1931 Cadi V16 engine and history details

Mark gives a bunch of the best 1931 Cadillac V16 engine information, including history of the company, car, and engine itself.
This is part of a series on this wonderful rolling piece of art. Check out our other videos to see more.

[@reddrryder]

When I was a teenager, in Norwell, Mass, in the 60's, I rode in a 1931 Cadillac V-16 drop top same color as this one. I was told it once belonged to a GM exec. The engine was absolutely incredibly smooth and quiet. Yes, we all would like to have heard the engine instead of the canned music.

[@Seregium]

Omg, when I was a teenager I could buy a bicycle or rusty fiat...

[@mememanfresh]

how old are you

[@WeeShoeyDugless]

My thoughts exactly, would have preferred to hear the damn thing!!

[@stevejanka361]

Honest to goodness isn't that indescribable beauty. It never ceases to amaze me the engineering that was employed at this time. You did a beautiful job on the restoration of this Cadillac. Thanks for a great video and take care.

[@thomasjonesjr6282]

Rolling Art!!

[@stephenadams7211]

after 6 minutes telling us how sophisticated and quiet this engine is you could have let the listeners hear the engine

[@althepal6818]

So quiet, it can’t be recorde...

[@jamesmcinnis208]

Instead we have to listen to that fcuking music.

[@seektruth8662]

Thanks for the informative video. I think anyone watching this would love to have seen more of the interior and the car running and being driven, hearing the engine start and run.

[@nitro105]

Great video but after all that talk i wanted to hear it run.

[@claytoresto]

Your right. We have the film, we'll put it out ASAP.

[@jpdj2715]

I thought the message was, it is dead silent ...

[@Ganliard]

A Road Less Traveled with Restore Cars Is it not uploaded yet?

[@rogersmith9808]

@@claytoresto AND?!? Ten months not enough time? 😉

[@bimmjim]

@@claytoresto Put no *NO* music on it. The music on this video is extremely annoying.

[@craigpennington1251]

What a beautiful piece of working art. Glamour and elegance.

[@dannydean9204]

These are such masterful works of fine machinery! I own a 1932 Series 452 v-16 4 door! Best vehicle I have ever owned! I had found it abandoned in a car collectors collection, it was actually in very god condition, just a lot of years of sitting had come about it, but I had spent over 7 years restoring it and finally I sent it off to a shop to get it a new fresh coat of black paint and the piston heads resurfaced. Of course, I drive it once every week to keep it in pristine condition.

[@MrSvetozar11]

Beautifully made machine! Excellent restoration!

[@RADIUMGLASS]

Common Sense should tell you that we want to hear the engine running.

[@kevinsbott]

Awesome video and the restoration of the car is off the charts... Blows my mind how advanced technology already was in the late 1920's!

[@JackRodriguez]

I would love to hear some high def sounds of this engine!

[@TheProgrammerGuy]

Do all the talking about how smooth and quiet it is and then NOT SHOW IT ON THE VIDEO.

[@claytoresto]

Your right. Sometimes when we are editing, we cannot see the forest for the trees. A clip of it running was in the video, but no sound. Clearly, there is room for improvement on our part.

[@benderbendingrofriguez3300]

@@claytoresto remove the music, then will be able to hear the engine.

[@Oldbmwr100rs]

Had the pleasure of doing a lot of work on a '31 V12 cadillac roadster, was interesting learning how things were done back then. As it was I got it running great considering how fussy the carbs were though. "Daisy" was the car's name, and the owner was so happy with her, after I got through she was good for 70 MPH under good control. I think a lot of the carb trouble came from being nearly 5000 feet above sea level with a low compression engine. Was a privilege to work on and amazing to finally get to drive it. The V 16 could only be nicer!

[@johnm4541]

One note. The Pierce Arrow was built in Buffalo, NY and had a long magnet as the oil drain plug.

[@moparmadman1134]

What a beautiful work of art!

[@bluesharp59]

Great Car ! Cool video and a Thumbs Up liked.

[@zereprd3911]

What a beautiful automobile.

[@mikelovetere4719]

Fantastic restoration...

