One of One: The Cadillac Elegante Comes to Auburn

Some collector cars are rare because only a handful survive. The 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Elegante Special is rare for a much simpler reason: there has only ever been one.

More than 70 years after its creation, the spectacular coachbuilt Cadillac is preparing for another milestone. The Elegante will be offered at Kruse Auctions’ 56th annual Auburn Auction & Show in Auburn, Indiana, over Labor Day weekend, marking the first time in the car’s history it has been offered for public sale. It is scheduled to cross the block September 5.

And for collectors who cannot take home the real thing, German model-car company Autopioneer has preserved the same remarkable automobile in miniature through its Brausi line.

The story of the Elegante began with New Yorkers Harry Birdsall and Joe Mascari, sports-car and motorboat enthusiasts who envisioned something far removed from a production Cadillac. Working from a 1953 Cadillac Series 62 convertible chassis, they conceived a low, aircraft-inspired two-seater and enlisted German-born designer Albrecht von Goertz to refine its shape. Von Goertz would soon become famous for his work on the BMW 503 and 507.

Construction was entrusted to Carrozzeria Rocco Motto of Turin, Italy, a coachbuilder known for lightweight, hand-formed aluminum bodies. Motto transformed the Cadillac chassis into an extravagant transatlantic interpretation of the American dream car. The work reportedly required roughly 30 months.

The Elegante received an electro-hydraulically operated retractable hardtop, an iridescent white finish incorporating genuine pearl material, rich red leather upholstery and extensive gold-plated trim. Its custom details extended to the headlamp surrounds, windshield frame, door hardware, and other fittings, while its enormous rear deck and sharply defined fins gave the car a shape that was unmistakably Cadillac but unlike any Cadillac offered in a showroom.

Underneath all of that Italian coachwork remained Cadillac power: a 331-cubic-inch V-8 paired with a Hydra-Matic automatic transmission.

When the completed Elegante returned to the United States in April 1955, it quickly attracted attention. It was featured at the 1955 International Automobile Show in New York and received coverage in The New York Times. Kruse Auctions highlights that appearance as a key part of the car's provenance.

That history also explains an apparent contradiction surrounding the car.

Kruse Auctions identifies the automobile as a 1953 Cadillac Elegante, while Autopioneer markets its miniature as the 1955 Cadillac Series 62 Elegant Special by Motto. Both dates have a logical basis.

The actual Cadillac chassis is a 1953 Series 62, which is why the auction house and a number of historical sources identify the automobile by that model year. But this was no ordinary body swap completed in a few weeks. The project stretched over more than two years, with Motto completing the coachwork before the finished automobile emerged publicly in 1955.

In other words, 1953 describes what the car is; 1955 describes when the Elegante as the world came to know it was completed and displayed. For the full-size automobile, 1953 is the more appropriate identification, while the 1955 designation used for the model reflects the car's completion and show car era.

There is even some inconsistency in the historical record over the cost. Autopioneer cites approximately $22,000, while other accounts, including a history based partly on period reporting and recollections from the Birdsall family, put the final figure closer to $30,000. Either amount represented an extraordinary investment in the mid-1950s.

Plans reportedly called for additional examples to follow, but Birdsall's declining health brought the idea to an end. The prototype remained the sole Elegante.

After Birdsall's death in 1960, the Cadillac passed through several owners. Decades later, Birdsall's son Richard succeeded in bringing his father's creation back into the family in 1992 and undertook an extensive restoration. The revived Elegante eventually returned to the concours circuit, earning the People's Choice Award at the 2014 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.

Now it is returning to the spotlight in Auburn.

Kruse's Auburn Fall Auction runs September 3-5, 2026, amid the annual Labor Day festivities that have made Auburn one of the country's historic gathering places for significant automobiles. The Elegante is one of the featured cars in the sale, and the auction package even includes a custom enclosed Pegasus Race trailer, period photographs, and a scale model.

1953 Cadillac Elegante at the Auburn Auction

Fortunately, owning the full-size car is not the only way to put an Elegante in the garage — or at least on the display shelf.

Autopioneer of Germany offers the Cadillac through its Brausi model line as product No. 2105. The model is produced as a sealed resin miniature with photo-etched and printed detailing. Brausi models are manufactured for Autopioneer in China, and the Elegante was produced as part of a series concentrating on unusual coachbuilt and one-off automobiles and it's just 1 of 200. Unfortunately, for those in the US, they are not shipping directly from Germany, but there are examples available on a well-known auction site.

A 1953 Cadillac chassis, an American dream, a German designer, and an Italian coachbuilder came together to produce a car that finally emerged before the public in 1955.

Seven decades later, there is still only one.

And this Labor Day weekend in Auburn, for the first time, someone will have the opportunity to become its owner.