 Photo by the Auto Collections |
 W.C. Fields’ 1938 Cadillac V-16 Fleetwood has been listed in Hemmings Motor News. But there’s no price in the ad. This car belonged to Carlotta Monti, at right with the car in 1980, who sold it to the Imperial Palace Auto Collection in 1984. |
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I knew Carlotta Monti back in ’69 to’ 72. I ran a parking lot in Hollywood at a medical building and she would often talk with me when visiting the Dr.. As you might know she was W.C. Fields girl friend. That is where she got that car. She was a very nice person by the way.
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Exquisite car. Once had a ’38 Buick I restored, and tooled around Hollywood in it. Same body, lower quality. Mine was a straight 8 and it got 11 MPG. Imagine what the V16 got? Then again, the amount of 100 proof old W.C. carried around would have been able to fuel the Caddy in a pinch.
It’s rumored that after his death, Fields’ Toluca Lake home had false walls and floors boards concealing multiple lifetimes of whiskey — just in case Prohibition came back into vogue.
Wonder if the afterlife is tea total?
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When I was 18, I drove that car with my uniform and hat on for Carlotta to the Burbank Studios to be on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The plan was to drive the car right onstage with Carlotta. I met Mr Carson (in his underwear) and he asked me questions about the car. At the last minute, Mel Tourme was added to the schedule, bumping the car entrance part of the program.
It had been recently restored and drove beautifully with a 3 speed on the column, fantastic torque, and fully stocked bar in the back. The interview was a dud, as Mr Carson was too polite. Carlotta could be fierce in her defense of WC Fields, and had some wild stories to tell !
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I would love to have heard her stories on Fields, I knew a few others that knew him from way back pretty wild stuff, her side would have been interesting as well
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