Start with what the Cadillac Series 62 is: a 2-door coupe / 4-door sedan / 2-door convertible / 4-door convertible with 346 cuin Monobloc V8, built from 1940 to 1964, in a decade split by war, when civilian production stopped and restarted. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Harley Earl.
The story
The Cadillac Series 40-62 is a series of cars which was produced by Cadillac from 1940 through 1964. Originally designed to complement the entry-level Series 61, it became the Cadillac Series 6200 in 1959, and remained that until it was renamed to Cadillac Calais for the 1965 model year.
The Series 62 was also marketed as the Sixty-Two and the Series Sixty-Two. The Series 62 was used to introduce the Cadillac Coupe de Ville and the Cadillac Eldorado, which started out as special appearance packages that were later placed into production.
What is underneath
The engine is 346 cuin Monobloc V8. On the scales it comes to 4100 -. Drive goes through a 3-speed selective synchromesh manual / 4-speed Hydra-Matic automatic. 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 1940: 129.0 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Cadillac line-up the Cadillac Series 62 has a clear place: it replaced the Cadillac Series 61 / Cadillac Series 65; it handed the line to the Cadillac Calais / Cadillac de Ville; the factory was Detroit Assembly, Detroit, Michigan, United States. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Nissan Patrol, the Dodge Challenger, the Mini Mini. Nearby in the Cadillac catalogue sit the Cadillac 353 and the Cadillac ATS.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Cadillac Series 62 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.