1929 Cadillac 341-B club sedan - Not Mine

[58L-Y8]

This individual has a 1929 Cadillac 341-B club sedan offered for sale:

 

Link: https://charlottesville.craigslist.org/cto/d/amissville-1929-cadillac-fisher-door/7115215782.html

 

I have no stake or interest in its sale.

[B Jake Moran]

Not a $34k car. Sounds like an estate situation 

[Matt Harwood]

It's certainly not a custom-bodied car as the ad implies. It's a standard Fisher-bodied club sedan. Handsome cars, but I paid about half that much for my 5P sedan and quite honestly, mine was a lot nicer cosmetically with the same deferred-maintenance issues.

 

On the other hand, if a reasonable price can be worked out, say, something in the low-$20s, it could be a good decision. Mine has brought me many years of motoring pleasure and I'm gearing up to rebuild the fuel system and the springs so I can use it more this summer.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Another forum member here in CT bought a simillar condition (tired paint but better overall colors imo)29 or 30 Club sedan for around what Matt suggests is a fair price, from a friend of mine a while back.   Ed Minnie helped him sort it, really nice cars.  $22, 24k and plan on some mechanical work.  Marty's at least ran and drove though.

[Taylormade]

And the colors, oh, the colors.

[John_S_in_Penna]

10 minutes ago, Taylormade said:

And the colors, oh, the colors.

 

I hear people say that that tan-and-brown pattern

was popular with people restoring cars in the 1970's.

To me, they don't enhance the car at all.

Was such a combination authentic--used when those

cars were new--but just over-selected by restorers? 

[Taylormade]

It seemed to be the "in" thing in the seventies, as you said.  Brown fenders and trim, tan body, red wheels.  I'm not sure where it came form or who started it.  When I was restoring my 29 Plymouth in the seventies, many were appalled that I was going to paint it in the original colors - black fenders, blue body.  Lots of folks urged me to paint it brown and tan or maroon and red.  My current project, a 1932 Dodge Brothers DL sedan came form the factory black with pale yellow wire wheels.  It's going back original, but my wife still wants to paint the body maroon.  That was one of the original colors, but the trim on the body was not painted black or any other contrasting color, probably to save money at the depth of the depression.  I'm not a fan of this approach and I'm glad mine was black back in 32.  I've seen them with the trim painted, but it's not correct.

 

It took me five seconds to find this incorrectly painted 32 on the web.

 

 

Here is an original car with the actual paint scheme - black fenders, solid color body.

 

 

[John_Mereness]

Tan and Brown with poverty wood wheels (albeit I do like the rear spare) - needs converted to wire wheels, wrong carb set up (should be updraft) - missing most of that set up and the crossover cover which is very rare), wrong distributor cap (and many of them have the wrong distributor too do to die cast housings), bad spot to mount the coil - usually they are on radiator supports brackets, incorrect trunk on the platform, broken die cast trim on dashboard, some wrong interior handles/bezels, and I am sure a few other surprises, but looks better restored than the bulk of them and get the "feel" it is a good car. I would say keep it under 25K and a s close to 20K as possible. 

[John_Mereness]

1 hour ago, Taylormade said:

And the colors, oh, the colors.

I think the tan and brown came from the love for a fleshy pale pinkish color I see on some stuff restored from the 60's 

[B Jake Moran]

Thanks John.  I just don’t like next generation family members wanting top dollar without some skin in the game.  Unless you must have a Cadillac there is a surplus of nice closed cars available.   

[Hudsy Wudsy]

I, too, tired of these colors some time ago, but I don't think that they ever looked acceptable on a large sedan.

[daniel boeve]

5 hours ago, Taylormade said:

And the colors, oh, the colors.

Even the mercedes i bought just before the corona crisis is in these colors .I told the seller i don't like the colors that much but it was take or leave it .I never had a Mercedes this old so i took it .Was also restored in the early eighties.

[edinmass]

That Cadillac isn’t anywhere near a 20k car, in my humble opinion. Look at the carburetor...........🥵

[Mark Wetherbee]

18 minutes ago, edinmass said:

That Cadillac isn’t anywhere near a 20k car, in my humble opinion. Look at the carburetor...........🥵

I was thinking that, I wondered if it was what put it into the barn 12 years ago and the “won’t attempt to start it now” comment.

 

Turning it doesn’t tel you how bad it got...

[Joe in Canada]

Has the wrong carb and distributor but it probably runs better than the Johnston it had originally and no big deal to change it back. I was on the national vintage tour in 2015 that a tan 29 roadster AACA national winner was on. The owner had done the same modifications to his engine after he finished showing to make it a good reliable driver. 

But I agree I would not pay anywhere near the asking price for this car and I do run original carb and distributor on my 30. 

Edited May 2, 2020 by Joe in Canada (see edit history)

[edinmass]

Let’s see. GM was the worlds largest corporation and was the leading edge in EVERYTHING mechanical, electrical, metallurgy, ect. Cadillac was their top of the line product. And their carburetor and cars didn’t run correctly. 
 

Asinine - they can be difficult to set up. I have driven tens of thousands of miles on a 30-31 V-8 Cadillac. They are fine, just lots of work to dial in. It’s hack mechanics who can’t make them run. 

[Joe in Canada]

8 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

 

I hear people say that that tan-and-brown pattern

was popular with people restoring cars in the 1970's.

To me, they don't enhance the car at all.

