Historically, the V-16 Cadillac would be the wrong car for the wrong time, but Cadillac recognized it needed something spectacular to do battle with the likes of Packard, Peerless, Pierce-Arrow, Marmon and Lincoln, among others. Besides, the initial thinking after the stock market crash was that it was a fluke and recovery was right around the corner. The simple fact was that the Great Depression was settling in and America was not buying extravagant luxury automobiles in significant numbers. Despite the economic downturn, the cylinder wars continued. After introducing a V-16 in 1930, Cadillac added a V-12 model for 1931. While the flagship V-12s and V-16s would garner all the fanfare, the V-8 powered models sold in steady numbers helping Cadillac’s bottom line during difficult economic times.

Despite the fact that Cadillac built only a handful of V-16 models each year, it positively shocked the automobile industry by offering a re-designed version for the 1938 model year that was smaller, lighter, and more efficient to build than the previous version. Among the 12 Fleetwood models available in the Series 90 sixteen-cylinder models were two coupes, two- or five-passenger versions. Just five sixteen-cylinder five-passenger Sport Coupes were built for the 1939 model year.