Inside and out, this stunning black Cadillac may appear to be stock, but lift the hood and you will find a big surprise! Factory sales brochures and magazine ads for the 1956 Cadillacs touted their “marvelous comfort and magnificent performance.” Pshaw! The 1956 Cadillacs were indeed marvelously comfortable, but they didn’t know what “magnificent performance” was back in 1956. However, Jared Renken knows! He removed the entire outdated drive-train – engine, transmission and rear axle – and replaced them all with modern, truly-magnificent, 21st century components.
The original 365 cubic-inch, 285 bhp cast iron V-8, fueled by a Carter 4-barrel carb, was replaced with a “big block” 555 cubic inch Chevy, producing 680 horses. The outdated – but “new and improved” at the time – Cadillac Hydra-Matic transmission was scrapped and replaced with a modern GM 4L80 unit. And that new-for-1956 Hydra-Matic was developed by GM at a cost of $35 million dollars – equivalent today to $405,780,198.
53. At the rear end lies a “damn near impossible to break” Ford 9-inch differential with a 4.10 gear ratio.
I’m sure those 680 horses will put that differential to the test! Jared has owned his trophy-winning Cadillac for just three years. He found it in a barn in Mascoutah, owned literally by a “little old lady” who had not driven it in ages. The odometer shows 60-some-odd miles and is believed to be the actual, original miles.
When Jared pulled it out of her gar.
