Cadillac’s nearly cars
Cadillac is one of the oldest names in the automotive world and has an impressive catalogue of models, yet there is an equally remarkable roster of cars it never put into production.
From luxury saloons to mid-engined supercars, roadsters to hot rods, Cadillac has dipped its toes into many design pools, but decided against jumping into production for many reasons.
We look at the Cadillacs that never made it to production, with the cars arranged in chronological order.
1. 1941 Cadillac The Duchess
Taking its name from Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, this one-off Cadillac limousine was created by Harley Earl when the duchess and her husband Edward came to the US after the duke had abdicated.
The car was presented to them by Alfred P Sloan Jnr, the Chairman and CEO of General Motors that owned Cadillac and who was a friend of the Windsors.
From the ground up, every part for this car was chosen as the best Cadillac could offer, so it came with a handbuilt V8 engine, Hydramatic automatic gearbox and every conceivable luxury option.
As such, it was one of the first cars to have power windows and an internal glass division. There was even a velvet-lined case for the duchess’ jewellery.
The Cadillac’s bodywork was bespoke for this car, but its full-fronted styling was reflected in the company’s 1941 model range that set it apart from most rivals.
2. 1953 Cadillac Le Mans
In 1950, Cadillac competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours race with its Series 61 car that was quickly nicknamed ‘Le Monstre’.
However, the company didn’t follow up the theme until the 1953 Le Mans model that was very much a roadgoing idea.
Looking like it was very ready to hit the showrooms, the Le Mans introduced ideas such as a wraparound windscreen, and seats that automatically slid back when the doors were opened to ease entry and exit.
With its low-slung styling and two-seat cabin, despite the Le Mans’ considerable length and width, it was Cadillac’s idea of how a sporting car should look.
However, the new Corvette had just been launched from another branch of General Motors’ empire, so the Le Mans build plans were limited to four prototypes.
Another Cadillac called Le Mans was mooted in 1959, but also came to nothing.
3. 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe Ghia
While Cadillac periodically harboured notions to break into the European market, its mainstream models didn’t find a foothold on this side of the Atlantic.
Had its styling followed the example of the Series 62 Coupe by Ghia, it might have been a very different story.
The sleek, two-door shape of this coupé was based on the chassis of a Series 62 convertible and, along with a second car, was created by Ghia’s Luigi Segre.
Power came from a 331cu in (5.4-litre) V8 motor driving through a four-speed automatic gearbox.
Cadillac wasn’t interested in these design ideas, but the two Ghia cars were sold and used on the road.
4. 1954 Cadillac La Espada
Cadillac was not shy from embracing new technology for its 1950s ‘Dream Cars’ and the La Espada demonstrated this with its glassfibre bodywork.
Borrowing the technology from the recently launched Corvette, the Cadillac was also a two-seat open-top, but much more of a cruiser than a sports car.
All of the current design trends of the era were present with the Le Espada, so it had quad headlights, large bullets incorporated into the front bumper and a wraparound windscreen.
It was a fully functioning car and was even driven by Ronald Reagan, actor and future president of the US at the 1954 Chicago motor show.
While the La Espada didn’t make production, it clearly pointed the way for Cadillac’s styling over the next few years.
5. 1954 Cadillac Pininfarina PF200 Cabriolet
The large oval grille with trademark Cadillac ‘V’ in its mouth was the standout feature of this Pininfarina PF200 Cabriolet.
It was not a look that Cadillac took up, though Pininfarina did recycle it into its Lancia Aurelia rebody.
Look past the prominent grille and the PF200 showcased a much lower, more sporting appearance for a Cadillac.
It was a European take on a US staple, but one that worked well with its clean lines, which were more than elegant enough to earn this car a Gran Premio d’Onore prize at the 1957 Concorso d’Eleganza Roma.
Such accolades left Cadillac’s management unmoved and the PF200 remained a design cul-de-sac.
6. 1955 Cadillac LaSalle II Roadster
A compact sports car was not the most obvious model for Cadillac in the mid-1950s, as it headed towards the zenith of large cars and dripping chrome.
The Roadster was an attempt to revive the LaSalle name, hence the ‘II’ tacked on, and this convertible could have helped Cadillac diversify.
The LaSalle II Roadster was radical by Cadillac standards, because it used a unitary-construction body rather than a separate chassis. It also came with a V6 engine at a time when the V8 was king.
Styled by Carl Renner with Harley Earl taking a keen interest, there was a passing resemblance to the Corvette that was also part of the General Motors group. However, the Roadster was bolder with its more exposed wheels and steeply raked windscreen.
Technically intriguing as it was, the LaSalle II Roadster only made it as far as two prototypes.
7. 1958 Cadillac Skylight Coupe and Convertible
By the late 1950s, Cadillac was reaching the peak of its fins and chrome look, yet this Skylight Coupe and Convertible showed a new, more restrained appearance could be equally as arresting.
Styled by Pininfarina, both the Skylight models had simple, elegant front ends with quad headlights and uncluttered side profiles that had plenty in common with Ferraris of the period.
