Sleeping beauty: this Cadillac Series 62 is out of hibernation

Could this right-hand drive 1950 Cadillac Series 62 convertible been Australian delivered? And who is Analdo anyway? And why was it hidden away in a deep sleep for 48 years? This barn find Caddy seems to have more questions than answers, and you may be able to help unravel the mystery.

Jigsaw puzzles are put together one piece at a time, sometimes we get lucky and all the pieces fall into our lap. Other times, it’s not until the final piece is put into place that we can see the whole picture. That's the case with this Caddy convertible which was first photographed in Ballarat, Victoria back in 1952.

The Cadillac Series 62 was an entry level luxury car for its time, fitted out with an opulent interior and powered by the 331cid OHV V8 and four-speed Hydra-Matic transmission burdened with moving around two tonnes of iron ore and chrome. The 1950 model saw a lower sleeker Harvey Earl design, available as a convertible with a one piece windshield. For the first time in Cadillac history, more than 100,000 units were sold the same year. Whoever ordered this particular car and had it delivered to Australia must of had a bit of coin back in the day, given it cost USD$3,654 new, plus shipping!

Who could have guessed that 67 years later, this Caddy would be found in a shed that was once a chicken coop in the riverside city of Mildura, Victoria, where it had been sleeping for some 30 years! Previous to this, it was parked up in nearby Robinvale for 18 years, owned by a chap named Doug who came across the Caddy ragtop in a wrecking yard near Benalla. The plan had been to collect all the necessary parts in order to restore the Caddy, but life got in the way so it was offered to Wayne Baker who lived in the Mildura region. Originally, the Caddy was blue with a black soft top, as per the identification tag but somewhere along the way it ended up with a colour change.

Twist of Fate

Now living in Ballarat, Wayne organised Craig Dawson from Hop Tow-It to tow the Caddy back home safely. "I couldn’t wait to wash the many years of dust off it to see what condition it was in," tells Wayne, "I'm pretty happy with how it all looks."

In a new twist, Wayne was introduced to Gilbert Coad also of Ballarat, who said that not only did he remember the car, but actually took some black and white photos of it in the main street of Ballarat around 1952! "It was blue with a black top, and a spotlight on the left of the windscreen," remembers Gilbert. All this lines up with the Caddy found in the shed which has red paint over the original blue paintwork, and cream paint over the red, indicating a few colour changes over its lifetime. Gilbert goes on to say, "The number plate was WM-717 and had two 'Analdo' stickers/placards on the windscreen."

Wayne has since found out that Analdo was a famous hypnotist who travelled the country side putting punters who came to see his shows, under his spell. It’s still a mystery whether Analdo purchased the Cadillac new, but a clue could be in the number plates with the initials WM…Maybe it belonged to someone with these initials who was born in July 1917 who was 33 years old at the time in 1950. Perhaps we’re clutching at straws here, but we’re hoping you may be able to help unravel this mystery of the Caddy that was put into a deep sleep.

Source: Survivor Car Australia

Do you have a piece to add to the puzzle? Let us know in the comments.