Back in the mid Eighties, I had a chance to buy a '61 Park Avenue in my hometown. It was the town Funeral Director's personal car and was garaged and perfectly maintained since new. I can't remember who convinced me to pass on it... But the reason was "why buy two thirds of a Cadillac?"... So I went ahead and passed... But that's probably the only one I've ever seen in person.
One likely reason the Park Avenue didn't sell: It had exactly the same price as its long-trunk equivalent (according to _Collectible Automobile_ magazine.) Buyers weren't too interested in spending the same amount of money for less car.
Give it about 20 years and that would be the case where people were paying hand over fist for a smaller imported luxury sedan. Like almost twice the cost for a smaller car.
@@justanotherokie3149 That's cool! It's really interesting that that was common back then. I've only been into cars since around 2000. Here's a couple modern car tidbits I found fascinating. The Pontiac G6 had a wheelbase 6 inches longer than it's platform-mate Chevy Malibu that was 3 inches more in overall length. The 2000s Ford Panther Platform cars had 4 different wheelbases available: Crown Vic-114, Crown Vic Taxi-120, Town Car-117, Town Car L-123.
@@ml9867 Thanks! I didn't know the Crown Vic Taxi had a longer WB than the Lincoln Town Car. I do remember getting into one, expecting the usual barely adequate legroom, and being shocked at how far away the front seat was. After verifying that the driver was not a midget, I concluded that it must be the Taxi model.
You could say the 1950 & '51 Series 61s are shortened cars. They shared body shells with Olds 98s and certain Buick models during those years, so they were the same width as the Series 62, but both wheelbases and overall lengths were a few inches shorter.
Very cool. This is the kind of thing a true luxury brand does. Someone comes in with a reservation about how long the new Caddy is, and “let me tell you about the Park Avenue!”
Thirty years later I realized I was wrong about an argument thanks to you.... My boss had told me about his sixty three cadillac park avenue he had as a teenager.... At the time I owned an 84 buick park avenue. I now realized I was wrong 30 years later because Iwas calling him a liar and he didn't know dick about cars. Thanks ED😂😂😂😂😂
I'm betting that this is an example of passive resistance, or malicious compliance. Perhaps there was some internal struggle within Cadillac to introduce a somewhat smaller version in light of the 1960 rise of the American compact cars. Whoever promoted the idea won approval, and everyone else said, 'Fine. Build it. See if we sell it.'
This model came out in response to people complaining that their new Cadillac couldn't fit in the garage, but the 61 standard Cads were shorter than the 59 and 60 models, so there was less of a need for a shorter Cadillac.
For anyone trying to picture the size of this car, 215 inches was also the length of the 2000s Lincoln Town Car. The Town Car was the longest normal production car available in in USA for a while, except for the Town Car L which had an additional 6 inches for the rear seat passengers.
@OntarioTrafficMan The Excursion was the only SUV longer than the Suburban, by 7.3", and was also wider and taller. Fun fact: the Excursion was the exact same length as a regular cab Super Duty with the 8 foot box and any extended or crew cab with either box was much longer, plus you could get a dually, but the environmentalists cried because "it was too big" and called it the Exxon Valdez. The 2003-2006 Expeditions, at only 206 inches long, now seem small compared to the current Expedition, Tahoe, and Wagoneer (210-215" long), let alone their extended length versions (222-227" long).
@OntarioTrafficMan The Jeep Wagoneer L is 1 inch longer than the current Suburban and the exact same length as the Excursion at 226.7 inches. The upcoming regular length electric Cadillac Escalade iQ will be 224.3 inches long and the extended length iQL will be even longer. The iQ's wheel base is 2.2 inches longer than the extended length gasoline Escalade ESV. It's an awesome time to be a car nerd who loves big vehicles and statistics!
One of my buddies from work has one of these. It's a bit rusty in the corners, but it's all original, and it's just gorgeous! It's probably the rarest car I've driven.
Thank you for this informative video. The 1962 Cadillac is one of my favorite Cadillac model years along with 1959. I'm sorry to admit that I had never heard of this model variation. I've always wanted to get a '62 Fleetwood 4 door hardtop which came equipped with power rear vent windows, cornering lights, and taillights which changed color between red and white. It would be cool to have the LaSalle version of a '62.
When my grandmother replaced her '56 Roadmaster with a new '64 Cadillac, she had 4 feet added to her carport (a former chicken house) to keep the fins covered. She was a year too late.