The Convertible did the rounds of European motor shows in 1958, but this failed to generate greater interest at Cadillac’s headquarters.
However, both of these cars pointed to how the company’s models would adopt a slightly more reserved look for the 1960s.
8. 1959 Cadillac Cyclone
A great deal of the Cyclone’s design and styling did not lend itself to a production model, yet under the skin it was a technical marvel. The company described it as a ‘laboratory on wheels’, which it definitely was.
A 389cu in (6.4-litre) V8 engine provided the power, and it drove through a three-speed automatic transaxle that offered better weight distribution and handling.
Behind the large, black cones that formed part of the front bumper was an early version of automatic collision warning, which is now common on modern cars.
Other features such as the sliding side doors and rear-hinged canopy that disappeared beneath the rear deck proved to be much more fanciful.
If the canopy was impractical, it did come with a coating to protect its occupants from UV rays that would later be seen on production Cadillacs.
9. 1959 Cadillac Starlight
The Cadillac Starlight looked like a dead cert to become a production model when the US marque collaborated with the Italian design firm Pininfarina.
Following on from the elegant Skylight models, the Starlight was a star of the show on its debut at the 1959 Paris Salon.
The most notable feature of the stylish coupé was its Plexiglass roof that offered the airy feel of a convertible with the comfort of a hardtop.
Four metal panels could be removed individually to vary how much light was allowed through the transparent roof.
Pininfarina made four Starlights as part of this project with Cadillac, but that was the limit of production for this sleek model.
10. 1961 Cadillac Jacqueline Brougham Coupe
Having failed to convince Cadillac to continue with its Eldorado Brougham cars with the Skylight and Starlight, Pininfarina had another crack with the unusually named Jacqueline Brougham Coupe.
There are clear styling links to the earlier designs from the Italian coachbuilder and the Jacqueline made its debut at the Paris Salon in 1961 to considerable praise.
Many were surprised to learn this handsome model was based on a Cadillac, while the two-seat cabin pointed towards a more sporting intent than was expected of the US company.
Originally, the Jacqueline was built without any drivetrain and was meant as a show car only. However, it was later converted to a running car in 1996 with a 390cu in (6.4-litre) V8 from a Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz.
11. 1961 Cadillac La Salle XP-715
If there’s something familiar about the Cadillac La Salle XP-715 it’s because this car did go into production, but not as a Cadillac.
It emerged as the Buick Riviera and quickly earned widespread applause for its looks.
The story goes that General Motors design boss Bill Mitchell spotted a Rolls-Royce through the fog while visiting the London motor show. He was inspired and then knew how he wanted his new coupé to look and came up with a lower, sleeker shape.
When the La Salle XP-715 was complete, Cadillac didn’t need another car in its range because it was selling everything it could make.
Consequently, other brands within the GM group bid for the XP-715 and Buick won. Its gain was Cadillac’s loss.
12. 1965 Cadillac XP-840 Eldorado Fastback
The ‘XP’ tag was given to all of General Motors’ experimental cars, hence this unusual Cadillac’s title of XP-840.
This car’s design was very much outside the norm for Cadillac, even if it had been experimenting with different coupé looks for a number of years.
Part of the thinking of this model was to revive the company’s V16 heritage from the 1930s. It also explains why the XP-840 had such a long bonnet to accommodate the proposed engine.
Little is known about the V16 other than it’s thought it would have been made by effectively joining two V8 blocks in line.
The 840 is suspected to refer to the engine’s capacity, which would give it a 13.8-litre size.
While this V16-powered model never ran, its influence is very clear on the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado range, though the XP-840’s rear-view camera in place of a back windscreen was not taken up for production cars.
13. 1970 Cadillac NART Zagato
Luigi Chinetti is indelibly linked to Ferrari, but he was the driving force behind the creation of this four-seat, mid-engined Cadillac project.
Chinetti commissioned Zagato to create the car using the front-wheel-drive set-up from the Cadillac Eldorado but mounted behind the cabin.
This made for an easy mid-engined conversion with a V8 and planned performance would have put it on a par with the best supercars of the time.
Much of the thinking behind Chinetti’s Cadillac project was to provoke Ferrari into building a mid-engined halo car to rival the Lamborghini Miura.
It took until the arrival of the 365 Berlinetta Boxer of 1973 for that to happen. By then, the Cadillac NART Zagato had been quietly shelved.
14. 1975 Cadillac Mirage
The Cadillac Mirage was aptly named because you were unlikely to ever see one in the metal, though this model did make it into very limited production.
It’s thought 234 of these high-spec pick-ups were made, but not by Cadillac.
Traditional Coachworks based in California thought there was a market for a pick-up in the mould of the Chevrolet El Camino or Ford Ranchero but with much more luxury as standard.
To do this, Traditional turned a Cadillac Coupe DeVille into a two-seat load lugger by lopping off the rear bodywork and shortening the roof.
The resulting pick-up was every bit as generously equipped and smooth riding as the Coupe DeVille, but far from the most practical cargo carrier.
Cadillac never endorsed these cars, though some of its dealers did supply them.
