1930 Cadillac V-16 roars into Jay Leno's garage

Long before Bugatti used the 16-cylinder engine as its calling card, Cadillac was launching cars with V-16 engines in an attempt to outdo other luxury carmakers. A prime example is this 1930 Cadillac V-16 452A, which was recently featured in an episode of "Jay Leno's Garage." The car belongs to the Nethercutt Collection in California and is featured here by Cameron Richards, vice president of the collection.

To keep the V-16 secret, Cadillac initially leaked that it was developing a V-12 to rival the Packard. So it must have been quite a surprise when General Motors' luxury car division unleashed this massive engine on the world. Nevertheless, Marmon got a head start on Cadillac and introduced its own 16-cylinder engine a few weeks before Cadillac, Leno said in the episode.

This overhead-valve engine displaces 7.4 liters but produces only about 180 hp. While not as good as the high-end Duesenberg, it was still a very respectable number for the time. This was because there was really no substitute for displacement. According to Leno, the car's massive torque allowed it to pull away in any of the three gears, but it required a "fire hose" to supply all the fuel the larger engine needed.

This particular car is an early body style, possibly from 1928-1929, coupled with a 1930 Cadillac chassis and engine. Customers wanted a dual cowl Phaeton-bodied V-16 Cadillac as soon as possible, and the new body was not yet ready.

Not many people could afford this car when it was new. It cost $6,500 at a time when mass-market cars were selling for a few hundred dollars. America was in the midst of the Great Depression, and the timing of the launch could not have been better.

The V-16 was more about effortless acceleration than raw speed, says Leno. These Cadillacs were not as fast as the modern Duesenbergs, he says, but their generous torque made the driving experience comparable to that of modern electric cars. The smooth-running V-16s offered a more refined experience than most cars of the time.

The car weighs well over 7,000 pounds, but Richards says it is easy to drive with an easy-to-use clutch and excellent brakes.

Cadillac continued to make V-16 cars for about a decade, but eventually went back to a more sensible V-8 engine. In an attempt to bring back the brand's glory days, GM introduced the Cadillac Sixteen concept in 2003, but it never went into production.

Toward the end of the video, Jay gets a chance to drive the car. He states that it is incredibly smooth and quiet, and that the manual steering is far superior to other older cars.

Watch the full video and revisit the era when the V-16 put Cadillac at the head of the luxury car class.