These days a Cadillac from the 1950s will go for quite the pretty penny, especially in mint condition. They're known for being big and flashy symbols of classic Americana, but that wasn't always the case.
With all that gleaming chrome, those wraparound windshields, and those big fins its hard to believe there was once a time that these "used" Cadillacs needed advertising to find buyers. But advertising there was, and it's oddly familiar to anyone who's seen the used car ads of today.
In addition, there's its great practicality. Many one-owner, low-mileage used Cadillacs are priced considerably less than many medium- or low-priced new cars that are not their equal in prestige, fleetwood luxury, and safety features.
Granted, that list of "safety features" is limited mostly to glass that won't try to stab and kill you from every single conceivable angle in the event of a crash, but hey, that was a pretty neat idea at the time. Steering columns that didn't impale you were also certain to be right around the corner.
The announcer goes on to tout how economical the Cadillac is, what with its V8 only using up only eight gallons per mile. At the time I'm sure that was impressive, but tastes were changing and these cars had to have something going for them that wasn't chrome.
In this day and age Cadillacs of that era are going for a little more than what they were selling for back then, but with more than 50 years of wear and tear on them, I'd suggest buying one now. You know, rather than "soon."
Does anyone else find that announcer's complete lack of urgency off-putting compared to modern day commercials? Or is that just me? That whole "soon" thing. Weird.