The 1959 Cadillac Series 62 is one of the American luxury brand’s iconic models. With oversized tailfins, dual bullet tail lights, an abundance of exterior chrome and an opulent interior, the Cadillac Series 62 perfectly encapsulates everything that made the brand great in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
While we could lay praise upon the Cadillac Series 62 all day, there’s no denying that this luxury icon has one rather obvious shortcoming: performance. The standard 390 cubic inch V8 was relatively powerful, producing 325 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque, but the 18-foot long boulevard cruiser tipped the scales at nearly 5,000 lbs – resulting in sluggish acceleration and lazy handling by today’s standards.
A Cadillac Series 62 owner in Michigan decided they’d solve this problem and bring the comfortable luxury sedan into the 21st century by installing a supercharged 6.2L LTA V8 engine lifted from a 2013 Cadillac CTS-V. YouTube’s Cars and Zebras caught up with the car during a recent muscle car drag racing event held at Mid Michigan Motorplex, where they had the chance to film the car going head-to-head with a 2021 Dodge Challenger T/A 392.
As a reminder, the 6.2L LSA V8 engine produced 580 horsepower and 556 pound-feet of torque in the 2013 model year Cadillac CTS-V. This custom Series 62 pairs the engine with a GM 6L90E six-speed automatic transmission, along with a sturdy Ford nine-inch rear end. The Challenger in question has a 6.4L HEMI V8 engine producing 485 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque, along with an eight-speed automatic transmission. The Cadillac tips the scales at around 4,500 pounds with the lighter new Small Block V8, while the Challenger weighs around 4,310 pounds.
Check out the video embedded below to see which of these impressive -all-Americans comes out on top. No matter what happens, we’d say the Cadillac Series 62 owner is the true winner here, as they can call themselves the proud owner of one of the most recognizable and game-changing GM vehicles ever produced.
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