I am a chick & 7" is just ok but as a kid fascinated w/cars....NEVER HEARS THIS! I could identify cars at 3 by brand at 3 & models at 4. Yes..a car nerd whose hubby was named Ed, too. LOVE UR VIDEOS...can't wait 4 Mustang - we had plenty of them & might get ONE more....turboless means 8 cyl 😊
I had one! It was a '61 Six-Window Sedan. They were also called the Short Deck Sedans. From the 62 Series. Not the DeVille Series. Thanks for featuring these!
My dad bought a '62 and he referred to is as a "Six-Window". His business partner bought a '62 at the same time but my dad said his was a "Four Window". I'm not sure that the "Four Window" was a short deck/Park Avenue. I associate "Park Avenue" with a Buick but, then, I mis-associate lots of things.
@@mikedavis7018As Ed said, Cadillac used the Park Ave name before Buick did on the rare Short Deck Sedans for '62 & '63. I think the 1st Buick Park Ave was around '70 or '71. Hope that helps!
The elegance of Park Avenue in NYC is a matter of perspective. I knew a young woman who lived in her parents' multi-million dollar co-op on Park Avenue many years ago. I told her I pitied her city existence, living over train tracks. She had no idea that all the trains from Grand Central passed under the street at her front door. She cried, I laughed
Ed - seriously- You have the best car channel out there. The way you do these insights to history, mixing facts w humor..... Nobody does it like you do. They just simply recite facts and figures and leave out the humor. If you don't have 1 million subscribers that's actually tragic. Please keep doing what you're doing..... And I would love to see you do a video that compares 57 Chrysler quality (styling success, epic build failure) compared to GM and Ford quality for 1957. I can just imagine this done in your style and sense of humor.... For all of us that love American classics, we say thankya 😎
Not sure what the mystery would be, it’s named Park Avenue and it’s obviously a more handy configuration for parking and driving in an urban environment. It’s one of the reasons people started buying Mercedes back then it’s because they could be handled in the city better
0:35 the fact that this Buick Park Avenue has VentiPorts immediately puts it as a 2005 Model year; which was the final year of the Park Avenue before it was replaced along with the LeSabre by the Lucerne.
I’m a “Cadillac Guy” (and that’s a hill I will die upon!) but I never heard of these models! Gracias!
День тому+8
I remember seeing an exhibit at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, (around 1996), which showed one of these in a small single car garage. They claimed that it was made to fit older garages.
5 or 10 years ago I saw one of these listed on eBay. It looked better than the 'BIG' Caddy. Only one that I have ever seen. Thanks for doing this one Ed as it helps me with my aging memory.
Ok I knew someone who had one of these, a 1963! I always wondered what a Cadillac Park Avenue was as I’d never heard of it and never seen one before or since! Thanks for that!
Sorta reminds me of the old "companion brands" that were part of the American car market for many years. Pontiac (yes, it was originally the companion brand to the Oakland), Marquette, DeSalle, even Mercury were set up as companion brands for people who were sort of in-between the main brands. It also expanded the selection at the dealerships so that people didn't necessarily have to go around comparing brands - if you didn't like our main brand, here's something that may be more to your liking.
Cadillac owners complained the they couldn't fit the ridiculously long early 60s Cadillac models inside their homes garage and wanted to keep their Cadillac fully enclosed. The tremendous rear overhang also scrapped driveways and parking garage ramps - it was difficult to get the ultralong berthed into tight garage parking lots too.
Maybe Cadillac could have given it slightly tighter steering and less of a mushy ride and pushed it as the "Sporty Cadillac". It probably wouldn't have sold much better, but at least it would have had a chance. Though GM was still dedicated to their sales tier hierarchy and likely told anyone wanting something like that to buy a Chevrolet or Pontiac.
I saw a '62 "short" Cadillac parked in Chicago about twenty five years ago. I had just found out about them, so I knew what it was. The article I had read stated that they were intended for owners in crowded urban areas and were made shorter so that they would be easier to maneuver and park on crowded city streets, which I believed at the time since they were following in the footsteps of the gargantuan '59/'60 models. Imagine trying to parallel park the '59/'60 full-sized behemoths on the streets of NYC & Chicago. No doubt those big be-finned beauties resulted in a few owner requests for more manageable luxury cars for drivers that used them in the city centers. I hope the owners of the one I saw that day knew of its rarity and took good care of it.