Was such a combination authentic--used when those

cars were new--but just over-selected by restorers? 

Do you ever wonder if the dead looking colors painted on the old cars is what scares the younger crowed away from them. Do you ever see a new car painted brown or tan as not to likely seeing it would be for sale for a loooooong time. 

Just a thought.

Edited May 2, 2020 by Joe in Canada (see edit history)

[Matt Harwood]

I have twice won $20 from guys with late-models (one Mustang and one Corvette) by betting them my 1929 Cadillac would start faster than their fuel-injected modern cars, Johnson carburetor and all. My car takes half a turn at most to start if it has been running in the last few days, and even after sitting for months, it typically stars within about five seconds. It is pretty happy at 48 MPH without the overdrive and 55 MPH with it, and the overdrive is the only thing that has been irritating about the car but I can't exactly blame the car for that. It has never let us down, never failed to get us home, and it stops traffic everywhere it goes. I will be spending some time on it in the coming weeks to get it into top shape again for touring (fuel system, overdrive manual controls, and rebuilding the leaf springs) and then we'll use it for driving this summer.

 

I think about selling it sometimes, but then I remember how good it has been to us and I just can't do it.

 

[RVMC]

Beautiful Club Sedan, but a little high on price, I paid just under 25k for my 1931 Lasalle and with a restoration needed including needing all new glass, here are a few pics just as it sits when I purchased it, I haven't been able to find another one and still looking, the Cadillacs and Lasalles  from this era are getting harder to find.

[wayne sheldon]

For whatever it is worth? And I wish I had a picture of it available. Fifty years ago, one of my longest time best friends had a 1927 Cadillac one of two built Fischer bodied (divider window) limousine. IT had the original paint in nice condition. And IT was two tone tan and brown. It was beautiful in those colors, and there was something perfect about the shades of the colors that seemed to blend just right. When the friend bought and restored a P1 Rolls, he had the Cadillac's colors matched exactly. Those are the only two '20s cars I have ever seen that really looked good in that color combination. Not only is the color combination not common on prewar cars? Getting the colors just right is tough. A lot of era cars in poor shades of those colors can look really hideous.

[John_Mereness]

[John_Mereness]

[Matt Harwood]

5 minutes ago, Ben P. said:

Alright, I was going to stay out of this...

There aren’t too many snakes in this hobby, but the few that there are tend to be out on the show field, which seems to be their place — out there in the in the baking sun soaking up the heat — critiquing the cars.

But there’s one brown car that I would buy in a heartbeat if it ever became available.

The David Crow car pictured in Automobile Quarterly’s ‘First 75 Years of GM’.

Never found a picture of it online so here’s a lousy shot from the book (which I’ve about worn out too after 35 years). Reflection + light threw the color off terribly.

If I had a barn full of Cadillacs I’d give them all up for this one Buick Series 90 Model 91.

It has all the right lines and the proportions are perfect. Far nicer looking than the slightly larger Fisher bodied Cadillacs.

I’ll take the whitewalls too.

 

A good friend owns one very similar that has been his go-to tour car for several years.

 

[John_Mereness]

16 hours ago, Ben P. said:

Alright, I was going to stay out of this...

There aren’t too many snakes in this hobby, but the few that there are tend to be out on the show field, which seems to be their place — out there in the in the baking sun soaking up the heat — critiquing the cars.

But there’s one brown car that I would buy in a heartbeat if it ever became available.

The David Crow car pictured in Automobile Quarterly’s ‘First 75 Years of GM’.

Never found a picture of it online so here’s a lousy shot from the book (which I’ve about worn out too after 35 years). Reflection + light threw the color off terribly.

If I had a barn full of Cadillacs I’d give them all up for this one Buick Series 90 Model 91.

It has all the right lines and the proportions are perfect. Far nicer looking than the slightly larger Fisher bodied Cadillacs.

I’ll take the whitewalls too.

The reason it looks fine is because it is the "right" color brown(s) and looks just like it probably did off the showroom floor - are there better color choices yes, but this is not bad either. 

[wayne sheldon]

That Buick above is beautiful! I think darker browns are easier to get right than are the lighter tan and brown. I had almost forgotten about it, but the father of a kid I knew in high school had a 1932 large model Buick Opera coupe ((?) some today would call it a four passenger coupe) in probably those same colors. It also was a very nice original paint and upholstery car.

I don't know if we should be sorry for drifting so far into colors? Or at least we keep bumping the Cadillac ad back to the top? It probably would be a very nice car.

[m-mman]

My 29 club sedan.

Originally "Lush Green" and black (with 5 wood wheels) restored in the late 60s-70s(?) and sold by a dealer in about 1978 painted the lighter 'sage green' which it still wears today. The 6 wires seem to have been added at that time. 

 

The original Lush Green seems to have been a very bright green like on the Al Capone car

 

 

 

 

The seller cant be blamed too much for saying that it is a "custom body" because it says so right on the tag. . . 

Edited May 5, 2020 by m-mman (see edit history)

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

Here is one for sale in our area.......makes me want to turn and run the other way! Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder.

[gossp]

39 minutes ago, Jeff Perkins / Mn said:

Here is one for sale in our area.......makes me want to turn and run the other way! Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder.

painting the fenders a different color on cars of this vintage is perhaps my biggest old car pet peeve. If you want an old car with fenders in a different color, get a ten year older car that it looks right on. If you want to two-tone a car from the late 30’s or newer... do it top to bottom.