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| Robert Moore of Greenlease-Moore dealership posing with Le Mans #2 |
There
was a time when General Motors was the unquestioned leader of the
automotive industry. Throughout the 1950s, GM dominated automobile sales
in this country with a nearly 50 percent market share by the middle of
the decade.
One
of their successful marketing techniques during this era was the GM
Motorama, a traveling extravaganza with venues in major cities across
the country. Its goal was to bring attention to the company’s many and
varied divisions (such as AC, Allison Engines, Frigidaire, etc.) to, of
course, stimulate sales. Through free admission, Broadway-style stage
shows, and – most memorably – experimental vehicles typically called,
“dream cars” (“concept cars” in today’s vernacular), millions of people
were attracted to the great spectacle held consecutively from 1953 to
1956 as well as previously in 1949 (as “Transportation Unlimited”) and
1950 (“Mid-Century Motorama”), as well as again in 1959, and 1961. The
years from 1953 to 1956, however, are the most noteworthy thanks to
dream cars and prototypes such as the GM LeSabre, Cadillac Le Mans, the
Buick Wildcat series, the first Chevy Corvette, the turbine-powered GM
Firebird I, II, and III, plus many more.
One of the concept cars crafted for the 1953 GM Motorama was the Cadillac Le Mans, a sporty yet elegant car with a single bench seat. Among the many noteworthy features of the metallic silver-blue fiberglass show car was a modified 331 V-8 said to produce 250hp thanks, at least in part, to dual four-barrel carburetors; this was 20 horsepower more than a stock 331.
Ultimately, three more Le Mans' were built - two more for use as show cars and one for the president of Fisher Body, an entity of General Motors. Originally they were all painted the same metallic silver-blue as the first Le Mans.
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| Le Mans #2 at Grosse Point Yacht Club, 1953 Glidden Tour |
The second Le Mans (serial number 5300 00003) has an unusual and largely
unknown history. It was built at virtually the same time as the first Le Mans used for the GM Motorama. The history of this car between then and August 1953
was not uncovered, but it was probably shown across the country. This
car’s build sheet in the files at the GM Heritage Center says “Cars in
Company use, for use of Harley J. Earl.” The car was transferred to Earl
on August 21, 1953, so he owned it for a while. Internal correspondence
at the center makes reference to a Le Mans sitting in a warehouse which
was titled to Earl. The correspondence authorized the car to be
transferred back to the company and gave its net asset value as one
dollar. The VIN is not given, but unless Earl owned two Le Mans’
(doubtful), then number two must be the subject of the memorandum. Notes
also indicate Earl’s car was repainted black sometime in 1953 –
definitely prior to September of the year. Le Mans
number two was definitely repainted black by the
time it appeared with four other dream cars (LeSabre, Wildcat, Starfire,
and Parisienne) at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club in September of that
year as part of the Glidden Tour. Incidentally, Harley Earl and Wilfred
Leland, son of Cadillac’s founder Henry Leland, were in attendance. A
few photos from the event still exist showing this car with others from
the early 1900s including a shot of it posed with a 1909 Cadillac. In
mid-October, the car was sent to Oklahoma at the request of the state’s
governor, Johnston Murray, to participate in the Oil Progress
Exposition. This car along with two other ’53 Motorama cars – Starfire
and Wildcat I – as well as a Corvette were on display at the Oklahoma
City Municipal Auditorium for two days before being driven in the Oil
Progress Motorcade and on the newly completed Turner Turnpike. The Le
Mans and the other cars went on to Tulsa to be displayed there.
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| Le Mans #2 on display at Greenlease-Moore Cadillac-Chevrolet |
Le Mans number two went back to Oklahoma City to be displayed at
Greenlease-Moore Cadillac-Chevrolet during the first week of November.
After November 8, 1953, the car seemed to have disappeared. Some
reports claimed Le Mans number two was the car sold to Floyd
Akers, a Cadillac distributor in the Washington, D.C. area. In fact,
Akers received the third Le Mans - a car which definitely still exits. Since the author's early research on the Le Mans show cars, a posting was discovered on the blog site
Jalopy Journal. A single posting by a man who said he was a retired engineer for GM replied to a thread about the Le Mans. He stated, "I had the pleasure of driving one of the 53 Caddies (black) in 1956 while being employed as an engineer at
Cadillac. I used it for several months as my company car." Attempts to contact the man who posted this for further information failed. (The full content of the original message can be seen here:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=159805&highlight=cadillac+lemans&page=2
Does Le Mans number two still exist?
More on the Cadillac Le Mans, show cars one and two can be found here: http://dwtauthor.blogspot.com/2011/05/two-cadillac-show-cars-and-their.html
