Re: Various CL Pickings

Posted by 58L8134 On 2014/8/8 9:20:11

Hi

The $3,545 semi-custom '41 180 LeBaron Sport Brougham certainly drew inspiration from the '38-'40 Cadillac 60 Specials for its body architecture and design details. The major difference was Cadillac knew enough to tool it up for volume production, to sell at a premium price, approximately $400-$500 more than the standard Fisher bodied Series 60's while taking advantage of standard Series 60 mechanicals.

The high-profile 60 Special immediately accounted for 40% of all Cadillacs sold in those '38-'40 models years and more importantly served as the design basis for the GM Torpedo C-Body, shared from Pontiac Torpedo Eight through Cadillac Series 62. the success of those models took the industry by storm for 1940 and drove Packard to hastily create the '41 Clipper.

The LeBaron Sport Brougham was exactly the type of ultra-luxury sedan that should have been introduced by Packard for 1939 Super Eight as a production model in the $2,300-$2,600 price range, just a step up from the $2,100-$2,300 60 Special. As wonderful as the Sport Brougham is, it represents another of the missed opportunities of their late pre-war years.

Steve