1947 Cadillac 75 Series

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 firm's assets, Ford's 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 Leland's proven 1-cylinder engine. Henry Ford's 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 world’s 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 car's body instead of an engineer (1927). This gave the public a car that looked as good as it performed. Cadillac's 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 7 Passenger Touring Sedan has covered just under 27,000 miles from new. "The Pride of Tipp City", this car lived in Tipp City, OH from new and was used for short runs around town by the original owner until acquired by Alva Parsons in the 60's. Mr. Parsons used the car sparingly in the Annual 4th of July Parade and other shows in the area. We acquired the car from his widow in the fall of 2007, and have had the car restored as necessary while retaining as many original features as we could. Unfortunately the car was left outside for a couple of years after Mr. Parsons death so we had to repaint the car (bare metal strip and respray), although I am sure it needed it anyway as we do have a letter from Cadillac to Mr. Parsons denying his request to have the car repainted at their expense since the paint was failing. Evidently Mr Parsons felt they should warranty this given the low mileage of the car. We also had the bumpers rechromed, a new exhaust system installed, new front end components installed, completely rebuilt the brakes including new master cylinder, lines, shoes, and wheels cylinders, serviced the cooling system, installed new battery, tires, running board rubber, door, trunk, and hood rubbers, a new set of sombreros, changed all fluids, plugs, and spark plug wires. Sympathetic interior wood and dash refinishing was undertaken where necessary only. The engine bay was repainted as well. The car starts right up and purrs almost silently. It runs through its gears smoothly and cruises comfortably. We have left the interior largely original, and while there is wear evident after more than 60 years, the interior is quite presentable while belying the honesty of this low mileage well preserved example. The only thing left to be accomplished is the hydroelectric system needs serviced.

This car won a First Place in Touring Class at the 2009 CCCA Annual Meeting, as well as garnering an Original Features Ribbon.