[@gerritvictor1110]

BEAUTIFUL ! BEAUTIFUL ! BEAUTIFUL !

[@johnmccarthy2268]

All of your videos are so well done, thank you for brightening up my day!

[@clydecessna737]

Don'y stop making these videoes. Terrific.

[@TheDecguy]

This series V-16s are works of art. It happens very rarely that industrial design takes on the iconic form of artwork. Look under the hood of automobiles today and you won’t see it anymore. Yes you will find engines which are much more powerful, more efficient but not many that could be displayed alongside great works of art.

[@claytoresto]

I agree. This was a beautiful car to own and restore.

[@Mr91495osh]

At one time Cadillac, Lincoln and Packard owned the luxury car market. It started to change in the late sixties.

[@JG-oj1xt]

Excellent video. Love the car. My dad had one back in the forties. Told me it was not a powerful car. Two engines sharing one crankshaft? No.

[@marksherrill9337]

Car is drop dead gorgeous.

[@floridaarmyvet3613]

A work of ART,.. Thank you.. Happy Thanksgiving

[@johnteill_]

It sure would have been nice to see the interior....imo thats the best part of classic cars....

[@derrickrees8895]

Certainly one of the most beautifully finished motors ever . I recall one going by me at a show once , doing around 20 mph , the motor so smooth , unlike anything else , a rapid , quiet , even pulse . The car had once belonged to the Governor of Mauritius I believe.

[@johndunbar7504]

Thank you so much for this. You are an incredibly knowledgeable narrator.

[@claytoresto]

Thank you kindly!

[@monteceitomoocher]

Great car, boy you must have had to be somebody to buy and run that back in the day.

[@dubsydubs5234]

Why on earth didn't you include it starting and running, it's not often I'm really disappointed with a car video but you manage to achieve that spectacularly.

[@claytoresto]

It's in another video on the channel.

[@paulvarrieur976]

Wish you had posted audio of the engine running.

[@claytoresto]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll do a video on us driving it. You'll get the sound of the engine.

[@earllutz2663]

Again,; another outstanding video!

[@philippebischoff197]

Lots of talk and what about the most important? The engine. Can we hear her?

[@Samuelfish2k]

Philippe Bischoff Her? FOH.

[@rupertbear6883]

wonderful... thank you.

[@emdb1981]

Truly enjoy your videos and work, Well done. I Agree kinda let down we didn’t get to hear the running clip, sure it’s in the works.

[@ВиталийАдаричев-н8т]

Серьезная машинка. молодцы

[@christophermay4998]

I love the big car's....nice that you shared some of the differences between them....very informative.....keep up the good work....👍

[@jeffwolf8018]

What a gorgeous car in pristine shape. Congratulations on owning this one. I would be paranoid to drive a raid afraid of rocks jumping up and chipping the paint, afraid of idiots in a parking lot hitting it with their car or carts.

[@GeneralLee1961.3]

I love ❤️ V16s

[@johnster1964]

Well informed commentary, thank-you. Can we hear it running at 375 rpm?

[@bobcomment8589]

Beautiful car

[@robertcushman7002]

fabulous video, sooo quite, I couldn't even hear the the V16! cheers 🍸🍸🍸🏳️‍🌈

[@naguerea]

Outstanding!

[@claytoresto]

Thank you kindly!

[@myronhorvathsk]

Beautiful car, good video. But it's not 2 engines sharing the same crank it's just a V formation engine. But seems most all of us want to hear it run!

[@claytoresto]

I must disagree. But that would be a great debate for a future video.

[@1325cmith]

when you turn the v12 over does it play background music?

[@rogeralsop3479]

Most interesting.

[@adamfrbs9259]

That is a beautiful car. Nice work.

[@TooManyHobbiesJeremy]

Great subject & detail. Thanks

[@richardthomas1566]

This guy is top notch As far as restorers and mechanics go, now his acting

[@Jayhawkga]

Beautiful car. More videos please.

[@catfishjenkem2226]

Damn what a machine !!!

