Born and raised in communist Poland. the car culture means nothing to her but she indulges me in my madness. This Motor City USA 1948 Cadillac Series 62 Cabriolet has coachwork by Jacques Saoutchik of Paris and was commissioned, along with a similar Talbot-Lago by Louis Ritter, a New York furrier, who saw some sketches of proposed Jaguar and Talbot-Lago customs and managed, through connections to wrangle a chassis with a Hydra-Matic transmission (for his new wife to drive) and sent it to Paris. Saoutchik jumped at the chance to have an American car to show off at the Paris Auto Show that year. He was desperately seeking American dollars and hoped that America's nouveau riche would provide a future market for him. Ritter went to the Paris show, saw the show model, asked for some minor changes and by 1949, the "Ritter Cadillac" was in New York. The car still exists, lovingly restored and sold in 2017 for $875,500. This model, along with MCUSA's Talbot-Lagos, are on the short list of models I'll never part with, although I do have a second Saoutchik unopened, in the closet, that I'll put up for auction one day.
Great looking car with an interesting history. I can see why your wife found it attractive. Thanks Rich. This is another new one for me. You are expanding my knowledge with your posts.
TheSaoutchik Cadillac is one of, if not my favorite model. This is so amazing in every way. I too, will never part with it. I hope that someday I will have the opportunity to see the real one.
I would say numerous hotrods (at least 20) under the "Design Studio" brand.
The three Talbot's are gorgeous. Motor City USA's owner, Alan Novak and I, talked about the brand prior to me attending the 50th Anniversary of The Pebble Beach Concours d' Elegance. We knew some Talbot-Lago's would be there as the theme, that year, was Teardrops and Boattails. I sent him literally hundreds of photos for his replications. Here are some samples that I took of the REAL cars that he modeled so extremely well!!
@perrone1 Thank you Tony for your part in this project!
Little bit of labor - LOT of love. Raffi Minasian (FM Design Manager) and I made the rounds photographing cars for the D4C Club; met back up with Jay Olins later that day back at George Dill's house. Great weekend trip.
