The Petersen Automotive Museum is one of the finest collections of automobiles in the world. They have a huge array of cars in their collection and they regularly post deep dives onto their YouTube channel about these cars, hosted by Leslie Kendall. This particular episode is very cool as it features a custom Cadillac Series 62. What makes this Cadillac so special was the fact that it was originally owned by Clark Gable.

Exploring This Unique Car

This particular Cadillac Series 62 was first built in 1941, and of course, Gable was a very prolific film star. The year 1941 was a great year for the company. It was the year the iconic grille we saw on Cadillacs for decades was first introduced. It was also when Cadillac really stepped into the modern world and the current world of styling with wider, longer, and more linear cars.

Cadillac did never make a three-window coupe like this except for Clark Gable. This car was then bought from Hillcrest Cadillac by Gable and was then sent to Don Lee Cadillac which had a customization arm. This was when the windshield was first raked, the chrome was then reduced, and more changes to make it a truly unique, three-window car.

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A Truly Fine Example Of A Cadillac

Petersen Clark Gable Cadillac Rear Quarter View
via Petersen Automotive Museum YouTube Channel

The year 1941 was also a special year for Cadillac in an engineering sense. As Kendall explains, it was the first year that Cadillac got its automatic transmission. But Gable had to settle for a manual transmission as it was actually made so early in this car’s production run.

With a fantastic high-compression flathead V8 engine under the hood, that wasn’t exactly a bad thing. You wouldn’t want to throw this car into a corner but it made for a great luxury car.

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Making Its Way To The Museum

Petersen Clark Gable Cadillac Front Quarter View
via Petersen Automotive Museum YouTube Channel

Allegedly, Gable gave this car to his wife, Carole Lombard. However, after she died in a plane crash, the car was then sold to Roy Del Ruth. It then made its way onto the second-hand car market before Mr. Petersen himself acquired the car some 20 years ago.

The car was still in great condition but it went through a minor refurbishment including the return of its wheel hub caps and whitewall tires. The goal was to return it to as it was when Clark Gable owned the car. With that in mind, it is fantastic that this car made it into the caring hands of the Petersen Museum.

Source: Petersen Automotive Museum YouTube Channel