The short rear deck concept may not have been successful back then but became the industry norm in the 80’s as cars downsized and remains the norm for cars today. Proportionally the Cadillac Park Avenue is attractive.
Park Avenue was a trim on the Cadillac Deville in the 1960s that was later recycled by Buick for the model that replaced the Electra in 1991 and was replaced by the Lucerne for 2006 and the Lacrosse for 2012 the Lacrosse sold 665,000 units in the US through its run from 2004-2019
I feel like it’s proportions look better, though how space management wasn’t really taken into consideration the smaller trunk was probably crowded with the spare tire.
I have a magazine from 1961 showing the 2 caddys side by side, with the text explaining the difference in length. Unfortunately, I have no idea which magazine (probably Car Life or Motor Life) or where it is, and I certainly don't remember that it was called a Park Avenue. If I find it, I'll get back.
Pontiac did kinda the same with the Catalina/Grand Prix being three inches shorter in wheel base and nine inches shorter overall than the full size Bonneville.
I have a dual cab ute here in Australia. A double cab pickup truck. It's a 2022 model and is considered large even for a ute. It can be difficult to park in some carparks, but it is a truck after all. A commercial vehicle. It is 5.41 metres long. That puts the size of those Cadillacs into perspective . I also own an old, 2008 Ford Falcon. A full sized, large family sedan. It's 4.9 meters long.
Yep. VF/ve Commodore wagon is longer than a vn-vs Commodore wagon but because it's .2m shorter than a vt-vz some consider it too short. And yes twin cab utes are silly with trays that aren't very useful but they still take up lots of room.
To me those 62's sitting in that showroom are the most beautiful things I've seen. They had personality. And back then you could instantly tell one from another. Wind resistance? Who cares. Fuel economy? Drop dead. My dad bought a 64 Cadillac limo that was this awful lime green when I was 10. It was his Christmas present for himself in Christmas of 1970.
A neighbor had a 1960 Cadillac. She literally had to bust the drywall of the front of the garage in order to get the garage door down, and it, being made of wood, would rub against the rear bumper as it was closed, wearing notches in the door in those spots.🤣 [ so the 7 inches shorter version would have fit]. 📻🙂
🤔 May be it was an experiment to measure how the concept of " bigger is better" was doing. My lecture: It seems bigger was better for that segment of the market.
A former boss (and Cadillac expert) told me these came about because wealthy women at the time had difficulty parallel-parking these behemoths in the larger cities. Sexist? Maybe, but the '76 Seville was hugely popular with women buyers mainly because of its size.
Lots of rich people loved the Seville. You used to see them in expensive neighborhoods when they were up to 10 years old. And they weren't buying them second hand, they just kept them forever because they were a great car.
In the early 60's, everybody was introducing their compact or mid-size cars. Falcon, Comet. Valiant, Tempest, etc,. This was probably Caddy's version at that time.
Convert inches to feet and the garage argument looks the most likely as house designers tend to work in whole feet. 222 inches = 18 1/2 feet, 215 inches = 18 feet minus 1 inch.
The "Park Avenue" was available for 62 and 63. The short Town Sedan was available in 61 and 62. All were four door hardtops. The Series 62 4 door hardtop for 1958 also had a shorter deck and length, though you could get that same model with the 'Extended Deck', which made it the same length as the other Cadillac models (except the limo and the 60 Special).
Thanks, Ed, I thought I knew my old Cadillacs. What a treat to find out about the Cad Park Avenue! I thought it might look better than is does, but the short deck, long hood does not look good on a 4 door. A Coupe deVille with a short deck and a full rear wheel cutout might have been a hit. John
Very interesting! Very rare cars I guess. I checked out some pictures, I think they don't look as good as the full-size cars, actually kind of like the exaggerated visualisation you made! You can tell they've been adapted from other designs without much styling effort to compensate. What a strange thing to do.
Seems to me even more rare than this was the 1975-76 Cadillac Mirage! The luxury version of an El Camino or Ranchero that had a truck bed! I actually saw one in a parking lot and someone told me there were only ever a few hundred of them made!
I believe in the 1990s Chrysler cut off the back of the Concorde and called it the 300. The reason being to make the car acceptable for European sales. Maybe Cadillac was considering this?
