1954 Cadillac history

Many appearance improvements marked the 1954 Cadillacs. They included

a lower, sleeker body
a new cellular grille insert
inverted gull-wing front bumpers
tapered "Dagmar" style bumper guards.

Round, jet-style dual exhaust outlets were incorporated into the vertical bumper extensions and the rear bumper was entirely redesigned. An Eldorado type wraparound windshield was seen on all models. Sedans used a distinctive type of window reveal molding which created a built-in sun visor effect. For coupes, a smoothly curved wraparound backlight (i.e., rear window) was referred to as the "Florentine" style rear window. A wide ventilator intake now stretched across the base of the windshield on all models and the chrome visored headlamp look was emphasized.

Cadillac offered four models: Series 62 (including the Sedan, Sedan DeVille, and Coupe DeVille), Series 50 Special Fleetwood, Series 75 Fleetwood, and Eldorado Special.

1954 Cadillac Notes

Assembly of 1954 models began January 4, 1954 after a 25 day halt for changeover to new production specifications.
Fiberglass-bodied Cadillac show cars appearing at the GM Motorama this year included the Park Avenue four-door sedan, El Camino coupe, and La Espada convertible.
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
Cadillacs are longer, lower, wider, with up to 230 bhp -- and the first with standard power steering
Designer "Dutch" Darrin buys 100 leftover Kaiser-Darrins and install Cadillac V-8 engines

Cadillac production figures

Series 62	...	58,024	... decreased 12,340
Sedan de Ville	...	1	... prototype
Coupe de Ville	...	17,170	... increased 2,620
Eldorado	...	2,150	... increased 1,618
Series 60	...	16,200	... decreased 3,800
Series 75	...	3,135	... decreased 1,070

1954 Automotive Notes

Harlow H. Curtice was president of GM
Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. was chairman of the board at GM
The horsepower race has begun
Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson join to become American Motors Corporation, George Romney is CEO
Studebaker and Packard join to become Studebaker-Packard Corporation
Henry Kaiser buys Willys-Overland
GM cars sport wraparound windshields
Buick introduces the Century
Dodge Royal 500 convertible has a "continental" spare tire and wire wheels.
Last year for 6-cyl in Chrysler and DeSoto
Ford's low-price car has ball-joint front suspension
Plexiglas roof panels appear on the new Ford Skyliner and Mercury Sun Valley hardtops
Nash introduces the Metropolitan
Packard is first to use tubeless tires, the other makers wait until 1955
Plymouth gets PowerFlite automatic transmission to replace Hy-Drive semi-automatic

Top American Automobile Corporations for 1954

1. General Motors	...	2,330,235	... decreased 269,109
2. Ford	...	1,462,240	... decreased 131,927
3. Chrysler	...	799,406	... decreased 473,163
4. Others	...	276,460	... increased 340,325

Top model year production for 1954

HISTORICAL NOTES

LITERATURE & LINKS