1932 Cadillac V-12 Limousine Model 370-B 🇺🇸

When we meet a 1932 car with just 13,000 miles on the clock we are truly faced with an almost unique model. If we then consider that it is a 12 cylinder Limousine we are looking at a museum exhibit. This is the case of this Cadillac V-12 Fleetwood Limousine Model 370-B that was discovered at Bernard Berman, and bought from a collector in Allentown who had kept it for about ten years.

When it joined the Nicola Bulgari Collection, in November 2014, this Cadillac had no need of restoration as it was perfectly preserved. The Limousine mounted on a Fleetwood chassis boasts the following accessories: divider windows, luggage rack, sidemount spares, jump seats and yellow tinted windows.

Nowadays it is extremely difficult to find a Cadillac of this type which has not undergone some sort of restoration over the years. This car is unchanged from when it came out of the factory, just as its elegance remains unchanged with the passage of time.

Company
General Motors

Wheelbase
140in

Interior trim
Beige cloth

Brakes
front and rear drums

Make
Cadillac

Length
218in

Engine
V12 - 368cid

Tires
7.50x17

Model
V-12 Fleetwood Limousine - Model 370-B

Width
76.5in

Carburetor
1 carb. Detroit Lubricator 2-barrel

Original Price
$4,445

Body style
4-door Limo 7-passenger

Weight
5489lbs

Horsepower
135hp @ 3400rpm

Production
1,709

Model year
1932

Exterior paint
Black

Transmission
Synchromesh manual 3-speed

The Cadillac V-12 was essentially a 'sixteen' with four fewer cylinders. The engine offered 136 brake horsepower and 28 pound-feet of torque installed in what was essentially a Cadillac V-8 platform. Built from 1931 through 1937, they were available with many of the same luxurious, hand-built Fisher and Fleetwood body styles as the V-16.

In 1927, the Art and Color department was formed at General Motors with Harley Earl as its leader. For the next fifteen-years, the styling and engineering leadership would keep the Cadillac marque at the top of the fine-car market. Cadillac shocked the world in 1930 with the introduction of its sixteen-cylinder model and sent its competitors scrambling to keep to pace. The hits kept on coming; in 1931 Cadillac introduced a V12 model that retained many of the luxury amenities found in the sixteen-cylinder version, but had a lower price tag.

Under the direction of GM's new styling chief, Harley Earl, the new 1932 Cadillacs were longer and lower and incorporated several stylistic and technical changes and improvements. This would also be the final year for the classic Cadillac styling spear-headed by its tombstone radiators and clamshell fenders. The bodies featured curved running boards which blended in with the front and rear fenders. There was a vacuum-operated automatic clutch and two-way hydraulic shock absorbers which were controlled from the driver's seat. The Synchromesh transmission used silent helical gears in all three forward speeds and there were mechanical fuel pumps. After nearly twenty years of Cadillac utilizing a Cadillac-Johnson carburetor, the new Detroit Lubricator dual carburetor was featured.

Visually, the eight and twelve-cylinder cars were nearly identical with the most distinguishable feature being the radiator badge or hubcap inserts which gave clues to which model was the 12.

With nearly identical overall styling and appearance to the V-8 except for the emblems, the Cadillac 370B was introduced in 1932. Nearly all the features were very similar to the 370-A. With an engine that was basically identical, the fuel feed changed to mechanical from vacuum tank. A new Cuno disc type self-cleaning oil filter was also mounted at the right hand side of the clutch housing and was connected to a starter pedal that rotated the disc each time the pedal was pressed. Much of the mechanical features were only slightly differentiated. The increase of power and weight are examples of the improved gear ratios, tire sizes, battery/generator capacity and vacuum assist on brakes. The dual exhaust system now had tuning chambers in mufflers instead of attachments to the tail pipes. Now the dual ignition coils could be found mounted in the top tank of the radiator.