Gotta love how back then a "small" cadillac was 215" long lol, still like a foot longer than most 90s and 2000s era German Long Wheelbase flagship fullsizers like 7 series and S classes
Cadillac introduced the Town Sedan/Park Avenue after customers complained about not being able to close their garages. Yes, cars got longer, garages didn't. Imagine that. You may be right that they didn't sell because dealers didn't get behind a shorter Cadillac in 1961, the way they did in 1977 when all GM full-sizers, Cadillac included, were made 9" shorter and 1000 lbs. lighter than the '76's. Kept the same trunk and interior space, though. And Cadillac reaped the benefits of increased sales from '76.
In 1959, the city of St. Louis banned the brand-new '59 Cadillac from parking in city-owned parking garages due to its excessive length (here we go with a 225-inch overall length!)
There were definitely people who could live with a 222" long car, but would have to park it outside, or with the door open, or sticking out into the street a bit or a little farther away from their front doors. In fact, 2 of my neighbors nearly came to blows over a Lincoln that was maybe 219" long. But with this shorter Caddy, there was the downside that it had a smaller trunk, so some might have seen it as less car for more money. But the issue of drivers, particularly female drivers, who liked Caddies, but didn't like their impressive size, persisted, and Cadillac's next attempt to address it, the brilliant marketing move known as the 1976 Seville, finally succeeded in making some customers grateful to pay more money for less car.
It was about the length for people’s garages. You have to understand that people were not going to build a new garage because the Cadillacs were getting longer and longer except in Texas.
The sales figures, according to _Collectible Automobile:_ 1961 -- Town Sedan: 3,756 (no Park Avenues this year) 1962 -- Town Sedan: 2,600 Park Avenue: 2,600 1963 -- Park Avenue: 1,575 To put this in perspective, the normal sedan sold in numbers of like 30,000 to 45,000, depending on how fancy it was.
Loving the shorts. Missed opportuniy to call it the ED-Vent calender, though.
Back in the mid Eighties, I had a chance to buy a '61 Park Avenue in my hometown.
It was the town Funeral Director's personal car and was garaged and perfectly maintained since new.
I can't remember who convinced me to pass on it... But the reason was "why buy two thirds of a Cadillac?"...
So I went ahead and passed... But that's probably the only one I've ever seen in person.
One likely reason the Park Avenue didn't sell: It had exactly the same price as its long-trunk equivalent (according to _Collectible Automobile_ magazine.) Buyers weren't too interested in spending the same amount of money for less car.
And then having a shorter car than the neighbors.
Give it about 20 years and that would be the case where people were paying hand over fist for a smaller imported luxury sedan. Like almost twice the cost for a smaller car.
4:23 that car just has ridiculous presence. The shape, the stance, the wire wheels, the whitewalls. So good.
Happy Edvent
Thank you for doing these, Ed!
Truly amazing what oddities you dig up, Ed.
It was kind of common back then. In 1963 we had Star Chief. It was a Bonneville with a 6" shorter trunk.
@@justanotherokie3149 That's cool! It's really interesting that that was common back then. I've only been into cars since around 2000. Here's a couple modern car tidbits I found fascinating.
The Pontiac G6 had a wheelbase 6 inches longer than it's platform-mate Chevy Malibu that was 3 inches more in overall length.
The 2000s Ford Panther Platform cars had 4 different wheelbases available: Crown Vic-114, Crown Vic Taxi-120, Town Car-117, Town Car L-123.
@@ml9867 Thanks! I didn't know the Crown Vic Taxi had a longer WB than the Lincoln Town Car. I do remember getting into one, expecting the usual barely adequate legroom, and being shocked at how far away the front seat was. After verifying that the driver was not a midget, I concluded that it must be the Taxi model.
I thought the Star Chief and the Bonneville were the same size car.
WOW! I knew Caddy made cars with extended trunks in the 1950's. But a shortened car? Very interesting.
You could say the 1950 & '51 Series 61s are shortened cars. They shared body shells with Olds 98s and certain Buick models during those years, so they were the same width as the Series 62, but both wheelbases and overall lengths were a few inches shorter.
@@jaysverrisson1536 My dad had one of those.
Cool Fiat Panda footage from
Belgium!😀
That garage is insane.
Pandillac Narrow Parking Avenue.
Very cool. This is the kind of thing a true luxury brand does. Someone comes in with a reservation about how long the new Caddy is, and “let me tell you about the Park Avenue!”
In case anyone wondered, the shots of the Caddy showroom are from the film The Shape of Water.
