There are plenty of open-bed Cadillacs out there, mostly designed as funeral procession flower cars. Today's custom Caddy on the other hand, is a full-on pick-em-up truck. It's also claimed to be a barn find, but is its price too hay lofty?

Let's get one thing out of the way, while the ad claims this to be a 1945, that is assuredly not the case, as there were no 1945 Cadillacs. The marque halted civilian production in February 1942, turning over its production lines to the war effort. It wasn't until V-J Day (stop laughing, that's not what it means) on August 14th 1945 that the company could set its sights back on building the Cadillac of cars, and with the months it took to reconfigure the lines, the first new Caddys coming off of them were ‘46s.

Based on the grille, bumper, and round running lights, this one looks to be '49, however I am far from an expert on these golden oldies. If a '49 it is, then it holds the distinction of having been awarded Motor Trend's first ever Car of the Year award - for what that's worth.

The rest of the ad notes that the bed was donated by a 1954 Chevy, while the rear part of the cab came from a '56 GMC. That's second part is also off by a couple of years as I'm pretty sure the 5-window cab that was obviously its source was discontinued in 1955.

Okay, so the years aren't right, but they're all waaaay in the past so who cares? The work is claimed to have been done by a San Jose body shop back in 1959 (yeah, sure) and the car is further said to have been in storage for 15 years. Once a show car, it's now showing a thick patina of disuse and probably is in need of a complete mechanical overhaul.

Of course, his being an early post-war car, those mechanicals won't be too complicated to fix. Four wheel drum brakes that will prove sightly more effective than Fred Flintstone's stopping method; a transmission (no word on what it is) simple enough that it could have been designed by Archimedes; and a big, slow revving V8.

That eight should be interesting if it is the original 1949 mill. That year - and possibly contributing the COTY award - Cadillac introduced a new 331-CID V8. The engine, designed by a team led by the legendary Ed Cole, proved to be almost two hundred pounds lighter than the 348 it replaced, but, at 160-bhp, was much more powerful.

So, the seller of this custom Caddy pickup has a few of his dates wrong, but we won't hold that against him because I'd reckon that you'll agree this Cadillac is cooler than penguin shit and would be the center of attention at just about any car show, P-38 fins and all.

The question though, is whether the seller has been as inaccurate in his valuation of the custom Caddy as he has with the calendar. He's asking an eye-opening $25,000 for the car, as-is, and so it's up to you to decide whether that's a price for which someone should pick up this pickup. Or, if that amount makes this a barn find in which you're losing interest.

You decide!

or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to Ian Lautze for the hookup!

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