History. Mr. Chandler later sold the car to Gifford Oborne of New Jersey, then in 1988 from the Oborne estate to Fred Weber of Missouri. In Mr. Weber's care, the restoration was lightly freshened, with new undercarriage paint.

The current owners acquired the car in 1990 from Mr. Weber. The car has remained in their collection for over three decades.
By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2021