Thanks, I was wondering about that. 👊
I thought it from the show mad men
@@EB-vs3oo me to. Lol
@@EB-vs3oo Nope - The Shape of Water.
Thank you!!!!
Thirty years later I realized I was wrong about an argument thanks to you.... My boss had told me about his sixty three cadillac park avenue he had as a teenager.... At the time I owned an 84 buick park avenue. I now realized I was wrong 30 years later because Iwas calling him a liar and he didn't know dick about cars. Thanks ED😂😂😂😂😂
Is he still around so you can tell him about it now?
Thanks for doing these. I learn something new almost every time i watch one of your videos. L,S,S'ed
Ed, another fantastic video! You killed me with the 7" comment. 😄
Another hit on the calendar, Ed! I'm glad you featured this rare, winged beast. Here in California, I've only ever seen one or two over the years.
I'm betting that this is an example of passive resistance, or malicious compliance. Perhaps there was some internal struggle within Cadillac to introduce a somewhat smaller version in light of the 1960 rise of the American compact cars. Whoever promoted the idea won approval, and everyone else said, 'Fine. Build it. See if we sell it.'
This model came out in response to people complaining that their new Cadillac couldn't fit in the garage, but the 61 standard Cads were shorter than the 59 and 60 models, so there was less of a need for a shorter Cadillac.
For anyone trying to picture the size of this car, 215 inches was also the length of the 2000s Lincoln Town Car. The Town Car was the longest normal production car available in in USA for a while, except for the Town Car L which had an additional 6 inches for the rear seat passengers.
Also for context, a Chevrolet Suburban is 226 in, and I think that's the longest common passenger vehicle
@OntarioTrafficMan The Excursion was the only SUV longer than the Suburban, by 7.3", and was also wider and taller. Fun fact: the Excursion was the exact same length as a regular cab Super Duty with the 8 foot box and any extended or crew cab with either box was much longer, plus you could get a dually, but the environmentalists cried because "it was too big" and called it the Exxon Valdez. The 2003-2006 Expeditions, at only 206 inches long, now seem small compared to the current Expedition, Tahoe, and Wagoneer (210-215" long), let alone their extended length versions (222-227" long).
@OntarioTrafficMan The Jeep Wagoneer L is 1 inch longer than the current Suburban and the exact same length as the Excursion at 226.7 inches. The upcoming regular length electric Cadillac Escalade iQ will be 224.3 inches long and the extended length iQL will be even longer. The iQ's wheel base is 2.2 inches longer than the extended length gasoline Escalade ESV. It's an awesome time to be a car nerd who loves big vehicles and statistics!
One of my buddies from work has one of these. It's a bit rusty in the corners, but it's all original, and it's just gorgeous! It's probably the rarest car I've driven.
Women really admire that 7-inch difference. 🫣👍🏻
Jajajaja
We're talking cars here
Focus
That's not what my last date told me...
Some of us men do as well.
GIGGITY
Thank you for this informative video. The 1962 Cadillac is one of my favorite Cadillac model years along with 1959. I'm sorry to admit that I had never heard of this model variation. I've always wanted to get a '62 Fleetwood 4 door hardtop which came equipped with power rear vent windows, cornering lights, and taillights which changed color between red and white. It would be cool to have the LaSalle version of a '62.
When my grandmother replaced her '56 Roadmaster with a new '64 Cadillac, she had 4 feet added to her carport (a former chicken house) to keep the fins covered. She was a year too late.
I am a chick & 7" is just ok but as a kid fascinated w/cars....NEVER HEARS THIS! I could identify cars at 3 by brand at 3 & models at 4. Yes..a car nerd whose hubby was named Ed, too. LOVE UR VIDEOS...can't wait 4 Mustang - we had plenty of them & might get ONE more....turboless means 8 cyl 😊
I had one! It was a '61 Six-Window Sedan.
They were also called the Short Deck Sedans.
From the 62 Series. Not the DeVille Series.
Thanks for featuring these!
I'd never known about these until seeing this video!
@@DanEBoyd Not many have!
My dad bought a '62 and he referred to is as a "Six-Window". His business partner bought a '62 at the same time but my dad said his was a "Four Window". I'm not sure that the "Four Window" was a short deck/Park Avenue. I associate "Park Avenue" with a Buick but, then, I mis-associate lots of things.
@@mikedavis7018As Ed said, Cadillac used the Park Ave name before Buick did on the rare Short Deck Sedans for '62 & '63. I think the 1st Buick Park Ave was around '70 or '71. Hope that helps!