15. 1988 Cadillac Voyage
Looking like it could have starred in the film Tron, the Cadillac Voyage was impressively different to the square-rigged looks of the company’s production cars of the time.
It took until the early 1990s Seville for Cadillac’s showroom models to catch up on the sleekly rounded style of the Voyage.
Unveiled at the Teamwork and Technical Show in New York, the Voyage was billed as a rolling laboratory of new ideas and innovations.
Part of this was the car’s excellent aerodynamics, helped by the partially enclosed wheels, smooth shape and front skirt to reduce drag to 0.28Cd.
Other high-tech features included keyless entry, an integrated phone, a satellite-navigation system and voice recognition.
All of these ideas made it into production Cadillac models, but the Voyage itself remained a one-off with a claimed top speed of 200mph from its 4.5-litre V8 engine.
16. 1989 Cadillac Solitaire
A year after the Cadillac Voyage broke cover, the company refined the idea of a sleek, wind-tunnel-developed car further with the two-door coupé Solitaire.
While some of the technology used in the Solitaire was shared with the Voyage, such as sat-nav, keyless entry and voice recognition, the two-door was intended to have a very different powerplant.
In place of a V8, the Solitaire was set to use a 6.6-litre V12 engine co-developed with Lotus and claimed to offer 430bhp.
The Solitaire captured the imaginations of many Cadillac customers but it remained a one-off, though there were echoes of its design in the 12th-generation Eldorado coupé that was launched in 1992.
17. 1990 Cadillac Aurora
Unveiled at the 1990 Chicago Auto Show, the Cadillac Aurora showed the company was serious about creating a more compact type of saloon to complement its existing larger models.
The Aurora had a smooth style that borrowed from the Voyage and Solitaire, albeit in a much toned-down form that hinted this car was close to production.
That proved to be true, but the Aurora ended up inspiring the Opel/Vauxhall Omega of 1993 far more than any US model.
Under the Aurora’s bonnet was the same 4.5-litre V8 engine and four-speed automatic gearbox as used in the Allanté roadster.
The Aurora also came with four-wheel drive and the engine was mounted longitudinally, rather than transversely as in the Allanté.
While Cadillac didn’t progress the Aurora, the name was picked up by its General Motors counterpart Oldsmobile and the resulting production car bore more than a passing resemblance to the Cadillac. However, the Opel Omega did end up being turned into the Cadillac Catera.
18. 1999 Cadillac Steinmetz Catera
The Cadillac Catera was a rebadged Opel Omega sold in the US as a mid-size executive sedan.
When the company wanted to grab some headlines for its new Sport version that was added to the line-up in 1999, it came up with the Steinmetz Catera.
It made perfect sense to use this German tuning firm, which had a long association with Opel products.
The result was a supercharged 3-litre V6 with around 284bhp, some way more than the standard Sport’s c200bhp.
There was considerable demand for this model to be added to the Catera range, but Cadillac demurred, so customers had to wait for the CTS-V in 2004 for a performance saloon with a Cadillac badge.
19. 2000 Cadillac Eldorodo
The subtle subversion of the long-running Eldorado name to Eldorodo gave a clear idea of what Cadillac intended with this car.
It was fun and embraced the spirit of hot rods, especially in the body that had a 4in lowered roofline and more raked windscreen.
The work to create the Eldorodo was carried out by well-known hot rod firm California Street Rods, so it had credibility.
As part of the design based on a contemporary Eldorado coupé, the custom car had rear-wheel spats and slimmed-down lights at the front and rear.
A c300bhp NorthStar V8 engine powered the front wheels, so the mechanical side of the Eldorodo was much the same as the standard car’s. Sadly, that was as close as the Eldorodo came to production reality.
20. 2002 Cadillac Cien
It’s hard to talk about Cadillacs that never made it to production but deserved to without mentioning the Cien.
A mid-engined, V12-powered supercar, it arrived in 2002 and should have capitalised on the company’s NorthStar LMP race car that competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours event.
With a 7.5-litre V12 engine producing c750bhp, it was projected to sell for $200,000 (£141,000) in 2002.
However, that high price also sealed its fate, because Cadillac’s General Motors bosses felt it was too much. When the race programme was canned at the end of 2002, so was any future for the Cien.
This was a great pity when the car featured a body made from composite materials and used active aerodynamics for improved high-speed stability.
At least some of the Cien’s design did make it into production with the styling of the XLR roadster of 2003.
21. 2003 Cadillac Sixteen
Reviving notions of Cadillac’s V16-powered models of the 1930s, the Sixteen arrived in 2003 with a fully operational 829cu in (13.6-litre) motor.
The mammoth V16 produced 1000bhp and 1000lb ft of torque.
Above this vast engine was a bonnet hinged down the middle as a nod to Cadillac’s original top-line model.
There were other Art Deco touches to the car’s appearance and inside the opulent cabin of this four-door saloon that was aimed squarely at Bentley and Maybach customers.
There were rumours the Sixteen would make it to production, though perhaps with V8 or V12 engines in place of the show car’s V16.
However, that never came about and it took until the arrival of Cadillac’s all-electric Celestiq in 2024 for it to offer a car in a similar vein.
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