1939 Cadillac Sixteen seven-passenger sedan. Photos courtesy Russo and Steele.
Rick Nuckolls didn’t visit McPherson College with the intent of buying an unrestored and mostly disassembled 1939 Cadillac Sixteen seven-passenger sedan, but that’s ultimately what happened. Blame it on Jay Leno, who encouraged the car’s previous owner to donate the sedan to the Kansas school’s automotive restoration program. Three years later, the Cadillac has been restored, and Rick believes it’s time to pass the car to a new owner; next month, the rare Cadillac will cross the auction block at Russo & Steele’s Scottsdale, Arizona sale.
The 1930s were not kind to luxury automobile sales, and Cadillac was no exception to this rule. Introduced in 1930, the automaker’s V-16 engine was the height of luxury and performance, but as the effects of the Great Depression took hold, sales of V-16 models plummeted. The same was true of its V-12 powered cars, also introduced in 1930, and it became apparent that producing a V-16, a V-12 and a V-8 was no longer cost-effective. Cadillac’s engineers went back to their drawing tables, and for 1938 the brand discontinued the V-12 and debuted an entirely new, less complex (and hence, cheaper to produce) V-16 engine.
While the previous 452-cu.in. V-16 used overhead valves and cylinder banks on a 45-degree angle, the new 431-cu.in. V-16, detailed by David LaChance in the February 2007 issue of Hemmings Classic Car, was an L-head design that spread cylinder banks by an impressive 135-degrees. To improve durability, the engine featured a short stroke (3 ¼ inches, the same as the bore), a nine-bearing crankshaft, dual fuel pumps and dual water pumps. Each cylinder bank received its own distributor, and each was fed by a separate downdraft carburetor. While output remained at 185 horsepower, the new design was some 250 pounds lighter than the V-16 it replaced, aiding performance. The engine’s lower center of gravity, thanks to the 135-degree cylinder bank angle, further improved handling.
Not that either was a significant factor to Cadillac buyers in 1938. Instead, the new engine was marketed for its inherent smoothness, as well as its ability to dash from 10 to 60 MPH in just 16 seconds, in the transmission’s third and final gear. In Cadillac’s words, the Sixteen was the “World’s Most Luxurious Motor Car… yet to be approached in any particular by any car American or European.”
With so many significant changes for 1938, Cadillac left the 1939 Sixteen largely unchanged. Twelve models remained available, ranging from a two-door coupe to a seven-passenger town car, including the seven passenger sedan seen here. Among the lower priced Sixteen models, the seven-passenger sedan, style number 9023, still carried a price tag of $5,375, four times the price of the average car in 1939. Of the 138 Cadillac Sixteens built for 1939, just 18 examples of body style 9023 were produced.
The early history of this particular car is unknown, but in the 1980s it belonged to a collector in New York State. His intention was to restore the car, and while work began, he died before any significant progress was made. His son then inherited the car, and after storing the Cadillac for several decades, came to the conclusion that the project was beyond his capabilities and interests. Somehow, he managed to track down Jay Leno, and pitched the comedian on buying the Sixteen. With one too many projects underway, Leno reportedly passed, instead selling the owner on the merits of donating the car to McPherson College’s Auto Restoration program. In 2011, the school took delivery of the Cadillac and immediately placed it into storage for a potential future project.
Enter Rick, who was touring McPherson with Ford executive Paul Breary in 2012 when he spotted the V-16 emblem on the Cadillac’s grille. If it wasn’t love at first sight, it was certainly infatuation, and Rick confessed to us that had he looked more carefully at the car and its condition, he may have walked away from the project. Instead, after repeated phone calls to Brian Martin, McPherson’s director of auto restoration projects, a deal was struck and the car was shipped off to Rick’s home town of Wichita.
From the beginning, Rick’s goal was to keep as much of the restoration work local as possible. The Cadillac’s V-16 was rebuilt by Earl Lauer and Lauer’s Service in Clearwater, Kansas, and Earl’s sister, Bernice Martling, performed the upholstery work when she wasn’t stitching aircraft interiors for Cessna in Wichita. We asked Rick why he opted for leather over the period-correct broadcloth, and it came down to perception. The reproduction cloth samples received seemed insubstantial compared to the original material, so Rick made the decision to recreate the upholstery in leather, believing it would hold up better than the available broadcloth. Before disassembly, Bernice photographed every component in the interior, ensuring that, materials aside, the finished product would be as close to the original as possible.
Paint and body work was carried out by Tony Deese in Wichita, who sprayed the car in its original livery of black with red wheels. Final assembly was turned over to Rick and his friends, and he’s quick to credit all those who had a hand in the car’s rebirth, including Curtis Crain, Tim Bonnell, Bob Crager, Dave Thompson and Chad Thompson. While he didn’t shy away from hard work (such as the weeks spent wet sanding the car to a high gloss, ahead of its debut at the 2015 Black Top Nationals), Rick is well aware of his own mechanical limitations.
Now that the car is done, Rick believes it’s time to pass it on to a new owner, or perhaps even a museum. It’s not clear exactly how many of the 18 body style 9023 seven-passenger sedans built in 1939 remain, but the Cadillac database shows no more than five worldwide, one of which has been rebodied. Much of this information is years old, and based on reported membership in the Cadillac LaSalle Club, Rick believes that his example is one of two roadworthy sedans left. We reached out to the Cadillac LaSalle Club for further clarification, but have not yet received a reply to our inquiry.
What that means in terms of a selling price is anyone’s guess. The Cadillac Sixteen will be offered at no reserve (a prospect that makes Rick a bit nervous, as this is his first time selling a car at auction) when it crosses the auction block in Scottsdale next month.
For more information on the upcoming Arizona sale, visit RussoandSteele.com.
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