The elegance of Park Avenue in NYC is a matter of perspective. I knew a young woman who lived in her parents' multi-million dollar co-op on Park Avenue many years ago. I told her I pitied her city existence, living over train tracks. She had no idea that all the trains from Grand Central passed under the street at her front door. She cried, I laughed
I love the four door no post cars or the 4-door sedan
Ed - seriously- You have the best car channel out there. The way you do these insights to history, mixing facts w humor..... Nobody does it like you do. They just simply recite facts and figures and leave out the humor. If you don't have 1 million subscribers that's actually tragic. Please keep doing what you're doing..... And I would love to see you do a video that compares 57 Chrysler quality (styling success, epic build failure) compared to GM and Ford quality for 1957. I can just imagine this done in your style and sense of humor.... For all of us that love American classics, we say thankya 😎
I’m a huge fan, also. Not too dry, just enough humor to make it fun. It’s that Dutch sense of humor; direct and fast!
A genuine treat, Ed
Many thanks from St Pete, FL.
Not sure what the mystery would be, it’s named Park Avenue and it’s obviously a more handy configuration for parking and driving in an urban environment. It’s one of the reasons people started buying Mercedes back then it’s because they could be handled in the city better
0:35 the fact that this Buick Park Avenue has VentiPorts immediately puts it as a 2005 Model year; which was the final year of the Park Avenue before it was replaced along with the LeSabre by the Lucerne.
I’m a “Cadillac Guy” (and that’s a hill I will die upon!) but I never heard of these models! Gracias!
I remember seeing an exhibit at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, (around 1996), which showed one of these in a small single car garage. They claimed that it was made to fit older garages.
I wish I lived near there. The Peterson is on my never-gonna-happen automotive bucket list, along with driving on the Nurburgring.
That is true, but the 61 Cadillac was a little shorter than the 59/60 car, so it apparently was no longer needed by the time it came out.
5 or 10 years ago I saw one of these listed on eBay. It looked better than the 'BIG' Caddy. Only one that I have ever seen. Thanks for doing this one Ed as it helps me with my aging memory.
Ok I knew someone who had one of these, a 1963! I always wondered what a Cadillac Park Avenue was as I’d never heard of it and never seen one before or since! Thanks for that!
Ha!!!!! This is the first time I've caught something so soon here. And I love your posts Ed!
the 76 to 79 seville was a cool looking short cadillac it looked like a miniature brougham
Sorta reminds me of the old "companion brands" that were part of the American car market for many years. Pontiac (yes, it was originally the companion brand to the Oakland), Marquette, DeSalle, even Mercury were set up as companion brands for people who were sort of in-between the main brands. It also expanded the selection at the dealerships so that people didn't necessarily have to go around comparing brands - if you didn't like our main brand, here's something that may be more to your liking.
Cadillac owners complained the they couldn't fit the ridiculously long early 60s Cadillac models inside their homes garage and wanted to keep their Cadillac fully enclosed. The tremendous rear overhang also scrapped driveways and parking garage ramps - it was difficult to get the ultralong berthed into tight garage parking lots too.
"SHORT ON BODY BUT LONG ON LOOKS"❣️
I love these advent videos Ed, Great work!
Maybe Cadillac could have given it slightly tighter steering and less of a mushy ride and pushed it as the "Sporty Cadillac". It probably wouldn't have sold much better, but at least it would have had a chance.
Though GM was still dedicated to their sales tier hierarchy and likely told anyone wanting something like that to buy a Chevrolet or Pontiac.
I saw a '62 "short" Cadillac parked in Chicago about twenty five years ago. I had just found out about them, so I knew what it was. The article I had read stated that they were intended for owners in crowded urban areas and were made shorter so that they would be easier to maneuver and park on crowded city streets, which I believed at the time since they were following in the footsteps of the gargantuan '59/'60 models. Imagine trying to parallel park the '59/'60 full-sized behemoths on the streets of NYC & Chicago. No doubt those big be-finned beauties resulted in a few owner requests for more manageable luxury cars for drivers that used them in the city centers. I hope the owners of the one I saw that day knew of its rarity and took good care of it.
My first car was a '62 Park Avenue Sedan de Ville
Love this creative series you have done here, Thank you! Great work!
The short rear deck concept may not have been successful back then but became the industry norm in the 80’s as cars downsized and remains the norm for cars today. Proportionally the Cadillac Park Avenue is attractive.
