This was/is a 1950 Cadillac Series 61 that was rebodied by Briggs Cunningham for the 24 hour le mans race. He entered two of them in the race, one was an original body car and this was his streamlined version. The French nicknamed it after spending many hours crawling all over it having to verify that under all the bodywork it was indeed an original 1950 Cadillac Series 61. It had a top speed of 130 mph that was 13 mph faster than the regular one. The 5 carbs I think was the only modification oh and they had an additional fuel tank in the trunk. The standard body car finished 10th and this one finished 11th having gone off the track once and needed to be dug out. 331 Cu.in. with 160 hp at 3,800 rpm.
First time I've seen this car. And if I had been asked if anybody ever produced a 5 carb intake, I would have fairly confidently said... no. How much of the original car had to be intact, I wonder? Not much left! Just chassis and drivetrain?
Those were the days. Can you imagine entering a Cadillac hardtop at LeMans and finishing tenth today? It was said Le Monstre's body was designed by a Grumman aircraft designer, a friend of Briggs Cunningham, on aerodynamic lines. Cunningham originally wanted to enter a couple of Fordillacs, 1950 Fords with Cadillac engines but this was not allowed as they were not stock production cars. Le Monstre counted as a production car because custom bodywork was allowed where engine swaps were not. The next year he came back with his own "Cunningham" sports cars with Chrysler hemi engines. He produced enough of those to count as a production car.
The Jalopy Journal
