American Pickers and the Madame X Cadillac

[edinmass]

Update.......from the book of Fleetwood. 

 

 

[mike6024]

I would like to see more of it, if the show does any follow-up. Or if it gets sold on to someone else.

[8E45E]

On ‎6‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 4:54 PM, 60FlatTop said:

 

The Pickers at Pebble Beach..... Why did I just think of Rodney Dangerfield pulling up in a red Rolls-Royce.

 

Worse, I know something like this would be written into the script:

Thanks for the reminder about the use of wheel chocks:

 

Craig

[StylishOne]

Similar situation. I worked in NYC in Real Estate for 20 yrs. There were shows that would call us and asked if we had 2 houses they could use on their TV program . Apparently the buyers already bought a place, they needed us to offer  the 2 they never picked and rejected after the fact. 

 

Talk about unrealistic, what agent, or buyer for that matter, looks at just 3 homes and buys one of the 3 ? Really ?

Yes, it's all for the show!  Guess this was too.

[Wichter]

On 5/28/2019 at 7:06 AM, Joe in Canada said:

The first 2 Madam X cars were built on a 314-B chassis that were also a V8 so I guess he got ripped off. Had to look this up as I did not know about Madam X on a V8 chassis. The story goes Harley Earl had one body removed and placed on a 16 chassis for the 1930  New York auto show. So that would leave only one Madam X with a V8 chassis still out there  but still not a 1931.  Chassis #336340 left the factory May 3, 1929 and #337668 that was shipped May 29, 1929 and so they should be traceable with these numbers.

The one they bought was #336340

[Eroll]

Well the first 1 the they made car 1st 1 out the 2 had a v8 in it the second one had the v16 or b 16 whatever the motor but that one was custom built if u watch American pickers he talks about it they bought the first 1 for 90 grand and it was a v8

[Restorer32]

Now if you want to see a nice original car,  we will have at Hershey,  unless it sells first,  a 1931 Cadillac V-16 Blind Rear Quarter Limo with 9000 obviously original miles. It still has its inspection marks on the firewall, something I've never seen before.

[edinmass]

Very low milage cars are more common than many people think. Unmolested cars are very, very rare. My 1914 Cadillac had 7100 miles on it, and every nut and bolt was from the factory, as well as the original points, condensers, coil, ect. After driving it for the first time in 60 years, the condensers failed in less than five miles, and the coil quit at 20. 

[Todd091980]

Rich on the show is my father.  A couple years ago producers from the show contacted my father.  On the day they aired the program it was an all day event.  Our whole family was on location, but they chose to interview only one person.  They film hours and hours of everything and anything then go back to edit.  They did confirm that the car was the Madam X from the serial numbers.  The show is very put on.  They were telling my father what deals to accept and which ones to not.  As for the Madame X - it was over a year before they called my father with the 90,000 deal.  When the two Mikes are driving away debating if they want the car.  Well that didn't happen like that.  When they call my father and make that deal, that too is scripted.  They had already picked the car up.  What really happened is the show found a buyer who would offer them 100k+ for the car.  They made the deal in order to make a profit.  My father made that deal for my grandmother.  She's in her 80s now and living on social security.  My grandfather loved his cars, but never above his family.  He'd be proud that his wife has a money in savings rather than in a garage she can't even walk to.    

[edinmass]

Todd.....glad it worked out for your family..........I think you got all the money on the car and then some.........someone probably gave them a profit so they can toss it in a museum as feature it as a car from the TV show. While a very interesting and historically important car, unfortunately the tangible value is not as high as a V-16. Best wishes for your family and grandmother. Merry Christmas! Ed

[edinmass]

One last comment.......I would value the hood ornament at ten to fifteen thousand dollars.......all day long.............It by itself belongs in the GM historical collection. 

Edited December 18, 2019 by edinmass (see edit history)

[DLynskey]

3 hours ago, edinmass said:

One last comment.......I would value the hood ornament at ten to fifteen thousand dollars.......all day long.............It by itself belongs in the GM historical collection. 

What is the hood ornament? The resolution on my computer isn't clear enough for me to see it well. Any closeup of it?

 

Don

[edinmass]

It's a Fisher Brothers custom........as one would expect. While not excessively elaborate, it is from a very important car family. 

[mike6024]

 

 

[1937hd45]

I cut my hand polishing a 1935 Plymouth, guess the Caddy chauffeur was more careful. Bob 

[John_Mereness]

This Cadillac allows you to do the Concours circuit, get a lot of interest/attention, decent enough to get it on the road without horrendous effort, fairly complete, and .... - a good value that probably should have sold for over 100 just as they hoped.  That being said though, not a huge ticket car as Cadillacs are a mixed bag in pricing (and a mixed bag in what sells for what and how long it takes to sell too), it is still a closed car more or less, a V-8 verses a V-16, does need plenty of work, and ....

[sftamx1]

As an update on the Madam X aired 3/16/20,  one of the experts suggested that radiator ornament was a stylized C and L  letters, representing Cadillac and LaSalle, as that body was on a LaSalle chassis....

[mercer09]

for 10-15k, Ill make one.......................!

[1937hd45]

I noticed that they finally removed the radiator cap while working on the car. Odd that they transported it on an open deck rollback. Bob 

[edinmass]

2 hours ago, 1937hd45 said:

I noticed that they finally removed the radiator cap while working on the car. Odd that they transported it on an open deck rollback. Bob 

There are lots of idiots in the transportation business, including the people who hire them. And, it’s not a C & L, it’s a Fisher Brothers F.

[1937hd45]

Just now, edinmass said:

There are lots of idiots in the transportation business, including the people who hire them. And, it’s not a C & L, it’s a Fisher Brothers F.

 

 

They also told us it was built on a La Salle chassis, why would GM do that? 

 

Bob 

[edinmass]

Too many arm chair experts.............I prefer people’s opinions who actually owned one...or two, or ten.

[1912Staver]

That cap looks like it would be quite straightforward to make a lost wax reproduction.  How rare are they ? Are they only used on Fisher Brothers  " Custom " body's. That is either 1 off show cars , prototypes etc. rather than catalog spec cars  { even ones that might have been built in very small numbers  }. I am no Fisher expert but I would suspect 

some of the less popular / very expensive at the time, catalog cars might have been made in numbers as small as 10 - 15 examples. Were these caps used on cars in this category ?

 

Greg in Canada

[John_Mereness]

On 7/24/2019 at 11:28 AM, edinmass said:

Very low milage cars are more common than many people think. Unmolested cars are very, very rare. My 1914 Cadillac had 7100 miles on it, and every nut and bolt was from the factory, as well as the original points, condensers, coil, ect. After driving it for the first time in 60 years, the condensers failed in less than five miles, and the coil quit at 20. 

I was installing the dashboard in my 1936 Auburn 852 and was asked why I chose 12K something miles on the speedometer - I did not choose it, that is what the car had on the clock. Unfortunately, it would have probably been one of the nicest surviving unrestored 1935-1936 Auburn's today had people not had stupid ideas about restoring it to new condition in 1960's, and countless bad things happening to it over years and owners.  Today, that is why when I get something unrestored that has some hope of hitting the road without total restoration, I am careful to keep my fingerprints off of it and just get it going to the place where it can be used or someone else can make the decision to torment themselves. 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

I still regret not buying this Lincoln I was looking at a few years ago. Just parked in the back of my garage would have satisfied me. And, ohhh, the experts.

 

You snooze you lose.