[@larrygall5831]

Dec '29? And it exceeded sales expectations? I guess not everyone lost their shirts. Beautiful car. The narrow bore and longer stroke makes it a torque motor, explaining why you can take off in 3rd.

[@hughaxton]

given two engines of equal displacement but different stroke, longer stroke does not mean more torque. Sure the lever arm effect is longer, but the short stroke engine will have a bigger bore [to maintain displacement parity]. The larger pistons have more surface area at the top- more square inches. Pressure in the cylinder is expressed in PSI, whatever the actual number is. That PSI figure must be multiplied by the piston surface area, to determine the force being exerted on the connecting rod. More down force on the con rod plus less leverage due to shorter stroke- it's even steven- the two equal displacement engines would have the same torque. The short stroke engine would have to have stronger connecting rods.

[@nielskjr5432]

Impressive!

[@triplanelover]

honestly, you are showing us this magnificent machine, rare to ever find, gave us great description and detail of it, then did not allow us the privilege to hear it ? My God man, we are sitting at our screens holding our very breath waiting for the sound......:(

[@claytoresto]

We run the engine and drive the car in another video. Actually 2 other video's.

[@MFKR696]

If it were my car (which it will never be lol), I would intend on running it at least every now and again, so I'd likely remove the stock intake horn and fab up a proper filtered intake just for running it around. That way, if I decide to put the car on display or sell it, I could just put the old kit back on.

[@CORVAIRWILD]

What did it look like before the resto? And the 🎶 music 🎶 ... its like cigarettes used to be... EVERYWHERE!

[@jasondaniel918]

Back in the days when Cadillac was a quality car company, and "they knew their customers."

[@leatherwiz]

Beautiful car, great video but why do you play music at the end when the V16 is running? We want to hear the sound of the motor.

[@enriquerodriguezmoreno4017]

Hermoso Auto 😍 lo venden 😍 ahun esta disponible ☺️? Saludos desde México 😃🤗.

[@deankraemer5266]

Cadillac got the main concepts for this engine from Marmon when they hired Marmon's engine designer. When Marmon launched their Marmon 16 in '32 it bested Cadillac with 200hp.

[@mikesonneson2824]

Enjoyed

[@joshy0369]

Very cool 😎

[@vermontjeff2535]

Right on brother .

[@blackbirdpie217]

I would have liked to hear it. I rebuilt a 1925 Cadillac with a V63 V8 engine and that thing had 16 inch connecting rods and a seven disc dry clutch, stacked the way a more modern automatic transmission clutch pack is but dry, and much larger.. I haven't seen another like it. This video shows this car with a single disc clutch and I found that interesting.

[@joewilliamson2352]

i always thought,, ford first came out with the v 8 engine in 1032??

[@joewilliamson2352]

1932

[@stephenandloriyoung5716]

Chevrolet's Model D, in 1918, used an OHV V8.

[@Vector_Ze]

Bummer. Discuss the engine for over 6-minutes and we never get to hear it run.

[@PanJarekKozera]

A movie about a 16-cylinder engine but without the sound of this engine. It's an interesting idea.

[@sgvpotter]

you guys failed to realize that the "music" you heard was the actual motor... 'sheesh'... some people...

[@nialbradburn3851]

beautiful machine!!!!

[@XPFTP]

would of been nice to hear it run and drive.

[@hyzercreek]

At 1:13 he says it's not massive, 3 inch bore 4 inch stroke: 1.5 x 1.5 x pi x 4 x 16 is 452 cubic inches. That's MASSIVE.

