Land yacht joined by 10 other Caddy concepts
The Cadillac Sixteen will be one of the headliners at the 18th annual Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance in March. It will lead the event's Cadillac Concept Class, which includes 10 others developed from 1949 to 2002.
The Sixteen was produced for the Detroit auto show as a concept in 2003.
“We wanted a super luxury flagship,” said Wayne Cherry, the retired vice president of GM Design who led the Sixteen design project. “The Sixteen had to have a presence. We wanted it to be the ultimate expression of Cadillac; to reinstate Cadillac as a world leader in design and technology as a reminder of the heritage of Cadillac.”
The Sixteen was a combination of the company's current “Art and Science” design theme and a 1967 Eldorado. Other design elements were created through an in-house design competition led by Bob Lutz. The concept houses a V16 engine under its enormous hood. The 13.6-liter unit has about 5,000 pounds to move around. Luckily, it pumps out a minimum of 1,000 hp and a similar amount of torque.
The trick piece on this car was GM's Active Fuel Management (formerly known as Displacement on Demand). The system, which was in its second generation at the time, deactivates 4, 8 or 12 cylinders to save fuel when cruising. When you dip your foot in the throttle, all cylinders come back to life.
The 19-foot land yacht used four-wheel steering, which helps ease maneuvers through parking lots.
The rest of the Cadillac Concept class is as follows:
--1949 Coupe de Ville
--1952 Convertible coupe
--1953 Le Mans Concept
--1953 Le Mans
--1953 Supercharged Eldorado
--1956 Eldorado Brougham Motorama Town Car
--1958 Eldorado Biarritz
--1959 Cyclone
--1961 Eldorado
--2002 Cien
Go to ameliaconcours.org for more information on the show.
