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Cadillac Eight - What Year?


1925Stanley

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Good Morning, Cadillac Experts!

 

Can anyone identify the year and model of the car in this postcard?  These are four variations of the same card, including a reproduction card.

 

The wording reads "CADILLAC EIGHT" and identifies the giant tree at Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC.

 

Thanks very much!

 

Best wishes!

 

Don Hoke,  The Virtual Steam Car Museum, Inc.

 

 

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Hi Don , it is a 7 passenger touring. Cannot possibly be other than 1915 - '17. I am away from my reference books for several days , but I would say it is a 1915 Model 51. The earliest Cadillac V8. I can fwd this to the Early V8 Cadillac group for definitive year I.D.   - Carl

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It is probably a 1915 type 51, the first year for the first generation (15-17) "Cadillac 8". It is a V8 but Cadillac referred to it and marketed it simply as the "Cadillac 8" as it is referred to on the post card. They began to use the V8 term in advertising in 17 but it wasn't heavily marketed as "V8" until 1918 when they came out with the first true "flathead V8" with the removable flat casting. Each bank of the first 8 was a big 4-cylinder jug. The car on the card is the 7-pass model. It is difficult to determine the exact year from this front view because the 15-17 look very similar with only miner differences. Oddly, the 15 had small cowl lights like the one on passenger side but the light on the driver's side looks slightly larger - about the size they went to in 16 or 17.

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10 hours ago, jdome said:

It is probably a 1915 type 51, the first year for the first generation (15-17) "Cadillac 8". It is a V8 but Cadillac referred to it and marketed it simply as the "Cadillac 8" as it is referred to on the post card. They began to use the V8 term in advertising in 17 but it wasn't heavily marketed as "V8" until 1918 when they came out with the first true "flathead V8" with the removable flat casting. Each bank of the first 8 was a big 4-cylinder jug. The car on the card is the 7-pass model. It is difficult to determine the exact year from this front view because the 15-17 look very similar with only miner differences. Oddly, the 15 had small cowl lights like the one on passenger side but the light on the driver's side looks slightly larger - about the size they went to in 16 or 17.

Thank you very much!  I knew there were Cadillac experts such as you out there who would know.  I'll mention your help in a footnote when the book comes out in five years.

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