When a pink and gray, two-door Caddy wagon won the 2019 Ridler Award in Detroit last year, the custom car world went into quite a tizzy. Here was an outrageous take on a very rare, Pininfarina-bodied 1959 Cadillac Brougham that was voraciously chopped and sectioned into a lean, long roof version of its former self and rechristened “CadMad.” It was a huge crowd pleaser in Detroit and now, this one-in-a-million custom could be yours.
Many folks speculate what it costs to buy a car like this and though we might never know what the true dollar amount of this build was, we’ll soon know what the completed car is worth when it crosses the block at
Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale.
“CadMad took ten craftsmen to build and as Craig Barton hoisted the 2019 Ridler Award trophy overhead in celebration of a victory that his late brother dreamed of, judges named CadMad the best of 800 cars at the 2019 Autorama.
CadMad started life as a 1959 Cadillac Brougham, an Italian-bodied, four-door sedan.
“This car was one of 99 built in 1959 with a body and interior by Pininfarina of Italy. They started by chopping 18-inches in length, four-inches of width and sectioning two-inches from the lower body mass to give the car a more modern profile. After remnants were acid-dipped to remove the lead Pininfarina added during manufacturing, the altered steel panels were tack-welded together to serve as a visual model for the handcrafted custom body to follow. Four doors gave way to two, and the roof from a Chevrolet Nomad made the Caddy a sport wagon.
“This Italian bodied Cadillac’s flying hood ornament, head and tail lamps, bumpers, grille, side spears, wheel treatments and steering wheel all made the leap from the Eldorado Brougham to CadMad with subtle alterations.”
The result was a completely altered car that retained the essence of late-fifties GM styling. In fact, the car looks authentic enough to have come out of Harley Earl’s design studio. From there, everything under the skin is an arsenal of name brand, uber-performance hardware from the biggest names in the business.
The seller elaborates further, “Nelson Racing Engines built a 632ci big-block Chevrolet V8 engine paired to an automatic transmission that is bolted to a 4L60E C5 Corvette transaxle. Fueled by racing fuel and boosted by a pair of 88mm turbochargers, the engine makes a neck-snapping 1025hp and 950 ft/lbs of torque. Tucked away is the starter, air-conditioning compressor and alternator under the floor at the back of the car.
“The interior features an
EVOD steering wheel, instrument bezel,
Classic Instruments gauges, and leather
RECARO bucket seats from a 2012 Cadillac CTS-V. The cargo floor was crafted by Heiden’s Woodworking using striped tigerwood, figured maple and African wenge. A liberal application of urethane protects the wood and a master pinstriper, matched the wood grain in the hand-painted dash and door surfaces. The exterior is finished in a two-tone scheme of Fawntana Rose and Titanium Silver with three Kustom Shop urethane base coats, four color coats, and half a dozen
PPG clear coats. Over 4,000 hours were spent building and finishing the body.”
A crazy cool build with the only caveat being we lost a super rare, limited production Cadillac from the golden era of GM Styling. We’re hoping it was a tired car and even though a rare sedan was sacrificed, we gained a new interpretation of a ’50’s finned Caddy.