It's better yes
Park Avenue was a trim on the Cadillac Deville in the 1960s that was later recycled by Buick for the model that replaced the Electra in 1991 and was replaced by the Lucerne for 2006 and the Lacrosse for 2012 the Lacrosse sold 665,000 units in the US through its run from 2004-2019
The proportions are so much better
This series should have been called Automotive Ed-vent 😂
I feel like it’s proportions look better, though how space management wasn’t really taken into consideration the smaller trunk was probably crowded with the spare tire.
The Cadillac Park Avenue was built to fit in older garages which were shorter.
I have a magazine from 1961 showing the 2 caddys side by side, with the text explaining the difference in length. Unfortunately, I have no idea which magazine (probably Car Life or Motor Life) or where it is, and I certainly don't remember that it was called a Park Avenue. If I find it, I'll get back.
Pontiac did kinda the same with the Catalina/Grand Prix being three inches shorter in wheel base and nine inches shorter overall than the full size Bonneville.
Merry Christmas Ed!
Somebody at GM had a garage too short for the regular Caddy and couldn't close the garage door, so they made him a shorter one😂
The Park Avenue's proportions are actually better compared to the ridiculously long trunk overhang of the full-size models.
Caddy Park Avenue, for when you have a hard time backing up dat ass.😂
Ed,
You are just too good to us!
The trunk was truncated but the price wasn’t.
A Caddy with less junk in the trunk?
Who'd a thunk it...
I have a dual cab ute here in Australia. A double cab pickup truck. It's a 2022 model and is considered large even for a ute. It can be difficult to park in some carparks, but it is a truck after all. A commercial vehicle.
It is 5.41 metres long.
That puts the size of those Cadillacs into perspective .
I also own an old, 2008 Ford Falcon. A full sized, large family sedan. It's 4.9 meters long.
Yep. VF/ve Commodore wagon is longer than a vn-vs Commodore wagon but because it's .2m shorter than a vt-vz some consider it too short. And yes twin cab utes are silly with trays that aren't very useful but they still take up lots of room.
Thanks for the fantastic festive feast!
To me those 62's sitting in that showroom are the most beautiful things I've seen. They had personality. And back then you could instantly tell one from another. Wind resistance? Who cares. Fuel economy? Drop dead.
My dad bought a 64 Cadillac limo that was this awful lime green when I was 10. It was his Christmas present for himself in Christmas of 1970.
A neighbor had a 1960 Cadillac. She literally had to bust the drywall of the front of the garage in order to get the garage door down, and it, being made of wood, would rub against the rear bumper as it was closed, wearing notches in the door in those spots.🤣
[ so the 7 inches shorter version would have fit].
📻🙂
Thank you Ed
🤔 May be it was an experiment to measure how the concept of " bigger is better" was doing.
My lecture: It seems bigger was better for that segment of the market.
A former boss (and Cadillac expert) told me these came about because wealthy women at the time had difficulty parallel-parking these behemoths in the larger cities. Sexist? Maybe, but the '76 Seville was hugely popular with women buyers mainly because of its size.
Lots of rich people loved the Seville. You used to see them in expensive neighborhoods when they were up to 10 years old. And they weren't buying them second hand, they just kept them forever because they were a great car.
I just discovered your channel and I enjoy it. Very creative subjects and titles.
Oh you gotta go binge watch his earlier vid'd - Ed's sarcasm is completely off the hook, he's hilarious! 😂
Cadillac park avenue: i am shortest among the other cadie families 😁
European cars: short.. about that size? 😳
In the early 60's, everybody was introducing their compact or mid-size cars. Falcon, Comet. Valiant, Tempest, etc,. This was probably Caddy's version at that time.
Good, as always
Might be sacrilege but it looks a lot better imo. Better proportioned.
Thank you Ed.
Convert inches to feet and the garage argument looks the most likely as house designers tend to work in whole feet. 222 inches = 18 1/2 feet, 215 inches = 18 feet minus 1 inch.
I REMEMBER the Cadillac Park Avenue, as being available only in 1962.
The "Park Avenue" was available for 62 and 63. The short Town Sedan was available in 61 and 62. All were four door hardtops. The Series 62 4 door hardtop for 1958 also had a shorter deck and length, though you could get that same model with the 'Extended Deck', which made it the same length as the other Cadillac models (except the limo and the 60 Special).
