1950-52 Cadillac Series Sixty-One and Sixty-Two

In the 50s Cadillac was nearly as well known for performance as for luxury. In fact, it was one of the first postwar "muscle cars".

The aircraft inspired tailfin styling ushered in during 1948 at once made Cadillac distinctive and recognisable, and the '49 Coupe de Ville was one of the industry's first hard top convertibles.

Despite its size and weight, the 1950-52 Caddy was no wallowing pig. The relatively light Sixty-Two clocked 0-60 mph in 12-second range, and better performance could be had by careful tuning. The secret to Cadillac's success in 1950-52 was to concentrate on a relative handful of models and to build them extremely well and with the finest materials. The big gun was always the Sixty-Two four-door sedan, which usually sold around 50,000 units per year, but the rarer Sixty-One, especially with stick shift, was the one performance buffs admired.