[@thecurtray]

seems like many do not understand the cost involved firing that engine. what a auto and such excess for one to move around in. i love America

Beautiful Car 👍

[@P7777-u7r]

You could probably power a bus or truck of the day with that

[@sejembalm]

$5750 in 1931 is $95,331.22 in 2018, adjusted for inflation. Not bad for such a top model limousine, but in the early '30s you could buy a house (a cheap, one-room shotgun shack, but still a house) for $500. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, prices in 2018 are 1,557.93% higher than prices in 1931. The dollar experienced an average inflation rate of 2.95% per year during this period. In other words, $5,750 in 1931 is equivalent in purchasing power to $95,331.22 in 2018, a difference of $89,581.22 over 87 years. The 1931 inflation rate was -8.98%. The current inflation rate (2017 to 2018) is now 2.95%

[@hughaxton]

$244K in 2018 dollars, using 4.4% as average inflation over the 87 years

[@hughaxton]

BLS is paid to lie about actual inflation. Housing was replaced by "owner equivalent rent" around 1982 The CPI is a weighted index and back in the day took up 47% of the CPI. Cost of living allowances would have skyrocketed had the full truth been told. . .Making inflation seem lower allows benefits like social security to be reduced without anyone being the wiser. Notice how inflation is seldom mentioned in (((MSM))). . .Anything going up a lot in % terms is lied about , not counted at all, and so on.

[@erdingtown]

wow, what a car

[@vintagecarnews5899]

nice video

[@johnford5568]

Please say you hid an air filter in that horn thing...

[@mizzow1740]

Excellent video, spoiled by music when the purr of the v16 should have shone through.

[@tihzho]

Mark gives a bunch of the best 1931 Cadillac V16 engine information, including history of the company, car, and engine itself except for how it sounds. :/

[@Jasona1976]

Let us hear the engine run!!

[@이택건-b9v]

대단하다 어떻게 30년대에 v16엔진을 만들어서 생산한건지.. 와~

[@jasondaniel918]

A V-16 that produced (an advertised) 175 hp. I have a flat-4 in a Honda that produces 200 hp. What a difference time makes. - By the way, I wanted to hear that V-16 start and run.

[@danielharman91]

The car still runs but the people have gone!

[@alpalchevskiy3886]

I don't know I would call DOHC i8 more "refined" than a push-rod V16

[@RivieraByBuick]

indeed

[@richardfeibel3154]

I WAS AT A CLASSIC CAR SHOW AT THE OAKBROOK IL OAKBROOK MALL AND THERE WAS A 1932 CHRYSLER IMPERIAL CL SEDAN WITH THE STRAIGHT 8 384 CU IN ENGINE AND 125HP AT IDLE OF 200 RPM AND IT WAS COMPLETELY SILENT AND SMOOTH! AS YOU COULD BALANCE A DIME ON ITS COWL, AS THE OWNER DEMONSTRATED.ORIGINAL COST WAS $2995.00.

[@rollsroyce6920]

Where is sound of this engine ?

[@SpockvsMcCoy]

Something like two-thirds of all V-16 Cadillacs were sold in the first model year of 1930. As the performance and smoothness of 8-cylinder luxury cars improved during the 1930s, wealthy customers didn't see the practical benefit of more cylinders thus sales of V-12s and V16s from all manufacturers dropped.

[@Novusod]

Given the choice between this and the Duesenberg I would take the Duesenberg. Movie Stars drove Duesenbergs. Stuffy old bankers and old money tycoons drove Cadillacs. More precisely they were chauffeured around in their Cadillacs while riding in the back seat.

[@hughaxton]

the bankers could be back seat drivers, the same way they boss around the rest of the world

[@АлександрВасильков-з4о]

Cadillac this is not simple car , this SYMBOL of EPOCH ......Thank you , Аmerica !!!!! ( Alexandr , Russia ,,,)

[@lpahancocmad2112]

(Now this is the true luxury car boss ride)

[@michaelmeliambro5117]

Nearly 90 years later, no modern car has anywhere NEAR this much class. BAR NONE.

[@rpreto72]

it would be nice to listen to the engine... just a thought.

[@pdemont8854]

Sweet...

[@phil955i]

Crazy that there was no form of air intake filtration but what a wonderful piece of engineering nonetheless

[@theguvnor7467]

It would have been nice to have heard the engine instead of the music at the end

[@TheRazvy1990]

These cars must stay parked all the time.....true masterpiece of engeneering.....

[@jam63112]

Al Capone loved it

[@bluegtturbo]

I really wanted to hear that engine

[@kiabrown7013]

It's beautiful sad it's not popular now a days the last v16 is for million air people in City life