Cadillac 341 Fleetwood
The Cadillac 341 Fleetwood is a car for true connoisseurs of classic automobiles. It was produced for only a very short time, between 1927 and 1929, such that only a few people alive today are old enough to remember the car’s original release. If you go to a classic car show, you are likely to see the Cadillacs, which represented postwar prosperity. The Cadillac of the 1950s was an attainable status symbol, as big as America’s influence in the world, with tailfins that showed the drivers behind you who was boss and with pointy “dagmar” bumpers named after a cone bra-wearing TV actress. The Cadillac 341 Fleetwood belongs to a whole other category of exclusivity.
What Is So Special About the Cadillac 341 Fleetwood?
The term 341 refers to its engine; in its time, which encompasses the model years of 1927, 1928, and 1929, every Cadillac was a Cadillac 341. After 1929, Cadillac switched to the 353 engine.
A car made so long ago, when far fewer cars were produced than in the mid-century age of suburban sprawl, is special enough, but the Cadillac 341 Fleetwood is not just any Cadillac 341. The Fleetwood part of the car’s name refers to the body of the vehicle; thus, a Cadillac 341 Fleetwood is a car that has a Cadillac 341 engine and a Fleetwood body.
Not Every Fleetwood Is as Rare as the Cadillac 341 Fleetwood
The Fleetwood company, with its headquarters located in Pennsylvania, started making auto bodies almost as soon as the Michigan companies that would become auto industry giants started making engines. In the 1920s, Cadillac cars came standard with a Fisher body, which makes sense when you consider that the Fisher company was based in Michigan, making it a logical choice, since Fisher and Cadillac were neighbors.
The Cadillac 341 Series is far from the only Cadillac ever to sport a Fleetwood body. The Fleetwood body was also used for the Cadillac Eldorado when the Eldorado was at the peak of its popularity. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, every Cadillac Eldorado had a Fleetwood body, and Fleetwood even became part of the model’s name.
A Product of Its Time
The Cadillac 341 Series was available as a two-door coupe or a four-door sedan. Its price tag ran about $4,000 when it was new, which was a fortune in the 1920s. A famous Cadillac 341 is the Cadillac “Al Capone” Series 341A, which had bulletproof glass, at a time when it was not a given that cars would have any glass at all.
If you are new to classic cars, you will be surprised by the appearance of the Cadillac 341 Fleetwood. The passenger cab, while boxy in shape, looks similar to the passenger cabin of a horse-drawn carriage, which the engine part of the car resembles a long snout.
