In the early years, General Motors’ Cadillac began life as an upper-middle-class car, one that was admired for its quality. In 1918 the company introduced the Type 57. The car was widely used by the U.S. Army during World War 1, in part, for its extremely long wheelbase.
This feature car has an interesting history. Originally believed to have been purchased from a used car lot in the 1920’s, it was eventually sold to a car museum in Arkansas. It was then sold to the Imperial Palace, in Las Vegas, before ending up in the Clive Cussler collection in 1981.
Wanting to change the undesirable dingy orange body color with black fenders, Clive started to research more history of the car. He learned that the design of the coachwork was done by Harley Earl, the famous automotive designer of General Motors.
By a stroke of luck, Clive was steered to Art Earl, brother of Harley.
Art informed Clive he was very familiar with the Cadillac. It also had been owned by a famous Broadway impresario, Florence Ziegfeld, who gifted the car to his Hollywood actress wife, Billie Burke (Glenda, the good witch in Wizard of Oz). Art recalled that the original colors of the car were Kelly green on the fenders, lime green on the body, dark green leather interior, and a black top.
Back to its original colors, with the remarkable coachwork, this 1918 Cadillac is a real showpiece at the Cussler Museum.
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