1956 Cadillac Fin
The 1956 year saw the introduction of Cadillac's first
four-door hardtop Sedan de Ville, which immediately scored almost as many sales as
the Coupe de Ville and standard 62 hardtop combined.
Despite an all-new '56 Lincoln and revitalized '57 Imperial, Cadillac remained
America's luxury sales leader by far. Combined Lincoln/Imperial volume never exceeded
40,000 cars a year in this era; at Cadillac, that was a good quarterly output.
1956 Cadillac
For 1956, the milestone V-8 was stroked to
101.6mm to deliver 285 bhp standard and 305 for
Eldorado.
The lineup remained the same as in 1954. The Series 62
(which included Coupe deVille and Sedan deVille) had a sub-series
Eldorado. The Fleetwood name would grace
the Series Sixty Special and the limousine
Series 75.
1956 Cadillac
1956 Cadillac Notes
- The Cadillac Series 62 Sedan DeVille four-door hardtop and Eldorado Seville
two-door hardtop were introduced to the public almost a month earlier than other
models on October 24, 1955.
- The remaining cars in the line were introduced the following month on November 18.
- The 1956 Hydra-Matic transmission incorporated changes that increased its size
and smoothed out shifting qualities.
- It was developed by GM at a cost of $35 million.
- The 1956 line set records in sales and production moving Cadillac from 10th to
9th position in the American sales race.
- On Aug. 5, 1956 the division announced the purchase of the former Hudson Motor
Car plant on Detroit's east end.
- Don E. Ahrens was general manager
- Charles F. Arnold was chief engineer
- Edward Glowacke was chief designer (Cadillac Studio)
- James M. Roche was general sales manager
- Cadillac production figures
Series 6261,634 (decreased 19,702)
Sedan de Ville41,732
Coupe de Ville24,086 (decreased 9,214)
Eldorado6,050 (increased 2,100)
Series 6017,000 (decreased 1,300)
Series 754,075 (increased 184)
1955
1955