Cadillac did this before, in the 1950's. 1957 & '58 saw "SD" (short deck) Cadillacs, those didn't sell too well either.
Thanks, Ed, I thought I knew my old Cadillacs. What a treat to find out about the Cad Park Avenue! I thought it might look better than is does, but the short deck, long hood does not look good on a 4 door. A Coupe deVille with a short deck and a full rear wheel cutout might have been a hit.
John
Very interesting! Very rare cars I guess. I checked out some pictures, I think they don't look as good as the full-size cars, actually kind of like the exaggerated visualisation you made! You can tell they've been adapted from other designs without much styling effort to compensate. What a strange thing to do.
I have a 1963 Park Ave that is a vista cruiser top station wagon. The proportions work great.
Seems to me even more rare than this was the 1975-76 Cadillac Mirage! The luxury version of an El Camino or Ranchero that had a truck bed! I actually saw one in a parking lot and someone told me there were only ever a few hundred of them made!
That was an aftermarket conversion, not a factory product.
I believe in the 1990s Chrysler cut off the back of the Concorde and called it the 300. The reason being to make the car acceptable for European sales. Maybe Cadillac was considering this?
I never realized how well SpongeBob music goes with the the 50s and 60s
Cadillacs were HUGE cars back then, so the Park Avenue was just kinda HUGE ?????
So Caddilac did an Airbus (A318-A319 shorter fusselage of the A320 airliner) earlier then Airbus did 😉
Is funny that in a few years Cadillac would be making cars way bigger that they need to be, but back then they want short models...
It didn't sell.
Gotta love how back then a "small" cadillac was 215" long lol, still like a foot longer than most 90s and 2000s era German Long Wheelbase flagship fullsizers like 7 series and S classes
Laughs nothing but laughs all these jokes on point
Thanks ED. Didn't know it existed.. reminds me of a brochure i found online for I think a fleetwood 72?? Correction. 70.
Cadillac introduced the Town Sedan/Park Avenue after customers complained about not being able to close their garages. Yes, cars got longer, garages didn't. Imagine that. You may be right that they didn't sell because dealers didn't get behind a shorter Cadillac in 1961, the way they did in 1977 when all GM full-sizers, Cadillac included, were made 9" shorter and 1000 lbs. lighter than the '76's. Kept the same trunk and interior space, though. And Cadillac reaped the benefits of increased sales from '76.
I noticed that these videos now have dubbing in other languages, nice!
But not Dutch. Why Ed WHY?
What Movie/TV show is that clip at 0:45 from? I can't tell if that's Jon Hamm or Michael Shannon
I think it's "the shape of water"?
@@sterlinsilveryou're correct, 3:02 on the other hand is from Mad Men
In 1959, the city of St. Louis banned the brand-new '59 Cadillac from parking in city-owned parking garages due to its excessive length (here we go with a 225-inch overall length!)
Again, I didn't know about this Cadillac. Pre-Malaise era Downsizing began in the 60s, huh? 🐰
5,46 m.. ✨ just thought about our garage.. 😀⭐️
Makes it a little easier to actually "PARK" on the Avenue !
There were definitely people who could live with a 222" long car, but would have to park it outside, or with the door open, or sticking out into the street a bit or a little farther away from their front doors. In fact, 2 of my neighbors nearly came to blows over a Lincoln that was maybe 219" long. But with this shorter Caddy, there was the downside that it had a smaller trunk, so some might have seen it as less car for more money. But the issue of drivers, particularly female drivers, who liked Caddies, but didn't like their impressive size, persisted, and Cadillac's next attempt to address it, the brilliant marketing move known as the 1976 Seville, finally succeeded in making some customers grateful to pay more money for less car.
It was about the length for people’s garages. You have to understand that people were not going to build a new garage because the Cadillacs were getting longer and longer except in Texas.
I learneded somethin.
So the Caddy Park Avenue is basically the Middle Child of the Caddy siblings .
How many Parks were sold?
The sales figures, according to _Collectible Automobile:_
1961 -- Town Sedan: 3,756 (no Park Avenues this year)
1962 -- Town Sedan: 2,600 Park Avenue: 2,600
1963 -- Park Avenue: 1,575
To put this in perspective, the normal sedan sold in numbers of like 30,000 to 45,000, depending on how fancy it was.
@benjaminrobinson3842 Thanks. That's a lot of cars for a model nobody wanted or knew about