Cadillac styling for the 1948 model year had been all-new and strikingly modern, introducing tail fins allegedly inspired by the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter of World War Two fame. Under the hood, however, had been the same old 346 cubic inch "Monobloc" flathead V-8 that had been powering Caddies since the late Thirties.
For 1949, however, the all-new postwar styling was joined by an all-new postwar motor. This new overhead valve V-8, dubbed the 331 Series after its displacement in cubic inches, was billed as "America's Newest, Finest Motor Car Engine". It was an oversquare design with a 3.81" bore and a 3.625" stroke and sported hydraulic lifters, a two-barrel Carter carburetor, aluminum pistons, a 7.5:1 compression ratio, and made a claimed 160 SAE gross horsepower at 3,800 RPM.
The Series Sixty-One was the entry-level Cadillac and had previously ridden on a shorter chassis, but for the '48 model year it had been moved to share the same full size C-body chassis as the Series Sixty-Two, so the big differences were in trim and appointments.
The slick lines of the '48-'49 Caddies make them popular starting points for classic hot rod builds, like this striking purple example photographed with a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens in September of 2022.
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