Madame X

[guidematic]

 Well I was partly right.....

The initial 2 prototype Cadillac V-8 Madame X's were built in the Pennsylvania plant and was designated as a Fleetwood Imperial-Landaulet. They were named after a character popularized by stage actress Ruth Chatterton, in a play of the same name. Harley Earl had just seen it and used the name for a prototype landaulet body he designed for the 1929-30 Salons and Auto Shows. Although a few historians consider the initial 2 Madame X Show cars as the only true Madam X's, there were a number of duplicates produced. Four V-16 Imperial Landaulets were built in Pennsylvania (V-windshields + split instrument panel), and a further ten in Detroit (flat, angled windshield + center-grouped instrument panel).

Since that time, any enclosed 4-door sedans, limousines and landaulets on 1930-31 V-16 chassis have become known as Madame X's, whether they had  the vertical V-windshield found on Pennsylvania-made bodies or the flat, slanting windshield found on Detroit-built cars. That explains the abundance of "true" Madame X cars that can be seen from time to time at various auctions and concours. V-16s built in Pennsylvania PA feature a body tag indicating its Job No. 41xx on the passenger side of the firewall while Michigan-built V-16s have a tag denoting it Style No. 41xx mounted on the driver's side of the firewall. An additional 24 Madame X models were also built in Detroit from 1932-33, with the prefix of either 51 or 55.

Mike

[EZ]

EZ's panties are all wet now.   

That car was so screwed up that I didn't even notice that it was a '66.