Golden 1953 Cadillac Elegante sold in the US for a record $1.275 million — Motor1
A unique 1953 Cadillac Elegante was sold for $1.275 million at a Kruse Auctions sale in Auburn, Indiana, United States. This is the highest price ever paid for a Cadillac automobile at a public auction, Motor1 reports.
The Elegante is the only example of a grand tourer built on the Cadillac Series 62 chassis. The car remained out of public view for approximately 73 years and had not previously been offered publicly. Its odometer shows 4,331 miles; the lot also had a documented restoration history and clean ownership-transfer records.
Previous Cadillac record
The previous Cadillac auction record stood at $940,000. It was set in 2023 by a 1934 Cadillac V16 Fleetwood Aerodynamic Coupe. The Elegante sale result exceeded that amount by more than $300,000.
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The car's aluminum body was hand-formed at the Italian Carrozzeria Motto coachbuilding studio. The work took 30 months and cost approximately $30,000 in 1950s prices. A planned series of ten cars was never produced.
Gold trim and V8
The Elegante was designed by Albrecht von Goertz, for whom the project was one of his early works. He later worked on the BMW 507. The car has a pearl-white body with a gold roof, while the door handles, windshield frame and special bronze components are covered in 24-karat gold.
The interior is trimmed in dark burgundy Italian leather. The car also received a Lucite steering wheel with an illuminated Saint Christopher medallion. The Elegante is equipped with a 5.4-liter overhead-valve V8 producing about 210 hp and an electrohydraulic retractable hardtop mechanism. The car debuted at the 1955 New York International Auto Show and underwent a 16-year restoration after being damaged by Hurricane Andrew, completed in 2014.
