This 1934 Cadillac V16 Has An Incredible Connection To Rolls-Royce

That's because this specific car briefly belonged to W.O. himself. It was given to him, just after Rolls purchased his company, to learn what a luxury car should be. And now it's up for auction.

Rolls-Royce Bought This For Bentley To Learn Luxury Cars

Bentley's racing history was a short but vibrant one. From 1923 through 1930, W.O. Bentley's cars won five times. But Bentley stopped racing there after the final win. He was also on the edge of losing the business after the 1929 crash and the Great Depression.  

Rolls-Royce ended up owning the name, and it kept W.O. as an engineer. At the time, Rolls-Royce built one model, the Phantom II. It was powered by a 7.7-liter inline-six that probably didn't make much more than 50 horsepower. Obviously, that was not enough, and with expert engine designer W.O. on the payroll, as the story goes, Rolls wanted him to help it make more.

Keeping the story going, this car allegedly has paperwork showing it was purchased new and shipped directly to Rolls-Royce in England. According to the auction description, it was given to W.O. Bentley. Bentley then spent 10,000 miles driving it around Europe. The story says it was to study the car, but Bentley was unhappy with his court-ordered job at Rolls and probably just wanted to fool around for the summer.

It's not surprising that Rolls-Royce picked the Cadillac Sixteen for him to learn from. The car was the very first production car to ever use a V16 engine. To this day, it remains essentially the only one. At least until customer deliveries of the Bugatti Tourbillon begin.

The entire car was a tour-de-force. Every one was custom-outfitted for its buyer, with engine lines and hardware hidden and a level of luxury unheard of at the time. Cadillac is still a luxury brand today, but 90 years ago, it was the luxury brand for the entire world.

Was Cadillac's V16 Reverse-Engineered To Make The Only Rolls-Built V12?

Cadillac's 7.4L V16 was incredibly smooth. It was also surprisingly powerful for the time, with an initial rating of 165 horsepower, and more through the years. It's this engine that Bentley is said to have gleaned the most from, though it's not clear what made it from the Cadillac V16 into the 7.4-liter V12 of the Rolls-Royce Phantom III, the company's first new car and engine after buying Bentley.

Even without that story, this is an impressive car. Records show that it was later part of the US Embassy's fleet in London, before returning Stateside after the war. It ended up in a collection in Oklahoma. It has since been fully restored, with the restoration only just finished. Since its nine-year restoration, the car has never been shown at a concours or similar.

Of course, the finished car is now up for sale, looking stunning in a deep blue with tan interior. The asking price is a steep one, $1.25 million. But where else will you find a car with a V16 engine, a manual transmission, and such an interesting backstory?