While attention is fixed on Woodward Avenue, Aa pair of one-of-a-kind Cadillac Fleetwood V-16s that were available but never ordered by customers during the Great Depression will be among the cars on display over the weekend at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Carmel, Calif.
The 1934 rumbleseat roadster model 5802 and a 1937 Phaeton model 5859 were part of Cadillac’s made-to-order Fleetwood collection, featured in the “build books” that customers used to select options for their cars. All other body styles were built for customers, but these two lavish models went unselected, according to a Cadillac spokeswoman.
Years later,  Fran Roxas, a noted automobile restorer and coachbuilder,  built the Phaeton 5859 and Roadster 5802 from scratch,  using only the the original blueprints of Cadillac designer John Hampshire.
 Both have won best-in-class awards at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, she said, but the two one-of-a-kind models were rarely seen until a profile profiled in a recent  article in Hemmings Classic Car .
Each car recently sold at auction. The Phaeton 5859 sold for $962,500 and the Roadster 5802 for $1,001,000. Both vehicles are powered by Cadillac’s legendary16-cylinder engine. Cadillac designers recently used the original drawings as inspiration for the Ciel Convertible concept car shown for the first time in the Cadillac exhibit at Peter Hay Hill in 2011. It will be on display again this week.
The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is a premier exhibition of pre- and post-war automobiles and motorcycles, as well as concept cars from manufacturers across the world. It has been held annually since 1950. By Joseph Szczesny