What is your favorite Cadillac print advertisement?

[Rusty Shepherd CLC6397]

Here's mine (for the 1938 Series 90 Sixteens):
                                              If you want more than Eight cylinders
                                                        ... Get Sixteen!
If you seek the utmost in automotive luxury--if you want, for instance, to go beyond eight cylinders, by all means go on up to a Sixteen.  No twelve-cylinder car can hope to compare with the Cadillac Sixteen in luxury--yet the Sixteen is actually priced in the twelve-cylinder range.  Powered with Cadillac's great new 135-degree V-16 engine--the new Cadillac Sixteens are endowed with the smoothest and most spirited performance known to motoring.  Exquisitely beautiful, and styled with impeccable taste--they surpass every tradition in comfort, convenience, and luxury.  So--if you want more than eight cylinders, why not get a Sixteen and have...the world's finest motor car?
                                                                   Cadillac
                                                                     V-16
                             POWERED WITH THE REVOLUTIONARY NEW 135-DEGREE V-16 ENGINE

[David Smith]

Favorite one?  There are so many.

  The penalty of leadership of course is the best.

   1970 had a good ad that read:  You can change your mind eleven times and still be right"  refering to the number of bodystyles available..

   or....The best of years to make it yours...

   But my favorite is still the one I use in my signature line.

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

The Motorama Book from 1955 is one of my favorites.  These were mailed out
from the Dealers to selected people on their customer list.  It highlighted all
of the upcoming show cars and new arrivals for the season.  Remember when the
dealers would cover their showroom windows with paper until the official
"debue date" of the new models in the fall of each year?  That's the amount
of excitement the new models generated.

That was an era that we will not see again any time soon. 

Mike

[35-709]

"Remember when the dealers would cover their showroom windows with paper until the official
"debue date" of the new models in the fall of each year?  That's the amount
of excitement the new models generated.

That was an era that we will not see again any time soon."

Mike

Yes, and more's the pity.

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

For absolute beauty, I have the V-12 introductory ad framed on my living room wall. The mauve, navy blue, and red colouring along with the crisp black print make this a standout.

[Rusty Shepherd CLC6397]

For absolute beauty, I have the V-12 introductory ad framed on my living room wall. The mauve, navy blue, and red colouring along with the crisp black print make this a standout.

Barry, I had a feeling I wasn't the only one who had framed Cadillac ads on the walls! Of the several I have, the most handsome one is "The FINEST means of travel in the World".  To the sides of the text are what look like silver etchings with a lady (on the left) and a gentleman (on the right with a waiter).  The only two colors in the etching are yellow and dark blue and the featured car is the "The Cadillac V-16 Five-Passenger Coupe'" (1932) which is yellow with dark blue fenders and window surrounds. My second favorite for beauty is "The Difference Is More Marked Than Ever" (between Cadillac and all the other cars on the market) for the 1936 "Royal Family of Motordom". It shows a couple in a pale yellow La Salle Convertible Coupe' on the dock in front of a large sailboat. They just don't make ads like those (and the one you mentioned) any more.

[Terry Wenger CLC #1800]

The absolute best ad in my opinion is "The Penalty of Leadership" which appeared in the Saturday Evening post on Jan.2 1915. It is an award winning ad and since it was copyrighted by Cadillac Motor Division , I am surprised it was not reused over the years.

My favorite ad with a picture is a 1932 ad like Rusty's, only mine shows a V-12 Town Sedan in the same tan and brown colors as my V-8 Town Sedan and art deco artwork in metallic silver like the other '32 ads. It is also from the Saturday Evening Post on Sept.10 1932 and I have it framed.

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

Terry, I think that Cadillac did re-use the Penalty of Leadership one other time. I also recall that the MacNamnus (sp.?) agency mentioned that they got at least one request per week for a copy of the work over the years since it first appeared. It takes a lot of guts for an advertiser to not illustrate or refer to themselves by name. A modern equivilent is Fruit of the Loom. The TV ad they used both last year and this carries only their logo on the roof of the house. P.S. I think Cadillac (GM)copyrights  (and renews) EVERYTHING!

[veesixteen]

Too many to choose from.  My personal favorite remains the Dec. '55 ad for the '56 Sedan de Ville:  Dad and Mom are standing beside the Christmas tree; he has handed her a small, gold-colored gift box; she is probably hoping it's a diamond solitaire or a pair of sapphire ear-rings.  But in the box are "only"...the keys to the new, burgundy-colored Cadillac "Sedan de Ville" that's sitting outside in the snow-covered driveway.  The text is concise and to the point:  "The Christmas they'll never forget !" 

I'll never forget that Christmas either.  It was then that I decided (aged 16) that my first car would be a Cadillac "Sedan de Ville".  I waited 11 years but that Christmas present to me, in 1966, is one I've never forgotten.
___________________________________________________________________________

Here's mine (for the 1938 Series 90 Sixteens):
                                              If you want more than Eight cylinders
                                                        ... Get Sixteen!
If you seek the utmost in automotive luxury--if you want, for instance, to go beyond eight cylinders, by all means go on up to a Sixteen.  No twelve-cylinder car can hope to compare with the Cadillac Sixteen in luxury--yet the Sixteen is actually priced in the twelve-cylinder range.  Powered with Cadillac's great new 135-degree V-16 engine--the new Cadillac Sixteens are endowed with the smoothest and most spirited performance known to motoring.  Exquisitely beautiful, and styled with impeccable taste--they surpass every tradition in comfort, convenience, and luxury.  So--if you want more than eight cylinders, why not get a Sixteen and have...the world's finest motor car?
                                                                   Cadillac
                                                                     V-16
                             POWERED WITH THE REVOLUTIONARY NEW 135-DEGREE V-16 ENGINE

[Rusty Shepherd CLC6397]

Too many to choose from.  My personal favorite remains the Dec. '55 ad for the '56 Sedan de Ville:  Dad and Mom are standing beside the Christmas tree; he has handed her a small, gold-colored gift box; she is probably hoping it's a diamond solitaire or a pair of sapphire ear-rings.  But in the box are "only"...the keys to the new, burgundy-colored Cadillac "Sedan de Ville" that's sitting outside in the snow-covered driveway.  The text is concise and to the point:  "The Christmas they'll never forget !" 

I'll never forget that Christmas either.  It was then that I decided (aged 16) that my first car would be a Cadillac "Sedan de Ville".  I waited 11 years but that Christmas present to me, in 1966, is one I've never forgotten.

RS:
I have a picture in my mind of that great ad as clear as if I were looking at it in National Geographic.
I remember that the couple were dressed as if they had just come in from a very formal affair. Now that's the kind of staying power any company wants for its advertising dollars.  The current TV ad for the Lexus "December to Remember" in which the husband calls the wife to say he's running late and can't pick up the son, after which she comes out of the houses very irritated only to find husband, son, and Lexus SUV with bow on top is a take-off on it, but just doesn't have the class of the original.

[Johnny F #662]