With their jet fighter styling, glitzy chrome trim, colour-matched interiors and jukebox instrumentation, Cadillacs of the late ’50s/early ’60s epitomise an era when nothing succeeded like excess.

Their over-the-top tail fins remain controversial even today.

Founded by Henry Leland and Robert Faulconer, the Cadillac Automobile Company of Detroit, Michigan completed its first car in October 1902, the firm’s superior precision manufacturing technology soon establishing it as the foremost builder of quality cars in the USA.

Cadillac was among the pioneers of the V8 engine, and introduced the first synchromesh gearbox on its 1929 range.

Always innovators in automobile technology, the company continues to produce cars recognised everywhere as symbols of wealth and prestige.

From model year 1957 onwards Cadillacs incorporated new X-braced tubular chassis frames that increased structural rigidity while making possible lower body lines without loss of interior space; although hardly any l...