The Cadillac Series 61 is a 2-door club coupe / 2-door convertible / 4-door sedan / 4-door convertible from Cadillac, built from 1939 to 1951, when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together. Under the bonnet: 346 cuin L-head V8. Harley Earl drew it. The total made was 82,501.
Where it came from
The Cadillac Series 61 was Cadillac's mainstream product model range. It was priced and equipped more modestly below the limousine, GM D platform Cadillac Series 85, Cadillac Series 90, Cadillac Series 72, Cadillac Series 67, and Cadillac Fleetwood Series 75. It was upgraded to the Series 62 in 1940 only to return to production in model year 1941, replacing the cancelled LaSalle Series 50.
While production was suspended from model years 1943–1945 due to World War II, it remained as the junior level product line until 1951. The size, equipment list and quality level were the most popular with buyers who wanted a prestigious luxury car that was usually driven by the owner, while the longer cars were chauffeur driven. It combined the most popular features of the previous Series 60 and Series 65 and was priced at the same level as Buick products of the time.
Under the skin
Power comes from 346 cuin L-head V8. It shifts through a 3-speed manual w/Hill-holder / 4-speed Hydra-Matic (1941). The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 126 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Cadillac Series 60 / Cadillac Series 65; its successor was the Cadillac Series 62; assembly was at Detroit, Michigan, U.S.. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Lincoln Continental, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Pontiac Torpedo — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Cadillac catalogue sit the Cadillac 353 and the Cadillac ATS.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Cadillac Series 61 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.