Not Your Grandfather's Cadillac... [PIC]

Furrier Louis Ritter was a passionate collector of automobiles with custom coachwork. In the early post war years, he became enamored with the flamboyant designs of Jacques Saoutchik and decided to commission two cars: a Talbot-Lago T20 cabriolet, and for his new wife, he sought to purchase a 1948 Cadillac Series 62 chassis with the 4 speed Hydromatic transmission he thought would be easy and safe for her to drive. Cadillac refused him saying they couldn't produce enough chassis for their own orders so he went to Hollywood exotic automobile broker Roger Barlow who had connections and two new chassis was soon on its way to Paris. It was a perfect deal for Saoutchik who desperately needed to break into the American market with post war Europe still recovering. The first of two were shown at the Paris Salon and Ritter wanted his almost identical. The Salon car was ultimately bought by Dolores Del Rio. New Years Day, 1950, the delivered cars were driven from Manhattan to Hollywood, Louis in the Talbot-Lago, and his bride in the Cadillac. It wasn't long before Ritter sold the pair to Barlow awaiting the next creations of Saoutchik. Unfortunately, like virtually all the custom coachbuilders, the embracing of unibody construction by manufacturers meant the demise of the custom bodied creators. Known as the Ritter Cadillac, the car exists today owned by a family in New Jersey. The Talbot-Lago had an unusual fate. In 1953, the owner had the body removed and mounted on a Mercury chassis with a Lincoln OHV V8 to power it. The chassis was recovered, fitted with a period racing body and the body was ultimately rebuilt to original specs over two years and 10,000 hours using an unrestored Saoutchik as a template. The Ritter Cadillac model is by Motor City USA. The history of that model was recently posted by Chav.

This how it looks with the top down:

The Del Rio car:

 Here's that awesome Talbot-Lago T26: