1961 Cadillac Jacqueline show car by Pinin Farina: Do Cadillac collectors consider it a real car?

This now gold (originally white) two seater show car was originally what you call a pushmobile. It had four wheels but no drive train. It was sold by Pinin Farina to a French Ferrari dealer who sold it to someone else until it reached an American who, with a Belgian partner, had a donor Eldo chassis bought and put under the car in Florida so it was a running car. It was subsequently displayed at concours both in Paris and the U.S. and one time went for an auction where it failed to sell for around $200K. My question is: since there was zero Cadillac content when it was first shown (other than the badges and hub caps) is the car considered by collectors to be a Cadillac? It would be different if it was built on a GM supplied chassis by the coachbuilder such as the subsequent Corvette Rondine. I am not trying to tear down the car, just trying to plumb the attitude of a purist collector.

Here's a big long story in Hemmings on the car

http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2009/05/01/hmn_feature9.html

IMHO, if it was sanctioned by Cadillac, built by Cadillac, and sold by Cadillac, then yes, otherwise, it is just an abomination and should be pushed off a cliff.

According to the Hemmings article, the "Jacqueline" was created

by body-builder Pinin Farina to gain Cadillac's attention for further

possible Eldorado Brougham-type contracts. It was in no way authorized

or sold or built by Cadillac. But of course I wouldn't say it was an

"abomination," and of course it should be preserved.

I don't know about AACA and Cadillac-LaSalle Club treatment of the

issue, but I'd say it's a real car. Club classifications aren't the be-all and

end-all of things. And it's an important part of history.

I have read that Joe Bortz, well-known collector and restorer of

forgotten and derelict dream cars, has had to make some modifications

to make them roadworthy. Definitely worthy of some concours!

Pinin Farina, along with other Italian coachbuilders, did not seem to have a design feel for large cars. Almost without exception, their efforts in that direction come off as awkward, unattractive, even amateurish. If the Jacqueline was built with the objective of garnering further coachbuilding for GM after the last of the 1960 Eldorado Brougham production, perhaps they simply should have ask Bill Mitchell for designs he selected from the various studios worthy of being built, had chassis shipped to them as blank slates. If they had done so, we might have had a series of worthwhile Pinin Farina 1960's GM concept/dream cars in addition to those built in-house.