Cadillac introduced its Commercial Chassis nameplate in the early 1930s as a dedicated foundation for professional vehicles such as hearses, ambulances, flower cars, and limousines. Rather than being a finished passenger car, it was delivered as an incomplete chassis intended for coachbuilders to complete with custom bodywork. That role made it a fixture in the funeral and ambulance industries for decades, and it became closely associated with Cadillac’s largest, most formal body-on-frame platforms.
Through its long run, the Commercial Chassis evolved alongside Cadillac’s full-size architecture. Early versions were tied to Cadillac’s senior conventional frames, and by the mid-1930s the line was aligned with the Series 75 family. For many years it served as the basis for some of the most recognizable professional cars in North America, with coachbuilt bodies adapted to local market needs and specialty uses.
A major turning point came in the late 1970s, when Cadillac downsized its big rear-wheel-drive cars and the professional-car market had to adapt to a smaller, lighter foundation. The Commercial Chassis continued into the 1980s and 1990s as Cadillac kept supplying incomplete vehicles for coachbuilders, but the character of the platform changed dramatically from the prewar and postwar eras. The final model years marked the end of an era for Cadillac-built, body-on-frame professional car foundations, closing out a nameplate that had served custom-body builders for more than six decades.