Road Legends 92309; 1949 Cadillac Coupe de Ville

The 24 Hours of LeMans holds the reputation as one of the world's most prestigious road races. It is also an extreme endurance run that tests the mettle of both men and machines. In 1950, Cadillac, the GM division recognized as The Standard of the World for luxury motoring, sent two of its 1950 cars to France for competition.

The team was lead by well-known race car builder and driver, Briggs Cunningham. Two Cadillac's were prepped for the race.

One remained basically stock receiving simple modifications such as the addition of a two carburetor intake system, welded-on air ducts for the drum brakes, an extra 35-gallon gas tank in the trunk and simple race equipment such as hood straps and safety restraints. The other car was stripped to its bare chassis and rebodied by Bill Frick of Fordillac fame at his Long Island, NY shop. He received assistance from aerodynamicists and metal workers from Grumman Aircraft in developing a streamlined roadster envelope. When unveiled at LeMans, this striking body was nicknamed, 'LeMonstre' by the French motoring press. Surprisingly, the stock Series 61, driven by brothers Sam and Miles Collier finished in 10th place.

LeMonstre, manned by Cunningham and Phil Walters was one spot back in 11th. The order would likely have been reversed had Cunningham not placed his car in a sand pit and lost 30 minutes digging it out by hand. Ironically, Cunningham had decided against the recommendation to carry shovels in the cars and had to borrow one from a spectator. This was the first time since the 1920s an American production vehicle had raced at LeMans and the Cadillac had beaten 'proven' race cars from manufacturers such as Jaguar, Bentley, Talbot Lago, Panhard, Ferrari and Delage.

This diecast model in 1:18 Scale model is by Road legends, it was sourced from a private collection in March 2017