As the pre-war era came to a close, coachbuilding shops in the United States had all but become a memory, and Detroit’s automakers could hardly be bothered to craft bespoke cars as they tooled up for war. Only somebody of incomparable status – somebody like the former King of England – could get such a car built, and that car, a 1941 Cadillac custom limousine known as The Duchess, will soon head to auction. After Britain’s King Edward the VIII abdicated the throne in December 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, a divorced American socialite, the couple hobnobbed with the world’s elite, setting new standards for fashion and enjoying a privileged life in the days before the Second World War. Among their circle of friends was GM’s Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., who had Harley Earl’s Art and Color Section at GM design the limousine for the couple’s 1941 visit to New York City. 1941 Duchess Cadillac As RM’s auction description notes, The Duchess came to symbolize the end of an era, more or less marking the transition from the Cadillac of old (where setting the world standard for luxury automobiles was paramount) to the brand’s post-war years, where the focus was production over coachbuilding or bespoke customization. The Duchess was a truly unique Cadillac, and shared no body panels with other models of the day. All metal panels were formed by hand to fit the 136-inch wheelbase chassis, and the flow of the front fenders would go on to influence the design of automakers ranging from Buick to Rolls-Royce. Special touches adorned the car, including a “W.E.” monogram and crown on the rear doors, a gold-plated Cadillac hood ornament, stainless steel drip rails and rocker panel moldings, body-colored headlight and fog light trim rings, and the deletion of the typical Cadillac badging. Inside, The Duchess received custom broadcloth upholstery, which was also used for the headliner and sun visors. Color-matched Wilton wool carpeting covered the floors, while walnut wood was used for ornamentation throughout the cabin. Luxury touches included brushed stainless steel jewelry cases (lined with velvet, of course), lighted mirrors that tucked into the car’s cabinetry, three cigar lighters, a humidor, a pipe rack and two ash trays. The car included hydraulically-operated power windows and an electrically operated center divider for privacy, and the rear radio (with buttons pre-set to New York radio stations) was trimmed in copper and included a vacuum-powered antenna. Underhood, the car’s 346-cu.in. L-head V-8 was hand-built with the greatest attention to detail, reportedly using hand-selected and matched components, then mated to a Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. As a result, the car is said to be so quiet at its 400 RPM idle speed that fan noise is the predominant . The Duke of Windsor paid $14,000 for the unique Cadillac, which was more than three times the cost of a production Cadillac Series 75 Fleetwood seven-passenger sedan. Kept at New York’s Waldorf Astoria, where the Duke and Duchess maintained a suite, the car remained in their possession until 1952, when the Duke traded it in on a new Cadillac Series 75 and a Buick station wagon. Since then, The Duchess has seen just four owners, the latest of whom, Morgan Murphy, bought it in 2009 and gave it a full restoration. The Duchess will be offered without reserve, and RM predicts a selling price between $500,000 and $800,000. RM’s Art of the Automobile auction
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 12:45:46 +0000